Sarah (and others),
> > Do list members have examples of other sports where this is the
> > case?
>
> Of course most sports actually perpetuate exclusionary policies.
> Mostly they are aimed at excluding women from sport. You only
> have to look at the sports reviewed after the evening news to see
> the value which is placed on 'male' sports and which is not
> accorded to women doing sport.
This may be true of countries where only a small number of sports are
considered 'serious' and thus reported. In countries where outdoor life in
general and sport in particular are more 'celebrated' and particpated in
you find more coverage of more sports and more players, including women.
I would argue that South Africa and Australia are good examples of this.
In both the results of their netballers and female cricketers are quite
well reported. Admittedly this is a relatively recent phenomena.
Also in Olympic and Commonwealth games both countries display a lot of
(media) interest in male and female competitors alike - as long as they
are competitive, or better still, medal winner.
> The tragedy of this situation is that there are fewer girls than boys
> who feel that sport is something they can aspire to. Combined with
> incipient racism, the sexual aparteid of sports (like football) is
> shocking in my opinion . Lack of role models and value for girls in
> sport has implications for the long term health of women in general.
It also depends on how sport and exercise are perceived in a society. In
some places it seems a punishment you endure while you are at school. In
others it is part of life and an emphasise is placed on playing sport.
> Normal responses that I get to this observation are that 1) women
> are no good at sport and no one would want to watch them on TV.
> and 2) there are women's football/cricket etc teams so what am I
> complaining about?
>
> My response to point 1) is that this is clearly ludicrous. There are
> some really excellent women athletes who could teach a thing or to
> to your average non-professional (male) football player.
The Australian women's cricket team would probably beat a fair number of
English county sides. The current world record holder for the highest
score in a World Cup innings is an Australian women (something over 200).
I know among American soccer/football fans they have a very high regard
for their (very proficient and succesful) women's team. Indeed in
Portland, Oregon they are about to have a game (the USA play Canada this
Sunday) to celebrate the team before the Women's World Cup.
> My response to point 2) people don't want to watch women playing
> sport on TV because they are not accustomed to having the choice
> to do so, and because they are culturally conditioned to regard it as
> an inferior option. What ever the reason, it doesn't change the need
> to pro-actively encourage girls and women into greater
> participation in sporting activities generally. Rendering women
> doing sports invisible is clearly not the way to achieve this.
The real problem then is getting women's sport into the media.
----
au revoir
niall johnson
Email: [log in to unmask]
Department of Geography and Sidney Sussex College
University of Cambridge Cambridge
England CB2 3EN England CB2 3HU
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