I am always searching for news about women in sports. It is my mission and my assignment. Alas, my research for the evening led me to this Women of Sports website.
Now, the disclaimer on this site is as follows:
As I look through the athlete listing I am forced to give props to the fact that the site at least lists athletes from many a sport. It's not often you see the women of boxing or water polo get much attention. However, that said, I am having difficulty seeing how this site is even remotely trying to appreciate a woman's talent in her respective sport. For instance, the links to Mia StJohn or Jackie Frank do little to nothing beyond show a woman as a sex symbol. If the site was not so kind as to tell me what sport each of these women participates in I would never in a million years be able to come up with it on my own. Okay, perhaps with the boxing gloves on Mia I could hazard a guess, but it doesn't make her look like an active boxer, that is for sure.
In fact, click on any of the women and you are quite hard pressed to see them actually being represented as an athlete. Seriously, am I missing the tribute to the athlete in these women? If so, please someone clarify this for me as I am at a loss.
Now, the disclaimer on this site is as follows:
The intention is not to demean the value of the female athlete but to admire them and appreciate both their talent and their attributes and so we have done our best to not only include the sexy pictures, but also those that show the women at their best.Right then. Sounds all well and good, but if you look at some of the links on the site you get to choose from (1) Vote on Women (2) Who's Hotter (3) Athlete Listing (4) Top Tens.
As I look through the athlete listing I am forced to give props to the fact that the site at least lists athletes from many a sport. It's not often you see the women of boxing or water polo get much attention. However, that said, I am having difficulty seeing how this site is even remotely trying to appreciate a woman's talent in her respective sport. For instance, the links to Mia StJohn or Jackie Frank do little to nothing beyond show a woman as a sex symbol. If the site was not so kind as to tell me what sport each of these women participates in I would never in a million years be able to come up with it on my own. Okay, perhaps with the boxing gloves on Mia I could hazard a guess, but it doesn't make her look like an active boxer, that is for sure.
In fact, click on any of the women and you are quite hard pressed to see them actually being represented as an athlete. Seriously, am I missing the tribute to the athlete in these women? If so, please someone clarify this for me as I am at a loss.
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2 comments:
I just went to that site, and I totally missed the part where they show "the women at their best." Many of the pictures were of women as "sex symbols." Wouldn't really have thought it was a women athletes site if not for the title/sports listing next to the names. Disappointing, but not really surprising...
Yeah, Maus, you are right that these women are being treated more like sex symbols/models than athletes. Perhaps we should set us a real women in sports site on the largely abandoned Armchair Philosophies site. You could head that up for us - a real sports site with pictures of them competing rather than longing around in their underpants... in trees, oddly enough.
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