I saw this video over the weekend while I was watching television, and it spoke a lot to me. I think that women are undermined in many ways for their athletic abilities. Being a girl who grew up loving and interacting through sports, I love when I see a company as large as NIKE sticking up for women’s rights and equality. Women have brought a lot of accomplishments to athletics throughout the years, and they should not be mocked or made fun of for it. It upsets me when half of the time women who participate in sports are seen as too weak or slow, and the other half of the time they are seen as too masculine and/or unattractive. I think that as generations have passed, this issue of inequality in athletics has gotten a lot better (thank gosh), but there are still many instances of separation. For instance, many years back, the US Olympic Women’s Gymnastic Team would not get a lot of television coverage while the games were taking place. This year I was more than happy to see the media shed a lot of light on the very successful team our country had. The leading gymnast, Gabrielle Douglas saw a lot of lime light when she was continuously winning for the United States, it was awesome! Earlier this week when I was doing a reading assignment for my SCOM 280 class, I stumbled upon a paragraph that related to the idea of women being undermined in athletics. Merrigan & Huston, the authors of a research methods textbook stated, “Previous studies had shown that there were a variety of sex differences across broadcasts of men’s and women’s sports. Past observations revealed that men’s sports generally occupied more airtime than women’s sports.” This statement elaborates the thoughts that I have on women’s sports in the media. Women like Mia Hamm, the Williams sisters, Shawn Johnson, and many others have made it to the big leagues of athletics. These few women who have made it to the top of athletics are the faces and representatives for young girls who are getting involved in sports. This being said, it is VERY important that these few famous women athletes have a lot of pressure to keep a positive image and inspiration because a lot of young girls look up to them. I know when I was growing up I thought that Mia Hamm was so cool and such an amazing woman(I still do). I thought she was so pretty because of how strong she was and how naturally pretty she was, not because of how overly skinny she was or how much make up she wore. I think that female athletes help give society a reality check with what is beautiful. I think a healthy, fit woman is 100 x’s more beautiful, and real than the underfed and overly vain models that majority of the fashion industry use. I think that NIKE does a great job with showing the beauty behind strength within women. They have many commercials and advertisements that portray women as very fit, healthy and pretty because of their strength. It is crazy that one short commercial video clip can make me think about so much, but I felt like I could personally relate to this commercial. The young girls in that video were me as s child, where I wanted to work on my shot in lacrosse instead of painting my nails, but a lot of my friends thought that was strange. It was this time of my life where I realized who my true friends were, those who supported me and what I loved to do. SPORTS!
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I love your post, but I am torn by the video! While I LOVE that any attention is being given to women in sports, what do you think about comments like “I am a fashion model and I can dunk” or “I’m a girl and I can play ball?” Why does gender ALWAYS have to be a part of the conversation when talking about women in sports – why can’t they just be athletes?
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Also, in your opinion, do you think that the U.S. gymnastics team recieved more media coverage because gymnastics is thought to be a “girl” or even “sexualized” sport? Is it more appealing to viewers than more rough and tumble, “sweaty” sports? Do you think this is why many field and track/tennis etc. women athletes overplay their feminity through elaborate hair, nails, and makeup? Sorry for the overload of questions – I have wrote a few things on this topic before but never really reached any peace about it.
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I’m still learning a lot about feminism and am very interested in understanding as many view points as I can, so could you please explain why gender shouldn’t be a part of the conversation of women in sports? Have we come to the point where we can leave the gender of an athlete ambiguous and not immediately assume “male.” Should we not encourage girls and women of all generations that they shouldn’t be hindered to pursue their athletic dreams?
I liken the comments in this video to the post by ladychaotica21, “Insights from a Lipstick-Wearing Feminist,” who similarly expressed her values of feminist discourse through fashion. The “fashion model” quote was actually said by athlete Lisa Leslie who’s book is titled “Don’t Let the Lipstick Fool You,” and says this comment because being a model was important to her because the social construct of a model isn’t her 6’5 170lb build.
I don’t think the gymnastics team received more coverage because of your reasoning, but rather for the inspiring saga behind them. The disappointment of McKayla and Jordyn. The fierce rivalry of us Americans and the primed Chinese & the stiff Russians. The amazing story of overwhelming courage and faith Gabby had to leave her family behind in VA to train at the Olympics Gymnastics Gym in Iowa. The amazing margin the team pulled to their final all-around score to secure gold. They didn’t receive coverage because they were more “rough” in their events but because their story was so buzz worthy it was the thing of ABC Family dramas, and that stuff is awesome when it’s a real story!
Finally I point back towards ladychaotica21’s article on the the overplayed femininity of athletes. I believe it’s their expression of empowerment. I’m torn though because there are women who are alternatively damaged by this like South African athlete Caster Semenya, who was forced to take a gender test before she could compete.
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WOOOOO! I immediately recognized this video and had to read what you said about it. While I don’t watch organized sports unless it’s playing at a friend’s house, I’ve watched the Olympics religiously and this past summer was phenomenal! I was actually thinking of writing a post about a review from a feminist perspective based on what I and my friends noticed or commented on.
I thought this past summer Olympics was outstanding for women. Women of note include Gabby Douglas and the rest of the gymnastic team, the three-peat volleyball gold of Misty May-Trainor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings, swimming’s golden child Missy Franklin, and many many more to keep me chatting for days. When I saw this commercial last summer as well as the “Home” one (with Phillip Phillips) I nearly came to tears. The first woman to speak in it is Joan Benoit Samuelson, a marathon runner who’s constantly featured in a magazine I subscribe to called “Runner’s World.” I knew of her story and the disrespect she encountered and as I listened to the other women, I understood the value of these games. This was the summer of American women in my opinion, and this video was the culmination of their stories of uphill struggle and social backlash.
Great introductory post!
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I completely agree when we talk about how girls should be looking up to women who are not only beautiful but also healthy. I feel like the only time we actually talk about women who are athletic and beautiful are usually around the Olympic. So this past summer you had the Williams sisters, the fierce five of women american gymnasts, or Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor for young girls to look up to. But what about the rest of the year? The video you showed was a great start toward realizing we should celebrate beautiful strong athletic women. Do you think there is something else we could do to celebrate these strong women?
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I guess what bothers me is that gender is never part of the conversation when we talk about male athletes – because it is no surprise that they are strong/fast/coordinated/etc. – but when we talk about female atheltes there is always distinctions made about her feminity. Did you see all the debates about Gabby Douglas and her hair? I wrote a blog about it last semester called “The Hairy Truth About Feminism” – but in a nutshell the fact that she was a talented athlete was being overshadowed by the media for her “bad hair.” Some African Ameriacn women made comments that she should not represent them that way on national TV. I just can’t imagine that a male athlete would ever have to prove his masculinty to play a sport – he is masculine just for playing! I think for women there is a pressure to balance sports (often traditionally played by males) with traditonal feminity (hair, nails, etc.).
It don’t think that any of these female athletes are in the wrong by expressing their feminity – far from it. I myself am a very tradtionally “feminine” women as well – but I think it is worth observing the pressures female athletes face (because it exists) and discussing it (so that we can undersand it).
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Hmm, you know, I never thought about that. Men don’t have to worry about their appearance in sports, for the most part they are only judged for their performance. Women on the other hand are judged by their appearance often before or more-so than performance. In fact, I do remember back during the Olympics, sitting with my friends and us all talking about how the female track athletes looked, and it was all based on a media comment from a CBS pundit about wearing jewelery and running. I don’t know why I never thought about that.
I agree with you now, there is exceeding pressure to look a certain way by these athletes that men don’t feel, and if we look deeper into cultural implications, women of certain backgrounds have many more pressures or standards just like Gabby Douglas. Do you think there’s a way to ignore it though and just focus on their ability, or is it such a societal thing that we can’t ignore it and should instead approach it and discuss it another way?
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