Wow there are so many things to discuss about the sexism issue in sport. From a young age, I remember being encouraged to play "feminine" sports such as gymnastics. I did not even know football existed, but when I found out about it, I always wanted to try, but I never had access to it. I believe access is such a huge aspect of the gendered differences within sport because it is limited from girls at such a young age. Gendered stereotypes are perpetuated to children, starting the cycle at a very young age.
The biological differences we learned about such as body proportions or differences in type of muscles fibers do appear to affect sports performance. One really interesting aspect from our discussion was the fact that if you controlled for size between men and women, like how men have larger hearts and lungs, then there isn’t actually a large difference between heart, lung, and body size in men and women. I also was shocked to learn that women actually beat men in some sports like in the crazy endurance things. I had always been taught just by what I have been exposed to that men were just naturally better than women at sports. I never thought this meant much because I assumed it was just anatomical, like they are physically larger than us, but I had no idea women were actually better suited for endurance. I really liked the connection to fast and slow twitch muscle fibers and how men are better suited for quick, power activities while women are better at endurance.
For cultural differences that impact sports performance, the first one that comes to my mind is simply accessibility of sports as I briefly mentioned in my introduction. I feel like women have always had it harder to excel in sports because from a young age, it is not expected of them on a broader scale. Boys were always taught to be rowdy and active but girls were taught to be dainty and “ladylike”. I think these stereotypes definitely play a role in sports performance in many ways. One way is what sports women and men are encouraged to take part in. I am going to continue to use the example of gymnastics. In men's gymnastics, the events are all power and strength based. There is very little emotion or performance aspects. However, in women’s gymnastics, it is more dance and performance based. Women are expected to show their delicate side by adding extra dance movements between flips. Comparing just the floor routines, the men do not compete with any music but the women have an entire choreographed dance along with their tricks. I think the subtle differences between sports stems from what is expected of men and women in society. There are so many other cultural differences that affect sports performance too. From equipment used to being accepted as a fan, there is definitely a large difference between women and men.
Another big surprise for me came from researching the tangible differences between women and men’s versions of the same sport. I was baffled by how many little differences there were such as ball size or time played. I knew about the different uniforms worn, as explored on the Attire page, but the small differences in equipment were crazy. One really strange one was that a men’s shot put weight is about 16 pounds while the women’s shot put weight is around 8 pounds. That is literally half the weight! Another huge one for me was how women are not allowed to check in hockey because that is such a fundamental part of the sport. Going off of that, male hockey players are literally encouraged to fight and women can’t even hit each other.
Another really big surprise for me came from the podcast about UFC fighting. I can not believe that women’s UFC fighting was only introduced in 2012. I also was listening to the podcast and thought the male and female fighters were treated equally at first but as the podcast went on, I was very wrong. The issue within UFC fighting was also larger than just gender inequalities. The connection to capitalism and how poorly the UFC treats their fighters was also really interesting but not directly about gender (however I do feel like there are connections that can be made here).
My last little comment on what surprised me was just a small but very good point Dr. Canada made about the US Women’s Soccer team. I have played and watched soccer my whole life and it is not a secret that the women’s team is significantly more successful than the men’s team. The Tweet I included in my Collage was ironic to me because it is a such a cocky statement to make about such successful athletes. The fact that they are not paid more, or at the very least the same, as the men is beyond ridiculous. The revenue they bring in, the fandom they have, and their success are all points to why they should be paid more. However, the fact that they are so successful and still treated this way really highlights an issue in the structure, not just individuals. If the structure of sexism within sport cannot change, then any small differences made by individual players will not be as significant.
Overall, sexism in sport is not an issue that can be solved overnight. I also think individual efforts such as the U.S. tennis player Andy Murray correcting an interviewer for not including the Williams sister are really beneficial, but they cannot change the structural issues by themselves. I hope things get better in the future and maybe younger girls later on can play football!