This past weekend I went to a soccer tournament with my boyfriend who referees games on the weekends. After he was done for the day, I told him how I had overheard, for the first time, a parent tell her daughter to “play hard.” It’s something that I’ve heard quite a lot, but it’s almost always directed to boys. I’ve been to many of these tournaments now and each time I’m at them I inevitably start thinking about how girls and boys sports are viewed so differently.
One thing I’ve always wondered is why I so often hear people speaking derisively of the girl’s teams? I constantly hear people say that the girl’s games are “boring” compared to the boy’s games, and it seems that the only reason for this attitude is that the girl’s are less aggressive in their playing. I understand that there can be that difference, but I have to ask how anyone can reason that girl’s sports are inferior because of this. It seems absurd to me to complain that girl’s aren’t “aggressive” like boys when society continually tells them it is improper to be anything but polite. And why is aggressive behavior so valued? Sure it might make for a better time if you’re a spectator, but I don’t really find it entertaining to see boys being reaffirmed that being aggressive is what matters in life. Why don’t we value skill? I’m far more impressed when someone uses his or her mind to come up with some kind of clever maneuver.
Probably what bugs me the most though is that people constantly say sports are great because they “build character,” but the only thing I see it doing is cementing gender stereotypes.
No comments:
Post a Comment