Content area
Full text
Since the passage of Title IX, women have made dramatic inroads into sports previously dominated by men. How has this changed our society? How have women responded? How have men reacted? This special section takes a feminist look at women in sports.
"When I dare to be powerful-to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
-Audre Lorde
Sports are a powerful socializing agent in the United States, so women in sports and female athletes should be a radical force for change in our society. The personal politics of radical feminism taught us that every experience we have or decision we make has political implications, so it would seem that the personal experiences and physical make up of female athletes should add up to resistance to systems of male power and dominance. Yet the revolutionary potential of women in sports remains frustratingly just out of reach.
It is true that today there seems to be more space for girls and women to be athletic, strong, muscular and skilled at sports. Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, the number of girls and young women participating in recreational and competitive sports has dramatically increased. Before Title IX, women were 2 percent of college students participating in sports, and by 2001 this rate had risen to 43 percent. The number of girls participating in high school athletics rose from 294,000 in 1971 to 2.8 million in 2002.
These increased opportunities have greatly benefited women and girls. Girls and women have been shown to derive psychological, physiological and sociological benefits from their participation in sports. Girls and women who play sports have higher levels of confidence and self esteem and lower levels of depression. According to the Women's Sports Foundation, female athletes have a more positive body image. Female athletes are less likely to do drugs. High school girls who play sports are less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy, more likely to get better grades in school and more likely to graduate than girls who do not play sports. Participation in sports encourages girls and women to be strong, assertive and independent individuals.
Because of these benefits, women in sports have contributed...