Olympics: Who cares if female athletes can perform?

So why bother letting women compete in the Olympics? We clearly don't want to watch them. Unless it's for T&A, amiright?

I thought the point of the Olympic Games was to put men and women into each event and see who kicks the most ass.

Again, I realize I'm being all naive and that, like Biggie Smalls often said, Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

So, basically, the WNBA is a joke, futbol is a joke (if you're an America), and women don't matter.

America!

*giant cartoon dick*

 

Beyond the reason's i listed, i dont know why a person would watch women compete. the WNBA is a joke. it'd rather go to my local minor league baseball or minor league hockey team anyday. Once you see someone dunk, the countless layups in women's basketball just isn't appealing anymore.

likewise, watching a clean and jerk of 250kg then going to 180 kg just doesn't have the same appeal. it's not as fun, it doesn't sell, and it is reflected in ratings. women's sports aren't as fun to watch as men's, unless they are hot, have a great story, or it is a super competitive year to watch.

 

I think it is great that more young women can aspire to represent their country in international sporting competitions.

 

Wow. Please don't ever have daughters, okay?

 

why wouldn't i watch my own daughters play? of course i would watch and support them. i guess you could add it to my list of reasons to watch female sports. it still doesn't address the point that men's sports are more competitive and fun to watch compared to women's sports. it's an undeniable fact. it's backed up by sponsorships, ratings, and records.

 

It is a fact that men's sports are more competitive? Huh?

As a matter of fact, the largest demographic group for watching the olympics is women between 18-35. Watch the ads and you will might get a better sense of the target audience. And I dont think they are there to watch men weightlifters.
--- merged: Jul 21, 2012 5:16 AM ---

 

Men may be able to beat the women at the top, but I'm telling you right now:

There is no way in hell I would ever play against a women's side in a rugby match. Those chicks be fucking crazy on the pitch.

And the fact that women don't perform as well at the top can't possibly be because humanity has spent roughly two thousand years telling women that they suck at sports and shouldn't be taken seriously when they try. It has to be because they just aren't as good. We should spend at least a couple hundred years recruiting, training and rewarding women with the same zeal as we do men before passing judgement on who is better.

Another sport that has made this clear to me is rock climbing. I spend an inordinate amount of time around novice rock climbers and on day one the women are nearly always better than the men. Men are climbing the hardest grades at the top, but when I watch men and women climb I can't help but think though they're usually shorter and 'weaker' that women are better climbers. Climbing is about more than just 'long and strong' and the right set of routes can really put a point on that.

 

Who wants to watch women play sports? If it's not men ogling them, how about us women out there? We do make up 50% of the population, after all. Do our opinions still not count because we have vaginas? Seriously?

I watch *some* women's sports (when I have time/interest.. not all sports interest me), and I watch them because it is inspiring to see women compete against each other at the highest levels, set new records, and continually overcome the somewhat-apparent-in-this-thread idea that women aren't good for anything except sex and babies. My favorite sport in the Olympics is the equestrian games (for obvious reasons), but it's also a sport where men and women compete against each other and women often win.

The women in the Olympics aren't just eye candy for you with dicks to gaze at and judge - they are role models for young girls who are learning to appreciate and compete in sports, as well as those of us who continue athletic endeavors throughout our lives. If you ever have daughters, samcol, I hope they can find role models.. because if you eliminate the women from the Olympics, what will they aspire to? Professional female athletes which you think is just as dumb a concept? Of course, they shouldn't possibly use men as role models, because they could never compare to that kind of performance.

 

In what is perhaps one of the saddest commentaries of all on the situation of female athletes is that the market really isn't 50% because so many women just don't care about sports. I doubt it's just that women have less competitive personalities than men, but we'll likely never be able to separate that out from the women who have been broken into believing the system that tells them they just aren't as good as men. The system consistently reinforces the idea that real women don't play sports and so they discourage each other and their daughters from even trying to achieve great things in athletics or caring about the women who do. Do you ever think someone looked at a little boy and said, "You're wasting your time, you're only a boy."

 

I didn't say that women don't naturally love sports or that all men do. I'm talking about averages, those mythical people that define groups but don't actually exist. Girls absolutely are still told not to play sports because it's not feminine or they'll never be as good as men, even if not explicitly so. I could name names (or quote a certain post in this thread). This is simply a hurdle men have never had to worry about. Most importantly it's a hurdle that undermines the idea that women just aren't as good at men at sports because the talent pools aren't being mined in the same way. Of course you can dismiss this as anecdotal if you want to, but from where I sit it's systemic and and definitely has a wide impact, the result of old values that are dying hard. You may be right, it might be getting better, but it isn't there yet.
Here is the closest thing to a useful survey that I could find about this. These are attendance figures for professional sports events in order: MLB, MLS, NASCAR, the NFL, NHL and NBA:


Men__ 58.8% 60.5% 63.1% 60.2% 58.7% 63.6%
Women 41.2% 39.5% 36.9% 39.8% 41.3% 36.4%


I don't see why the numbers should be split so clearly if it's the case that women love sports just as much as men and there isn't anything standing in their way of expressing it.

And, most importantly, before I go:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_P1PPy7FTo

 

I dont think these upcoming Olympic commercials are targeted towards men.



Or the Procter and Gamble "thank you, Mom" and "Team Kellogg's" campaigns that feature both men and women athletes.

Unlike football, baseball, basketball, Nascar, etc., more women than menwatch the olympics.

Data from the 08 and 04 Olympics

 

I am with the "pro women's sports" camp until this tidbit.

You are kidding, right? Next to Beach Volleyball, women's tennis is a bloody disaster... be it singles or doubles.

All the males and even a large number of females I know watch Sharapova matches only.

I've watched 5 Australian Opens consecutively and the odd Wimbledon tournament. The female matches I've seen involved a whole lot less fitness, speed, power and skill. I'll agree to the skill of the Williams twins and Steffi Graf being an exception in there... but I struggle very hard to come up with another worthwhile name.

Most of the players in women's tennis seem to simply be there for the money, as they completely suck at it.

I mean, this is apparently the upcoming new tennis starlet. I'll let you guess why exactly that is.




On the topic itself:

I feel the exact same way as Plan9 about the miserable financial state most female athletes are in. I don't blame the sponsors, as market dynamics are prescribed to them and they simply react to increase market share. If society isn't interested in its female athletes, then money does not flow there.

Women have, in my eyes, especially proven themselves in the Martial Arts, be it Muay Thai, Karate, Kung Fu, TKD, Greco-Roman, BJJ, JJJ, Judo, etc. However, while there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of male professional martial artists out there, only a handful of females in this division manage to support themselves financially with their passion. I'm talking about martial arts, because it's the only sports division I very actively follow.

 

That's right! Bitches be CRAZY. There is some shady shit that can happen in a scrum, ruck or maul!

Still no place I'd rather be though and no better people to call my sisters.

 

Because she wears a too baggy, absolutely useless sports bra? Just look at those sandbags. Ugh, that's gotta be painful.

 

She had breast reduction surgery...



Simona Halep: Tennis player who had breast reduction enjoys comfortable victory in first round at Wimbledon | Mail Online

 

Something tells me her fanbase has drastically reduced in size.

Here's hoping for the best in her actual competence as a tennis player, and may she become admired for that and not for her jugs bouncing.

 

I should have perhaps reinforced that statement with the tidbit that I in fact played rugby through college and am well aware of the crazy shit that happens where the ref cannot see. Whose idea was it to put metal fucking spikes on everybody's feet?

The women I've watched take it to a whole other level.

 

The World Pole Sport Championships were held last week in London.

Pole dancing as an olympic sport...2020?