Introduction:
Television has been with us for many decades now, with programs that interest and influence all types of viewers, peoples of all ages and cultures. One of the biggest and most important parts of television and our modern day society is sports. Televised sports are not only very entertaining to watch, they also influence peoples thoughts, from very early on, about the differences of genders. Some televised sports, like tennis and hockey, now commonly include female protagonists in their games. But other televised sports, and usually the most viewed sports, like football, baseball, and basketball, don’t include many women playing them. And that doesn’t mean that women don’t play them. It’s just that it hasn’t been a very popular thing in our modern day culture. But why is this? Is it that sports are usually aggressive and that’s just not a common feminine characteristic? Or is it that psychologically we all naturally prefer to watch male sports?
Experiment Testing the Possibilities of Answers for the Stated Question:
In 2008, James R. Angelini, a visiting assistant in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware, conducted an experiment testing whether it is true that humans just prefer to watch male sports naturally, or if there are differences in opinion from person to person, meaning it is all a societal issue. One factor that Angelini took into consideration is the idea that society puts the following characteristics on people automatically just because of gender:
Males:
· Strength
· Self-control
· Aggression
· Stamina
· Discipline
· Fearlessness
· Competitiveness
Females:
· Beauty
· Passivity
· Grace
· Emotion
· Expressiveness
This is an automatic psychological set of traits one thinks about when one is asked to describe, in a stereotypical manner, what differs between genders, besides the physically obvious. Of course, traits such as discipline, competitiveness, strength, and so on, can and are usually found on both genders. But when talking about sports, these are the usual traits we apply to each gender.
Statistics of Experiment:
The statistical results of Angelini’s work turned out to give very interesting conclusions. This experiment was done with many people who already knew what this experiment was all about. First of all, men, when asked what gendered sports they rather watch, said that they rather watch male sports. And opposite to this, females said that they rather watch female sports. But when connected to machines that measured the electric reactions caused by arousal in the skin, both males and females gained a more stimulating experience watching male sports than female sports. But now, is this always going to happen naturally, or is it just because of how society has formed us? Or maybe since even society is a natural part of humanity, is our reaction to gender differences in televised sports always going to be the same? Now it’s all about opinion.
The Opinion of Maury Roque:
My opinion is that we naturally like male sports because males are more aggressive and violent, and we as humans find a liking in seeing people get hurt.
Journal Article Review:
Television Sports and Athlete Sex: Looking at the Differences in Watching Male and Female Athletes.
By: James R. Angelini
The journal article starts with the mentioning of the fact that now women sports are slowly becoming a more popular branch of televised sports, with 5% of televised sports now being women sports. Then he mentions a very interesting idea commonly shown in our culture, that what is not masculine is therefore feminine, to show how the aggressiveness shown in male sports therefore can’t be shown in female sports, and he also mentions his disagreement with this idea. Then he goes into how television has the power to influence billions of people in the world to believe in certain ways. He also goes into the bias in the coverage of women sports, and how commentators will devalue the talent of female athletes. And then he goes into a 6-page summary of the experiment that he did to test how humans react to watching sports of different genders. To learn more of this experiment, read the article Television Sports and Athlete Sex: Looking at the Differences in Watching Male and Female Athletes. By: James R. Angelini, or for a brief description of the experiment read the Statistics of Experiment section of this report.
List of Resources:
Angelini, J. R. (2008). Television Sports and Athlete Sex: Looking at the Differences in Watching Male and Female Athletes. Questia Online Library. doi: Article Title: Television Sports and Athlete Sex: Looking at the Differences in Watching Male and Female Athletes. Contributors: James R. Angelini - author. Journal Title: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Volume: 52. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 2008. Page Number: 16+. COPYRIGHT 2008 Broadcast Education Association; COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
Li, W., Harrison, L., & Solmon, M. (2004). College Students' Implicit Theories of Ability in Sports: Race and Gender Differences. Questia Online Library. doi: Article Title: College Students' Implicit Theories of Ability in Sports: Race and Gender Differences. Contributors: Weidong Li - author, Jr. Louis Harrison - author, Melinda Solmon - author. Journal Title: Journal of Sport Behavior. Volume: 27. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 2004. Page Number: 291+. COPYRIGHT 2004 University of South Alabama; COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
Minow, N. N. (2003). Television and the Public Interest. Questia Online Library. doi: Article Title: Television and the Public Interest. Journal Title: Federal Communications Law Journal. Volume: 55. Issue: 3. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 395+. COPYRIGHT 2003 University of California at Los Angeles, School of Law; COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
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