McKayla Sleasman

Sports in America- Term Paper

The participation of women in sports has been an uphill battle since the beginning. When

you look at the current definition of sport, it is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in

which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment; but there has

been a change between the beginning of sports, and those that we watch today. Throughout this

research, there will be evidence to support the reason women have had to persevere to participate

in sports, is due in part to the strong connections in history behind men's role in sports. Equality

in sports has made great strides, but women are still fighting even today. To bring the argument

full circle, many arguments are now gaining traction in reference to transgender men and women

getting involved in sports. Oftentimes, they are facing the same discrimination and obstacles that

women have faced in the past.

Modern sports and ancient sports are proven to be drastically different, and society has

yet to fully understand all elements of ancient sports. The starting point of sports can be argued

to date all the way back to the Sumerians. Evidence has been found in cave drawings that have

been interpreted as activities such as swimming, wrestling, and archery. Moving ahead to the

middle ages however, sports were focused around war. In many areas, sports were used to help

men train and prepare themselves for combat. Certain activities were used as mechanisms to

strengthen the bond between men, demonstrate teamwork, and stimulate their physical health. In

a reading by Mike Cronin he states,

“At the very heart of contemporary sport, and in its history, there exists a gender
blindness. Sport emerged to entertain, train, and build men's bodies: to instill in them a
moral, ethical, and physical code that would ensure their passage through life and
maintain the masculine hegemony that existed in a wider society. Such male sporting
bodies were part and parcel of the nation building process, and were later transformed by
 the media, in all its guises, into a form of commoditized entertainment where all of the
exploits of the male athlete dominate the daily coverage of sport” (Cronin, 3).

From my interpretation of Cronin, there is a fundamental principle that applies to masculinity in

sports. When sports began, they had a focus on men, women were not participants; and because

of this principle, as sports started affecting social and political aspects in society women did not

grow with the influence of sports, they were stuck under it.

Men however did get the advantages that came along with the popularity that arose. In

fact, sports became such a fixation for men, even religious movements used sports to their

advantage. Muscular Christianity was a movement in an attempt to draw men back into church

services. There were clubs and sporting teams that were introduced, some that even broke moral

standards that were upheld by the church, to make the connection of the physical and spiritual

bodies. The church and religion are just one example of how sports have transitioned from

entertainment and war training, to affecting various outlets in our modern lives. The media for

example has over time allowed sports to become one of the biggest businesses to date, but even

the media skews the aspect of equality between men and women. Conin gives a description of

sports and media, “Sport in its cultural and media forms is currently a predominantly male world

of million dollar salaries and enforcement packages, blanket multi-platform media coverage, and

endless cliche.” (Cronin, 4). On the contrary, women’s sports teams are not a highlighted feature

on media platforms, are offered less endorsements; and even today, their incomes are not

comparable to men.

Looking at the history of women's sports,

“A dominant belief in the 1800s was that each human had a fixed amount of energy. If
this energy were used for physical and intellectual tasks at the same time, it could be
hazardous. Horseback riding for pleasure, showboating, and swimming became
fashionable, but women were not encouraged to exert themselves. Such physical activity
 for a woman was thought to be especially hazardous because during menstruation she
was “periodically weakened” (The Sport Journal).

This belief was promoted by men in an effort to keep women out of competitive sport; yet it was

still important for women to be physically strong and able bodied in terms of family necessity.

Regardless, an athletic identity was considered unrelated. One male news journal even produced

an article that diagrammed a twelve step downfall of any women who engaged in the sinful sport

of croquet. Just to give an idea of the viewpoint of men during this time, the diagram led from

women hosting a croquet party, to poverty, discontent, shame, and disgrace. This type of dogma

did not stop women, and in these early times women used sports as a way to rebel. As the

women's suffrage movements increased, so did women in sports.

After the 19th amendment was added, there was an emphasis on women's freedom,

including sports. Athletics in women's colleges and in working-class factories amplified as a

strategy to keep women away from the movements they had been participating in, but despite the

advancements of women's rights, females were still being diminished at the hands of men.

According to Zirin, “Male sportswriters tended to vacillate, finding female athletic talent to

either be threatening or titillating. Paul Gallico wrote that there is no girl who can manage to

look anything but awful during the process of some strenuous game played on a hot day” (Zirin,

60). Many journalists attacked the appearance of female athletes and considered them “manly”,

and that did not change over time. Another example of the media diminishing an outstanding

female athlete is with Martina Navratilova. After statistically winning more money than any

other tennis player, man or woman, Navratilova faced criticism for looking, playing, and acting

like a man.

The most monumental turning point for equality in sports is largely due to Billie Jean

King, with her active participation in the movement for equality. Her victory in the “battle of the
sexes” tennis match is unequivocally related to the passing of the Title IX; which gives women

athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions that receive federal

funds, from elementary schools to colleges and universities. In his book, Zirin states, “ Its

greatest impact has been seen in spurring girls’ and women’s participation in sports. According

to the Women’s Sports Foundation, one in twenty seven high school girls played sports twenty

five years ago; more than one in three do today. Before Title IX, fewer than 32,000 women

participated in college sports; today that number exceeds 150,000.” (Zirin, 203).

Similarly to every other rule or guideline, Title IX has evolved over time. Women have

continued to fight to bring positive change into their own environments. Chirs Ernst is only one

example of how women enforced this change. According to The New York Times,

“ Ernest is a two-time Olympic rower. But in the spring of 1976, she was the captain of
Yale University’s women’s crew team — and sick of not having proper showers to use
after practice. She led 18 teammates in an eye-catching protest at Yale’s athletic office.
The athletes stripped to their waists, revealing the words “Title IX,” which had been
drawn in blue marker on each woman’s back and breasts. Within two weeks, the female
rowers had new locker rooms. And, across the country, educators began viewing Title IX
— which had been in effect for just four years — as a law that required compliance.”
(Mervosh)

It is through numerous examples of trailblazing women that sports has evolved to what we watch

today. Yet as sports continue to progress, controversy over gender roles in sports never

dissipates, only shifts.

In recent years , there has been a lot of discussion involving transgender men and women,

and how they fit into sports. Because historically there was such a divide in men versus women

sports, the regulation between transgender athletes was imminent. In a current article written by

Annie Blazer she writes,

Since 2020, the US has seen a wave of legislation, lawsuits, and court decisions trying to
determine who is allowed to play women’s sports. Republicans introduced a senate bill
on 22 September 2020 that would withdraw federal funding from schools that allowed
 trans women to participate on their sports teams, claiming this was necessary to “protect
women’s sports”. In the US House of Representatives, the Democratic Party presidential
candidate Tulsi Gabbard introduced the “Protect Women’s Sports Act of 2020”, intending
to restrict Title IX protections to only people assigned female at birth. These bills did not
pass but were part of a larger legislative push to ban transgender people from sports
(Blazer).

These actions, such as attempted legal changes, only amplify the fact that the crisis of gender

roles in sports is repeating itself.

An interesting point that legislators are trying to make involve the history of women

athletes, and how hard they had to fight to get the rights they have today. They are essentially

arguing that the road for women in sports was so difficult, they cannot allow biologically born

males be allowed to compete in women’s categories. I personally feel that there is an obvious

way to nullify this argument, and that is to look at what women had to do to prove themselves

decades ago. Women actually did compete with men consistently in order to prove themselves

and earn themselves the title of athlete. A progressive argument in terms of women's sports

reflects that the real reason for segregation in men and women was not to make things “fair”, it

was to create separate categories so that women can be regulated differently than men. One of

the concerns about trans athletes is gender fraud, but again taking a look at the history of sports

there are examples of women participating in sporting events under false pretenses, disguised as

men so that they can participate. In 1967, women weren’t allowed to officially enter the Boston

Marathon, so Kathrine Switzer entered that year as “K.V. Switzer” to hide her gender.

Two miles in, an official tried to eject her from the course. She finished anyway, becoming the

first woman to complete the race as an official entrant” (Mervosh).

In essence, equality in sports has been an uphill battle throughout all of history. The way

that sports has infiltrated various aspects of our lives including religion, media presence, and

political standpoints; there is an obvious connection to its ability to suppress women’s sports.
The masculinity that is emphasized through physical activity has been prioritized in history, yet

has changed direction in the last few years. The gender roles in sports has now come full circle to

now try and diminish the ability of transgender athletes from competing at all, the same way we

have diminished women from sports in the past. I wonder if potentially in the future, males and

females assimilate to the same leagues. If so, how would that change the regulations and salary

discrepancies that we see today?

Works Cited:

● Blazer A. Gender Policing in Girls’ and Women’s Sports. Religions. 2023; 14(8):1054.

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081054

● McKay, B. and K. (2021, September 26). When Christianity was muscular. The Art of

Manliness.

https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/knowledge-of-men/when-christianity-was-mus

cular

● Women’s Sports History. National Women’s History Museum. (2016, August 4).

https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/womens-sports-history

● Mervosh, S., & Caron, C. (2019, March 8). 8 times women in sports fought for Equality.

The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/sports/women-sports-equality.html

● A history of women in sport prior to title IX. The Sport Journal. (2016, October 12).

https://thesportjournal.org/article/a-history-of-women-in-sport-prior-to-title-ix/

● Zirin, D. (2009). A people’s history of sports in the United States: 250 years of politics,

protest, people, and play. New Press.

● Cronin, M. (2014). Sport: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.