Today, breaking gender stereotypes has become more and more common. But for some reason when it comes to sports, there are still a lot of people that have issues with people breaking the norms — especially women.
Recently, Sarah Fuller has become the first female student athlete to play and score in a Power 5 game. Power 5 games are the highest level of games for college football. Women breaking barriers like this in sports is incredibly special. It shows that they are capable of so much more than what society leads us to believe. However, as we are slowly moving away from some stereotypes, gender stereotypes are such a prevalent issue in society today.
On November 27, Sarah created an Instagram post of herself in her football uniform. Among the large number of positive, supportive comments were many impolite comments, to say the least. These comments ranged from questioning why she was making history, to insulting comments about women (in general and playing sports), to questioning her athletic abilities, and sexual remarks. Simply reading the comment section of this post is proof of why it is so difficult for women to accomplish anything because they are constantly questioned and attacked.
Not only are female athletes harassed, but they are rarely covered in the media. Many feel that when the media discusses them, they tend to focus on the athletes’ lives outside of sports. The competitive nature and skill levels of male athletes tend to be focused on more, in comparison to female athletes. This downplays the skills of women in sports and only makes it more difficult for their abilities to be recognized by the public. As seen by the comments in Fuller’s Instagram post, it is hard for some to recognize female athletes as real athletes. Instagram users questioned how she is a football player, as well as called her “weak and delicate” just because she is a woman, among many other inappropriate statements.
Discrimination like this makes it much harder for women to progress in sports, let alone anything else. It is very disturbing to see the amount of people that are bothered by a woman playing football. However, this happens more often than we can see. Gender stereotypes create unhealthy standards for individuals to live up to, which creates fear for some. Ava Partida, Liberty leadership and dance team member states how she believes sports are just a stepping stone for gender equality. “Women who do the same job as men get paid less, just because they are a woman.” Partida further explains that bringing equality to all genders is a relevant, important issue and it’s something that we should continue working towards as a society because we need to accept others for who they are.
Cover photo courtesy of L.G. Patterson of The Associated Press.
About the writer:
Rachel Olivas is a staff writer for for The Lion's Roar. You can learn more information about her by clicking here.
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