I don't want to dwell on this topic. I want to ignore the ignorant. I don't want to give sexists and misogynists the time of day. But while looking at these results, I couldn't not share some of the responses I received. I want a chance to answer some of the things that were said, while also showing opinions that demonstrate maybe society and sports culture is on the right path. Maybe.
As I write this post, I've collected 131 responses. Since I don't have a premium account, I'm only able to analyze 100 of them. So this is out of a pool of 100 sports fans.
We'll start with the demographics.
25-34: 34%
35-44: 8%
45-54: 4%
55-64: 0%
65+: 1%
Male: 68%
A 25-34 year old male answered: “No, and they shouldn’t be.”
I would love to find out which of my Twitter followers feels this way to ask him more questions. If a woman is working just as hard as a man and is just as familiar with the sport (or sports) that she is covering, why has she not earned that respect?
An 18-24 year old male said: "They can be color commentators, but I'd still want a man to be a play by play announcer."
A common response I had for this one was that they didn't want the sound of a woman's voice calling the games. One person did respond that he couldn't answer the question fairly because he had never heard a woman call a game before. I believe that a woman is perfectly capable of describing the action in the game. If it became more commonplace, people would more accurately be able to judge whether they prefer a woman or man doing play-by-play.
A 25-34 year old male asked the question, "Should men be allowed in women's locker rooms?" The answer is: they already are. This is a common misconception and an argument many people try to bring up (as evidenced in my survey). An article from USA Today in 2010 clears this up.
An 18-24 year old female, who answered "yes," said: "People need to be able to handle the fact they are in control of their bodies and their actions, not what someone else’s attire or lack of."
So many people are quick to blame the victim. When someone is harassed or assaulted, people immediately ask what the victim was wearing. Who were they with? What time of day was it? Instead of implying that the victim did something wrong, we need to focus on the people doing the harassing. This happens in the locker room for all different sports. Female reporters are there to do their job, not to be leered at.
An 18-24 year old answered: "I look at the article first and the name of the author second. The article is what is important."
To me, this would be an interesting experiment. Give someone a few articles in the 10% who don't take women sports journalists as seriously as men, but don't reveal the author for any of the articles. See if they can tell which "gender" is the voice of the story.
Sigh. Do I even need to touch on this one? It absolutely, positively, completely blows my mind that there are people out there who believe women are incapable of having sports knowledge. No, not all women are sports fans. And not all men are sports fans either. A sports fan is a sports fan. A sports journalist is a sports journalist. This doesn't need to be segregated into genders.
More results
When I asked for people to name their favorite sports reporters, I had plenty of different answers. The most popular ones were Ken Rosenthal, Erin Andrews, Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd. I also asked for people to name which sport they follow the most. MLB (77 votes), NFL (51), NHL (35) and NBA (18) were among the most named. College basketball, soccer and tennis also received multiple votes while a variety of other sports were each named one time.
Back to the survey
I was mostly encouraged by some of the answers I received. However, some responses made me seriously question some of the people that follow me. Seriously. Seriously.
An 18-24 year old female said she doesn't take women as seriously as men because, "They just want the attention from the male dominated career. 'Oh I'm so unique, I'm one of the guys.'"
Now obviously I can't speak for all journalists. But as a female who has absolutely adored sports since she was about four years old, and as a professional who now covers sports for a job, I can safely say that I have never done it for the attention. I have never done it to be "one of the guys." This is my passion. Finding something you truly love to do and being able to make a career out of it is so rare, and I've found that through sports.
This respondent also went on to say that women are "oogled at" but that the females "ask for it and want it." I've already touched on this topic above, so I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm just seriously concerned that people feel this way.
An 18-24 year old male said that he does not take women as seriously as men "because they have never played football or baseball."
This is another argument that I have never quite understood. Yes, someone who has played the sport they are covering will have a different perspective with more experience. But does that mean all journalists should be athletes? If you've never played the sport, can you not be a fan either? Because you've never played the sport? Does that really seem logical?
So...moving on
I have been inspired by so many journalists, both women and men, as I continue to move forward in a career in sports reporting. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I can't change the minds of sexists and misogynists. It's not my job to prove to anyone that women are just as capable as men at covering sports.
I know that I'm smart when it comes to sports. I know plenty of women who are smart when it comes to sports. As long as I carry that with me, not a single negative thing I hear or see can stop me from doing what I want to do.
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