Gender and Sex Inequalities

The cult of manliness, the Victorian Era, and Play Day Era all worked to demonstrate the former struggle of gender. The women referred to as the "New Women" (Cahn 344) began challenging the Victorian gender arrangements and began to participate in male only activities, which included sports. As men hold the more masculinity aspect, naturally they are assumed to be better then the woman, but as the woman began to join in the everyday life and activities of the men, the women were criticised that they may become more manly women and lose their femininity. Which may also damage the woman's internal organs and threaten their possibility to have children in the future. Sage also mentioned how organizations were put directly towards men, an example of this would be boy scouts. When the Play Day Era came about, it was to help women be able to be more involved in the sports and organizations and give them more of an equal opportunity. It wasn't just in a central location either, teams all over the nation were forming to help get women more involved. An example of this came into reality is the 1932 Olympics when women were allowed to participate, since before this year, it was prohibited for women to participate. The Victorian Era, almost challenged and helped the women and equal opportunities and it supported them in not only sports but gaining recongnition as human beings in the nation. A main cause of the downfall of women and their recognition is the way the

media plays into factor, as they tend to put a main focus on men's sporting events.

Mike Messner points out the men and women are different in sports since athetics focus on a main thing that men have, which is their masculinity. But that the gender and sexuality are very different when analyzing sports, since it is assumed that atheltic men are straight. Unlike the male assumption, as a women athelete, their sexuality is not assumed right off the bat.

During high school Messner chose to try and demonstrate his masculinity by picking on the weakest link. By doing this, it allows others to see how strong and passive he is, instead showing weakness as a male athelete. But in fact, it just shows what it has come to to live up to our stereotype that has been set on our gender.