Women, Sport, and Film Course

I think that the changes in sports over the last 80 years, in allowing women to participate, do impact women today. For those of us who are athletically inclined, the women of the past 80 years have paved the way for us to be involved in sports, and to excell in sports. For those of us who are not athletic, the changes in sports effect the society at large. All of the changes in the way society treats women have come from different fields - politics, education, the arts, etc. Sports has done its share in educating the world of the benefits of equality.

Women, in general, have come a long way in the last 80 years. When it comes to sports and physical activities, women are only recently starting to gain a firm footing. Watching that HBO documentary, outdated though it was, really got me thinking about the various sports I play (field hockey and softball) and how my experiences would have been if all those revolutionary women had not stepped forward. I doubt that I would have played softball -- field hockey, maybe, as it is usually played in a skirt. The end of class, and our discussion about Title IX, really made me glad that I attended the schools I did. I, personally, have never had a problem with any Title IX issues. But I see how it affects men and women equally.

My friend in Michigan, Brianna Smith played on the men's varsity football team in high school because there was no womens team. My brother, who played field hockey in middle school couldn't find a single men's team to join in highschool, so he was forced to drop the sport - and has never played another sport since. Kinda makes me sad thinking about the practical equality that men and women share in their inequality.
So while Brianna was told that she would have to play for a men's team, my brother was told that he couldn't play for a women's team because he was a guy.

2) The last part of this question is easiest to answer - yes, the culture of sport is changing and will probably continue to change. As someone mentioned in class, even though women have made so much progress in the sports world in the last 80 years we still have to deal with set-backs because of lack of funding or lack of interest. I think that even though we have reached a certain level of equality in the amount of opportunities in sports that children - male and female - now have, there is still and always will be the ultimate division. Men and women do not formally compete against each other in sports once they reach a certain age (about 10 or 11?) - with the exception of golf. This seperation is chalked up to differences in ability or strength; but is this the way it should be? What if sports teams were co-ed? I think that it is possible that women benefit from the seperate teams by allowing them more playing time than if teams were co-ed, but men also enjoy the benefit of not being shown up by a woman. Social and cultural mindsets obviously have the most impact on the sports world, and even though "equality" is near, I don't think we're quite there yet.

I do believe that women in sports has evolved in the past 80 years, but I don't think it's been a steady incline. There seems to be a period of ebb and flow. The pro baseball teams came and went, the pro soccor teams came, while they were based much less on sex than baseball, are now gone. Women's pro basketball is here, and might stay, but the funding is hugely different from the men's side. Women's sports might have a few more backlashes in popularity before there's equal interest. I doubt that the interest can ever become totally desexuallized, though. Male athletes' bodies can be seen sexually. Maybe the goal now is to not be penalized for not being attractive/feminine. That seemed to be the bar the public was heldto in the documentary.

the question made me think of a comment my father made concerning all of the girls from my high school who got into colleges based on their atheletic qualifications. it was something like, "too bad schools don't really care about women's teams; the only reason they have them is because according to title nine they have to grant women the same opportunities as men." this obviously suggests that universities are supporting women's sport only because they have to, and would imply that we haven't really come as far as we think. it's very similar to the women's rights in the workplace issue- we appear to be equal on some levels, but are not. but this is all from a person who hasn't experienced any sort of athletic activity firsthand recently- i screamed and ducked when someone finally passed me the frisbee, i missed kicking the ball three times in a row in kickball,and can't run a mile without collapsing in a heap. make that half a mile. a quarter.

Although women have gained access to sports, in the public professional sphere, we have very far to go. Although a number of women appear to have set precedents in this area, such as Billie Jean King, it remains uncommon and significant when a woman competes with a man. Annika Sorrensteim and Michele Wie competing with men in PGA events remain nearly or equally significant as the Battle of The Sexes years earlier. Furthermore, it could be argued that Wie's accomplishment was greater because she, a 14yr old female was competing against men in the prime of their careers. Therefore it seems to me that little progress has been made in this domain.

While the sports world has become increasingly open to women in the past 80 years, the fact that Annika Sorenstam competing with men in the PGA tour just last summer caused such a stir makes it clear that we still have a long road ahead. To be positive though, I think that society is a lot less likely to be suspicious of female athletes and less inclined to permit verbal discrimination/derrogatory comments. It's also clear we've moved from the 1920's notion of "Play Days" to embracing the idea of a competive female athlete. In fact, I think the female athlete is rapidly becoming an ideal for lots of girls as evidenced by such movies as Bend it Like Beckham.

I think women have come a long way in the past 80 years but there is a long way still to go. There is comparatively very little interest in women's sports as compared to mens. During WWII while so many of the men were fighting a Women's baseball league came into existence and continued in to the '50s. Until recently this was the last organized professional women's sport that I know of. Even the WNBA today does not receive close to the amount of support that the NBA does. Yes, there is some interest but it's no where near the same level.

Am I athletic? No. When I was younger, I bicycled, ran, played basketball, and softball....but as I got older, I had less time, and made less time for it, and I hurt my knee and was unable to do some of the things I used to do. I still work out now, but I would never consider myself to be "athletic." No, I don't think that everyone is athletic at some point in their lives. Some people are more athletic than others, but that does not make them "athletic" necessarily. I admire people who are athletic, just as I admire anyone who excells in a certain category of life.

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