Sport is a "Mirror of Cultural Norms"

Hardin’s Evaluation of the lack of coverage for the Connecticut Women’s Basketball team is a rather interesting view of Women’s vs. Men’s Sports. She brings up the fact that many people blame the media for causing our country to favor men’s sports over women’s sports. However, she disagrees with this assessment. She believes that society as a whole is to blame for this disparity. She believes that our society has certain gender “norms” and those are reflected in the differences between men and women’s sports. I happen to agree with Hardin. I fell as though our society is extremely nurturing of gender roles. Men are expected to work and make money for the family while women are expected to work less important jobs and cook and clean. This is reflected in our sports. Women’s sports are not anywhere near as popular as men’s sports in our society. I don’t entirely understand why this is true, but I believe that men professional athletes tend to be more athletic than women. I know many women would disagree with me but it is painfully obvious to me that this is true. If you look at the NBA, I would estimate that at least 90% of the players in the league can dunk a basketball. In the WNBA only one player can dunk a basketball. I think the difference in physical ability ties back into the gender norms. In my experience, women and men are expected to have certain body images. Women are supposed to be skinny while men are supposed to be ripped. I know many girls that are afraid of lifting weights because they do not want to become too buff in fear of being made fun of. Cultural norms are the biggest reason why men’s sports are more popular than women’s sports. The phenomenon ties into the concept that Sport is a “Mirror of Society.”