Women Watching Women

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Assignment 1 October 7, 2013 Is She Worth Watching: Women and Professional Sports Women and sports might be a strange combination for some people to grasp. In the article, “Women (Not) Watching Women: Leisure Time, Television Coverage of Women’s Sports,” Erin Whiteside and Marie Hardin research what sports women watch on television and why. They challenge elements such as; what are their reasons for watching those listed sports, do these women watch them for pure entertainment, and other components that influence their decision-making. Along with speaking to women, Whiteside and Hardin also discuss the amount of media coverage that professional women sports receive, or lack thereof. By using focus-group discussions between women with children, and married women (with or without children), Whiteside and Hardin conclude that sports media consumption is rooted in traditional gender roles as well as, the relatively lower profile of professional women’s sports coverage as compared to men’s sports. Whiteside and Hardin make a powerful connection between children and their involvement with sports. They state that, “Millions of boys in the United States participate in sports, and a majority later become spectators of men’s sports. Millions of girls during the past 3…show more content…
Even though these women showcase a passing interest in sports with more feminine attributes, they still do not seek out further information about those specific sports (134). Surprisingly, these same women who do not follow women’s sports, complain or are displeased with the lack of coverage they receive. Professional women’s sports are not getting enough exposure, which hinders possible new fans from being interested. Therefore, if women’s sports were on television as much as men’s sports, more people, not just other women, would watch and support
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