Not entirely disagreeing with your first point, but I'd argue there's a lot less money put into pro woman's teams because there's little money to be made from them.
Why Do We Ignore Women's Sports?
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Not entirely disagreeing with your first point, but I'd argue there's a lot less money put into pro woman's teams because there's little money to be made from them.
CountAntonius
Member
Good post.
shanshan310
Member
I'm guessing that men hold the majority when it comes to sports supporters, so perhaps they prefer to watch their own sex when it comes to their favourite sport.
ClassyPenguin
Banned
I'm more interested in motorsports than any other sport.
There is starting to be some trickling of women, especially in the more accessible forms (AMA motorcycle, rally, motocross).
I welcome more diversity into sports like these.
Women's soccer can also be more exciting than men's (more parity).
There is starting to be some trickling of women, especially in the more accessible forms (AMA motorcycle, rally, motocross).
I welcome more diversity into sports like these.
Women's soccer can also be more exciting than men's (more parity).
Daydream Sequence
Banned
Same reason I don't watch college sports. If I'm going to spend time watching a sport, I'm going to watch the best at it. And 99 times out of 100 that doesn't involve children, women, or male college athletes. I pretty much only watch football and basketball though.
LyleLanley
Banned
That may be true, but at least for me when it comes to basketball it has nothing to do with gender. If women could play like men in the NBA I'd probably watch a lot more of the WNBA.
Pretty much gave the answe with out trying probably. In many ways if the womn are not sexualized in the sport they will just not be too popular. She went for what got her money knowing how to kick ass and be a sexy star in acting. Obiously, because yu do not bring up an ugly athelete.
I Probably could not name a non-hot female sports star other than the Williams Sisters of tennis.
As FOR MySELF i WANT spors at its most apex for skill and that is in men's sports. Plain and simple.
Generally, professional sports teams are comprised of the best players in the world. There is no rule in hockey preventing women from playing in the NHL. Pro sports is a business and making money is extremely important.
Black Mamba
Member
1. the athleticism factor. It's just what it is and people want to see the best of the best compete. I don't think it's completely a gender bias issue. I think if women were actually as good as men in basketball, for instance, people would watch. But they're not because of physical limitations.
2. The ONLY reason college sports is remotely popular is the alumni or region factor. If there were no college teams but rather people in college joining leagues on their own, I would bet more than anything no one would care. College level (for the big 4) is so inferior...this is why the "best of the best" doesn't matter as much at this level.
Watching women play basketball is just not fun. I wish it was, but I don't want to watch the WNBA just like I don't want to watch a rec league game. The drop-off in overall skill is just too massive and a sport like that isn't fun to watch at a non elite level.
However, take a sport like soccer which is much more about timing and precision than pure strength/speed/jumpability and the women's game can be just as enthralling (I wish we'd have coed teams shows with them, actually). The one thing holding it back is the quality of play for women in many parts of the world compared to the men. Not everywhere is like the US where the women caught up.
I actually prefer women's tennis because the men are too good. Serves are too powerful and not enough volleys. No excitement.
It's unfortunate that women in sports often have to be attractive to even get noticed, too. But the main problems lie in the physical limitations that women have. Look how many 6'6+ dudes there are in the NBA with 40" verticles compared to women in the WNBA. These things cannot be overcome.
2. The ONLY reason college sports is remotely popular is the alumni or region factor. If there were no college teams but rather people in college joining leagues on their own, I would bet more than anything no one would care. College level (for the big 4) is so inferior...this is why the "best of the best" doesn't matter as much at this level.
Watching women play basketball is just not fun. I wish it was, but I don't want to watch the WNBA just like I don't want to watch a rec league game. The drop-off in overall skill is just too massive and a sport like that isn't fun to watch at a non elite level.
However, take a sport like soccer which is much more about timing and precision than pure strength/speed/jumpability and the women's game can be just as enthralling (I wish we'd have coed teams shows with them, actually). The one thing holding it back is the quality of play for women in many parts of the world compared to the men. Not everywhere is like the US where the women caught up.
I actually prefer women's tennis because the men are too good. Serves are too powerful and not enough volleys. No excitement.
It's unfortunate that women in sports often have to be attractive to even get noticed, too. But the main problems lie in the physical limitations that women have. Look how many 6'6+ dudes there are in the NBA with 40" verticles compared to women in the WNBA. These things cannot be overcome.
shanshan310
Member
The "men are more athletic thus more interesting" argument doesn't apply for a lot of sports.
That's a darn shame.
I imagine having better women's role models would help a lot, especially since a lot of girls think 'MA is for guys'. Back in the Sydney 2000 Olympics I went to see Lauren Burns compete for Australia in the Tae Kwon Do (She was the first person to win a TKD Olympic Gold), and I still have the reply for the letter I sent her. I know that sure helped encourage me. Martial Arts is a great example of a sport that is just as great to watch with women. But girls are still being streamlined into dancing instead of competitive sports. I was one of three girls in my MMA class of 30 kids. As a consequence you don't end up with 'the best of the best' because most people never even try.
That's a darn shame.
I imagine having better women's role models would help a lot, especially since a lot of girls think 'MA is for guys'. Back in the Sydney 2000 Olympics I went to see Lauren Burns compete for Australia in the Tae Kwon Do (She was the first person to win a TKD Olympic Gold), and I still have the reply for the letter I sent her. I know that sure helped encourage me. Martial Arts is a great example of a sport that is just as great to watch with women. But girls are still being streamlined into dancing instead of competitive sports. I was one of three girls in my MMA class of 30 kids. As a consequence you don't end up with 'the best of the best' because most people never even try.
Onion_Relish
Member
Aside from what other people have written, male sports are more competitive, and for me, its all about the competition. I don't really care who wins as long as it is a good contest. There isn't a single woman's sport where there is a wide pool of well skilled players to compete against one another. There are only a few good teams or a few good players. It's usually worth tuning into the finals of a lot of womens sports like tennis or hockey or soccer, but anything other than that is intolerable.
Fudgepuppy
Banned
I couldn't care less about sports, no matter the gender.
Most of my friends are the same.
Black Mamba
Member
Oh, I agree. But most of those sports aren't popular, regardless. Or are only when the Olympics roll around.
Take volleyball. I enjoy women's and men's volleyball equally, but only watch during the Olympics. Same with swimming and running. And women actually have an advantage in gymastics since it looks more graceful.
But among the popular sports in America, it's only tennis where they can gain traction (I'm not counting golf here since I know jack all about that).
is women's ultimate frisbee less popular than the men's? Who watches either?
The Bikini Hockey League is coming. We have reasons to watch now!!!
http://www.bikinihockeyleague.com/index.html
http://www.bikinihockeyleague.com/index.html
shanshan how about you, do you watch sports? if so what sports, and leagues?
Phoenix
Member
Put them on TV and I'll probably watch a few games. If they are good, they may get into the rotation. That's why I watch the women's tennis matches. If you're going to force me to GO to the games to become a fan, you're shit outta luck. I won't do that for male sports
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
the audience for sports is overwhelmingly male.
Men are very likely to want to see 'bigger stronger faster more explosions' whatever.
female sports by nature is the opposite of that. Womens sports has an audience it's just dwarfed by male sports..
shanshan310
Member
Me? Not that often, mostly because I don't have the time
I enjoy watching soccer (Fifa), tennis (various opens), and football (AFL) but I don't do it religiously. I like the social aspect of watching it together/ betting with people as well as the game itself.Such as? Genuinely curious because it's hard to think of any. But I guess it depends on how you define "interesting".
shanshan310
Member
Well, tennis has been mentioned a lot. Martial Arts, swimming, surfing and other water based sports, and soccer I would say. If you count things like motorsports or equestrian as sports there's no physical advantage there.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I will watch women's MMA if it's part of a decent-enough card. But yeah, the fact there's only 1-2 weight classes for women's MMA fucks things up for fighters at the extreme ends of the height spectrum. But unless we suddenly get a massive deluge of world-class female MMA fighters I doubt there will be more impetus to make more weight classes.
Also, in a related story: When I was in Thailand earlier this year training I saw a few women's Muay Thai fights. The most brutal KO I saw was in one of them. One girl just threw a standing elbow that made a huge cut above the other girl's eye. She was out cold for at least five minutes with blood pouring out all over the place.
The thing I would like to state here is that very few - if any - male Thai MT fighters would ever be KO'd like that. Their conditioning and physicality is just unreal. And unless female fighters want to take the Cristiane Santos route, they'll never have the same physical potential that men do.
Me? Not that often, mostly because I don't have the time
and do you generally watch woman play of men?
I like some womens sports, like soccer (futbol), olympic sports and a few others. I watch mostly mens professional sports because it seems the level of playing is on another caliber. I would welcome them letting women in and being treated as equal, so long as the women don't expect to be treated any different from a man.
Example : I played HS football, and one of the toughest girls I ever knew (brother was all state football) wanted to play with the boys. She had to fight the district but won the right. She got put on JV since she was a junior. She fought for her right, made a point to all coaches and players to not go easy on her etc.. and she excelled in JV. Great for her!
However the following year she was dressing for varsity and it was a whole different story. I think that year our average linemen was 6'4 240lbs at 18 years old, monsters. The league at the time was very comparable and needless to say she got undeniably destroyed during the first game she dressed in. Mental breakdown on field, crying.. then later begging the coaches to do smoething so that other teams wouldn't go after her as a target. In the end, she quit the team by week 3 and transferred school districts out of shame.
Quite sad, I knew her well but in the end no matter how rough and how tough she thought she was .. she was physically unmatched to male counterparts and suffered greatly for it. I'm all for co ed sports, but some sports are just designed around big men, being big and there is no place for women in the equation.
Offense taken or not.
Example : I played HS football, and one of the toughest girls I ever knew (brother was all state football) wanted to play with the boys. She had to fight the district but won the right. She got put on JV since she was a junior. She fought for her right, made a point to all coaches and players to not go easy on her etc.. and she excelled in JV. Great for her!
However the following year she was dressing for varsity and it was a whole different story. I think that year our average linemen was 6'4 240lbs at 18 years old, monsters. The league at the time was very comparable and needless to say she got undeniably destroyed during the first game she dressed in. Mental breakdown on field, crying.. then later begging the coaches to do smoething so that other teams wouldn't go after her as a target. In the end, she quit the team by week 3 and transferred school districts out of shame.
Quite sad, I knew her well but in the end no matter how rough and how tough she thought she was .. she was physically unmatched to male counterparts and suffered greatly for it. I'm all for co ed sports, but some sports are just designed around big men, being big and there is no place for women in the equation.
Offense taken or not.
I will watch soccer and tennis, plus many Olympic events, but that's it.
Somehow it's even more sad now that a handful of them can dunk.
Somehow it's even more sad now that a handful of them can dunk.
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.
If that was the only reason, why do people watch college sports?
shanshan310
Member
For tennis I watch both. Just men for soccer and football, though I would watch women's if I had easy access to it. Like I said the social aspect of watching sport is important, so if there's little interest (there's no female football league that lots of people follow) it makes it less interesting. Hmm..
I'll happily watch women's tennis. That said, the standard isn't anywhere near as high as the men. (And currently, the women's game is a bit in the toilet due to a lack of good rivalries.) But it is still entertaining, and there was a point when it could be more interesting than the men (during the 90s when men's points were lasting 1-2 shots, for example).
But for every other sport I watch... my god, it can be embarrassing. Women's cricket is truly a tragic sight. I had to turn it off out of pity.
But for every other sport I watch... my god, it can be embarrassing. Women's cricket is truly a tragic sight. I had to turn it off out of pity.
Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
The tennis federation is well known to heavily promote hot sexy female tennists to lure in the male viewers.
Sexist as fuck but it works and the players know they wouldn't make one tenth of their income otherwise.
Why do you think that is?
Except soccer and maybe tennis, not many people watch those sports period.
Soccer is interesting because I actually do enjoy women's soccer about the same as men's, though I don't watch enough of it to really understand why.
Mecha_Infantry
Banned
I personally prefer women's tennis because it's normally shorter, but all over women's sports go unwatched
I do like judo of all sexes though
I do like judo of all sexes though
while im sure some of it is lack of coverage, at the end of the day theres a lack of coverage because theres a lack of intrest, and while woman athletes are less athletic then men, I doubt thats a major reason,
honestly I think the fact that the majorty of woman just dont watch sports is the reason, since men can better relate to other men that are playing they prefer to watch it, creating a greater rift in funding and intrest which only makes the woman sports less apealling, maybe if the culture changed and woman were more intrested in sports things will slowly change, but I doubt that will ever happen
also I dont know if devo is still looking at this thread, but if you are, do you honestly believe that the lack of intrest in womans sport is because of the lack of funding? why not the other way around?
The Awesomest
Member
Seattle's WNBA team goes to the playoffs like every year. They're the only team in the city that can consistently put a decent product on the field besides the MLS team, and yet they're still mostly ignored. I guess because now that they win all the time the novelty of a winning sports team has worn off.
Frankly, I think you are being too kind here. Almost every female sports fan that I know watches sports watches the men. And even admidting they like seeing sexy guys. Reaching too deep here.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
see but the difference there is they admit they are watching it for the sexy guys, thats the same reason men watch womans volleyball, but not womans soccer, why is that?
shanshan310
Member
Yeah, I agree. Watching sports is still considered a 'bloke thing', which in itself is a bit off putting. But the women who do watch sports tend to fit in with the men and watch the pro games rather than the smaller women's games. I would probably not watch women's football unless it became more popular, which it won't because most people probably feel the same. Consequently I think, at least in the case of football, women who gradually become interested will move into supporting teams in the established (male) leagues, so I can't see the female football league ever taking off. Things like soccer aren't that popular anyway - plus you don't need to be as huge as football players, so I can see it working better in soccer.
Well, swimming is really popular in Australia. I'm not sure what you're asking
I am not trying to say enjoying the hot bodies of the opposite sex is the only reason. I am just saying that women too will watch men for sex appeal in many situations whether they admit it or not. I would assume the guys who occasionally watch the volleybally for good looking women are only doing it occasionally or watching it live in high school or college where it is mostly a social event. Obviously, a big assumption, but I can gurantee you women's vollyball is not that popular so not a vast majority of men are doing this. A small sample size.
Well, swimming is really popular in Australia. I'm not sure what you're asking
You stated there are several sports that athleticism does not make more "interesting".
I'm contending the reason for that might be most of those sports are not interesting to begin with, at least to the majority of people.
I'm also saying my contention can't be completely true because soccer is the most popular sport in the world and I enjoy watching women's soccer.
It's just something to think about.
then youre agreeing with me? men dont watch womans sport because seeing hot bodies is simply not something they are intrested in long term, they want something else out of it,
it could just as easily be the same for woman, if not for the fact that the majorty dont watch sports, and even when they do they usually watch it with males friends, and due to social pressure watch the men play. the only way this will change is if woman start watching more sports
shanshan310
Member
Oh right.
Hm... Well, like I said in an earlier post I think that a male league already being popular and well established might make it more difficult for a female league to gain traction. I was mostly responding to people who were saying that women's basketball was boring because they weren't tall enough to slam dunk, and I meant that there are a lot of sports where women don't have such a disadvantage - so it wouldn't be so uninteresting.
Well this can't be true. Most male athletes are not very attractive
For the most part ,I would say most female atheletes are not attractive.That and there must be many reasons people watch sports so I do agree it would be rare to have a man watch women's sports based on being aroused alone.
Okay, well whether woman watch sports or not does not hurt society by them not doing it. So I do not see at as something that needs to be encourged because it is not benign or malevolent for women not to watch sports. I would say it just is how it is. If it is not a problem it does not need to be fixed. Still does not make it not interesting to wonder why women do not watch much sports.
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