Blog 2: Gender Representation in Sports
Bria Quarles-Harris
Prompt 1:
Serena Williams
Prompt 1:
There is no doubt that Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players in the world. Notice that I didn’t say she is one of the greatest female tennis players because Serena is considered to be the best at professional tennis between men and women. While she is a highly respected and an inspiration for people all over the world her success does not come without public banter and belittlement. It is important to note that in the professional world of tennis approximately 95% of players, both men and women, are of Caucasian descent and often from Europe so for many people seeing Williams, a black woman, is different from what they expect even though she has been in the game for years.
Recently, Williams was fined $17,000 at the 2018 U.S Open after getting into a heated argument of cheating accusations during a match. The official had revoked a point from Williams, which understandably made her upset, and when she then called him a thief and told him he was wrong. He then charged her with one violation, only escalating it more resulting in two more violations. There was plenty of controversy against the violations most of them arguing that Williams had every right to be upset while others claimed she was acting outrageous (when she really was not).
The interesting part to this matter was the idea that many fellow white players chimed in and admitted that they had acted far worse than her and have never been penalized for their actions. Some said they had even smashed their racket and the most they were given was a warning and recognized the unfair treatment she had faced. They even questioned how things would have panned out had Williams been a white woman.
I choose this example because it draws attention to a very important discussion to the idea of how women, especially women of color, treated in sports and fitness. Women already have to fight twice as hard if not harder to earn even half the respect of that of a man, but women of color have greater setbacks with harsher consequences for their actions. It is unfortunate that there is still a fine divide between the treatment of men and women in sports.
Prompt 2:
According to the Griswold’s Cultural Diamond Serena Williams
would be the cultural object, sports broadcasters (like ESPN) would be the
producers/creators, the realm of tennis would be the social world, and viewers
of the game would be the receivers. Media outlets around the world had the
ability to alter the message on Serena Williams that would be received from
2018 U.S Open. They can easily alter her portrayal as being either negative
(being rude and offensive) or positive (standing up for herself and not backing
down). It is all about what facts they choose to include and exclude from the
narrative meaning the receivers can make assumptions on little information.
Depending on where the information is coming from others aside from myself may
interpret messages differently this is usually how most controversies begin. I
think that the idea of this message was meant to say that women should remain
quiet and just play the game, but when Serena changed the dynamic they were
quick to say she is unruly and unprofessional. This message could have been sent
as a warning that if women don’t “behave” a certain way or they’ll be put back
in place through consequences.
Hey Bria. I loved what you had to say and all your thoughts on the topic. I too, chose to base my blog off of a sports frame of reference and it is true what you say about how females are treated and misrepresented within the sports world... especially a female of color at that. This is a topic many of us should be aware of due to the mere fact that it's unfair and the fact that we also live in a country who primarily bases their foundations and morals off of/into sports and athletes you would think that we wouldn't have this sort of scrutiny occurring.
ReplyDeleteHey Bria! I completely agree with what you said about the way women, and especially WOC, are treated in sports. Women across all sports genres are still expected to act respectively, and dress accordingly to attract the right type of attention. It is all forced upon by rules that are made up by mostly men, thus showing this overwhelming shadow of the male gaze that hangs over women in general and even women in the sports world. There was also the controversy over Serena’s outfit a while back, which wasn’t chosen for attention, but for the fact that she needed the suit for the blood clots in her legs. Also another female tennis player, Anize Cornet, turned her shirt around on the court because it was backwards and got penalized for doing so, even though, men do this and even take off their shirts all the time on the court without any repercussions. This just goes to show that women are still fighting everyday in the sports world to be treated as equals to men, even when they are the best of the best, and especially when they are women of color.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you did your blog on this! Recently over the summer I started watching tennis which I think is a sport that does not get as much attention as other sports such as basketball, baseball and football. Anyway as I began watching men and women play I saw differences in the games but it did not occur to me how important these were until this match with Serena Williams. I became so infuriated because I had been watching tennis for awhile but never thought about how unfair the women tennis players were treated. All the things Serena and others have said about how men have done worse things during games and do not get in trouble for it were very clear to me after watching many matches. Therefore I think this is a very impactful event that people should be aware of and analyze very carefully. You have touched upon many great points thank you.
ReplyDeleteSerena williams is by far the best female tennis player of all time and even argued to be the best athlete of all time. I remember seeing coverage on espn about how serena was fined because of her furious outrage. When in reality men have done way worse in tennis and have had no consequences at all. This is a horrible double standard that needs to change so both men and women can be face the same consequences for the same actions.
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