An Athlete's Voice

Here an interview with Kim White, a former high school basketball player from New Jersey tells us how she feel about women and the sports, sexuality in media and what needs to be changed for these women athletes. 

When you played sports did you feel that it empowered you or took away your feminine side? Why?

KP: Femininity is a social construct which, in my opinion, does not define a woman. I believe character (not the expression of one’s gender) is the measure of an individual. I do not believe that playing a sport or demonstrating a characteristic (such as strength or assertiveness) which may typically be associated with the masculine social construct can make a women “less” of a woman.

Have you had an encounter where someone question your sexuality or your feminine side while playing sports? If so how did you feel?

KP: This is a question/situation that many women athletes, or in my experience, women basketball players are presented with during the course of their careers. If anything I enjoy these situations because it provides an opportunity to challenge what is, in my opinion, a question stemming from an ignorant judgment on behalf of the person asking the question.

You see athletes today breaking out of sports and  going into other venues like magazines and videos and they are showing their bodies more or becoming more sexy, do you feel it take away their sportsmanship or enhance it? Why or why not?

KP: No, a person’s appearance does not affect that individual’s craft or athletic skill (or who they are as a person). These activities may grow a person’s brand or public image or may even be done in an attempt to combat the stereotypes presented to female athletes, but the consequence would only yield a change in the perception of the woman, not who she is as a person, woman or athlete. I don’t believe that what a person does off the court impacts their sportsmanship-like conduct.

What would you like to see change when it comes to women sports today and why? For example: (women athletes get more recognition for their crafts)

KP: I would like to see a more level playing field and equality in opportunities available, recognition and pay, as well as, the elimination of gender bias on women and men in sports.

Battle of the Sexes: You Decide?

This interview was very interesting because it gave two sides of the main topic: It gave a women's perspective and a male perspective. In this interview conducted a brother and sister Chanel and Shiron Benjamin have a heart to heart talk about women athletes and what they think is okay as far as sexuality being shown and what is not when it comes to being on the field and showing the skills you have!!!

Women Athletes and Male in Print Media

In the article He Is A Laker, She A Looker by Jennifer L Knight and Traci Guilano . It discusses how media plays favorism when it comes to what coverage of sports within the man and women field. It talks about how women had little recognition in stories when it comes to news about their athleticism and more focus on their atrractiveness. However one qoute that brought to my attention when the authors states "Coverage of women’s sport is inferior to that of men’s not only in quantity but in quality as well . Sport commentators and writers often allude or explicitly refer to a female athlete’s attractiveness, emotionality, femininity, and heterosexuality (all of which effectively convey to the audience that her stereotypical gender role is more salient than her athletic role), yet male athletes are depicted as powerful, independent, dominating, and valued because competitively participating in sports is inconsistent with society’s prescribed female role, the media coverage of female athletes seems to be trying to protect female athletes from rejection (or, more cynically, giving the public what they think it “wants”) by emphasizing other aspects of their “femaleness,”
such as their attractiveness Fo,r instance, although Gabrielle Reese, Anna Kournikova, Katarina Witt, and Jan Stephenson are all exceptional athletes, the media often focus on their attractiveness, a problem that
is much less common for male athletes. In effect, the media tend to represent female athletes as women first (i.e., through focusing on their hair, nails, clothing, and attractiveness) and as athletes second; however, male athletes for the most part are portrayed solely in terms of their athleticism."

So I took some athletes magazine cover of sports magazines to empasizes this quote:

 

As you can see these women are potrayed as house hold indivduals, or attentive to the male gaze compared to the men when being covered in sports magazine they are looked as powerful through their sportmenship

Attention Attention Let the Lady Speak

Here is a interview with Old Westbury student, Cristina Santos speak about women in the sports and the media. She also speaks about what she seen her friends and fellow classmates in her school experienced when they were invovled with  sports .

Feminizing Sports Portrayed in Films

Over the years, movies had taken women athletes into whole another spectrum. Where back in the days like the 90s,in movies you would see a female dressed as a male if she played sports or had a tomboy edge to her. For example the movie Girl fight:

Where as you see now in 2011, females athletes are portrayed as sex objects in movies. Now you would see women athletes in movies showing more skin when they play a sport. For example the movie Whip It, where you have a girls team wearing shorts and other provocative clothing while they roller derby

So as you can see there has been many changes in movies that goes along with how women athletes are taking sexuality and changing what once as playing sport as women was to look like a  man to now it a form of sex symbol of empowerment 

A Mother's Eyes in Her Athletic Daughter

In a previous post, I mention that my sister Jaeden Powell played sports in the past and why I'm doing this blog to show why women using their sexuality in sports . So I took it a step further and did a interview with my mother, Veronica Powell and see what she thinks about putting Jaeden into sports from a parent's views and her insight about how women are perceived in sports today.

1. When  your daughter Jaeden was  in sports, did you feel that it was a form of empowerment or would it take away her feminine side at a young age?

 VP: It empowered her to learn to learn sports and to learn to be apart of a team. It did not take away her femininity.

2. As a mother, did you feel that having a child in sports would outcast her from other girls or labeled her too tough by society today and why?

VP: No I did not think it would outcast her or label  however I feel that sports allowed her to be seen as the child and the individual  that she was, it showed her character more.

3. You watched sports before or been to sports event, do you think the women participate in these sports have more of advantage or a more disadvantage in playing today and why?

VP: We as women have more advantages because now women who are in sports have teams in elementary schools, high school and colleges available to us. Along with this girls are offered scholarships for sports now and are able to further their careers by being drafted in professional teams before it was just the men were only allowed to do this but  now you hear  more that  young men have the advantage to go on a sports scholarship to a college rather than the young  women does.

4. Why do you think women athletes are trying to use "sex sells" in mainstream media today?

VP: I feel the opposite to that I feel it the men who owns these agencies or cooperation who manages these women because they are the executives and it  allows them to determine what sells and buy. Also I feel  that not just women I feel that men athletes who goes along with this statement because you look at ads today that sells gears and sneaker for sports and you see some form of sexuality. However, I  feel it not just targeted  at sports but ads in general. Look at the Christmas ads you see sexy young people wearing the clothes very rare you see me or someone of my age wearing the clothes.

Positivity of Women Athletes: Laila Ali and Others

Watch this video from boxer Laila Ali who talks about her choice in career of boxing. I found it intewresting how women goes outside the barriers and do careers that men are expected to do. She once said in a interview "im a stronger puncher than my father." By making this statement she made it clear she is stronger as a man and nothing can come in her way not even her father fame in the same field and many women feels this sort of power when it comes to sports than rather using their bodies. She shows the positive side of how women in the sports should be protrayed in the media with a form of some sexuality. I find it interesting women like laila ali is still around. Here are some of Laila Ali photos and other women like her that show sports as empowering  that I show that women athletes have some form of sexuality and still use this as a form as empowerment:

Sports at a Young Age...Dangerous or Empowerment

My sister Jaeden Powell always played sports almost all of her life up until she reached puberty her body developed and her love for sports faded. My sister was always looked as the tough one in the family because she played so many sports  as a kid. She played basketball, soccer, swimming and karate. Ever since she started sports it been hard for young Jaeden at one point to be accepted by others because she was considered tomboyish. However, she still played the sports she enjoyed because she felt some sort of power regardless what people said about her sexuality and looks. Through my sister's experience it gave me the idea to start this blog about women who plays sports and thier talents that are  overlooked because women today in sports have to look a certain way to portray their talents. What I mean by that is women in sports today have as much harder obstacles than a man because the old saying goes for all women "If you don't show a little something,you cant make it this business sweetheart." We see female altheles using their body image to overshadow their talents, these atheles include the tennis player Serena Williams, the basketball players Lisa Leslie, and Candance Parker. Today, it hard for a female to be as capable as a man. So I came up  with  the idea for my women in the media class because I feel this blog will show what is missing in sports and what is wrong with females playing sports. My question to you is should young girls look up to atheletes like Serena Williams and embody what they are doing in sports today? My second question is do you think in sports today young girls are endangered or will be looked at as someone who has empowerment?