Presenter: Megan Schucht
Co-Presenters: Megan Davis, Amy Lee
Faculty Mentor: Julie Heffernan
Presentation Type: Poster 36
Primary Research Area: Humanities
Major: Educational Foundations
In what ways has gender roles and stereotypes affected women’s relationship to sports?
There is a need to improve the quality of women’s athletic experience. With Title IX, there has been an increase in sport participation but a significant decrease in women coaching the sport. However, female athletes are rarely included in the media and are often sexually objectified when they do receive media attention. Female athletes who are able to display the balance of masculinity and femininity receive the most attention and positive outputs by the media whereas those who are not able to show that balance are not shown or interviewed by the media. In order to be a successful female athlete, one must be able to provide that impossible balance of femininity and amazing skill. Our society has created an invisible line between what is too feminine and what is too masculine. This balance between masculine and feminine traits is known as the feminine apologetic where masculine power roles must be counter balanced with feminine qualities. This project has helped us gain an in depth understanding of the women’s role in sports and how it has made a significant impact today and will continue to make a change in the future.