"Women's sports are a joke," is a common comment you hear from men.  However, I am female, and I agree.  It's not the women's sports themselves that are a joke, but what the female athletes are doing with them.  What is that?  Female athletes pose nearly nude, or nude, in many magazines including Playboy, Maxim, and FHM.  This posing puts them in a terrible position.  As opposed to the great role models these athletes could be for body image for young women because of their strength, they play a role of irony in their acts of weakness.  Instead, they are put into a subjective position called self-objectification.  The key question behind all of this is: why are strong women putting themselves in this position?

So what exactly is this position these women are putting themselves in?  The term is called self-objectification: the picking and probing at the human body as if it is an object.  This is due to the social circumstances in which women are treated as would be expected, objects.  This combined with thin-ideal internalization -- the obsession with a thin image as a result of the media's emphasis on the subject -- is a huge contribution to the start of an eating disorder.  (Kroon Van Diest)  In the United States, it has been estimated that 10 million females are struggling with an eating disorder whereas only 1 million males are doing the same.  (Bissell, Porterfield)  Why is it that ten times as many women have an eating disorder as opposed to males?  Well, one major reason is these two factors.  Self-objectification and thin-ideal internalization is sparked in women during social experiences that encourage the importance of physical appearance over competence.  Men may have some stress to appear a certain way, but it is not stressed the same way for women.  Perhaps this is why such fit women such as professional female athletes are so commonly objectified.  But why do they do it?  Well, it could make them feel relevant.  However, it keeps this idea of physical appearance over competence in play.  80% of women are dissatisfied with their bodies (Bissell, Porterfield), something sparked by self-objectification and thin-ideal internalization.  (Kroon Van Diest)

Some examples of female athletes who objectify themselves, thus encouraging this "object" attitude towards women, are NASCAR's Danica Patrick and the LPGA's Natalie Gulbis in FHM, volleyball player Misty May and swimmer Dana Torres in Maxim, and swimmer Amanda Beard in Playboy, Maxim, and FHM.  These are some of the nation's top female athletes.  They are physically strong, yet feel the need to pose naked in front of the camera.  This goes completely against the reason why they are even making money for playing a sport -- Title IX.  When Title IX was instated, its purpose was to give women more opportunities in a multitude of areas, most specifically athletics.  These pictures do the polar opposite.  Studies have been shown that athletes both male and female who are better known for their looks than their athletic ability are perceived by the public as less talented, less aggressive, and less heroic.  (Daniels, Wartena)  This is the biggest issue in this cluster of problems: strong women posing naked in front of a camera encourage men to feel stronger, more powerful, and all around better than them.  So why do these women do something that causes such a reaction?

Not every female athlete acts this way.  Mia Hamm, who is considered the greatest female soccer player of all time, is known for her athletic ability, not her looks.  Her former U.S. National Women's Soccer teammate Brandi Chastain is under the same category.  A study was done with a picture of Brandi Chastain and adolescent girls and boys.  Both genders typically agreed when they looked at the photo that she was powerful and they respected her -- a positive reaction.  However, there was a minority of boys that felt intimidated by her.  One boy actually said, "She's asking me: can you kick as hard as me, and I feel funny."  (Daniels, Wartena)  This is the reaction female athletes should portray in the media: powerful, intimidating woman.  Why should they not?  Male athletes such as Tiger Woods are considered powerful and intimidating in a sport that requires no physical contact with another person.  So when a woman is dominating a sport such as soccer, you should feel like she can kick your ass.

Whether or not the media will admit to it, they play a huge role in the issue at hand.  As Jennifer Knight and Tracy Guiliano said in their article, "He's a Laker, She's a Looker" in the academic journal Sex Roles, "They do not reflect the public opinion, they shape it."  (Knight, Guiliano)  Obviously, all Americans have the right to free speech by the Bill of Rights, so this isn't necessarily a right we can fight for through legislature.  It is something that must be done by women on our own terms.  Women cannot continue to allow men to see them as objects.  Doing so makes men think it is okay to treat every woman this way.  Just in the world of sports, swimmer Leisel Jones has been affected first-hand by such a thing.  The swimmer became a gold-medalist in the 2008 Olympics, yet when the London games approached in 2012, she was scrutinized for how she looked in a bikini.  (Buzinski)  Outside of the sports world, this type of treatment has affected many women.  It begins at an early age.  Dr. Elizabeth Daniels, an expert on this subject, once said, "As girls mature, their bodies are increasingly looked at, commented upon, and otherwise evaluated by others."  (Daniels, Wartena)  This shows in statistics of adolescent females.  42% of first through third grade girls want to be thinner.  Plus, 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat.  (Bissell, Porterfield)  What these children do not understand is that baby fat is normal and healthy at this age.  Why are they so concerned about their weight?  The sad part is it will most likely continue throughout their lives if we do not make some sort of change.  As Elizabeth Daniels said, "Women's bodies are scrutinized as objects for the pleasure and evaluation of others."   (Daniels, Wartena)  How can someone gain pleasure from making a person feel this way?

As many people have learned throughout the years, people love to put other people down to make themselves feel better just like the people that criticize the young girls.  It may not be intentional that they make them feel this way, but it makes them feel powerful.  So why of all places must people be so critical in the world of athletics?  Well, a writer from The Nation, Mary Jo Kane, says it is, "The reinforcement of their status as second class citizens in one of the most powerful, economic, social, and political institutions on the planet."  (Kane)  As she states, it is just so internationally recognized.  After all, events such as the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, the Women's World Cup, the British Open and other golf tournaments, the Australian Open and other tennis tournaments, are all something that people across the world can understand.  The languages they speak may be different, but that does not stop someone from playing an incredible tennis match against another player.  Therefore, showing a female athlete that competes in such an exposition is the easiest way to show to the world that America sees women as sexual objects.

One opposing opinion may include the not-so-unusual saying "sex sells."  A story that may support this includes one about women's volleyball in the Olympics.  The uniform for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London was very skimpy to say the least.  It was against the Muslim religion for such women to play their sport in.  Therefore, they were allowed to wear more clothes.  One NY Post writer felt a uniform is a uniform, and everyone must wear it.  His response to the Muslims covering up was, "Now competitors can wear whatever they want -- although it could wind up making the Olympics' sexiest sport to look more like a weekend rec league."  Based on that statement, I assume that is evidence that he only watches women's volleyball because he believes it is "the Olympics' sexiest sport."  (Buzinski)

On the other hand, to quote The Nation writer Mary Jo Kane again, "Sex sells sex, not women's sports."  A study was done questioning how people felt about athletes (both male and female) who were known better for their looks than their athletic ability.  These athletes were perceived as less talented, less aggressive, and less heroic.  (Daniels, Wartena)

So I guess the key question we need to go back to is:  Why would a woman put herself in such a position?   Does she wish to be perceived as less talented, less aggressive, and less heroic?  Well, from my research, the only thing I can think of is that they are afraid of change or power, or maybe it's the classic "any attention is better than none" thought process.  Well, Title IX was not written for nothing.  These female athletes are physically strong women who need to become mentally strong.  They need to fight for their ability to show off their strength and not let anyone let them feel inferior.  These women could be great role models to young women who struggle with body image.  However, coming off as a sexual object continues this idea of self-objectification.  Women must work together to answer the question researcher Kristin Harrison of the University of Michigan asked:  What features of sports magazines are beneficial to young women, and are they offsetting the detrimental features?  (Exposure)  These women are not objects, and when they start believing it and showing that to the world, women across the country may realize the same thing.
