What does a female athlete look like?

I especially love this commercial that was put out earlier this year by Nike because it looks at female athletes in a way that is not typically done so (also, because it includes roller derby). There are women in this video sweating, running, with prostheses, jumping through fire, and even dunking a basketball over a group of men. This video is representing female athletes for what they do, and not what they look like which is a huge gulp of fresh air.

Why is it that female athletes are always pictured with some sexual overtone? Why is it that the only reason we know about Brandi Chastain is because she took her shirt off after scoring the winning goal at the 1999 Women's World Cup? When you think of tennis, do you immediately think of Anna Kournikova? If you do, and you google her, isn't it amazing that there are more photos that show up of her in a bikini (or topless) than there is of her actually playing tennis? In fact, I just googled her and of the first 50 photos that showed up, only two of them of her in competition.

In reality, female athletes don't look like supermodels despite the images we see of them in magazines and online. A great representation of the way true athletes look would be to examine the female athletes who participated in the Reebok 2011 CrossFit Games ! These women are stacked and able to accomplish many physical feats that your typical male athlete couldn't do. They are strong, they are confident, and they aren't an hourglass figure in short skirts.

I think marketing agencies and Sports Illustrated need to re-think what a female athlete looks like and what they are capable of. I vote to see less Kournikova-types, and more like these women .

Sportswoman of the Year

Every year the Women's Sports Foundation conducts a poll of its readers and then the Women's Sports Foundation Awards Committee selects a winner based on votes and essays written by readers. In recent years, athletes like Serena and Venus Williams, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Jenny Thompson, and Michelle Kwan have been honored with this award.

My concern about this is primarily that as I read through the list of past recipients, there were only a few whose names that I recognized. Either this means that I don't pay much attention to women's athletes, or maybe they're just not getting the publicity that they deserve. The awards have been given out since 1993 and of the 18 winners, I could tell you what sport 6 of them played. Less than half. A lot of the more recognizable names that I found were female athletes from the early 90's. Almost none of the most recent winners were names that I had ever heard before with the exception of Annika Sorenstam who was awarded in 2004 and I don't think this is because I don't pay attention, I think its because women don't get the coverage that they used to.

Until this class, I was never made aware of how little coverage women's sports get. I just assumed it was just a little less than half of the coverage. Then I started to look at the Tribune, ESPN, and television stations like NBC, ABC, and Fox and the realization of just how much coverage women's athletes were getting really started to sink in. How do we change this? Is it the networks' fault? Or is it society as a whole who is contributing to the marginalization of women's athletics? Its just something to think about the next time you watch a sporting event that isn't the Olympics.

And by the way, if you're interested to see who wins the Sportsman of the Year award for 2011, Winners will be announced at the Annual Salute to Women in Sports on October 19 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.