The end of October is a prime time in televised sports. It’s prime time of football season, it’s World Series time for baseball, hockey has just come back on, basketball is back in play and even soccer. It’s the season of sports, so I thought it would be a perfect time to talk about why having knowledge of sports and players isn’t just for men.
I’ve watched football since I was a child; my family bleeds green and we would all watch the game every Sunday at either 1 or 4. As I grew up, I would express my feelings about a certain player or how my team was doing. I would receive 1 of 2 reactions from my male peers. I would either be brutally ignored because they felt my opinion was inadequate because I was a female, or they would respond with something along the lines of “wow, you really know your stuff for a girl,” as if my gender made me incapable of knowing players, positions, records and how the scoring system worked.
This attitude still continues today. When I join fantasy leagues or express my interest in one, I am constantly viewed as “just another person to fill space.” Sometimes I’m the joke of the draft because some of the males in the league believe that there’s no way I could know what I’m doing, I’m just a girl.
This can even extend to my clothing choices. If I wear a jersey, I am intensely questioned on who plays for the team, what their record is, and other questions that wouldn’t be asked to a male wearing the same jersey. They would get a solid ‘sup nod’ or a ‘nice jersey’ remark from their male counterparts.
I, for one, am tired of it. I am tired of needing to prove myself just because I am a woman. Having knowledge for a sport has nothing to do with your gender in any form, so stop making it about it. Don’t quiz me, interrogate me, or find a need to treat me and my views any less than any other just because of the gender I am. If my word isn’t enough, here are a few tweets that were directed at women when stating their opinion or simply being a woman comentator:
These are just 6 of plenty examples that prove that women are treated so poorly based solely on their gender; nothing else.
So next time you’re quick to speak over a woman trying to voice her opinion, maybe give her a chance before shutting her down, or hold off on applauding her. She may know the divisions of the sports, the next big prospect, the top team, and several other factors that you know as well.
And if you’re a woman who deals with this, stand up and shut them down. Show off your stuff and prove all of the stereotypes wrong, girl. Together we will end this idea among men that we don’t know what they do.