Why do some men hate women's sports?

posted by Athletic Women Blog
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 7:23pm EDT

Female muscle, women in sports, amazon feminism

In a San Jose State University Spartan Daily piece, Angela Marino writes of having overheard a male student complain about women's sports. He doesn't think that women can play sports. Fine. But why complain? Surely he's not being forced to watch women's sports, so why is he troubled by them?

I was asked about this strange phenomenon—this vehement aversion some men have for women's sports and female athletes—recently, not for the first time either, and I couldn't offer a concrete answer. Such behavior is to my mind perverse and incomprehensible.

Not that I haven't tried to understand it. And I perhaps can when it comes from a male athlete, since he may feel female athletes pose a threat; they could someday steal the spotlight away from him. But what of the ordinary male sports fan? So much of this hateful nonsense comes from him. He dotes on male athletes yet finds female athletes unworthy of his attention—or worse. Odd, isn't it?

It is fitting that Angela's piece should appear in something with Spartan in the title. Some time ago I wrote a piece in which I told of the lesson Sparta, 2,500 years hence, still holds out for us. Where men among the bravest, sturdiest this world has ever known held strong, athletic women in highest esteem.

I end here with Angela's trenchant conclusion:

Female athletes have the ability to be as influential as male athletes if given the same opportunities that male athletes have been given. In the 21st century, it is time to open our minds and get over the primal idea that men are the dominate source of physical strength.

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There are 4 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

megankillian says:

Thank you for sharing this! After having an interview with Dr Hardin recently, this question seemed to surface. I don't really understand it. I wish I could. Is it because women aren't taken seriously? Airing a women's soccer game instead of a men's soccer game on NBC would probably never happen...

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 8:13pm EDT

robm says:

Megan: Thank you for letting me know that you found it worthwhile. The querist unnamed in my post was likewise Dr. Hardin. This question comes up with some regularity, but I always find an answer elusive. My interview with Dr. Hardin, along with seeing Angela's opinion piece, gave me cause once more to ponder it--and still no answer.

An undervaluation of women's abilities certainly explains many things. But the bilious reaction to women's sports from some quarters, which could only come from somewhere darker yet, is something else again.

Today, sadly, a women's game wouldn't take precedence at NBC. But I don't expect that to be the case always. Change is afoot, Megan.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 11:19am EDT

womentalksports says:

Several comments on this post have been moderated, either because they were vulgar, included personal attacks, or were responses to comments that were vulgar or had personal attacks. If you continue to use vulgar language or personal attacks, you will be permanently banned from commenting on this site. Thank you.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 11:36am EDT

robm says:

I wish to apologize to Ann, Megan, Jane, and WTS readers for this post of mine becoming suddenly, well over a year later, a troll magnet. (And yes, when someone launches comments with freshly coined schoolyard epithets and various other juvenilia, he or she is by definition a troll.)

This particular post was meant as a condemnation of those men who mockingly disparage, if not outright slander, female athletes, women's sports, and fans of women's sports. Also it exposes the pathology, the silliness, and the hypocrisy embedded in the rhetoric they often use. That is all.

I would suggest that anyone wanting more than an infantile gloss of my views on female athletes and women in sports spend time reading my writings. Perhaps starting with the following articles:

Advancing women's sports: largely a bootstrap process

Nattering Ninnies of Negativism

Rest of tour needs to catch up with Williams sisters

The importance of strength training

Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 1:52pm EDT

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Why do some men hate women's sports?

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