So as I was sitting in the office the other day, I began to look around and view the team photos for the men and women's teams here at Bowling Green State University. By seeing these I was able to compare and see the feminine image being upheld first hand.
In the men's team photo, the men have a look of intensity on their face. This shows a competitive nature and something that men's athletics thrives on! This look of competition can be intimidating and is used to intimidate the competition of the team and viewers. Some believe smiling in a team photo shows weakness! Even if you look at the coaches and staff in the back, only the women are smiling! This is also showing that even women coaches have to be feminine in their image towards the team.
Now comparing the men's image to the women's is what was surprising to me. As you take a look at the image, you will notice all of the girls have their hair and makeup done. I don't know about you, but I think it would be kinda hard to play a sport like basketball with your hair straightened and make up done. Another thing to take a look at is, everyone of the players is smiling. This is showing a welcoming nature and a sense of warmth. This does not give a look of competition, but instead a look of warmth. The last topic I am gonna bring up is the coaches facial features in the background. In the men's image, the coaches were stern and intense, but in this image the coaches are smiling just as much as the players. This again, makes the viewer feel more welcome and also gives a sense of fun and not so much competition.
It was crazy for me to see so much of a difference in something as small as a team picture. These team pictures are for the same sport as well, I can't even imagine comparing a sport like cheerleading with a sport like football. The differences would most likely be overwhelming and be even more influential on the topic. I am interested to see what everyone else has to say about this topic, and look forward to seeing the comments about this discussion.
By Nathan Riley
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteBy looking at these pictures I can definitely see the differences of intensity. I agree with most of what you said Nathan about how the women are smiling and the men aren't and that the women's picture looks warming while the mens looks intimidating. There were a couple of other things that I noticed between the two pictures. In the mens picture, they are placed inside the 3 point line, all the mens players have their hands on their knees, and they look relaxed. The picture is also brighter than the women's picture. I do think that some of the mens coaches are smiling in both pictures, but they aren't smiling as big as what the women's coaches are. In the women's picture, the women players sitting down have their hands together, they are placed in the middle of the basketball court, the lightening is focused on the middle of the court, and the women sitting down don't look as relaxed. Most of the women do have their hair down, but there are a couple of them with their hair up. I agree that the mens picture looks more intense and they look more serious. They look like they are ready to compete and win. The women's picture makes them look like they are playing to have fun, and don't mind winning or losing. There's a lot that you can tell by looking at pictures, and this women's basketball picture was taken to make them look girly and show femininity, and they mens basketball picture was taken to make them look tough and masculine. This shows that men in sports are meant to look tough while women are meant to look somewhat feminine.
-Kody Burlingame
Hi Nate,
ReplyDeleteI agree, in sports it seems that women are supposed to be athletic, but still uphold that femininity to their image. As you compared it well to BGSU athletics I see this in tennis the most. Talking about BGSU athletics I remember walking through the old Anderson Arena, and the boys basketball team would be in their uniforms, while the Girls team would be located off campus with a nice background and wearing dresses. This was shocking to me because, I didn't think that was totally appropriate. Going back to Tennis, I think this is the sport where women are supposed to appeal the most to the audience. I still can't believe some of the outfits that they are expected to wear, let alone remain comfortable while wearing and competing in them.
-Brett Creamer
Heyy Nate, I agree with you that women are suppose to be feminine before being athletes. As you compared BGSU's basketball teams and how their face impresses vary it also varies by clothing. BGSU's softball team gets all dressed up for their team and individual picture put up on the website. However, the baseball team get to wear their uniforms and get a less formal picture taken. Women's teams are suppose to show themselves with class and femininity and express themselves as women and not athletes. I believe female athletes are athletes just as equal as any male athlete and should not have to express themselves differently compared to the men.
ReplyDelete--Jenny Kelley
Nate-
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you point this out. I agree with everyone who has posted so far. There obviously is a double standard in the ways that male and female athletes are looked at. We asked why females athletes get more attention because of sex appeal than talent. This is definitely because of the demographics of the people who watch sports. The majority of these people are men, and men, for the most part, care more about how a male athlete performs on the field and how a female athlete LOOKS both on and off the field.
Nate,
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely very interesting when comparing the team photos between the two teams. I know in years past even they did not even have the women’s basketball team on the court but rather in dress clothes outside! This I think shows the point that we view women as females first and athletes second. I do not think this will change in the near future. I think it has to deal with how we view women in general in sport, which is not as entertaining and more based on their looks. It is unfair but until we see them as equals it is probably going to continue being that way.
Josiah Blevins
Great blog Nate,
ReplyDeleteI have often wondered why it is considered normal for females to smile and males to act serious. Obviously the girls are on the team are going to be serious and win just as much as the guys want to. I personally think it looks better when the team smiles whether it be male of female sport. Yes it would be quite tough to play in full make-up im sure of it so it is funny how team pictures have made that the normal in todays society. I thought it was necessary to point out that even in the girls team photo that the males in the background are not smiling even though everyone else is. Once you notive that it kind of takes away from the smiles of the girls.
By: RJ Hefflinger
This is very interesting that you make this comparison, especially because I've never personally noticed the difference in team photos of men and women. It is surprising to me how much men try to be intimidating in their team photos compared to women smiling and appearing personable and feminine. I actually really can't see a men's team photo where they are all smiling being intimidating and intense, the sense men want their opponents to get when they look at their photo. But, I agree not matter if a women's team smiles and a men's team doesn't they are both going to be as competitive as one another and have the same desire to win.
ReplyDelete- Jacob Beverly
I agree with you. This is very interesting that male and female have different talents. Most of countries' male and female athletes are taking picutres as like the pictures. In my opinion, male athletes want to show to people about we are strong, and female athletes want to get attention from people. It is dissimilarity in character and they have different sexual talents.
ReplyDelete-Junho Song-