The role of women in male-dominated sports has gone through many female stages of stereotypes and representation. Yet, with gender role expectations, in modern society today, we are seeing the change in how history is accepting non-traditional representation.
With this, women are generally expected to dress feminine and be nurturing but men are expected to be strong and aggressive. While the media expects women to present themselves promptly, in the sports context it's the total opposite.
Sports Management graduate student, Isabel Turk says, “ I think a lot of times that women who play basketball are seen as more masculine and sometimes less attractive to people because of that reason.”
Oftentimes, physical appearance and sexuality are often more preferred than to their athletic ability. According to The International Sports Press Survey of 2011, “ Women are not seen as “real athletes” because the media, on the other hand, objectifies women and highlights aspects of their bodies and contributes to the reproduction of sport’s hegemonic masculinity.”
Turk says, “ I don’t think that looks matters, but perception is a big thing nowadays and women do respect each other whether or not you have a stronger body that might not be seen as a typical norm for women. I believe that women understand that, it is very attractive and something to be proud of and that they worked hard for.”
“I think the look might matter to outside people but people in the sport and even within athletics, I think they all respect each other for how much work it's taken for them to get there” Turk also states.
As we have seen from the media, women's collegiate basketball marketing and promotion has been a struggle from the very beginning continuing this ongoing issue. The way women's games are marketed their fan base and attendance to games have been affected.
Sports Management graduate student, Cara Liggins states, “I think a little bit of the marketing that men get then it would become more entertaining and there would be a lot more people that would want to come.”
Athletic Training masters student, Sydney Peterson states, “A lot of it falls under how many people come to our games. With women’s basketball, people tend to think we’re just not good, can’t dunk, not athletic compared to the men.”
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the women’s tournament, “ slowly but surely, attendance began to rise again, from 142,860 total fans in 2016 to 169,595, in 2019.” It has been a struggle getting fans' attendance up. Today the rise of social media has helped in various ways, especially in the NCAA. An event that occurred for the NCAA, especially in a women’s basketball tournament, Sedona Prince pointed out the NCAA women’s weight room is compared to the men’s. Prince’s video went viral and led to big changes in the NCAA This video captured the world behind what has been happening and celebrities started tweeting out their concerns.
“According to an article written by the New York Times, “After the video, the association commissioned a gender-equality review in college basketball. The video and review also led to a vast array of changes in the women’s tournament, such as branding it with the “March Madness” moniker, a move the NCAA has previously resisted.”
Peterson says, “It’s a broken system that just needs to be fixed from the roots of March Madness and the NCAA. I believe Sedona made a big commitment to do that on her social media.”
Little By little we are seeing gender equality having a chance and changing. Making the gap less noticeable between female athletes and male athletes. Prince accomplished what many generations have not been able to. But with Social media especially TikTok, a voice and platform are being utilized, creating a different view of females.
(Tiktok link to Sedona Prince Viral Tiktok video below: ) https://www.tiktok.com/@sedonerrr/video/6941180880127888646?lang=en
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