Images of Women in Sport The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

Images of Women in Sport: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Throughout history, men have placed limitations on womens activities, including sport. Women have gone through times where physical exertion was considered too stressing for women, physiologically and emotionally, as well as everything short of encouragement. The image of the pre-sport woman, twirling her umbrella while being drawn by horse and carriage attired in full petticoat, etc., is a sight that shows how far women have come, but how much more still has to be done to achieve equality. I view the image of women prior to sport as ugly because not only was their right to partake in sports suppressed, but also their rights as women and as citizens. This image of women,†¦show more content†¦My modern day example of this is Anna Kournikova. She uses her sex symbol status for self-promotion and money making opportunities when she could also be helping to break barriers in tennis for women. She is not known for her sport prowess, but rather for Enrique Iglesias girlfriend or t he Adidas commercials. The men of society just fuel the fire that is Anna. Sports sex symbols, like Anna, set fire to advancements women have made in sport, just like with any other womens movement. Anna has the looks, the boyfriend, and any other typical feature that a male dominated society typically looks for in a woman symbol. They would rather focus on the meek Anna who is not even a good tennis player than tennis legends. These symbols encourage objectification instead of appreciating women for their talents and strengths. Another prime example is the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Even the Womens Sports Illustrated magazine had a male swimsuit issue in its last year of publication, a sign that the magazine was doing more harm than good to womens sports. Other bad images of women in sport are the stereotypical assumptions currently inbred and projected into our society. 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