While overt sexism in the sports world is slowly becoming less prevalent, we shouldn’t be celebrating just yet. Sports commentators have often shied away from hypersexualizing female athletes and other blatant sexist attacks regarding females’ athletic abilities, covert sexism is still alive and well.
Take, for example, the recent exchange between professional tennis player Andy Murray and a reporter during a July 2017 press conference. The male journalist commented that Sam Querrey, who previously knocked Murray out of the Wimbledon tournament, was “the first U.S. player to reach a major semi-final since 2009.” Before the journalist could finish his question, Murray quickly added that Querrey was the first “male player” specifically to do so. This was a necessary correction, considering that female athletes such as Venus Williams and Madison Keys have played in recent major semi-finals and Serena Williams has won 12 Grand Slam tournaments since 2009. This “casual sexism”, although perhaps not as flagrant as sports sexism in the past, is proof that females in sports careers still have a long ways to go.
However, while the sexism towards female athletes may be on the decline, the same cannot be said for female sports journalists. Just a few days ago, Cam Newton, a quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, made a remark during a press conference that has sparked considerable outrage. After Charlotte Observer reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked Newton a valid question regarding football plays, Newton chuckled and offhandedly replied, “it’s funny to hear a female talk about routes”. Responses from a wide variety of people, including members of sports media both male and female, poured in condemning Newton and supporting Rodrigue. Numerous other female sports journalists took to Twitter to recount their own experiences with sexism. Newton has since apologized through a video on his Twitter account the very next day, but no apology could erase the proof that sexism in sports is very real.
— Cameron Newton (@CameronNewton) October 6, 2017
And while his words of apology in his Twitter video, things such as “my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women” and “what I did was extremely unacceptable”, left many hoping a valuable lesson was learned, his comments during a press conference this past Sunday seemed to squash that hope: “My sarcasm, trying to give someone a compliment turned in ways I never would’ve even imagined.”
If you think that this is an isolated incident, take a look at this video PSA from the podcast Just Not Sports in which men read abusive and horrific tweets directed towards female sports journalists– to their faces.
Comments such as Newton’s are especially shocking considering the significant advancements women have made in the area of sports. The Yankees sell more women’s apparel than any other merchandise in its shops. There are more ads for the NFL shop geared towards women. Super Bowl ads are increasingly directed towards women due to the almost equal Super Bowl viewership of men and women. From a business perspective, women are fantastic for sports. According to an AdWeek article, women influence the majority of consumer spending across all categories and are much more vocal about their consumption. They tweet more, they share more, they talk more– all beneficial things for the business side of sports. So why are we still seeing things like the Cam Newton incident? Because while men are willing to recognize the increasing female viewership of sports if it means adding some cash to their pocket, we’ve yet to go much farther than that. It’s still perpetuated that women who watch sports need to be taught the rules. That their fathers and boyfriends and brothers have to explain what’s going on and that women don’t really get it. Men, such as Cam Newton and many others, are still stuck in this stereotype of women and are therefore still not used to women being extremely educated in the field of sports.
So while it’s true that we are seeing dwindling amounts of sexism towards female athletes, let us not forget that the world of sports is comprised of a variety of women other than just athletes– sports fans, sports journalists, sports commentators. And women in any sports career deserve to be able to do their jobs without harassment. Because like Rodrigue tweeted in response to Newton’s comment, “I don’t think it’s ‘funny’ to be a female and talk about routes. I think it’s my job.”