“Women’s Sports are Boring”
By: Allison Bryan
In our society, sports are put on top of the world. They can help bring people together or pull them apart. But why do men’s sports have all the hype, following, and recognition. Many believe it has to do with propaganda promoting viewers to watch men’s sports. Propaganda can take many forms like in commercials, newspapers, and the radio but, negative propaganda towards women’s sports happens most of the time on social media. This causes more and more people to change their opinions to the ones they have seen or heard. Propaganda happens to almost every women’s sports but it occurs towards women’s basketball, soccer, and tennis.
Men and womens sports have always been compared to each other, which has ultimately lead to uneven comparisons between the two. This happens a lot in basketball, and in all the other sports because the women and men’s side of the sports are so competitive. There are just as many women’s basketball games as there are men playing basketball the same night, it’s just there are not as many ways for viewers to be told about the women’s games compared to the number of ways to view men’s games. Many people think that men’s basketball is better just because men can dunk and most women cannot. Another reason is because people think the men are more athletic and fun to watch than the women’s games. In some ways men are more athletic than women because of how they are built compared to how women are built.For example the skeletal structure and biology. The very different construction of the male and female pelvic girdle, for example, has a profound effect on the generation of force and pace. This does not mean women can not play sports as well or the same as men. In every sport, the rules of the game are the same but men’s games get viewed more than women’s.
These same propagandas apply to women and men’s soccer as well. In the United States, soccer is very popular sport and one of the most popular women’s teams in the United States is the United States Women’s National Team. The team is the most successful in international women’s soccer, winning three Women’s World Cup titles including the first ever Women’s World Cup in 1991. They also won four Olympic women’s gold medals including the first ever Olympic Women’s soccer tournament in 1996 and eight CONCACAF Gold Cup wins while the men’s team has Zero titles in any competition. Even with all of their success, the team has been fighting for equality in pay. Many women on the team think it is unfair that they are getting paid an average of $37,000 per year while the men’s team earns an average of $100,000-$300,000 per year. This just shows that the women on the national team may have more success than the men’s national team but are still are still wanting to get the money they deserve.
Similarly to the women’s national soccer team, Serena Williams, a famous female tennis player, has been facing some criticism about how her ability to play tennis because many say that her ability is terrible compared to a man’s ability. Although she is one the best women’s tennis players in the world today, people still compare her ability to a man’s ability. Many people also think that men’s tennis is better as an overall sport just because men are usually better at tennis. This idea is crazy to think about because the sport is such so intense to watch and play, there is not much of a difference between the two genders. The rules of the game are the same but men get more recognition than women. They play with the same ball, same line calls and even the same racquet but women don’t get the same acknowledgement as men. Just like any sport, it’s going to take hard work and time to gain strength and to improve the skills needed to gain the respect that she should already have. Since her early career, Serena has been doubted since she started her professional career at age 14. Since then, she has put in a lot of hard work which has lead to her winnings in singles. Throughout her career she has won 31 finals, 23 titles, 8 runner-ups, and 23 grand slam singles titles, which is an Open Era record. Nothing could be more interesting than watching Serena use her talent and work ethic and play her heart out.
Photo by Jimmy Baikovicius (bit.ly/2jzqRBY)
(https://goodreadmag.squarespace.com/sports-section/2017/1/28/the-expectation-of-being-serena-william
But it is very hard for women playing sports to grow and develop when other humans are talking about how it is not worth watching women’s sports. In 2015, a tweet was posted by Andy Benoit saying,“Women’s sports in general not worth watching.” Propaganda is being used against women in sports in all ways humans can communicate with each other. The tweet portrayed negative propaganda towards women’s sports because of the way it states women’s sports are not interesting even when it is only that one persons opinion. When something like this is posted on social media by a person they trust it makes others who read it believe in what the person is saying. The problem is this is just one example of negative propaganda. There are hundreds more out on social media and everywhere else people communicate with other humans. This problem happens a lot with women’s sports and leads to females not watching or participating in sports. The negative propaganda is working against the new changes women are trying to make in getting the recognition they deserve.
In conclusion, in order to succeed at sports, athletes must have the required skills. Women in sports have the capability and right to do so. The problem is that our society needs to work past the thought that women’s sports are boring. Our society needs to work more towards women getting the respect they need rather than having people post about the sports negatively on social media. Our generation is working through the barriers women have in sports, but there needs more action to take place to support women’s sports. This is going to take time for women to show the world what they can do in sports so that more of the world can make their own decisions about how interesting and entertaining women’s sports can be. In order to do this, women would need to work hard, instill teamwork, and have the right mental state to succeed. Without these traits, men or women, would not be able to succeed in their designated sport.
