Growing up I was always involved in playing sports. It was my favorite thing to do and something I could share with my dad who was an all star college athlete. Sports have always been a part of my life which has never really made me think about all the negative stereotypes I just read about in the article “Sport: Where Men are Men and Women are Trespassers.”
In middle school I never really had any terrible experiences with boys calling me lesbian or dyke or any label that would be taken negatively. I think because my school was so sports oriented, no one really thought it be weird that girls were just as equally competitive and athletic as the boys. However when I got to high school and really found I thrived in volleyball things changed. Instead of hearing lesbian or dike, my teammates and I were called the “the joke of sports”, because they thought volleyball was for sissy’s. If anyone has ever played an intense game of it, you know its’ really not a game for sissy’s. So instead of being called other harsh names, we were made fun of and know as the jokes of our school.
I think in today’s society when a girl plays sports its not as frowned upon as it used to be. Just because a girl plays a sport doesn’t mean she is going to be as masculine as a male athlete. I think its horrible how people try to make it seem negative to play sports when it comes to girls participating, because playing sports is a healthy way of getting physical activity. No one should by put off and not want to play sports because of the negative connotation some people feel when they hear sports and the word dike or lesbian in the same sentence. Sports are fun, and it shouldn’t be take away from anyone.
I think its interesting that you mentioned how people assume sports players that are women are automatically "dykes." I also played sports and I do not know one person on my team who ended up being a lesbian. I also think that it isn't and shouldnt be frowned upon for a woman to play a sport but instead should be empowering.
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