This article
stresses on the lack of attention that Brittney Griner received when she came
out as gay during an interview. There was little to no media attention shown on
social media, message boards, and almost zero analysis on what the announcement
meant for the tolerance of gay people in our society today. This athlete was
the number one pick in the W.N.B.A. and there was zero reaction, it didn’t quite
add up. One of the best players in the world came out as a lesbian, and no one
seemed to blink an eye.
While Brittney seemed to have no hesitation,
it was spoken about as if she had already talked about it before openly. The article
discusses what kind of impact on society it would be if a male athlete had come
out as gay. They also mentioned how there was word that an NFL player might
come out to be gay and it got 10 times the traffic that Brittney’s interview
did. The executive director of GO! Athletics spoke out about how sexism plays a
huge role in the L.B.G.T. community and how it creates a problem for women looking
for role models in women’s athletics. It just shows that stereotypes about
women in athletics are still a problem today.
I can see both sides of people's opinions. In a way I think that it was good that people didn't really act on it and say their opinions. There could have been a lot of negative comments towards Brittney when this whole thing went down. On the other hand, it would have been awesome for people to support Brittney saying that they are standing behind her still. I definitely think that if a male professional athlete were to come out as gay it would show up way more in the media. I also think that there would be a lot of negative comments and positive comments as well. I think that this shows that men's sports in society are more important then women's. This is what a lot of people think and will continue to think for a long time. Women athletes aren't as popular as male athletes. This is why I think that Brittany didn't get a lot of attention in media when she came out as gay.
ReplyDelete-Gina Costanzo
I think that there is definitely a difference between a female athlete coming out as gay and a male athlete coming out as gay. Clearly, the Brittney Griner case was handled much differently than the Michael Sam or Jason Collins case. When Brittney Griner publicly came out there was really no reaction at all, whether supportive or demeaning. However, in both cases where a male athlete came out as gay, there was a media frenzy. Male athletes coming out as gay become the sports headlines for a while. I agree with you in the sense that it is an issue that nobody really paid attention to Brittney Griner when she came out publicly. It just doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense that people freaked out over Michael Sam and Jason Collins, who weren’t superstars, but had no reaction at all to the best women’s basketball player of that draft class.
ReplyDelete-Kaleb Kuzma
I think it is quite surprising that Brittney Griner came out but nobody was paying attention to that. However, it makes sense because women’s sports don’t gain mass attention as men’s sports do. In the other hand, Jason Collins, former NBA player, came out as first openly gay athlete in professional sport, and the news was all over ESPN and other sport media. I think another reason for lack of media coverage of Brittney Griner because she played really good and looked masculine, and people had the idea of “she plays like a man so that she must be a lesbian.” Therefore, when Brittney Griner came out, nobody was surprised that she is a lesbian. We talked about masculinity and femininity before, and I recall that no matter of sex, everybody could be either masculine or feminine. A man who is feminine is not necessary a gay and vice versa, and we should stop putting those stereotypes on people who do not deserve them.
ReplyDeleteHaoyan Gu
I think the main reason that there was not a lot of attention to Brittney Griner was because she was not the first female athlete to come out as lesbian. There are many women that have already come out as lesbian and there are many already in the WNBA. Also many people already assumed that she was a lesbian. They assumed this because of how she talks, dresses, acts and plays. There was a lot more coverage of Jason Collins and Michael Sam because they were the first males of their sports to come out as gay. Also this got a lot of coverage because many people didn’t expect it from these players.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Brittney Griner got a big reaction when she came out as gay because everyone already knew. When it comes to athletes, it is a lot easier for males to hide that they are gay than a female. I do not think Griner is the only gay female athlete playing at that level, and I can normally point them out. When it comes to men though, it is much more difficult to tell. Because they are athletes they have no choice to be muscular and manly looking, they do not have the chance to be feminine. Gay females on the other hand can look much more masculine than the rest of the girls they play with, both with their body and how they dress. This is why I do not think it is as big of a deal when a female comes out versus a male, because most people already know.
ReplyDelete