statsnotsex

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[statsnotsex]

Women athletes are not the only ones sexualized. Women in every aspect of sports face an uphill battle.  Not only are female athletes sexualized but so too are female sports reporters and fans. How many times have you heard women referred to as “cute girls” during televised men’s sporting events?  Do you ever hear men referred to as “cute boys”?  What about female journalist? Do people talk about what Erin Andrews says or what she looks like? The whole portrayal of women in sports needs to change.  Women in sports can still be beautiful but let’s give them the same respect we give men. Women are fans.  Women are reporters.  Women are athletes.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR FIGHTING GENDER STEREOTYPES IN COMBAT SPORTS

HOW A COMBAT SPORTS COMPANY FOR WOMEN IS DOING MORE THAN JUST TRANSFORMING HOW WE SEE FEMALE FIGHTERS.

“Women athletes have made great strides in recent years. In 2012, 4,847 women competed in the London Olympic games, the most ever in Olympic history. Not only that, women represented every country in every sport that year, and CBS Sports launched the first all-female sports talk show, We Need To Talk, in September 2014.

However, the battle for gender equality in sports is still very much ongoing. Underrepresentation, misrepresentation, sexualization, and a lack of suitable of equipment and attire are just a few facets of the plight of many female athletes, particularly women in combat sports.

Of course, this isn’t something an entrepreneurial female fighter will take lying down. Enter Krav Maga fighter and former kickboxing instructor, Lynn Le. She’s building Society Nine, an equipment and apparel brand intended to align with the strength, femininity, and physical diversity of women who get in the ring and embrace sports and fitness across the board.

"I created Society Nine as a response to my frustration with fashion fitness media and the message that we [female fighters] are expected to work hard purely for our physique,” says Lynn Le. “This image has to change.”

Historically, women in boxing have been ring girls wearing bikinis and holding signs. And like every male dominated industry, society deems women who are successful in sports as masculine unless they prove otherwise. In 2015, one would hope there’s no need to negotiate femininity and masculinity in terms of athleticism. But sports is a social institution just like any other that exists under a societal construct where the gender gap is blatant in pay, media coverage, and general recognition of competence. This is part and parcel of the reason so many images of women in sports and fitness are hypersexualized.

“Yes, MMA is a male-dominated market in terms of viewership and participation, but it’s not like that any more, and what we are saying is there are other ways,” says Le. “We are offering that platform to defy the stereotype or expectation. The exciting thing is that combat sports are brewing among women practicing, and there is an opportunity to brand ourselves differently to appeal to a female market progressive in its thinking.”

Green agrees that it’s time for the burgeoning community of women in combat sports to shift the social construct around female fighters by promoting and fulfilling what these women want and need.

Green says, “Not only will the brand support those who choose to train in fighting, but it will naturally inspire the future generations as the world changes its views of what is possible. Overall, it is time to see conscious steps towards shifting the patriarchal paradigm, and in this case it’s by not only being women fighters, but having the gear needed for it.”

Read the full piece here

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#statsnotsex

These bad ass derby photos are shattering stereotypes about female athletes 

A healthy body is a strong body. That’s the message behind Cory Layman’s “Body by Derby” project, an inspiring collection of images of roller derby players. The project is proving that women of all shapes and sizes can be strong and powerful — no matter their body fat percentage.

There are 6 more of these — equally as awesome

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Why is it about their looks?

I started google searching, yahoo searching, and academiclly searching female athletes as we have been throughout our entire project. The one “thing” that stands out the most when receiving the results is: “the hottest female athletes.” but why is this? I am really not sure but I can take one guess, it may potentially be that this is why these women are known. Not to put down their talents, because of course, that is what we are advocating for, but why are women subjected to as “sexual” more than men? I know many women think Cristiano Reynaldo is “hot” or Roger Federer is “gorgeous” but why just women? why are they not looked at for pure talent? and if they are, and they are not to societies standards “beautiful” then are they just a lost shadow in the crowd? Must you be gorgeous to be good? 

[statsnotsex]

This is what the face of women today should say and stand for! 

[statsnotsex]

Why is it about their looks?

I started google searching, yahoo searching, and academiclly searching female athletes as we have been throughout our entire project. The one “thing” that stands out the most when receiving the results is: “the hottest female athletes.” but why is this? I am really not sure but I can take one guess, it may potentially be that this is why these women are known. Not to put down their talents, because of course, that is what we are advocating for, but why are women subjected to as “sexual” more than men? I know many women think Cristiano Reynaldo is “hot” or Roger Federer is “gorgeous” but why just women? why are they not looked at for pure talent? and if they are, and they are not to societies standards “beautiful” then are they just a lost shadow in the crowd? Must you be gorgeous to be good? 

[statsnotsex]

Although this does show men exceeding women in performance, this is what we should see everyday instead of this notion that men are superior to women regardless of hard facts. If you look at the charts closely the men did not do SO much better than the women as to have them go unrecognized for their accomplishments. 

[statsnotsex]

Female Athletes Still Face Inequality

“As the WNBA moves into the final stretch of its 15th season, attendance rose along with TV viewership and is at its highest since 2005. ESPN also reported that the network’s 12 regular-season broadcasts drew an average of 270,000 viewers, an increase from LAST year.

Even with all this obvious success and increase in popularity, it seems that the WNBA is still looming in the NBA’s shadow. This makes it difficult for female athletes to be taken seriously in comparison to their male counterparts.

Is this because FEMALE athletes don’t have what it takes to make it in the world of sports or could it be more of a social issue?

One of the theories behind this is that society doesn’t like to see women in roles that go against the norm of what a woman “should be.” The traditional female traits include being sexy, highly feminine, passive, graceful and weak. Nowhere does the word “athletic” appear on that list.

These female athletes are not just playing a sport that they excel in. They are breaking down barriers that have always left women outside the world of professional sports. The idea of a strong, fast, powerful woman leaves many feeling uncomfortable because it isn’t seen as an attractive or traditional characteristic.

Female athletes have trouble receiving equal pay when compared to men and getting sponsorship DEALS, making it difficult for them to stand out in their sport.

According to Forbes online, the world’s highest paid female athlete is tennis player Maria Sharapova, who is on top for the ninth straight year with $29 million in earnings from PRIZE money, endorsements, and appearance fees between June 2012 and June 2013. This seems like a hefty amount until you compare it with Tiger Woods, who is the world’s highest paid athlete with $78 million in earnings (including sponsorships, endorsements, etc.).

It seems that in the world of sports, the disparity in pay between men and women is greater than the workers of the United States, in which women EARN 77 cents for every dollar earned by men accordingto data from the Center for American Progress.” (Rodriguez, 2013)

Women not only experience a pay disparity, they also encounter a different side of the media.

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She's an athlete underneath it all.

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She's an athlete not a sex symbol.

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Ronda “roundhouse” Rousey started out as an olympic female judo wrestler who tensioned into the UFC, she is an amazing competitor and has come so far from where she started form. She is a beautiful women who has defeated many odds in the ways in which she has come into her own as a professional Mixed Marial Arts performer. She defies odds for women in sport.

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35 touchdouns, 232 carries, 8 years old in 2012, 1911 yards 8.2 yards per carry, 65 tackles, now 11 years old could be the next star of the NFL. She is out running all of the boys, how can this go unnoticed?

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Men and women alike have made huge strides in sports and continue to push the limits.  Sports are very popular in the United States and they are widely covered in both print and video.  Women unfortunately are given much less coverage when it comes to sports and when they are covered, they are often turned into sexual objects instead of being admired for their athletic accomplishments 

Even in magazines geared specifically at covering sports topics cover women athletics in sexualized ways.  This was particularly evident in the June 2000 cover of Sports Illustrated of tennis star Anna Kournikova.  This devalues female athletes and sends a bad message to young women across the country.  We need to stick to #statsnotsex .   Look at the differences in how Sports Illustrated covers male tennis stars on the cover.

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And hopefully climbing everyday since that statistic was recorded!

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Any women can do anything any man can do given the opportunity. The world just needs to realize the capabilities and finally accept them.