As with men's athletes, women are encouraged to hide their sexuality, only if she is a lesbian, to keep others from feeling awkward around that athlete or from fans judging her because of her sexual interests.
Unfortunately, many women athletes are thought of as being homosexual because of a certain sport they play or the way she acts on the court. This fear and thought that all women are athletes are lesbians is known as the image problem. This in turn, causes athletes female athletes to hide their sexuality and act feminine in front of fans and other athletes. Because a female athletes portraits a lifestyle of femininity she is considered to be heterosexual.
This notion is very harmful for these women and society should have ashamed that these women have to go through such lengths to be considered feminine. Many athletes have to suffer in silence and go through a period of denial just to be accepted. Unfortunately, many of these athletes do not live a desirable lifestyle because of the rules society has set for them.
I have been saying this all along, why does an athletes lifestyle matter if an athlete has the talent and can perform on the same level as their constituents? Just because an athlete is in the public eye does not mean the should be held to a different standard as everyone else.
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I completely agree that an athletes lifestyle should not matter if they compete at the level that is necessary. Unfortunately that is the world we live in. People need a scape goat to get ahead in life, because of the stereotypes that are attached to homosexuals they will be ridiculed for not being perfect in their sport.
ReplyDeleteBut also, why should there be such narrow definitions of what it means to be feminine? Why doesn't sport fit into those definitions?
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