We call America "land of the free", a place where dreams come true and discrimination is only found in history books. Would you agree with this? For years people everywhere fled their homes in search of freedom and more opportunities, but only a select few benefited; white men. We have come a long way since the nineteenth century but anyone can see the huge gender gap in occupations, society and especially sports. Women unlike men have only had the option of playing sports for a few decades. Though they were frowned upon, women were permitted to play in their back yards and on playgrounds but it was not too long ago when they were finally allowed to join organized sports. Bills and acts were passed and amendments were added to improve the inequity of women, but we are still far from equality in job opportunities and even further in sports. I point my finger at society for these discriminations and claim that social constructions have led to prejudiced outlooks on working!

females, athletic females and worst of all, females in general.

In an effort to bring an end to overt and deliberate discrimination against female athletes Title Nine was passed in 1972. This mark

omen challenge those beliefs they are viewed negatively. The media function's to reinforce traditional values rather than to challenge or lead in the transformation to more enlightened thinking (Cohen 1993). This is socialization at its finest.

ay from depicting true female athletes and leans towards patriarchal values, people will believe these things because they are the norms as of right now. Like I said socialization at it's best. I would like to think of America as the land of the free and without discrimination but the fact that I am a female athlete makes that notion nearly impossible. I think basketball coach Tara Van Derveer sums it up best when she says, "the reason the media keep women's sports out of the news is because when the 'old guard' sees woman running free on the playing fields, they bristle at the fact that women aren't barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen."

Not only are female athletes portrayed as sexual objects to exhibit less of a threat to patriarchal values, they are also portrayed this way to suggest more feminine and conventional beliefs. The media is hesitant when covering female sports because the possibility of lesbians is threatening and it challenges male hegemony by upsetting existing power structures based on gender and sexuality (Kane & Lenskyi 1998). The fear that sport participation causes females to become lesbians is a primary reason that some parents tend to lead their daughters away from sports, and that others choose not to acknowledge women's sports at all. When the media exploits such assumptions, those who oppose women's attempts to gain equal access to sporting opportunities and resources can call forth homophobic assertions and 'scare' people away from participation (Kane & Lenskyi 1998). I believe that an attack on sexual preference is just another way for society to hold female athletes down and a!

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"Women's movement into sport represents a genuine quest by women for equalit

Some common words found in the essay are:
Daily Targum, Kane Lenskyi, Sports Society, Unfortunately Rutgers, OJ Simpson, Flo Jo, Athletic Center, Title Nine, Van Derveer, Sports American, female athletes, media coverage, kane 1996, women's sports, female sports, america land free, gender gap, patriarchal values, land free, athletes portrayed, america land, drops ball rutgers, njn drops ball, kane lenskyi 1998, 1996 female athletes,
Approximate Word count = 1366
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)