The “Women’s” Moniker in Sports – The Terms We Use

Billie Jean King & Bobby Riggs

Women in the sports’ world are nothing new, as they have been doing some sort of exercise as long as men have. With that being said, there has always been a gender bias in sports because there is a perception that women are not as strong or as fast as their male counterparts. In several instances in the 20th century this has been proven wrong; the most notable being Billie Jean King verse Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes” in tennis.

MMA Fighter Gina Carano

In the past decade, those barriers have been crumbling down. Danica Patrick has been successful in the male dominated sport of racing; Gina Carano proving women can fight as well as the guys; and the WNBA getting its own league.

With the success of women in modern sports, there has been some talk as of late about the way we phrase it. MMA fighter Roxanne Modafferi wrote an open letter to the female sports world (which will be published next week on Fightergirls.com) talking partly about how the use of the “women’s MMA” moniker isn’t warranted.

“I'd like to re-define the term ‘WMMA’," Modafferi states. “I don't do ‘women's MMA,’ or ‘female fighting.’ There is only ONE kind of MMA, and I'm a woman who does it. So from here on, I'm going to stick to saying 'female fighters'."

Why the uproar on the placement of one little word? It’s about equality in sports.

Although there has been some rule changes in certain sports because of the perception that women can’t go as long or as hard as men without getting injured; sports like MMA, soccer, tennis, and football most of the time adhere to the exact same rules as men. Same time limits, same penalties, same playing field, and same scoring system. Some people associate these sports as “women’s sports” in a negative light, as if they aren’t as exciting or important as the men’s side of things. This is not the case.

How do we get around this? Most sports use divisions to describe certain aspects of the sport that are different; amateur division, 145 pound division, semi-pro division, and the like. Saying there is a women’s division of the sport helps to curb the stigma of what is seems to be on the surface as gender bias of the sport.

The gender gap is closing in fast, and if MMA has anything to prove, it’s that women can entertain just as much as men in the same sport. So don’t think of them as a participant in a women’s sport. Think of them as women who play a sport.

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• Martial Arts, MMA, Discrimination/Title IX, Media/Marketing, Rules of the Game

There are 2 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

NiamhG

Yes, women athletes should be thought of as athletes who happen to be women but the reality is sadly different. What I found (Thai Boxing) was that men don't make that distinction between male and female fighters but that those watching do. It's more about their pre-conceptions than any difference in what we do when compared to male athletes. Definitely an issue that needs to be tackled as we move on.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 11:57am PDT

Title9

"With that being said, there has always been a gender bias in sports because there is a perception that women are not as strong or as fast as their male counterparts. In several instances in the 20th century this has been proven wrong; the most notable being Billie Jean King verse Bobby Riggs in %u201CThe Battle of the Sexes%u201D in tennis."

So the best example you can come up with is a woman in her prime beating an out of shape 55 year old man, what a joke... she was 26 years younger than Riggs at the time of the match. I'm sure a WNBA player could be Jordan one on one when he's 65 does that prove that they are at all equal, nope.

Don't define Kings career by that win which was a show that's all she had a great career aside from that.

For Example
In 1998, 203rd ranked male player Karsten Braasch took on Venus Williams and beat her 6-2. He also played Serena Williams and won 6-1 after the Williams sisters, who were 17 and 16 at the time, said they could beat any man ranked 200 or worse. Braasch said afterwards, "500 and above, no chance" as he claimed he had played like someone ranked 600 in order to keep the game "fun."

A much more realistic result if you ask me at least the Williams sisters were close to their physical prime at that point against a no name male player... I'd love to see Nadal vs bot the Williams sisters doubles against single and watch him take it in straight sets.

To the point of the article until they fight men it will always be called women's MMA or Female fighting because that's what it is. Do you propose the WNBA be called the NBA?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 at 4:54pm PDT