Personal Narrative: Shameful Coverage Of Women In Sports

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Basketball has been in my blood since the third grade. I look up to the female high school and WNBA players. No matter the level of girls’ basketball, I was into it. As I grew up, I continued to play the game that I loved. But as the years passed by I noticed something: nobody was really ever at our games. Our parents were obviously there to support us, but other than that, no one else showed up. However, when I started to attend the boys’ games in high school, I took note of the fact that every seat was full. I was genuinely confused by this. They had an overall record of 1-19 by the end of the season while the girls’ team had a record of 18-4. Why were they getting all of the fame when we were having all of the success? …show more content…

There might be one specific reason that made these numbers drop so drastically: “…sports journalists might believe their responsibility is not to build audiences but to give the current audience what it wants to see” (Kroh). This quote is seen in an article called SportCenter’s Shameful Coverage of Women’s Sports, which explains that the decline in women’s sports broadcasting is due to the fact that men’s sports bring in more viewers because people want to see men’s sports. If this decline keeps up, there will eventually be no coverage of female athletics in the media--not like there is any to being …show more content…

“Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity” (Overview of Title IX). In other words, this law says that you cannot prevent a woman from participating in a sport based on her sex. The three sports that women participated in before this law was passed were golf, bowling and gymnastics: none of them very popular (Frantz). Women were looked down upon for trying to do something that was out-of-the-ordinary for their gender. It seems like women have always been seen as the caregivers in the family. For them to break out of that mold and to participate in athletics was something unheard of. This trend has continued into the twenty-first century. In March of 2015, 1,800 men and women were polled and asked if men and women were equal in math, science and sports. The majority of the people said that men and women were equal in math and science. But when it came to sports, 32% of women and 47% of men said that men were better at sports (Wallace). It appears that men and women still believe in the tradition that was set forth in the past: women are weaker than men. This belief amazes me because even after years of fighting for equality between men and women, there is still some prejudice towards women and their abilities. Women and their teams are not recognized for what

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