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Michaela Goodrich
Dr. Rios
ENC 1102
22 June 2014
Let's get readyyyyyy to rumbleeeee!: A Look at Gender Stereotypes and Sport Selection
At the beginning of the sports age certain sports were considered to be male dominated and
therefore unattainable to women. This age old notion has carried on through the ages and has
formed into what we know today as gender stereotypes in sports. Participating in sports is an
activity practiced practically everywhere around the world. Sports not only benefit your health
and social ties, but they are often times part of ones history and culture. They occupy a
prominent space and aid to fuel in the personal identities of individuals. It is not unheard of for
certain sports to be considered masculine or feminine in nature and I believe that this
preconceived notion causes the different genders to gravitate towards certain sports without
always consciously thinking about it. For instance, Im sure you have often heard phrases such as
boxing is a mans sport, he throws ball like a girl!, men cant do ballet- its unnatural!, etc.
When one hears constricting phrases such as those it can cause the genders within sports to be
segregated. This poses the question: How do gender stereotypes affect individuals choices to
participate in certain sports and the audiences reactions to it? Altogether the six sources are used
as a basis for the claim that gender stereotypes are affecting sports participation and selection
when in all actuality they dont have to.



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Chalabaev, Aina, et al. The Influence of Sex Stereotypes and Gender Roles on
Participation and Performance in Sport and Exercise: Review and Future Directions.
Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Mar. (2013): 136-144. Science Direct. Web. 3 June
2014.
This article focuses on Aina Chalabaevs argument that gender stereotypes and the
selection of sports participation not only occur through the socialization of such
stereotypes, but through two psychological approaches. Through the situational approach
and the content of stereotypes approach Chalabaev and her associates explain how they
feel gender stereotypes affect ones decision to join a certain sport.
Through the situational approach it is considered that the mere presence of stereotypes
in the environment is sufficient to affect individuals and the content of stereotypes
approach suggest that stereotypes about a particular group may be ambivalent, and this
ambivalence may serve to legitimize the status quo. (136). I agree with these statements
because if a certain belief or stereotype is constantly socialized and rammed into ones
mind, one is more likely to believe it (if not consciously then subconsciously) through
simple exposure to it.
I believe this compliments the first psychological approach because if one is unsure of
their feelings towards something they tend to gravitate towards the beliefs of those
around them.
Greer, Jennifer, Amy Jones. You Dont Look Like an Athlete: The Effects of Feminine
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Appearance on Audience Perceptions of Female Athletes and Womens Sports. Journal
of Sport Behavior. Dec. (2011): 358. Gale Cengage. Web. 8 June. 2014.
This article focuses on Greer and Jones theory that an athletes appearance in the sport
they play effects how their audience would react to their performance. So whether an
individual is a male in a male sport, female in a female one, male in a female, or a female
in a males sport would subconsciously dictate how the audience reacts to their
performance. Through research and experimentation they found the responses of the
audience to athletes in relation to their sport are significantly different between genders.
Greer and Jones concluded that Men respond more favorably to female athletes who
conform to gender stereotypes for their sport, whereas women favor power in female
athletes. (358). Women are expected to be dainty and weaker as compared to men
so when women participate in a more feminine sport the men favor this.
This compliments my paper because these actions of favoring the athletes that conform to
their stereotypes are a form of stereotype and sex typing in itself. The article helped to
reinforce my statement that gender stereotypes play a major role in ones selection of a
sport. The article also states that ones perceptions of how a specific gender should look
and act are formed through societys beliefs. One eventually then acts accordingly,
matching the stereotypes, changing themselves to conform to them if not always
consciously then unconsciously.
Kerstetter, Deborah L., and Dorothy L. Schmalz. "Girlie Girls and Manly Men: Children's
Stigma Consciousness of Gender in Sports and Physical Activities." Journal of Leisure
Research 38.4 (2006): 536+. Academic ASAP. Web. 10 June. 2014.
Comment [M1]: Here I fixed my previously
awkward phrasing.
Comment [M2]: Explained how women are
perceived in sports as compared to men whereas
before I did not explain.
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This article focuses on Deborah Kerstetters argument that social stereotypes of gender in
sports participation and physical activity affects the sports they choose to participate in.
Despite the fact that this article mainly focuses on children and their experience with
gender stereotypes this article is beneficial to my research topic because adults are not the
only ones who experience gender stereotypes. Like Kerstetter, I believe that if these
stereotypes and the socialization of them are addressed at a young age then this could
possibly minimize the effects they have on adults in the future. Throughout this article
the idea that the ability of each gender to perform successfully in certain sports is not
significantly different and is actually almost equal in skill.
This is supported by Kerstetters conclusion that sports in which girls and boys were
expected and encouraged to participate possessed qualities that were congruent with both
feminine and masculine personality traits. (536). Gender stigmas also play a huge role
in this article which I found interesting because I never previously thought about the
effect gender stigmas could have on my topic. Gender stigmas are beliefs that are almost
negative and restricting to genders (more specifically, women). These have been effect as
well in all of my articles because they are another way of stereotyping and categorizing
genders.
Metzl, Jordan. Gender and Sports: Past, Present, and Future. Principles of Gender-Specific
Medicine. (2010): 62-72. Web. 11 June. 2014.
This chapter from the book Principles of Gender- Specific Medicine delves into the more
physical and psychological aspects of gender and its relation to sports participation rather
than just ones thoughts on sports participation. This chapter challenges my other articles
in the fact that it states that there are, in fact, significant differences between male and
Comment [M3]: Here I explained what gender
stigmas are and their relevance to my topic whereas
before I did not.
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female athletes in regards to how they are able to perform in sports. The differences
explored in this chapter of Principles of Gender- Specific Medicine include physiologic
ability to achieve maximum potential, injury patterns related to gender, and specific
medical issues related to sports participation. (67). In other words, this is stating that
physically and biologically, genders are at a higher risk to receive certain injuries in
certain sports simply due to their anatomy. Where sports were once seen to be a male
dominated activity there have been drastic changes in recent years thanks to equality
oriented emendations that have been passed such as the Title IX amendment and the
Amateur Sports Act of 1978 called for equal participation in all institutions which caused
more women to participate in sports that were previously male dominated. The chapter
then goes on to say that despite the physical and physiological differences between men
and women each can participate in any sport regardless of their gender. I agree with this
because the differences of males and females, while important, do not cause any gender
to be incapable of participating in any sport. While gender stereotypes may suggest one
may sport may be better suited for a specific gender, both sexes are capable of
participating in any sport of their choosing.
Koivula, Nathalie. Ratings of Gender Appropriateness of Sports Participation: Effects of
Gender-Based Schematic Processing. Sex Roles. 7-8. (1995): 543-557. Web. 16 June.
2014.
In this journal article Koivula expresses her theory that genders and their sport selection
is due to gender-based schematic processing. Koivula explains that men in general were
more likely than women to stereotype certain sports as masculine or feminine. According
to Koivula the categorization of sports according to gender has been shown to influence
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the choice of physical activities for both males and females, and also have an impact on
the continuance of the chosen activity. I agree with this and feel this journal article
would be beneficial to my research topic because it is full of evidence supporting my
claim and has many experiments that proved gender stereotypes affected the sports
individuals chose to participate in.
Alley, Thomas R., and Catherine Hicks. Peer Attitudes towards Adolescent Participants
in Male- and Female-Oriented Sports. Sociological Abstracts. (2005): 273-280. Web. 21
June. 2014.
This article speaks of a study conducted by Thomas and Hicks which tested the
masculinity and femininity in three different sports (ballet, tennis, and karate) and their
relation to adolescents participation in sports. As I have found in my other articles, it
was common years ago for men to be the dominators in sports and women were thought
of as the weaker of the sexes. Today, the barrier between the sexes and sports
participation is thinning and there is more of a balance of both in regards to sports.
Although, the gender stereotypes and their effects on participants choices still play a
major role. The studys results found that sex stereotypes for certain sports may
influence who elects to participate and how participants are viewed by others. (273).
This compliments my topic because it fuels the ideas and concepts introduced by my
previous articles such as gender stereotypes, gender schemas, and the categorization of
masculine/feminine sports.



Comment [M4]: Completed the last source for
my annotated bibliography.
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