Discrimination Of Women In Sports Essay

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Although women are ‘known’ for being feminine and soft, yet they can be good at sports. Nowadays in the 20th century, female discrimination continues to spread through the American society. Females in the US continue to be viewed as the "weaker sex", and inescapably this mentality continues to impact women in the American society. Discrimination of women in sports has increased over the years causing several effects on them; developing numerous psychological problems, developing health problems, and changing their physical appearance. But is it true that women can’t play rough, masculine sports just because of their gender? One of the effects that sports have on women is that it effects how they look and act. Since rough and manly sports such as weight lifting, it requires a strong and masculine physique. Therefore, women will want to overpower men in strength sports just to prove themselves. Thus, they will become addicted to exercising to develop a muscular body. But that won’t be enough to result in bulky and huge muscles, subsequently they will start taking steroids to help them appear bulky and sturdy. However, when women enter these kind of sports their behavior will be confusing because of steroids, and traits of aggression and hostility will arise. Also, they will start acting like men, in the way they dress and communicate; they will start wearing gym clothes everywhere and they will cut their hair like men. A relevant example of this is the female bodybuilder show, in which women with muscles step in front of the audience that would be judged by men, and the women with the most muscles will win the show. O’reilly and Cahn’s stated in their book some myths in sports, that men think are true about women. …show more content…
These myths claim that women have frail physiques, and weak minds. As well as creating a masculine identity for them in which they will be judged harshly, and they are too kind and apologetic to contribute in sports that include violence. O'reilly and Cahn concluded that all of these myths have greatly impacted women athletes for many decades and are a contributing factor to the gender inequality. Moreover, since these myths are affecting women psychologically, it made them participate in many rough sports such as: boxing, weightlifting and football. But when they became bulky and masculine “the media uses terms like 'dike' or 'butch' to describe these women.” (Cahn & O'Reilly, 2007). Resulting in the collapse of a woman's confidence as well as their mental strength. On the other hand, with the excessive exercising, the large amount of steroids, and lack of healthy food, sports can affect the women’s health. It often includes eating disorder, interrupted menstruation, heart disease, and many more. The most common disease according to doctor Haskell, W.L. from the Physical activity and public health, for excessive exercising is Cardiovascular Disease which often causes heart disease, high blood pressure or stroke. It currently accounts for one-third of deaths among women who exercise too much (Haskell, W.L., 2014). Although being an athlete is widely known for making a person healthier and more active; too much working out can increase the risk of having heart diseases or disability; a person might have an unfortunate injury such as a torn tendon, or a direct strike to the spine which might result in a

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