Writer shares concern over females in sports journalism
Sara Krimm
Issue date: 11/16/09 Section: Sports
Over the last few decades, women in sports journalism have gone through a living hell to reach a point where they are even the least bit respected. They've been looked down on, verbally harassed and worse--sexually harassed. All of these have improved greatly, but I still won't say that women are on an equal playing field with men in sports journalism.
An argument that many men will bring up, especially on the subject of football, is that women don't play the sport, so how can they really understand it? That's ridiculous to me. There are plenty of men in sports journalism who write about sports they have no experience in playing.
Maybe it's my Texas-football-watching upbringing paired with my NCAA Football video game playing, but I would be willing to bet that I know football just as well as any man that I sit in the press box with. Still, even in just covering football at ASU, it took me a few weeks to not feel like coaches, players and other reporters didn't take me seriously.
Whether they meant to make me feel that way or not, it's an intimidating setting for a female to work in.
I can deal with the disrespect, though. I can deal with men looking at me like, "does she really know what she's talking about?" In fact, it gives me the last laugh, in a sense, when I'm doing an interview at practice and all the male reporters leave before my turn to ask questions, not interested in what I might have to ask. It's their loss, really--I get to use quotes from their questions and add a few of my own that no one else stayed around to catch.
It isn't the disrespect of my sports knowledge that bothers me. The thing I can't stand, which I haven't personally experienced and hope I never have to, is the sexual harassment that women have faced in sports journalism. The ugly truth of a small percentage of women working in such a male dominated setting is that women are objectified, and that makes me sick.
Incidences of sexual harassment go back to 1985, when sportswriter Paola Biovin was mocked by players in the St. Louis Cardinals locker room, asking if she was there to interview someone or to look at a bunch of guys' penises.
An argument that many men will bring up, especially on the subject of football, is that women don't play the sport, so how can they really understand it? That's ridiculous to me. There are plenty of men in sports journalism who write about sports they have no experience in playing.
Maybe it's my Texas-football-watching upbringing paired with my NCAA Football video game playing, but I would be willing to bet that I know football just as well as any man that I sit in the press box with. Still, even in just covering football at ASU, it took me a few weeks to not feel like coaches, players and other reporters didn't take me seriously.
Whether they meant to make me feel that way or not, it's an intimidating setting for a female to work in.
I can deal with the disrespect, though. I can deal with men looking at me like, "does she really know what she's talking about?" In fact, it gives me the last laugh, in a sense, when I'm doing an interview at practice and all the male reporters leave before my turn to ask questions, not interested in what I might have to ask. It's their loss, really--I get to use quotes from their questions and add a few of my own that no one else stayed around to catch.
It isn't the disrespect of my sports knowledge that bothers me. The thing I can't stand, which I haven't personally experienced and hope I never have to, is the sexual harassment that women have faced in sports journalism. The ugly truth of a small percentage of women working in such a male dominated setting is that women are objectified, and that makes me sick.
Incidences of sexual harassment go back to 1985, when sportswriter Paola Biovin was mocked by players in the St. Louis Cardinals locker room, asking if she was there to interview someone or to look at a bunch of guys' penises.
RSS Feed
Be the first to comment on this story