Why Do We Ignore Women's Sports?

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ameratsu

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http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/xx-factor/Why-We-Ignore-Womens-Sports-20120717.html?page=1

There is an American in pink, but nobody cares. Not that that's anything new.

The Giro d’Italia Femminile is the biggest race you’ve never heard of. Covering 961.4 kilometers of Italian countryside over nine days, 127 athletes compete for one of the sport’s biggest prizes—the pink jersey. And in 2010, an American won it all.

Again in 2012, American cyclists should be in the news: Evelyn Stevens became only the second American—after Lance Armstrong—to win the spring classic Fleche Wallone. She also recently won a stage at the Giro d’Italia Femminile. And Kristin Armstrong is a favorite to defend her gold medal in the time trial at the London Olympics.

Throughout history, women have been deterred from competing in sports. The first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry made headlines worldwide after her boyfriend shoved aside a race official who was berating her. And that was in 1967.

To paraphrase a common line of thinking, pretty girls in pretty outfits get a lot of attention. If you follow women’s tennis, the thinking goes, you’re not just doing it for the sport. But what about cycling? Female cyclists wear—just like the men—very revealing lyrca shorts and form-fitting jerseys that often go unzipped in hot weather. So why doesn’t cycling get the coverage it deserves?

The reasons people give are many and varied, with some more valid than others. Women are slower then men (often, but not always). The competition isn’t as deep (yes and no—more men can win a given race, but it’s always the same handful of cyclists dominating in both fields). They don’t race “tactically” (bullocks). Whatever the case, women’s cycling doesn’t draw the sponsorship or attention that men’s cycling does.

Not only do women’s sports suffer from a lack of coverage, but the coverage is flawed. To start, it’s staggering just how little coverage women receive: 96 percent of all television sports coverage focuses on men, according to a study released by the Women's Sports Foundation. Things take a more distressing turn when it comes to the type of coverage women receive.

Even at the Olympics, commentators focus more on the physical appearance and personal lives of the women than on their athletic ability. Count how many times the commentators say “girls” and mention looks, clothing or children at the London Games. Compare that to men: when’s the last time an elite athlete was called a boy?

Broadcasters, writers and photographers feminize women as a cure-all for viewers. There’s an accepted framework for how to portray female athletes, and it’s through feminization. But the solution is causing the problem. Feminizing or sexualizing women reduces interest in their sports, says Cooky.
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Women's basketball is terrible compared to the men's game. I usually don't watch women's tennis because of the excessive grunting (which plagues some men's matches as well).
 
I personally don't know, i just follow football/soccer during the world cup/Euro cup, that's it.
I don't know if there's a female soccer world cup, but if there is, is not as strongly advertised.

Kinda weird, now that i think about it.
 
I don't watch sports but I prefer women's sports when I do. The reason being attractive women. Tennis is nice.
 
FootNinja said:
I knew about Venus and Serena way before I knew of any male tennis player.

There has to be some sort of solution in that example.
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Same here. Those are the only female athletes I really know though. I don't know many athletes overall but the ones I do are all male and all big-time. I think it simply comes down to their leagues not being given the same spotlight as mens or something. There's this stupid "lingerie footbal league" though in my city that is growing in popularity. SMFH.

I like strong women.
 
Because I don't find it entertaining. Though in stuff like gymnastics where women are in a league of their own and don't have to compete with men in spectacle I will watch(and volleyball)
 
Because people in general want to see the best of the best and this isn't women. It's the same reason a secondary pro football or baseball league would never make it big. Men are superior at sports by nature of their physicality. The women's sports that do do well usually involve attractive women, like in tennis or soccer.
 
Out of the 4 big sports in America, I'm pretty sure there's only one women's league which is the WNBA and it's worse in every way compared to the NBA. That being said I don't mind watching women's tennis or golf every now and then.
 
I think it's about athleticism. If you are watching sports, it's to marvel at how athletic the players are. That's not to say that women can't be athletes, many are. It's just that in the popular sports, the male leagues offer more athleticism.

However, watch the olympics. Women athletes are fascinating to watch there.
 
EightBitNate said:
Name 10 WNBA players. I dare you

Heck, name 5
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SoulPlaya said:
They're just not as exciting as men's, usually.
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pretty much. I've tried to get into it, but there's just a lot missing. the drama isn't as gripping and the crowds are usually abysmal. Watching softball is a lot like watching paint dry (well maybe that's not a great example, most baseball games are like watching paint dry as well).
 
I'm not sure that cycling is where the argument should be made. No one gives a crap about men's cycling. Lance Armstrong became compelling through dominance, cancer and doping. No one really cared when Le Mond was dominant.
 
Because the women's sports with actual competition are the lower tier stuff like tennis. Most Americans don't care about anything besides basketball, football and baseball, which either have no female representation at all...or the WNBA.

And the horribleness of the WNBA has already been mentioned.
 
For my part, I watch a heap of USWNT and FRWNT football.

It would be pretty substantially wrong to say that those teams are uniformly feminised by the media. Not to disclaim the idea that there is a framework for their representation, but it's not that simple or absolute.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
Because people in general want to see the best of the best and this isn't women. It's the same reason a secondary pro football or baseball league would never make it big. Men are superior at sports by nature of their physicality. The women's sports that do do well usually involve attractive women, like in tennis or soccer.
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This, shamefully. I don't watch much in the way of sports, but when I do I want to see the best of the best compete. I'd rather not have gender-exclusive leagues at all and have all major sports just be co-ed. As long as women are relegated to a second-rate league, they'll be competing for attention with minor-league equivalents for male leagues.

Is this obvious? Am I nuts?

Seems like the truly feminist position is to make all the pro sports non-gendered.
 
krioto said:
I can't see how this would make any difference on how interesting/enjoyable watching women's is? It's just not as good a spectator sport as men's. Particularly football (proper kind)
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If the sports aren't really funded or even implemented in highschool and underfunded in college, do you think professional level will be as entertaining and as athletic as can be?
 
Same reason I dont watch college sports, they aren't as good as the professionals. In this case they are worse
 
Devolution said:
If the sports aren't really funded or even implemented in highschool and underfunded in college, do you think professional level will be as entertaining and as athletic as can be?
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If the women's sport has a men's equivalent, then I think any amount of funding will not help it get better than the men's version in terms of faster/higher/etc etc.

I'm really using football as an example - women's football is just not as good as men's to watch, and will never be.
 
I only care about the NFL and NBA. I hate baseball and college sports so that leaves me with the WNBA.

Why would I want to see less athletic players that play a style closer to college ball (which I hate).


Lance Armstrong won a billion Tour de frances and I never watched or knew a single person who watched.

I don't know anyone under 50 who gives the slightest shit about baseball who doesn't play baseball in college.

I don't know anyone at all who cares about any olympic sports besides basketball a tiny bit.


It isn't about men vs. women, it's that most sports are boring as shit.


Devolution said:
If the sports aren't really funded or even implemented in highschool and underfunded in college, do you think professional level will be as entertaining and as athletic as can be?
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A woman like Lisa Leslie or Diana Turasi who played bball since a little kid would get destroyed in the D-league, why would I want to watch worse basketball when I don't even have enough time to watch all the NBA games I want to? Even if I did want to watch shitty bball it would be men's college since some of them are NBA prospects.
 
Borgnine said:
What the hell are you talking about man, I love women's beach volleyball.
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An exception to the rule - but we must all only limit our enjoyment based on the athletic prowess of the competitors, and not at all enjoy the 'Leia-slave-bikini' type costumes....
 
Ninja Scooter said:
Because people in general want to see the best of the best and this isn't women.
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That's it, that's all there is to it. The one sport I follow regularly is tennis, and most of the time I barely pay attention to female side. They're slower on court, their shots are weaker, they get tired much quicker, they play less sets, etc. Why would I watch an inferior version of tennis? Most of them aren't even easy on the eyes, sorry. :P
 
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