Let’s go. Again. Women’s sports get media coverage and men feel the need to make sure we all know that no one cares about women’s sports. “Women’s sports are not interesting.” “Men’s sports are better.” “Women don’t deserve media coverage.”
It intrigues me that people who claim to care so little about women’s sports feel such an intense need to share how little they care.
Jason Whitlock is a hacker
The most recent contribution to the lack of concern goes to well-known sports pundit Jason Whitlock, who was upset that ESPN’s late-night report SportsCenter on Monday dared to devote the first six minutes to two college women’s basketball games. Then, after being called out for it, he took to the right-wing Blaze Media and blasted ESPN for pandering to feminists and blasting women for daring to see media coverage of women’s sports. He managed to indirectly insult men as well, and on top of this spectacular whining he added accusations of racism.
Here’s what it’s all about, Jason. You argue that women are not owed compensation because “they were not mistreated, denied their freedom or relegated to an inferior position. They are not victims of an exploitative patriarchal tradition.” Two sentences later, you label women as the “weaker sex”, putting them in an inferior position. To say that women’s sports don’t deserve the attention they get makes them victims of an exploitative patriarchal tradition.
The flip side of that coin is that men are not entitled to all sports reports. Or all the featured sports reports. Whitlock asks what percentage of sports fans, exactly, are served by a six-minute broadcast of women’s basketball.
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The answer is a rapidly increasing percentage.
An increasing number of competitors in women’s athletics
The Women’s Sports Foundation reports that 60 girls participate in high school sports. Approximately 44 percent participate in college sports. 2022 brought record viewership. A study by the National Research Group found that 30 percent of respondents say they watch more women’s sports than they did five years ago.
Reason no. 1 for growth? “More women’s sports are being broadcast.”
It’s not just women watching
What hasn’t been mentioned is that this growth isn’t just among women; men are also watching. Fathers watch with their daughters; many boasted on Twitter Featuring Kendall Coyne Schofield at the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills competition, saying that not only has she served as a role model for their daughters, but their daughters now understand that hockey is a sport they can play.
DJ Dunson recorded the broadcast contracts signed by ESPN for women’s basketball, both the NCAA and the WNBA. Front Office Sports points out broadcast contract with the NWSL. Viewership of women’s sporting events has soared in the past few years, and demand continues to grow.
Whitlock doesn’t take any of that into consideration, simply calling ESPN putting women’s college basketball on ESPN as “condescending to the feminist agenda.” The latest version of a USC/Purdue University study of sports coverage by gender found that 5.7 percent of ESPN’s SportsCenter broadcasts were devoted to women’s sports.
Almost six percent. What an investment. There is a feminist agenda disassembled sports patriarchy. Or maybe, just maybe, ESPN does not pander to the feminist agenda. They may be making a business decision to meet a rapidly growing audience and demand.
Whitlock believes that women only get coverage in the sports media because they have beaten down those media entities and created a type of weak and lying men who are simply unnecessary in society. Those six minutes on SportsCenter clearly represent the complete downfall of American society. That’s a hell of a claim to make up about six percent of all coverage on SportsCenter, or six minutes of coverage a night.
Women watch sports. Women play sports. Women love sports. That is not a feminist agenda. That’s a fact. No one is asking for all men’s sports to stop being covered in favor of all women, all the time. No one is aiming to destroy men in society through more coverage of women’s basketball.
It is not strange or unreasonable that women want media coverage. Especially when the numbers show the demand for a women’s sports program. Representation matters, and the next generation of young women who want to play sports should see Caitlyn Clark, Alex Morgan, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Coco Gauff, Jocelyn Alo, or a host of other amazing athletes playing the sports they love.
Social stigma surrounding women’s sports
The Women’s Sports Foundation notes one of the the main reasons why girls give up sports is due to social stigma — specifically, girls experience abuse and social isolation because of their doing sports. Bullying… like men posting on social media that women’s sports are boring, that no one cares, that they’re ruining sports, ruining society. Recent search LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne ime on Twitter found several videos taken by men in which they masturbate to her image. If you’re going to complain about a lack of biblical values, Jason, maybe you should condemn the people who think posting this kind of content is in any way smart or appropriate. It’s more disturbing than a drag queen will ever be.
Sport is not only about making strong men. It’s about building strong men and women. Women who play sports reap a multitude of benefits — socially, personally and academically. Women have always been strong. Women will continue to be strong, even though their accomplishments and achievements are belittled, simply because they are women.
I don’t get the irony that all of this came out of six minutes of sports coverage. From those six minutes, the women were told to sit down, be quiet, and know their role. Shining a light on women who are told that they are doing well in the US, that they have never been treated (because they are repeatedly insulted) or that they have been considered less valuable and that the development of a strong woman has become a priority over the development of a strong man. .. phew. Those six minutes must be devastating if so released so much frustration and anger. You know what I usually do if I see a sports broadcast I’m not interested in? I get on with my day.
If you’re so upset about six minutes of coverage, you probably shouldn’t call women the weaker sex.
Lauren Smith is an associate professor of sports media in the School of Media at Indiana University. Her research is focused on examining the psychological effects of mediated sports content on emotions. She studies issues of gender, race, identity and social justice. Lauren is currently a nationally ranked triathlete in her age group and a three-time Ironman finisher.