Gender Barriers in Sports

Since way back in the day there’s always been that big barrier blockading females and males when trying to engage in a sport that is not “appropriate” for their gender. It had always been that some sports are aimed towards the male gender and others towards the females. When a man or women joins a sport that is not originally for their gender, it is not something that many people want to accept.

Gender is defined as an ongoing cultural process that socially constructs differences between men and women. This day in age, men still have more privileges than women do. Men have more wealth and power, many role-models are males, and women are seen as child raisers. Dr. Jack C. Watson says that women in sports face such things as “social isolation.” Many women have been put down for sports participation because it is more of a male kind of thing to do and were expected to be more cheerleaders than the actual players. As stated in the Seventh Edition Child Development by Laura E. Berk, “Women is more compassionate than man and has a greater propensity to tears…But the male….is more disposed to give assistance in danger, and is more courageous than the female.” (Aristotle, cited in Miles, 1935)

There has always been that big deal about social barriers. For example some myths about biological and physical weaknesses towards women are that women are more likely to get hurt, women are psychologically weak, that sports masculinize women, and even that sports are for lesbians. It is something that I am truly against because women and men should be given the equal opportunity for such things as sports.

Before the 1970’s there were many “only boy teams.” Nine states prohibited inter school sports for females during this time period also. There was this amendment that came about that was called the Title IX of the educational amendments of 1972. This stated that, “No person in the United Stated shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be defined of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” As you have read, that back in this time period they tried to put a stop to it. No matter what though, it still seems like an ongoing thing.

There was this young girl back in middle school and she really wanted to play football. She tried out for the team, and she made it. I can remember going to the games with all my girlfriends to watch all the guys and all we would hear was the parents chatting about how wrong it was for this young girl to be playing a boys sport. The foolish thing is that they weren’t even paying attention to the game. She was actually the best player on the field. She was one of the fastest; she was very quick on her feet and knew how to throw the ball as good as or even better than all of the boys. People started questioning her sexuality because since she was a girl playing football everyone was saying “well maybe she’s a lezbo” “is she even a girl?” All of this nonsense was coming out of people’s mouths just because she was playing a sport that is intended to be more towards guys than girls, and she was good at it. She knew what was going on, who was saying what, but it didn’t bother her. She just showed everyone that it’s not always just a boy sport and girls can be good at it too, and by this, she earned the “most athletic girl” as a senior and I can unquestionably say that she earned it.

But not only as a girl can stereotypes be harsh, but they are just as bad when you’re a boy. I played field hockey from when I was a freshman in high school till senior year. It was honestly the best times of my life. Going into junior year, we had try-outs right before school started. There was this new teammate trying out and from a far distance I had no idea who it was. Once I got onto the field, I realized that it was a boy.