I was never a jock. I briefly wanted to be and tried out for varsity soccer in 9th grade at the all girls school I attended in Nashville, TN. Let's just say I didn't have the lung capacity (last one on the field running laps...could have been the cigs). I settled for class clown instead. Still I always envied the girls who played -- especially their camaraderie.
Seventeen and the WNBA put out a press release highlighting the results from their new study on girls and sports. I'm not sure how they defined sports, but they found a whopping 83 percent of girls play sports (I'm guessing sports was broadly defined to include individual sports). The research also found:
- Basketball ranked as the number one participatory sport
- The top reason girls say they play sports is to exercise (68.4%)
- Other top reasons included forming friendships, competing and representing their schools
Challenges that young female sports enthusiasts endure...
- 33% of girls who don't play sports say it's because they're worried that they wouldn't be good at it
- 35% of girls also say their teams don't get as much equipment or field time as the boys' teams
- 35% of girls have heard their peers make homophobic remarks about female athletes
- The survey also revealed that 66% of teen girls believe that cheerleading is a sport, not some sideline event
- 71% think female cheerleaders should cheer at girls' sports events
Fear of my peers thinking I might be a lesbian never crossed my mind in choosing not to participate in sports -- just my inability to run for long periods of time (and lack of drive to really work on that one). I wish I had -- it might have kept me out of trouble. Evidently, homophobia is alive and well in high schools, not only affecting LGBT students but may be impacting some girls' decisions on whether or not to play sports...
A couple related posts from the Ypulse archives
Pack of Wolves
Win! But Look Good Doing It
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Comments
"35% of girls have heard their peers make homophobic remarks about female athletes"
One can't take from that statistic that any girls decided not to play sports for fear of being called lesbians.
Posted by: Eric Jaffa | August 7, 2008 11:59 AM
I'm onthe same line of thinking as Eric. Also, for 1/3 to have heard a remark -- one person could say a remark and 20 people heard it. I don't think the statistic is representative of teen views.
Posted by: Amy Strecker | August 7, 2008 12:18 PM
Hi Eric and Amy -- given that it's a challenge for 35 percent of girls involved in sports, I would guess that it might be a factor in some girls' decisions as to whether or not to join. Just my opinion/speculation -- i.e. it might impact some girls' decisions, not all. Sorry if that was overstated.
Posted by: Anastasia | August 7, 2008 12:33 PM