When we think about sport and gender in this country I think what is happening in sport reflect our society and the mentality of society. The reason why most people feel that men sports are favored over women sports is only a reflection of real life. In the real world we still view women as inferior when it comes to the things that men can do. This mentality is them carried into the athletic arena which makes it difficult for women sports be taken as serious as men sports. In class Dr Spencer made a statement about the fact "sex sells sex" and I feel like that's where women sports are going wrong. As dominant as Serena Williams is in tennis most of her publicity comes from her physical appearance and sex appeal. Until women sports figure out a way to sell the quality of the game and sport over the sex they won't be taken as serious as men sports. What is unfortunate is the fact that sport fandom reflect the mindset of society, which means until sex appeal stops becoming a factor in life in general things won't change in sports
Jude Adjei-barimah
I agree with Jude about the idea of sports reflecting society. If you look at society you can clearly see that marketers try to sell sex. That has been the way advertisers have made money for decades and it is still relevant today. Women are objectified in the media and that translates to the sports world. Maria Sharapova makes most of her money off endorsements and upon very little examination it's clear to see that she is extremely good looking. Coincidence? The same is true for Serena Williams. Sure, she makes money off winning tournament after tournament but she has sex appeal to a large percentage of the population so she can lock up endorsement deals. Until the media stops objectifying women, women's sports will NEVER earn the same amount of respect as men's sports.
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