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Megan Hamilton, an assistant at Queen's University Faculty of Law, sent in this article from Jezebel yesterday. It discusses the 8 year old female kick boxer, daughter of a world kick boxing champion, from Australia that caused controversy this week. Say what you will about whether it is right to put an 8 year old (male or female) in the ring for an actual fight, this article says a lot about the gender biases in the media coverage of this event. To sum it up, the media focused much more about the fact this was a female 8 year old than the fact it was an 8 year old fighting. Why should it make a difference?



At the conclusion of the article, Author Mike Adamick, makes a list of advice for sports writers covering women's sports. We think that this list is great (and, of course, meant to be entertaining). Check it out:

"1. If you're covering a story about a girl in sports, ask yourself: Is it a story because she's about to break a record or do something really interesting? Or is it a story because she has a vagina?

2. Google. It's not difficult. If you're doing a story about a girl in a dangerous sport, try googling how many other stories have already been done about girls in the same sport. Likely you'll find it ain't new.

3. Think about whether you'd want your own daughter watching a news clips that makes it sound like girls can't do anything they want or that they might be better suited for ballet and makeup. (Thanks again, Today Show [referring to their coverage of the 8 year old kick boxer]. Morons.)

I'd love to make this checklist longer, so feel free to add your own in the comments."

So what do you think? Is this list long enough? Any other advice for sports writers covering women's sports? We would add two more:

4. Never, ever, say "That was a great goal/basket/pass. We do not see that much in the women's game." You might think no one would be dumb enough to say this, but I hear it all the time (hint: Women's World Cup).

5. Please, please, please stop writing stories about how good looking female athletes are (see also the quote from this article, writing about Jennie Finch's babies name "Yes my mom is still hot," thank you NBC for that riveting journalism). And if you insist, put these articles where they belong, in the gossip pages, life section or fashion section of the newspaper. How sick are you of seeing this in the sports section beside today's scores? (I am looking at you The Score and NBC). This has nothing to do with sport and does not belong in the sport pages. I am not just talking about articles that are focused on an athletes good looks only, but also pieces, like this one, that describe the female athlete as having "long legs and blond hair" or a "long-legged Cinderella" while writing about her athletic skill. We get it (likely male sports writer) she is hot. But she could also kick your ass so get over it and write about what she is there for- to win.

Any other words of advice? Chime in below!

Read Mike's whole article and check out his comments on the kick boxing story here:http://jezebel.com/5821580/some-advice-how-to-cover-young-girls-playing-sports.

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