Violence in Women's Sports

The violence in everyday soccer games is miniscule in comparison to men's violence in their everyday sports. Men are known to push, shove, punch, and act "manly." Manly acts would include yelling, spitting and fighting. However, when women fight it is not seen in the same light. When men fight on the field, the audience is intrigued and sees the players as "tough." Men are never seen in a negative light for fighting unless they cause injury to other players. Women though are seen as masculine if they fight or "play dirty." Women are not accepted when they fight. They are seen in a new light and mostly this light is negative. Most of the time when violence is discussed in sports it is directed towards men, it is seen as a masculine norm, in a way, for sports. What the audience does not see is the fact that women are much like men when they play sports. They are competitive and cruel. They will fight just as hard as men, although many dispute that women cannot be good enough to compete with males.

The ironic piece is that is is unacceptable for women to fight in their sport. Why can women not show emotion for their sports just as men do? Women are just as passionate about their sports as men are. Women fights usually are more emotional then men--they don't just want to hit a random girl. Women's fights differ from men's fights in this way. Women become more emotionally attached in the fight and will not let it go as easily as men.

The problem with fights in professional level sports, or college and high school, is that these sports encourage competitive nature and to play dirty. Kids are then taught to do what they need to do in order to win. Kid's then begin aggressive play at an extremely young age and will develop into an intense player at a very young age. Just playing a sport for fun is a term that is beginning to disappear. As children grow, sports are getting more and more competitive daily. This encourages rough-housing and cheap play which will lead to fights and violence in sports.