But over the last few years, at least in my eyes, more and more females have become fans and have begun to consume just as much sports as their male counterparts.
As I can see when I look around the room in my sports studies or sports journalism classes, many more women are in the class than I would have used to think. I had a discussion with a fellow classmate the other day about some girls who try to fake their way through sports with talk of Derek Jeter, but for most of these female fans, that is not the case.
In the article "If It Ain’t Rubbin’, It Ain’t Racin'," Hugenberg and Hugenberg cite a statistic that really surprised me about the audience for NASCAR.
"The rapid growth in the number of female, especially young female, NASCAR fans is easily documented through casual observation at the tracks and reported in Retail Merchandiser as over 40% of the NASCAR fan base. Soon female fans will likely constitute the majority of fans attending NASCAR races." (pg. 637)
This flat out shocked me. Women as the majority of the NASCAR audience? It's a sign of the times.
Sports are no longer a "man's game." They are now excitedly consumed by both genders.
One of the most prolific women in sports is none other than Erin Andrews. Her fame has jumped from "just" a sideline performer to a full-on media celebrity. Heck, she was on Oprah! Unfortunately, she was on Oprah for a terrible reason. Though she's a professional woman in sports, she hasn't escaped the role of a "sex symbol." As you likely know, she was video taped changing in her hotel room.
Women have come a long way in sports, but it seems they still have a ways to go.
Still, there are some differences, as pointed out by the study that Raney cited in his article "Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports."
The study compared reactions from male and female fans based on the closeness of the score. They ranked the disparity between the two scores in groups from "minimally" to "extremely suspenseful."
"Enjoyment for male participants increased as the final score became closer. The same pattern was observed with females only through the "substantial" catergory. The reaserchers hypothesized that the close scores in the "extremely suspenseful" catergoy led to distress among female viewers. ... Specifically, uncomfortably close games may lead to stress (or distress) among some (particularly female) viewers." (pg. 317)
I don't know about the rest of the guys out there, but if the score can be described as "extremely suspenseful," I have a lot of distress going on in my head.
Still, I think it's a great thing for women to finally be elbowing their way into the usual male fraternity that is sports. If you know your sports and you know your rules, enjoy the game and we'll argue about it later, male or female, sports fan to sports fan.
The way it should be.
Being a female sports fan has been difficult at times, especially growing up in a family dominated by male athletes. Not only in my immediate family, but many of my male cousins have gone on from college basketball to coach at schools such as UPenn, Trinity College, and Brandeis University. My father excelled at both football and baseball in college, ranked as the #6 college quarterback in Division 1 during his time, while both my brothers still excel at basketball. I played sports growing up yet I never seemed to stand out quite as much as my brothers. However, my family's interest in sports has been passed on to me, and even though I may not know every single news story on ESPN from any given day, I still think of myself as a dedicated sports fan.
ReplyDeleteSure, certain sports seem to have more of a female following than others. I know here at QU, baseball has a very large following of female fans, since my room is entirely dominated by Yankee fans, I try to represent the Red Sox as much as possible.
With what Andrew brings up from the Raney article, I agree in that even though enjoyment for males may improve as the score is closer, stress is defiantly not just a feeling among the female viewers. For both males and females, the closer the game, the more enjoyment and stress they endure. Even though females may be more emotional with certain things, sports is one part of our lives in that males can be just as if not more emotionally involved in.
Within the "It if Ain't Rubbin', It Ain't Racin" article Lawrence and Barbara Hugenberg (2008), it talks about how NASCAR is trying to attract women fans to the sport by using the drivers as "sex symbols" or "objects-of-desire," which really disappoints me. I understand that this is a good marketing technique because for many women, the first thing they notice about athletes is how they look. But if women are jumping on the bandwagon just because of how attractive a driver may be, gives in the stereotype of why females may not make great sports fans. With the rise of NASCAR female fans, is it for the love of the sport and competition? Or for the attraction to the man behind the wheel?
All I have to say is that the true female sports fans, no matter what sports they may follow, watch games for a lot more than just to check out the players, and those who don't, give the rest a bad rep.
I very much agree with Andrew that it is great that women are making their way into the sports world as fans and as athletes. But whereas Andrew is suprised at the number of girls in sports classes, I am a little dissapointed. The most in any of my sports classes are 5 girls! That is not a lot compared to the 15 or 20 other guys in the class.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the other girls, but as for me, I was a little intimidated coming into these classes to be quite honest. I very much enjoy watching sports and I think that I know enough information to argue why my teams are better than others. But I will admit that I don't watch ESPN every time I turn on the television and I don't read the sports section in the newspaper every day. Whereas I feel like most guys live and breath sports.
While I don't know everthing, I'm taking these classes and watching the games to learn more about sports because I like it and want to become more knowledgable about it. Im Raney's "Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports", he says "One of the most common cognitive motivations for viewing sports on television is learning about players and teams". This is a categoy that I think I fall into.
Sports are fun to watch and everyone enjoys rooting for their favorite team. So even if I don't know every player on the Patriot's team, I'd say that I was a devoted fan. I watch to have fun and I learn the more I watch.
Andrew also speaks about Erin Andrews and how she is seen as a "sex symbol". This is unfortunate because whether or not she is good looking, she knows her sports and should be respected for that reason. However, saying that in the article "If It Ain't Rubbin', It Ain't Racin': NASCAR, American Values, and Fandom", they say, "Through marketing, NASCAR seeks to attract female fans by their use of drivers as 'sex-symbols' or 'Objects-of-desire'."
If it's dissapointing that men are looking at Erin Andrews only because she's a sex-symbol, then I think that it's dissapointing that women are only watching NASCAR because the men are sex-symbols. Yes, I will admit that I think Tom Brady is gorgeous, but I promise you that he is not the reason I watch the Patriots. But hey, if girls only watch NASCAR for the sex-appeal, at least it gets women more involved in sports. Even if that is what draws them to the sport, they will learn more about it every time they watch. Before they know it, they will become pretty knowledgable about the sport and can argue with any guy. And I bet when guys watch girls sports, theres a sense of sex-appeal that drives them to that as well.
What I'm trying to say is that everyone has different reasons for watching the game, but if you enjoy it, girl or guy, have fun and learn more!
This issue with women in sports is a major problem that has many different elements. To start with female athletes generally do not receive the same amount of respect or admiration as male athletes. Female athletes also do not typically get paid as much as male athletes or get as good sponsorship deals.
ReplyDeleteMy sister was a two sport athlete in college and I used to go to a lot of her games. In the winter, when she was playing basketball the girls would play before the boys and the stands were almost empty. It was mostly just family and a few friends that would watch the girl’s basketball games but towards the end of the games the stands would fill up. The fans poured in to watch the men’s game that followed the women. My sister’s team tried hard to encourage other students to attend their games but did not have much success. She was often told that the girls were not as intense and the games were not as fun to watch. At the time I felt bad for my sister because she was not able to play in front of a large crowd like she wanted. After reading this article I realize I am a hypocrite here at Quinnipiac because I have never attended any girls sporting event but have been to countless men’s games.
The article regarding NSCAR was interesting to me because I did not realize that the industry was trying to target female fans. By having young and attractive male drives is a great tool to get some women to watch NSCAR. Although other women may become interested in the sport for other reasons I think this is an interesting way that may work to get more female fans.
At college I have found that more of my female friends are interested in sports and have favorite teams. It is fun to go out to a bar with a large group of girls and guys to watch a sporting event because you hear so many different opinions and viewpoints. In conclusion, I think women should be more accepted when it comes to watching and playing sports.
When someone think of any sport, it will be usally viewed as male dominated. It has surprised me how in this day and time women are just as or even more crazy about sports as men are. I agree with you andrew when you talk about there would be occasionally a women who's in to baseball, hockey, or football but that has changed severly.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, i like a girl who is into sports, i'm not saying that she has to be a hardcore sports fan or nothing like that but that is a quality in feamales that i like.
I'm not a fan of NASCAR but before reading the article "If it aint rubbin-It aint Racing" i thought that the majority of fans were males. I never would have thought that NASCAR would be something females was interested in. In the article it says "Soon female fans will likely constitute the majority of fans attending NASCAR races" women have to start somewhere and apparently NASCAR is it.
But like you said it seem like they still have a long way to go. After reading the article "Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports" and running across the quote you quoted when it says "Enjoyment for male participants increased as the final score became closer. The same pattern was observed with females only through the "substantial" catergory. The reaserchers hypothesized that the close scores in the "extremely suspenseful" catergoy led to distress among female viewers. ... Specifically, uncomfortably close games may lead to stress (or distress) among some (particularly female) viewers." (pg. 317).
All i can think about is my mother, she always tell me its to stressful when the game gets close for her whether it's one of my games or a game she's watching on tv. I find that funny.
Women are now in to sports just like men are. I think its better for sports and regardless what sport you like a fan is a fan, male or female.
It’s refreshing to see males say that there is a place for women in sports. As a female, I have spent a lot of time trying to prove my sports IQ. Should I have to? No. Will I probably always have to? Yes. Why? Because certain – shall we say – archaic stereotypes still plague women today.
ReplyDeleteThis is best represented in Raney’s chapter, “Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports.” Raney writes, “Females tend to be less involved in actual viewing than their male counterparts, often completing household tasks during the course of the game,” (p. 324). This sentence seems like something out of the 1950s. I can guarantee you that when a game is on, the last thing I’m doing is vacuuming the floor or baking cookies.
Raney also suggests that women are more likely to become “distressed” by close games (p. 317). I find that statement interesting because it’s hard to become emotionally invested if you’re not actually watching the game, as he suggests in his previous argument. Let’s put that aside for right now and pretend he didn’t contradict himself. It’s not just females who get stressed when the game is down to the wire. I can’t name a dedicated sports fan, of either gender, who is completely calm when play is “extremely suspenseful.” In fact, a male classmate of mine cried and threw a lamp when the Patriots lost the SuperBowl to the Giants. Case in point, women aren’t the only ones who can be emotional.
That being said, there is a reason NASCAR has a large female fan base. For the most part, NASCAR abandons stereotypes in its market, mostly because it is looking to expand its demographics (Hugenberg and Hugenberg, p. 637). So to speak, NASCAR doesn’t market down to women by using typical female gender roles. This is where other leagues falter. Let’s look at the NFL, for example. The NFL is under the impression that its female fans want to show up to a football, a center of masculinity, wearing a pink and white Tom Brady jersey and a matching pink baseball hat. Um, no thanks. I can only imagine the meeting of men that thought that brilliant marketing campaign up. A pink jersey is the last thing I would want to wear to a game. Do I have a problem with pink? No, in fact I love the color pink. But not when it comes to my sports apparel. Why? To be taken seriously, females must abandon their femininity, or anything associated with femininity, to make room for themselves in what is a very masculine world.
Gender roles are an engrained part of our society, so it only makes sense that they would also influence perceptions of sports. For example, the stereotype exists, and is supported by Raney, that females prefer to watch aesthetically attractive sports like tennis, gymnastics, figure skating, and swimming: “Women tended to enjoy sports they saw as elegant more than those that are violent or dangerous,” (321). To put it simply, football is for men, and figure skating is for girls. These “elegant” sports have inherently feminine qualities, while sports like boxing bring to mind qualities associated with masculinity.
Just to be clear, in my female opinion, the more violent the sport the better. And I know I’m not the only female who thinks so. In the past I would agree that this goes against gender norms, but it is clear that times are changing. Women can enjoy “violent” sports, just as men can enjoy the aesthetic sports. It is interesting to note that people are sometimes shocked to discover a female likes football or hockey, but it is perfectly acceptable for men to watch aesthetic sports like tennis. It’s a double standard that, while diminishing in recent years, is still very present in the discussion of sports.
So then, why do these stereotypes still exist? Well, sadly, there are still those women to whom these stereotypes do in fact apply. There are women who only watch sports to relate to their husbands, there are women who do wear pink sports apparel, and there are those who view football and hockey as too barbaric. And as we all know, one bad egg is all it takes.
It’s refreshing to finally see some men who accept women in sports. Growing up in a family of all boys, besides my mom, my life has been centered around sports. NASCAR, in particular, is a sport that no one in my family liked except for my Grandpa. It was something that we cherished and I feel lucky to have accompanied him to many races. The experience at a NASCAR race is like no other. When reading the article “If It Ain’t Rubbin’, It Ain’t Racin’” by Hugenberg and Hugenberg, it brought back some meaningful experiences I used to share with my Grandpa when I was a little girl.
ReplyDeleteWhen Andrew mentioned how surprised he was with how much of the percentage of NASCAR fans are women, I wasn’t surprised, because that’s how most people would feel. However, being from Florida, the Daytona 500 (now the 400) is a big deal. Every year we used to drive with all of my grandpa’s friends in an RV and just tailgate. I practically felt like I was tailgating at a football game. Which was another point I found extremely arousing when the article mentions, “NASCAR is the No. 2 sport on television behind the NFL and regularly averages more than five million households tuning in per race.” (638)
As mentioned in the article, “ the cost of tickets have increased steadily to $30 for general passes to $200 and up for tickets that include bird’s eye seating, pit passes, and private catering” (638). This was one reason I stopped going so frequently to some of the races. However, no matter where we were the race was always on. It’s funny how this sport is known but not talked about a lot. My brother claims that N.A.S.C.A.R. actually stands for Non-Actual Sport Circling Around Rednecks (he’s obviously not a fan). This is funny, but at the same time it’s the truth. There are tons and tons of confederate and redneck shirts being worn. This agrees with the statement made in the article about how the fan based is predominantly white.
Fan gear is a huge money maker for all of the products on the cars. “The sponsors realize that fans will buy their products, with almost blind loyalty, simply because of their Winston Cup connections. Nextel even jumped on the band wagon and started making phones that had the racers face and number on them. And even this restaurant near the Daytona track called RaceRac put their restaurant sticker on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car, promising that after the race he would be eating there and signing autographs. I of course went there and did get Dale Jr. to sign my race jersey with the Budweiser #8 on it! This also agrees with the article when it mentioned how the drivers try to be as loyal as possible to their fans because they want to keep them.
While the article mentions how “there are distinct differences between NASCAR fans and other professional sports’ fans. NASCAR fans pick driver regardless of geography.” (639) I feel that when Dale Earnhardt died at the Daytona race, most, if not all of his fans turned to his son, Dale Jr. for comfort and as a way to remain loyal to the Earnhardt name.
In conclusion, I feel that being from the south more women are accepted in understanding sports because it’s common for women to grow up around sports. No matter where you go you are in some way going to be influenced by sports. Will women ever be completely accepted as equal to men in understanding sports? Probably not, but each day we pass I feel that women are getting treated better, and are almost something that intrigues men in a way when they have something similar to talk about.
Growing up in a single parent house and my mother as my care taker, one would think that sports would not be on any televisions in my house. In fact the exact opposite is true my mother was the one who introduced me to sports. Even to this day she talks sports with me, but if I were to ask my dad who pitched last night for the sox he would probably answer something like, “Roger Clemens.” Pretty pathetic, I know.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "If It Ain’t Rubbin’, It Ain’t Racin'," “With the increasing popularity of NASCAR, the stereotype that NASCAR fans are only southern, good-ol’ boys is quickly dispelled when attending any NASCAR race, even in the traditional home of NASCAR in the South.” (pg.635)
With this stereotype I would think it would be hard to get female fans. I think most people do think that NASCAR is a predominantly male sport, maybe the competitors, but not the fans. When Andrew brought up the point that the fan base is 40% female, and how shocked he was, that is how I see most casual fans of NASCAR. I think that statistic shocked me as well as it shocked Andrew. I didn’t see how girls became such big fanatics of NASCAR, until I saw the advertisements on the sport.
“One of NASCAR’s television ads involved a group of women, from very young to middle aged, standing around in the pits examining the backsides of several of the drivers.”(pg.637)
Oh, so that’s how the 40% of the fan base is female.
In a great Vince Lombardi quote, “If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?” he shows why people watch mediated sports. People enjoy seeing a great play, but I feel that when most people watch a mediated sports game they hope their teams comes out with a victory. I don’t know many people who like to lose.
In the article “Why We Watch and Enjoy Mediated Sports,” Raney says,” Corresponding to the distress, irritation likely increased, which presumably led to decrease in enjoyment. So while many fans report viewing sports for arousal and stimulation, doing so may mean that they willfully expose themselves to possible displeasure. Specifically, uncomfortably close games may lead to stress (or distress) among some (particularly female) viewers." (pg. 317)
So when the score gets tight a female fan will have decrease the enjoyment. In Monday night Patriots game they were down by 11 points with three minutes left in the game. With the 11 point difference Raney would have put this in to the “moderately suspenseful” category. I was not having too much fun at this point in the game. When they brought the game to 5 and in the “substantially suspenseful” category, I became more excited. Then when they took the lead by 1into the “extremely suspenseful” category, I was a maniac.
I agree with Lombardi when he says it does matter who wins.
Sports are no longer a man’s game, but rather a person’s game.