Main Issues surrounding women in Sports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Main Issues surrounding women in Sports - Essay Example However, there is also a belief that these screwed up views of female athletes are actually coming to an end in the 21.st century. One of the main issues that surround these female athletes is the way that these athletes are portrayed as sex objects instead of athletes in the media. The athletes prowess in the sport is often swept under the rug because they would rather present the women in an ambivalent light. Thereby not threatening the male athlete counterpart in terms of game knowledge and skill. If possible, these women are pictured as the girl next door or hyper-heterosexual in order to reinforce the traditional female roles of daughter, girlfriend, wife, and mother. But of all of these presentations, the worst two have to be the sexy babe and soft- porn images as depicted in the cover and article photo layouts in sports magazines. There is only one reason as to why the female sports players are presented in this manner and it has everything to do with gender equality and sexual orientation dynamics. For centuries, women have been viewed as the weaker sex and therefore, the second class citizens in their countries. Their influence in society is often limited by economic, social, and political institutions thereby suppressing the media images of women that do not depict them in anything more than feminine or sexual. The need to present women in a non-threatening manner to men (non-sports activity related) is the medias way of assuring those who may be affected by the female athletes success, that a woman can be athletic and excel in her sport of choice and yet remain traditional and fulfill her obligations as expected by society when not actively participating in her sport. Another problem faced by female athletes in their media portrayal is related to the nouns used to describe their mindset while in competition. Whereas men are introduced as young men or young men in order to