Blog 2: Gender Representation
She Plays Like a Girl
Prompt 1:
For years we have heard the expression, “She plays like a girl” ,which can be interpreted as playing at a lower standard than males in athletic sports. There are some some individuals, that still live in the world where they believe that females cannot be as great at playing any kind of sport like males, who are apparently the only ones with that ability. Through time, that has changed in our society, we have seen the immense growth in Women Sports, which have proven that they too can be as good or even better at sports than just the males. In the movie Gracie, the story it tells the audience is about a girl named Grace Bowen, who is trying to demonstrate to her father and the rest of her school that she has the ability to play alongside with the boys in the soccer team. Now, the representation of girls at being athletes is being tested and not just in the sense that women cannot play sports but that they cannot play at the same level of male athletes.
Prompt 2:
Through the usage of the Cultural Diamond, the cultural artifact would be the movie Gracie, that is demonstrating to the social world in which is being sexist in sports that women can participate in physical activities. Sexist, refers to the “prejudice, stereotype, or discrimination, typically against women on basis of sex”. In sports, women are not supported as it is believed that they should not break the traditional role of a women and also relates to the representation of gender, in which women are not capable of playing any kind of rough sports and that it should just be left to the male figures. The producers of this cultural artifact would be the individuals, who are trying to break the stereotype toward athletic women. Now, this idea is being constructed by males, who think they are superior in athletic activities and are not giving the female figures the opportunity of proving them the contrary. They are just believing that because it is a lot of physical contact that women cannot handle it like them. The receivers/ audience, are young athletic girls, who are being told that they are not good enough or strong enough like the boys to play any physical activity. Although, the receivers could also be the men, who are being demonstrated the contrary of their belief in regard to women playing in rough activities. From this movie, the young athletic girls are being inspired that they too can compete in sports like their fellow male classmates and that they should not believe in the stereotypes that they hear about girls like themselves. Of course they are still going to be individuals who think differently on this issue but what the rest of us can only do is keep proving them wrong and maybe someday their opinion on this topic will change.
Hello Vanessa!
ReplyDeleteI love your review on women in sports. I think this a topic that often times if overlooked because of how mainstream men's sports are in our society. A lot of the times women sports are overlooked even though, if i remember correctly, awhile back they realized women's soccer had won more games than men's soccer but that's what most people watch.
I have never watched this movie but the concept seems very cool. I think it would be interesting to discuss why we don't have co ed sports teams? What bothers our society with the idea of men and women playing on the same team? I do agree that the superiority in men, especially in sports is a big problem. It can also be seen as toxic masculinity.
Hi Vanessa I agree with how women are often idolized as being inferior to men. But to see gracie be told that she "plays like a girl" while being a girl just makes the idea of gender equality seem false. Seeing her play on a team with all boys and be greater than the whole soccer team clearly sums it up that women are just as equivalent to men.
ReplyDelete