Gendered Sports

As an athlete who spent years competing in a women’s sport, I developed an interest in the relationship between gender and competitive sports. This interest led me to read a very interesting book, “Playing With the Boys,” by authors McDonagh and Pappano, who discuss the way sports are organized so men and boys dominate and are celebrated. The authors talk about how sports we associate with strength and power and even American culture, like football and baseball, are spheres for boys and how girls are directed towards gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming (my sport).

The outfits that are preferred for those female sports reinforce the girly, delicate image of girls. In face, these sports typically demand that female athletes dress like girls in body enhancing, sparkly uniforms, reminding viewers and judges that even accomplished female athletes are pretty princesses. At the Tokyo Olympics, female athletes began to challenge such demands, refusing to don the traditional gendered attire for their sports. Both the German gymnastics team and the Norwegian beach handball players rejected the revealing uniforms of past competitions, choosing comfortable and more modest attire that could be said to draw less attention to looks and more to athletic performance. This has inspired many women, including myself, to realize in the world of sports we are more than our bodies.