The Women of ESPN: Redefining the Sidelines

Through my project, I wish to explore the various ways in which women in sports effect the perception of game being played. Most specifically, I want to focus on football, both collegiate and the NFL, as it is perceived as the ‘manliest’ of sports and has been recently inundated with several female figures both on ESPN’s television shows as well as sideline reporters. I feel that many men don’t want women to break into the field because they are constantly pervaded with the mindset that women just don’t know as much as them about sports. But in reality, does the message being conveyed and the facts being reported change all that much with the figure that happens to be physically saying them? And to add to that, who says a woman can’t know as much as men about sports? This project holds special value to me as I want to pursue such a career and I understand what the implications of being a woman in the sports field entail.

 

 

Gayle Sierens: The first, and last, woman to do play by play.