He got the recognition for his 3-pointer at his NBA game. She worked to get five 3-pointers in her WNBA game and got nothing in return.
His MLB salary was way more than the amount that she received.
He got to wear comfortable shorts and a shirt but she had to wear revealing spandex and a tight t-shirt.
He couldn’t compete on a men’s sports team because his choice of gender was overlooked by his original sex.
General stigmas for female athletes
It has been widely acknowledged that women do not get as far as men politically, but it has been overlooked in sports.
“A lot of times I see sports that are mostly female-dominated like dance, cheer, or gymnastics, being put down. People will often say ‘Oh that's not a real sport,’ and I think a big part of the reason is because it is female-dominated,” said Erin Psaila, junior on Carlmont's track and cross country teams.
The prejudices don't just occur at Carlmont. Cambridge University Press released a study in 2016 where participants were asked to describe athletes. Men were commonly described as “fastest,” “strong,” “big,” “great.” Their female counterparts were called “unmarried,” “married,” “pregnant,” “aged.”
Similarly, Psaila has noticed criticism among runners.
“I hear people bashing on girls because they might have a slower time than a guy in another race. I think it's so competitive, and people are constantly comparing times so it can be really negative.” Psaila said.
"I hear people bashing on girls because they might have a slower time than a guy in another race," Psaila said.
There are also differences between female and male coaches.
“I've had a couple of coaches who have definitely been a bit sexual. There's one coach who got fired because of sexual activity. I've had one coach, and the way he touched two girls was weird,” said Bianca Johnson, a club volleyball player and coach, and a senior at Carlmont.
"I've had a couple of coaches who have definitely been a bit sexual," Johnson said.
Psaila also noticed more positivity with her new female coach as opposed to her past male coaches.
“I see a lot more togetherness with my newer coach, Coach Julie. She's a lot more about team bonding and having people run together, and focusing on each other, rather than our opponents from other schools.” Psaila said.
Uniforms sexualize the female body
A basic training swimsuit for girls, with “cheeky” coverage and a low-cut neck, is around $70. A non-revealing swimsuit with a kneeskin, thick straps, and full coverage is about $200.
Girls have to pay more than double for a swimsuit that they can feel comfortable wearing around the pool deck.
Other sports have girls wearing tight shorts, like in volleyball or cross country.
“I have spandex that I wear, and they are not the most comfortable. If you see in the Olympics, a lot of times, female runners will practically wear bikinis,” Psaila said. “There's a lot of controversy behind it because there's really not a big reason to, it doesn't really help them run. When you see guys run, they don't wear bikinis, and I think that it is weird that [we, as girls,] have to wear smaller shorts and things like that.”
In a lot of professional-level sports, women are seen wearing a sports bra and tight briefs.
"For swimming, I am okay with the swimsuits that we wear because it helps you move most efficiently in the water, but in other sports, such as volleyball or gymnastics, I think that the outfits unnecessarily sexualize women's bodies," said Ava Farrell, a freshman on the Carlmont swim team.
This past summer, the Norwegian women’s handball team was fighting the European Handball Federation to allow them to wear something other than bikini bottoms. In protest, they all wore shorts to a match and were forced to pay a fine of about $175 per person. The players acknowledged that not only were bikini bottoms impractical for diving and playing in the sand, but they were also degrading to wear.
A former NCAA champion, Amy Yoder Begley said, “I was told I was too fat and 'had the biggest butt on the starting line.'”
"I was told I was too fat and 'had the biggest butt on the starting line,'" Begley said.
Johnson acknowledged that in volleyball, sometimes the players will wear longer spandex or leggings because they are uncomfortable in the short spandex most players wear.
“I feel like the main disrespect from men is just the way you're looked at. A lot of the time volleyball players are sexualized because of what they have to wear,” Johnson said.
Trans-athletes are still athletes
Women are not the only sports players who struggle with mistreatment in their industry. 2021 was the first year that transgender athletes competed in the Olympic Games. The three transgender athletes out of the 11,090 total Olympians made history.
Even at Carlmont, where there are support systems for the LGTQIA+ students, transgender and non-binary athletes have struggled.
Eli Wallow, a Carlmont class of 2021 alumni, was on the girl’s swim team for years, though he never felt like he belonged.
“There is no wiggle room for gender in the swimming world due to the sport being so heavily based on your biological sex and how your body is laid out. I found no matter what I did to cope with this, I was always grouped back into the girls due to my body, and while looking at the girls and the boys there was always a sense of kinship among them that I was never able to achieve within either group; I’m not a girl so I didn’t fit in there, I don’t have a boys body so I didn’t fit in there,” Wallow said.
"I’m not a girl so I didn’t fit in there, I don’t have a boys body so I didn’t fit in there," Wallow said.
Non-binary and transgender athletes are hardly recognized to the level they should be. While there are biological differences between a male and female body, that should not take away from the fact that a handful of trans-athletes will take hormones or testosterone which will help change the body, physically.
This divide he faced drained his love out of the sport he had participated in since about 4th grade, until he made the decision to quit.
“To have something that was such a constant in my life go from an activity I enjoyed to one I dreaded based on how everyone else on the team perceived me incorrectly was a lot more taxing on my mental and physical health than I had realized,” Wallow said.
Wallow chose to not tell the coaches, but he did come out to a few teammates. He wasn’t as respected by teammates as he had hoped.
Overall, there is apparent sexism in the trans and non-binary worlds, which carry over into sports. This divide needs to change, because transphobia should have no effect on athletes that want to continue doing and playing the sports they love.
“I remember coming out to people on the team on multiple occasions, only for them to default back to seeing me as a girl; very few people actively respected me and how I wished to be referred to while I was both out of my swimsuit and in it,” Wallow said. “Eventually the weight of my identity pushed out the joy I got from the sport.”
Credits:
Allison Raisner