A wise, veteran sports journalist once told me that "sports are recession-proof." Even in times of economic crisis, sports remain a popular oasis for Americans. In this regard, sports are phenomena of society that reflect our love of leisure and our capitalistic nature. Yet, sports are becoming increasingly synonymous with one more concept: sex.
As our world has liberalized throughout the years, so too have sports, but we still see heinous sexual discrimination throughout the industry. Since the bulk of sporting events are tailored to a male audience, suppliers have conformed to their demands.
Picture this: You're sitting in a friend's living room with a bevy of guests watching the Super Bowl, when the station cuts to commercial. Chances are that advertisement is either promoting cheap beer or cars, and the chances are even higher that the ad features hot, scantily clad women for no apparent reason - I'm looking at you, Go Daddy!
Sure, this is a simple example of savvy marketing and knowing your audience, but sports segregation does not stop there. When I think of famous women in sports, the names Erin Andrews, Lindsey Vonn, Maria Sharapova and Danica Patrick flood my mind.
Rather than celebrate these women for their achievements in their respective fields, Americans belittle their success and overemphasize their physical aesthetics. The female sports themselves take a backseat to the select group of female players who induce their male audiences to begin desiring and drooling.
Any idea what the professional women's variation of the NFL is? The Lingerie Football League (LFL) has been broadcast on MTV2 for the past two seasons. With teams like the reigning champion Los Angeles Temptation, the league is really not at all as it sounds: The LFL presents seven-on-seven tackle football games played by women wearing helmets, minimal padding, bras, panties and garters.
The unfortunate truth is that women's sports often have much smaller followings than their male-centric counterparts. Thus, only major events, such as the Olympics or the World Cup, are nationally or internationally syndicated.
Now, none of this information is new or groundbreaking, so why am I - a writer who has used this column mainly as a vehicle for unadulterated self-pity - deciding to discuss sexual inequality in sports in one of my final columns?
I first looked at sports through a gender-based lens in 2006 at a New York Jets game. As a season ticket holder, I had grown accustomed to the familiar Jets personnel ranging from quarterback Chad Pennington to the four Jets flag carriers.
This group of portly men was known for parading around the Meadowlands wielding four different green and white Jets flags. The men always wore Jets sweaters to cover their round, sagging bellies and cargo shorts, regardless of the weather. After a (rare) Jets field goal, the men would run/waddle across the endzones, waving the flags vigorously. Following an (even rarer) Jets touchdown, the men would haul their hulking frames all the way across the field in a triumphant salute to their team.
Along with Fireman Ed, the flag carriers represented the everymen who attend and watch Jets games as a weekly escape from the tribulations of daily, working class life. They spoke to the fans because of their undying loyalty and spirit, which helped them brave the cold and countless seasons of Jets failures. Yet, in 2006 the flag carriers were replaced by small, perky female flag carriers, who themselves were replaced a year later by the Jets Flight Crew cheerleaders.
The businessmen who run America's professional sports leagues have established a role for women: They are objects of beauty, removed from the sports themselves, but serving to enhance the spectators' experience. The fusion of sports and sex form an inherent problem as stereotypes are continually perpetuated and reinforced.
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Zach Drucker is a senior majoring in international relations and Spanish. He can be reached at Zachary.Drucker@tufts.edu.
