Sports and Gender
Sports are traditionally an exclusive male preserve. The fate of Cynisca, the first female sports champion in 396 BCE, foreshadows the spectator and outsider roles that women have typically been assigned: despite winning the quadriga chariot race, she was barred from repeating her victory in competitions of the Panhellenic festivals of ancient Greece. As such, it can be argued that the marginalisation of women in sports serves to enable men to secure an image of hero for themselves:
'Perhaps the most popular image of masculinity in everyday consciousness is that of man-the-hero, the hunter, the competitor, the conqueror. Certainly, it is the image celebrated in Western literature, art and in the media.
In a sense, the belief in man-the-hunter, or hero, would seem to have no foundation in the everyday world that most men inhabit. There are very few occasions available for men to be heroes, except as a hobby or for sport. Man-the-hunter has been transformen into man-the-breadwinner. Opportunities for heroism only arise in the sporting field, not in the forest in hot pursuit of food for the tribe.'
However, this view has serious consequences for sport and gender when regarded in conjunction with prevailing high rates of male unemployment and the importance of sports as an arena for constructing and performing gendered identities. Divorced from economic considerations, it becomes clear that sport both perpetuates and challenges gender roles and stereotypes in contemporary society.
The centrality of sport in the lives of many people, both male and female, is a representational source of meaning, devotion and excitement. An understanding of the connection between sport and gender and its effect on the wider formation of social identities and self-images is therefore an important sociological concern for contemporary cultures.
New nikewomen Store To Open At South Coast Plaza: The new Nike store is designed especially for women and offers expert customer service, high-performance athletic wear, along with a complete assortment of Nike apparel, footwear and accessories designed for women. Are they planning to change the name of their existing stores to 'nikemen', perhaps?
Boys On The Playground: Are contemporary sports created for the purpose of validating masculinity? If so, then competition between men and homophobia are key ingredients in the construction and expression of such 'manhood'. The gender power relations that predominate within the culture of sport have serious consequences for both the 'winners' and 'losers'.
A Special Kind of Power: Dr Ronald Goldstein interviews Alina Kabaeva about rhythmic gymnastics and questions society's expectations of female athletes. Do sexist stereotypes affect how the media and consumers observe them and report and write about them?
