By Kia Tyus
In class we discuss how when are rarely viewed for their
respective sport. When they get interviewed or photographed, everything is
usually sexier when photographed and with a significant other. The only videos
I found of women talking about their respective sport are before or after a
game or practice. In the video above, WNBA super star Cappie Pondexter, talks
about her move to New York and why exactly she choose to move there.
The video goes back and forth on multiple reasons for
moving. First, she moved for basketball reasons, but mainly she moved to
further her fashion career after basketball. I didn’t like how the video mostly
focused on her fashion career. The interviewer didn’t really ask basketball
related questions, like: what was your relationship with the coach, how do you
feel about the fan base.
I feel like when female athletes get interviewed, it’s hard
to make the public care about what they have to say. So, many of their
interviews have to do little with their sport and a lot to do with everything
else.
Even in the video above, the interviewer asked Pondexter
what team she feels has the best uniforms. To me, that was a bonehead question
that NBA players would never get asked.
Females need to demand the same respect that male athletes have.
A suggestion would be to refuse to answer question about their personal life
unless quality question about their sport are also asked.
You used an excellent example to illustrate the problem with media focusing on women athletes’ fashion careers but not their athletic careers. In men’s sports, the case is absolutely contrary—the fashion career is the additional career that makes a male athlete more popular. For example, Portugal soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has won three FIFA Golden Ball Awards, and recently he came out with his own line of soccer shoes, CR7. With this pair of shoes, Cristiano Ronaldo shines brighter on the field. However, the media still focuses on how many goals he scored, how many assists he dished and if he will win the next Golden Ball Award since he is so great on the field. I think there is a stereotype that people will focus on women athletes’ fashion careers more because they are women. Fans are not at fault, but the media is at fault and should take most of the responsibility.
ReplyDelete--Haoyan Gu
I agree with you on this argument. If you watch a day of ESPN you are most likely not going to see any coverage of women. Who is responsible for this? Is I the women? Is it the media? Is it our society? I believe it is all of them! Women deserve to be recognized for their athletic achievements just as much as men do. You made a good point where the reporter asked the player which team had the best uniforms. This problem originated in the society by stereotypes about women saying, they only like teams due to the “color” or “design” of the uniforms. Then it came to the media to show what achievements these women had made and due to society, there process of thinking transitioned from athletic and career based to stereotypical. Lastly it’s not as much women’s fault but when comments like this are made, I feel that women should lash out just like men do. When males get interviewed at the end of the game and they don’t like the way the interview is going, they tell you right then and there. I feel that women should start doing this as well. Media is clearly seeing how far they can go with the players on these issues and if women athletes start fighting back, maybe there will be more cause for sports related exposure rather than these stereotypical interviews. Overall I feel that this entry brought up some interesting views and the video was a big plus when getting into discussion.
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