Sexism In The Olympics

The Olympics have been all over television and the news, and not always for good reasons. Sexism has been highly reported during this year's Games; from crediting female Olympians' successes to men, to stereotyping them while they wait, this year has been filthy with sexism.

The first example of this that caught my attention was Corey Cogdell's victory was described as "Wife of Bears lineman wins bronze." Not only was her name not mentioned in the headline shown on Twitter, but her husband's profession was. Her husband has nothing to do with her success as an athlete. It was her own drive and hard work that got her where she was, not her husband's status. A counter article to this topic was entitled "Congrats Girl! Fiance of former Miss California scoops his 25th medal."

The article was satire based on the continuing sexist articles using Michael Phelps as an example of how ridiculous it would sound if male Olympians were portrayed similarly. The article speaks heavily about his fiance's status, and what his outfit of the day was. Phelps is described as "the man behind Nicole," which is how many women who compete are labeled. The article seems totally ridiculous, and obviously satire -- because it's about a man. When articles are written like this about women, they are often anything but satirical.

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary broke a world record, but her husband/coach was deemed "the man responsible" for her outstanding performance. Obviously coaches have an influence on the athletes they train, but to say he is "responsible" for her success is ridiculous. You don't see male athletes success being completely undermined because of their gender. I guess people can't handle women making huge accomplishments for themselves. This is yet another example of a woman's success being credited to a man.

Another remark that caught my eye during this year's Games was a huge stereotyping of women and yet again, keeping female athletes from being taken seriously. The U.S. gymnastics team was conversing on the sidelines, but the commentator decided "they might as well be standing around the mall." Do male athletes not talk to each other? Do males never go to the mall? Apparently this announcer has super sonic hearing, and knows exactly what these women were talking about (which I can bet was not shopping).

The icing on top on top of the cake is the inappropriate remarks made after Sarah Sjostrom broke her own world record. She had earlier said (as a figure of speech) that she would do the samba out of pure happiness if she won. The problem isn't what she said, it's the constant request of many NBC anchors for her to follow through with her exaggeration. Huffington Post writer Sarah Beauchamp compares Sjostrom's quote to someone saying they would "kill for some food." Who would try to force someone to actually killing in order to get food? No one, so why should this Olympian be harassed to dance for the same sort of thing? And why does it seem acceptable to the reporters to do this to someone?

It's amazing how often female Olympians are undermined and degraded at all, and especially after achieving world records and extraordinary accomplishments. We should be focusing on the dedication these athletes have to their passion, not what their sex is.