http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE4s3C93Ex4

The video clip presented above is a fight that occurred during a WNBA game between Detroit and Los Angeles. When initially watching the video, it may seem that the player of the Los Angeles team was pushed by the player of the Detroit team but it was actually initiated by the player of the Detroit team while another player was making a free throw. This shows that it wasn't just one player on a team being aggressive but rather both players. Thus, these video clips contradict the argument that the relationship between violence and sports only occurs with boys because clearly that is not the case. Women are people do and there will be certain things that will trigger anger in them, just like with men. Therefore, this claim that the relationship between sports and violence should not disregard that these incidents of violence in sports occurs with women as well.

The argument stated above regarding the relationship between boys and violence in sports is true because most men are assumed to have a relatively aggressive nature, a feature they are able to express through sports. Therefore, when brawls occur during male sports, the media doesn't really pay mind to them because they happen so often and have become representative of males. When men play sports, they feel as though if someone behaves out of order they need to become aggressive with that person to show their "manliness." People expect to see males fight frequently during the game, especially in contact sports. When girls behave in this same way, however, it is looked down upon. Girls are not usually portrayed to be belligerent but rather calm and logical, even in sports. This is similar to how women coaches, as explained in Professor Messner's book "It's all about the Kids," try to be more calm and practical about their coaching even though their goal is the same as the male coaches': to win. Many women will not behave as men by lashing out during sports games but others will. Therefore, when the media does see a rare incident as such, they over-exaggerate it because they know it will spur much attention. It is important to realize, however, that every individual is different and regardless of the stereotype that men are aggressive and women are not, each person will behave in varying ways. Furthermore, boys should not be excused by the society for starting fights during sports simply because of their stereotype while women are criticized for behaving in the same way.

It is clear that there are some negative effects of sports but there are many positive ones that could potentially outweigh the negative. Women are able to gain the same good out of playing sports as men such as learning how to be leaders, learning how to be competitive and also learning how to work well with other people. These are lessons that are strongly encouraged by the coaches during their practices in order to make each individual player better and therefore make the entire team better. Nonetheless, the negative effects of violence and the media's need to exaggerate this violence can be thought of as hindering the overall journey of being on a sports team; at the same time, it also brings about a healthy challenge for women. The women need to prove to the society that they are as good at sports as men are and should not be thought of as differently for behaving the same way the men do on the playing field.