Misogyny in sports
For example, in more recent years, champion tennis player Serena Williams has been verbally attacked for her appearance while wrestler Ronda Rousey has been constantly questioned about her sexuality.
In the sports industry, in comparison, overt sexist remarks are still commonplace and tend to result in less public backlash than similar statements given in other settings.
More recently, prominent sportswomen Serena Williams and Ronda Rousey, as well as Women's World Cup soccer players, have spoken out about misogyny in sport.
Journalist Julie Dicaro was personally attacked after she reported on rape allegations against Patrick Kane, the Chicago Blackhawks star player.
According to Cheryl Cooky's TEDx talk, a professor in American studies, gender, and sexuality at Purdue University, the marginalization of female athletes in mainstream sports media and sponsorship opportunities is nothing new.
According to Cooky, female athletes need more visibility to ensure their access to necessary resources and financial security, which has an impact on their professional development.
From about the mid-2000s, language turned "gender bland", promoting a sexist slant by means of unenthusiastic recitals of performance, lending a lackluster patina to them as compared to men's.
The researchers suggest that gender bland sexism elevates men with more entertaining language so that they garner more followers and media attention, taking the spotlight off female sports.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who announced his resignation in 2015 in the wake of criminal charges, suggested that women should "wear sexier uniforms to boost ratings".
[32][33] Title IX for example is a legislation that was passed in 1972 to that provided different provisions that protected the rights of equality in sports for women and girls.
[34] The participation of girls and women in sports has brought about numerous immediate and long-term benefits that have a lasting impact on both the female gender and the society at large.
Other factors such as body shaping and fan culture are some of the motivation strategies that concerned individuals in the society are taking up to increase women and girl's participation in sports.
In fact, "in the most visible and arguably most important positions in sport—head coaches, athletic administrators, and sports editors—women remain so marginalized they're essentially statistical tokens—that is, they represent less than 15 percent of the workforce population.
The Title IX legislation was passed in 1972 and required schools that received federal funding to provide equality for boys and girls.
"[54] This research establishes view points and supportive information on why there are fewer women in leadership roles than men throughout the sport industry.
[57] External barriers encounter by women include: "societal views, sex role stereotypes, negative attitudes towards female competence, and the prevalence of the "male managerial" model".
[63] There is a push to have women in more high level coaching roles, with the introduction of Jessica Campbell as the first female assistant coach in NHL history[64] According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), "working women face higher risks than men from job-related stress, and one of the most noxious stressors sexual harassment.
However, other figures including "medical doctors or personnel, physiotherapists, strangers, national team committee members, or site managers" were also involved in reported accounts of sexual harassment, just on a lower scale.
They happened in a number of places (on team trips, during training or in private locations like the home or vehicle of a coach or older athlete) rather than restricted to a single and predictable site.
[69] "Harms caused by harassment and abuse still represent a blind spot for many sport organisations, either through fear of reputational damage or through ignorance, silence and collusion.
"[66] Female athletes and sports industry employees need more education on what acts of sexual harassment look like, how to seek help, and who they can trust to speak out to.
Therefore, there is a legal and moral duty of care incumbent on those who organize sport, to ensure that risks of non-accidental violence are identified and mitigated.
"[66] Another factor that contributes to the existence of sexual harassment of female athletes is the male-dominated power dynamic between men and women in the world of sports.
[70] Women in powerful positions, such as successful athletes, are often viewed as too assertive, thus receiving harassment for challenging the preconceived notion of a hierarchy.
[69] The disproportion between men and women in this position may discourage female sport media print professionals from reporting such incidents of sexual harassment according to an article published by Christina Coleburn.
Psychological and somatic outcomes include negative effects on self-esteem and life satisfaction, low sense of self-confidence, negative effects on women's relationships with other men, anger, fear, anxiety, depression, feelings of humiliation and alienation, a sense of helpless and vulnerability, headache, sleep disturbance, weight loss or gain, gastrointestinal disturbances and nausea.
In a report published by CQ Press in 2017, author Susan Ladika highlights the fact that "While athletes have gone to prison for their sex crimes, studies show that relatively few accusations lead to arrest or conviction."
Ladika cites research that explains the distinctive privilege that the athletes receive, stating "schools, leagues and Olympic organizations frequently have failed to investigate credible allegations and that sports programs have ignored or covered up sex crimes by star athletes, who often receive preferential treatment from schools, teams and police.
"[75] The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal occurred over the course of several years, but came to light in the latter months of 2017 and early 2018 involved former doctor Larry Nassar.
[76] The formerly discussed study, conducted by Sandra L. Kirby and Lorraine Greaves, states that some women admit becoming "desensitized" to verbal sexual harassment from coaches.
