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Michaela Goodrich
Dr. Rios
ENC 1102
16 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. This is a really great intro! I love the lead in, and I really
appreciate how you exhibit agency and control of the topicit suggests your really know your
stuff and lends you credibility. I think the only thing missing here, then, is for some synthesizing
Comment [GR1]: This is a really great
example of how you are understanding this
concept in a really complex and nuanced way.
This sentence shows that you have been able
to understand the texts you have read and
then come to understand that part of how
stereotypes function is through a
preconceived notion that they are natural
(or biological or inherent).
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of the sources in specificity. You do say generally what they do, but it would be helpful to get a
breakdown of how these are working to answer the question in different ways.






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
Comment [GR2]: This is a great example of
how you are able to understand a difficult
textyou recognize that these authors are
distinguishing social norms from psychological
effects.
Comment [GR3]: This is a GREAT example
of a quote that you are able to integrate with
your own thinking and writing seamlessly.
Now, just make sure to explain the quotes or
unpack them. You might follow this up with a
phrase like In other words, .. and then
rephrase this in your own words to show you
understand it.
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mind, one is more likely to believe it (if not consciously then subconsciously) through
simple exposure to it.
As for the ambivalence of genders, 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
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. 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
Mmen respond more favorably to female athletes who conform to gender stereotypes for
their sport, whereas women favor power in female athletes. (358).
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
Comment [GR4]: What do you mean here?
The uncertainty of genders as real or .?
Comment [GR5]: ? This is worded a little
awkwardlywhat do you mean?
Comment [GR6]: Ok, this is signals to
maybe what you were trying to say above
can you unpack this idea that there are certain
kinds of expected behavior for women in
sports (as opposed to just being in them at all)
in the earlier parts of the paragraph? What
are those expected behaviors? It seems you
are kind of gesturing to maybe that female
athletes should be dainty (or less
powerful)or something along those lines?
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Stigma Consciousness of Gender in Sports and Physical Activities." Journal of Leisure
Research 38.4 (2006): 536+. Academic ASAP. Web. 10 June. 2014.
This article focuses on who are they professionally? Or, why does their opinion matter?
Deborah Kerstetters (and Scmalz?) argument that social stereotypes of gender in sports
participation and physical activity affects the sports they athletes 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. OK, what are gender stigmas? This is a
new thing you bring up here, and you say that its really important, but you havent quite
helped us understand what it is or how you might have been talking about it all this time..
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
Comment [GR7]: Well, and you didnt limit
yourself to adults in your intro, so I think this
works either way
Comment [GR8]: OK, here too, unpack this
quote for us
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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
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). 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
Comment [GR9]: Good, another good
example of both understanding difficult
material and synthesizing sources
Comment [GR10]: Here, too, try to
integrate this quote some more and explain it
for us..
Formatted: Font: Italic
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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.