When I was reading a particular piece for this week's readings I felt it necessary to talk about the evolution of women and the sports they play. Now to begin I would first want to mention that women were not excluded from any types of events that were more male oriented, but when they preformed in such sports they were considered more of novelty acts than well respected events which were represented by male athletes. Now to the actual reading which is Biology as Ideology by Judith Lorber I could help but think about the dramatic changes that have occurred for sporting events representing women. History can show us that a regular gym class in the 1950's and 60's would be seen as a male dominated area. Boys in gym classes could play such activities as basketball and gain an actual workout from it. Whereas the girls in the gym class were placed in a small section of gym where they could use their time for streching and aerobics. Now in our modern society we see that women's sports can be just as athletic as male sports. As well their is no sport in our modern day society which is dominated by males. Basketball, football, even bodybuilding is not for just males anymore. This dramatic change to the landscape of sporting events shows that perhaps our culture has changed in some way for the better. Even though equality is still a work in progress, equality in sporting events seems to be at an all time high. Now does this mean that women are completely free from discrimination at least in the athletics or do you believe that women are still being considered less than athletes and more of novality acts?
To give you an early history of women's involvement in sports I have provided a link to a time line of some of the earliest times in history documenting women and athletics:
http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/timeline.htm
-William Webster
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