Thomas R. Alley
(Summer, 2005)
1. Our society has many stereotypes about participants in sports, including gender stereotypes. Despite legal and social changes, sexist ideology still pervades sport, i.e. some participants in certain sports are associated with being masculine while others are associated with femininity. Following what psychologists call "one of the oldest and most persistent folk myths”, athletic achievement has been equated with a loss of femininity. Sports participation is seen as a masculine activity. Sports are a traditionally male domain: male sporting events receive far more media coverage, cash prizes for males are higher than those for females in the same sport, and participation in competitive sports violates traditional sex-roles of females.
2. The belief that participation in competitive sports tends to masculinize females has been found in research using a variety of subject populations. This is to be expected given that the stereotypic beliefs about females sharply contrast with the traits associated with successful athletes. The widespread tendency to regard female athletes as more masculine, (e.g., large and strong) comes from the popular contention that those are the types of women who are more apt to pursue sports.
3. When examining these issues, it is important to keep in mind that some sports are seen as more masculine than others and many sports attract disproportionate numbers of male (e.g., football) or female (e.g., ballet) participants. It has been suggested that sports such as golf and swimming, as well as sports such as gymnastics that emphasize beauty of line, are believed to be acceptable for female participation, whereas sports associated with high levels of contact, such as softball and football, and others such as baseball and basketball are thought of as appropriate for males but not for "ladies". Other

reports indicate that the most appropriate sports for women are individual rather than team sports and sports emphasizing lean bodies.
4. Through socialization, individuals learn which sports are considered masculine, neutral, or feminine. Gender stereotypes for certain sports appear to be learned by the time a child is in elementary school. Researchers found that elementary school girls and boys both considered a competitive task that requires power, speed, and strength to be a "male" activity. Even female athletes see sports such as soccer and rugby as very unfeminine compared to tennis or volleyball.
5. These gender-based stereotypes probably influence sports participation. For those who do participate, these stereotypes may lead to role conflict and distinct attitudes about athletes that depend on whether they participate in gender
"appropriate" or "inappropriate" sports. These stereotypes may lead to perceptions of males and females as more or less masculine or feminine depending on the sport(s) in which they participate. While there is some evidence for this, surprisingly little research has been reported on these issues. Research has found that although women competing in more gender-inappropriate sports may not themselves perceive more role conflict, there is evidence that they will experience more role conflict.
6. Masculinity and femininity are often viewed as bipolar opposites, yet many theorists now view masculinity and femininity as separate traits rather than as opposite ends of a continuum. From this more contemporary perspective, female athletes may retain their femininity even if they are "masculinized" by participation in competitive sports. Unfortunately, most research has taken a uni-dimensional view of masculinity and femininity, perhaps obscuring independent variation of these traits. Indeed, there is evidence that female athletes are more likely to possess both masculine and feminine characteristics.

The Study
7. The following study was designed to examine how males and females are seen in terms of femininity and masculinity by their peers according to their participation in female- or male-oriented sports. Consistent with the conceptualization of masculinity and femininity as (at least partially) independent traits, raters were asked to provide ratings of both. For this study, teenagers were presented with descriptions of male and female participants in one of three sports and asked to judge the femininity and masculinity of each of the participants.
METHOD
8. To decide which specific sports would be chosen for our research, twentythree college students were asked to rank eight sports on their masculinity/femininity: figure skating, swimming, baseball/softball, tennis, gymnastics, volleyball, karate, and ballet. These eight sports were selected to fit the categories of highly masculine (karate and baseball/softball), neutral (tennis and swimming), or highly feminine (figure skating and ballet). Each student ranked these sports on a 5-point scale ranging from masculine (1), through neutral (3), to feminine (5). The means of each sport were computed, revealing that karate was perceived as highest in masculinity, tennis was perceived as most neutral, and ballet was perceived as highest in femininity. Thus, these three sports were chosen for our study.
Participants
9. Sixty-nine volunteers between the ages of 14 and 18, participated in the study.
All were recruited from Physical Education and Biology classes in Greenville, South
Carolina, USA. 33 were male and 36 were female. Based on self reports, 52 were white, 9 were black, and 1 was Hispanic (7 participants did not report their ethnic group/race).
Materials

10. Each subject was given a one page survey form containing three paragraphs.
Each paragraph described a target individual who participated in karate (highly masculine), ballet (highly feminine) or tennis (neutral). In addition to identifying a sport, each paragraph specified the age, race, and sex of the individual. Below each paragraph were two 5-point rating scales, one for femininity and one for masculinity.
The scales were labeled at the extremes (1 being "Not at all feminine/masculine" and 5 being "Very feminine/ masculine"). Each of these paragraphs, although short, ascribed a variety of traits that could be seen by raters as the independent variables: name (initials only), age, race, gender, hours of practice per week, number of competitions/performances per year, sport, and self- confidence.
Separate masculinity and femininity scales were used rather than a single scale, since people can have both feminine and masculine characteristics. This is also in keeping with evidence that female athletes often do have both feminine and masculine traits.
Procedure
11. All participants were given one survey form containing three different paragraphs describing athletes who they did not know but were their age. They were then asked to rate the individual on two 5-point scales concerning the femininity and masculinity of the athlete in the paragraph. To ensure anonymity, the subjects were not asked to provide their name or other identification. After completing their responses to all three descriptive paragraphs, data was collected and the subjects were debriefed.
RESULTS
12. The data from all of the 5-point scales was coded so that high scores signified high femininity or high masculinity. As expected, women athletes were perceived as more feminine and male athletes were perceived as more masculine.
This pattern held for participants in all three sports considered individually.

13. To determine if males and females would be perceived as more or less feminine or masculine depending upon the sport in which they participated, the mean scores for each sport (ballet, tennis, and karate) for each sex were calculated. The mean ratings for each sport reveal a consistent decrease in femininity and increase in masculinity as one goes from participating in female- to male-oriented sports: i.e., from ballet to tennis to karate. There were significant effects for both traits and both sexes. Both females and males were seen as more feminine when described as participants in ballet as opposed to participants in karate.
DISCUSSION
14. Common stereotypes and previous research suggest that sports participation may have a significant effect on the attitudes of peers and others, and vice versa.
Our results showed that the specific sport in which males and females participate may alter how they are perceived by others. Although we found that women were perceived as more feminine than men and vice versa regardless of the sport in which they participated, our data demonstrates that females may be perceived as more masculine and males as more feminine if they frequently participate in a "sexinappropriate" athletic activity. This finding indicates that our society maintains gender stereotypes pertaining to participation in some sports, at least for dedicated athletes. This stereotyping of athletes may have an important impact on the willingness of athletes to participate in certain sports. Likewise, these stereotypes may tend to filter out certain types of potential participants--e.g., macho males, individuals with a high need for social approval or those high in self-monitoring ---in athletic activities which are "inappropriate" for one's gender.
15. There is evidence that elementary school and teenage boys have less favorable attitudes than girls about female participation in sports. Likewise, women are more accepting than men of female participation in "male" sports. Sports participation may be more acceptable for females before puberty since femininity probably becomes more important about this time. Research suggests that women

participating in very macho-type sports such as karate might be seen as even more masculine than men who do not do karate. Our results, however, indicate that the masculizing effect of competing in karate is not sufficient to overpower the perceived masculinity that accompanies being male or female. Whatever the strength of this effect on the perception of others, the self-perceptions of athletes may be less affected by sports participation. Nonetheless, our results add support to the belief that participation in "masculine" versus "feminine" sports may have significant effects on the social interactions of adolescents.