An Issue of Sexism

Whether one takes pleasure in sports or not, hundreds, thousands and even millions of people are brought together by sporting events. Sports broadcasters are play-by-play announcers for sports networks or for a specific team. Several duties that sports broadcasters are accounted for are presenting news, calling games, and interviewing players. But does having a great voice and exciting catchphrases, all it takes to have a successful journey? The business is all about telling stories, so why does it matter if women sportscasters are attractive in order to get the job?

Plenty of sports have judges but the darker aspect of sports where judging goes too far and is not acceptable is judging women sports broadcaster. In the world of sports, they are typically seen as eye candy. ESPN Radio host and SportsCenter Reporter, Sarah Spain, host a bunch of female sports reporters to discuss the objectification of women as it relates to sexism and more.

Meanwhile, a man is judged by his knowledge of sports while women are judged on their looks and fashion sense. Often male sports fan resort to threatening comments on women Facebook, Twitter, and even on comment sections on blogs where they disagree with an opinion from the sports reporters. A major segment on the Podcast was clothing. Women sports reporter's deal with the decision on what to wear to work on a daily bases. This was not a surprising issue because I believe women get judge on their bodies every second of the day by men and even by females. For instance, you could be walking to the train station all covered up and a man would turn around to stare at your butt, or if your makeup or hair is not on point another female would make comments instead of helping.

As a woman, you cannot control how you are seen to the public and it is uncomfortable being sexualized when you are not seeking that kind of attention. This one Australian newscaster wore the same suit every single day for a year and received no comments, while women have to figure out what to wear that won't reveal as distracting. The number one problem is that women are bombarded with starring and comments directed towards the amount of cleavage they are showing. At this point, it is a struggle to figure out how to dress in a way that is both professional, appropriate and attractive for television.

Furthermore, SportsCenter anchor Elle Duncan explains that she became so incredibly uncomfortable that she asked to stop doing on cam leads. Words are hurtful and people are downgrading women on their jobs when they should just be valued on their knowledge and passion for the sport. One speaker who spoke out was Rebecca Haarlow. She was criticized for having a single eyelash out of place.

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