Men and women in sports: the playing field is far from level.
"Why is it that female athletes have to `prove' their heterosexuality, while male athletes automatically are assumed to be straight?I OFTEN HEAR celebrities complain about the mail they receive. There is too much or too little; it's too boring or the writers ask difficult questions. Hearing from people around the world is one of the perks of fame I always have enjoyed most. Some have great ideas, and some are not so great. Some touch me with their stories. and some mistake me for their confessor. I never had to commission a public opinion poll to see how I was doing. The mail was the only barometer I needed.
When basketball star Magic Johnson announced he was HIV-positive, I was in the midst of a tennis tournament in New York. I was asked a question about him during a post-match interview. One writer later termed my response as taking "the more difficult. more noticeable road when [I] spoke out against an AIDS double standard." To me, it was an honest answer to a tough question.
Johnson said his many sexual contacts led to his being infected with the HIV virus. I replied to a reporter's query by maintaining that, "If it had happened to a heterosexual woman who had been with 100 or 200 men, they'd call her a whore and a slut and the corporations would drop her like a lead balloon. And she would never get another job in her life. It's a very big-time double standard."
I questioned whether people would be as understanding if I said I was HIV-positive. I told the writer, "No, because they'd say I'm gay--I had it coming. That's why they're accepting it with him, because supposedly he got it through heterosexual contact." Johnson was characterized by many as one of the "good guys" who got the virus "by accident" or "the right way."
I strike fear in the hearts of die-hard sports fans when I make the point that there are gay men and lesbians in all walks of life. I once wrote in an op-ed piece that there were gay quarterbacks--and even inserted "(gasp!)" in the copy--and that set off another firestorm of mail. Most men were infuriated, and I was told repeatedly and in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible for a football star to be gay.
So, American letter writers have taught me two important lessons. It's all right for a man to contract HIV or AIDS if he slept with many, many women, and quarterbacks are not gay. Let's assume I accept those missives (and I won't, not for a moment). That still leaves a lot of inequity in sports.
I thought golf commentator Ben Wright had temporarily lost his mind when he made comments about women professional golfers in 1995, characterizing them as lesbians and stating that women with big breasts were unable to play the game. I had been misquoted many times, so when his network and colleagues quickly voiced their denials, I thought it had to be a misunderstanding.
Later, when proof that he had made those disparaging comments surfaced, Wright's response was as quick and strong as his defenders' had been earlier. His explanation was simple: The reporter was an unhappy lesbian.
What was amazing was how CBS unequivocally supported Wright throughout (and one can only wonder if the support and dismissive tone would have been as strong had the reporter been a man) and, amidst the controversy, then rewarded Wright with a new four-year contract. When this triggered protests and media criticism, and with no longer any question about all the evidence, CBS took Wright off the air, but did not fire him. Despite making such incredibly insensitive and sexist remarks, he will get paid, and the embodiment of the double standard lives on.
That double standard in sports goes far beyond heterosexual and gay issues. It is as basic as men and women. Is it significant that the Forbes list of 1995's 40 highest-paid athletes listed only one woman (tennis player Steffi Graf, 30th) or that the man in second place, boxer Mike Tyson, had spent more than half of 1995 in jail on a rape conviction? "Three years in prison didn't hurt marketability," the writer indicated. He did note, however, "No endorsements for convicted rapists, though."
In the world of sports, certain questions concerning men and women can be instructive in considering the double standard:
* Why was tennis star Pete Sampras lauded for crying during an emotional match, while women tennis players are characterized as "choking" or having "one of those bad days" if they cry?
* Will there ever be a time when women sportscasters and analysts are not novelties?
* When was the last time a male athlete or commentator was described as "shrill," "hysterical," "weak," or "emotional"?
* When was the last time a male athlete was asked about his or a teammate's sexuality?
* Why is it that female athletes have to "prove" their heterosexuality, while male athletes automatically are assumed to be straight?
* What could be worse for an athlete than to be described as "throwing like a girl"?
* Why is it so easy to label women athletes as lesbians, yet disbelieve that male athletes could possibly be gay?
* Do the men really need more protection than the women? A male athlete who fathers a child out of wedlock is regarded as virile and "one of the guys." A non-married female athlete who gets pregnant has no choice but to "disappear" for the good of her sport. The added protection certainly is there in every aspect of sport.
The longtime former sponsor of women's tennis, Virginia Slims cigarettes, used the slogan, "You've come a long way, baby." Women athletes always have gone the distance. It just took longer to get noticed and even longer to be compensated fairly.
Even today, women tennis pros are being paid less than the men at the Australian Open, and women's matches continue to be given less-than-desirable courts and times for the French Open. Never mind that those are the Grand Slam tournaments, the "showcases" that air on international television and attract new viewers and potential fans to the sport.
A number of my friends and former opponents have been the pioneers in the quest for equality in sports. Many were very proud of their efforts in 1994 when New York's Madison Square Garden announced that my "jersey" would be retired, the way the arena displayed replicas of retired hockey and basketball players' uniforms. It was an overwhelming feeling to see "Navratilova" on a uniform hanging at the top of the Garden, beside those of New York Knicks basketball greats Dave DeBusschere and Walt Frazier and New York Rangers hockey stars Rod Gilbert and Eddie Giacomin. It was less overwhelming when I learned through a newspaper story that mine would be on display only during women's tennis events.
I'm not complaining. I'd rather have my jersey in storage 51 weeks a year than spend one moment in the numbered uniform Mike Tyson wore for three years in prison. The "unhanging" of my jersey created a flood of mail, too. As always, there was a combination of support, sympathy, confusion, passion, and offers to help.
I am convinced that the majority of fans do not regard women in sports as less interesting or skilled than the men. The mail tells me that. The messages I get are similar to the upbeat conclusion of the classic film, "Miracle on 34th Street." If the Post Office delivered the mail addressed to "Santa Claus" to the man claiming to be Kris Kringle, that made him Santa Claus.
If the letter-writers (and now e-mail and chat group correspondents) keep up their messages, maybe the people who make the marketing and broadcasting decisions will finally hear. Women athletes have come a long way. It is time for the rest of the world to catch up.
Ms. Navratilova is the winner of 56 Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
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| Title Annotation: | sexism and homophobia in professional sports |
|---|---|
| Author: | Navratilova, Martina |
| Publication: | USA Today (Magazine) |
| Article Type: | Column |
| Date: | Nov 1, 1996 |
| Words: | 1329 |
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