As a masculine-dominated field, the movement has long been a place of controversy over gender inequality. In recent years, the activity of female athletes in international competitions has greatly encouraged girls to participate in sports. Especially at the recently concluded Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing, Wang Meng, etc. shined in the competition and dissemination of high-speed power and high-risk and intense sports, which greatly expanded people's imagination of women's performance in sports.
The fact that we lack awareness of the role of women in the movement has a long history. According to a report covering 45 countries, only 20 percent of women are in leadership in sports organizations, down to 16 percent at senior management, and even 11 percent at the chairman level. The absence of women in professional sports also profoundly affects the participation rate of women in daily sports. An Australian survey showed that in 10 major daily sports such as football, basketball, gymnastics and swimming, men of all ages participated twice as many as women. And daily exercise, especially to increase muscle mass and strength, is especially important for women.
Build awareness of the importance of sports to women
At any point in life, women have lower bone mass than men. After the decline in estrogen levels during menopause, the bones lose their protective effects of estrogen even more, resulting in rapid loss of bone mass. The incidence of osteoporosis in women after the age of 50 exceeds 30%, compared with 6% in men of the same age. Fractures due to osteoporosis are a major factor in the death of the elderly.
In addition to calcium supplementation through various routes, the protection and support of bones mainly rely on muscles. Building muscle mass allows us to maintain bone health more effectively as we age, which in turn improves the quality of life in the long term. Developing exercise habits and participating in sports from an early age can also make girls healthier and happier from an early age, have higher levels of self-esteem, be more confident in their bodies, and perform better academically. To fully encourage women to join the sport, it is necessary to break the stereotype that women are not suitable for strength sports training, and no longer gender the sports.
Be aware of the hegemony of masculinity in the field of sports
Women's lack of presence in the field of sports is closely related to the hegemony of masculinity that pervades this field. Masculinity hegemony not only hurts women's performance in sports, but also marginalizes women in sports, but also hurts men in social life who do not conform to typical masculinity, such as men who do not practice muscles, do not love intense exercise, and like yoga. In addition, the male hegemonic temperament also overemphasizes the movement as the embodiment of aggression, violence and confrontation, further reinforcing the myth of the roughness of the movement and the victor is king.
The influence of masculinity hegemony in the field of professional sports on daily sports is reflected in the search for "women, sports", and most of the options that appear are yoga, Pilates and other sports that focus on flexibility and gentle elegance. Although women's participation in more intense or highly confrontational sports such as strength lifting and boxing has increased significantly in the past two years, the coverage population is actually only concentrated in women with higher education and income in first- and second-tier cities. In a more general perspective, intense exercise, muscle, high intensity, strong confrontational sports and femininity are still at odds. The reasons why women were discouraged from participating in marathons before 1970 are still marketable today: "Intense exercise (running) can be detrimental to a woman's reproductive system. "It's as if the male reproductive system hanging outside the body is safer under intense exercise."
For nearly 10 years, I had the opportunity to participate in a number of sports that have traditionally been seen as masculine, including kendo, Aikido, and rock climbing. Experience first-hand the dissuading effect of the masculine fascination that pervades these movements for female participants like me. Taking kendo as an example, as a traditional adversarial sport, kendo is seen by many male participants as a way to reasonably experience "fighting" and express aggression. It is true that in the initial stages of the emergence of exercise, it was considered the result of safe attacks, but after a century of development, people have also realized the many possibilities of exercise in training body control, beauty and self-awareness. Practitioners who have a deep understanding of kendo will see the importance of kendo in respecting opponents and competing with each other's strengths. I will also understand the beauty of correctness and moderation in doing every action. To see similar confrontational movements as a mere offensive, violent outlet has instead narrowed the meaning of these movements. During my two years of practicing kendo, I only met one senior who encouraged me to pursue the correct and beautiful aspects of kendo, and this senior was the one who practiced the longest among my kendo buddies. However, surrounded by the aggressive and violent kendo styles around me for a long time, I eventually stopped practicing kendo because I felt too isolated and helpless.
Then I started rock climbing again. Fortunately, rock climbing is a relatively young sport, and with the development of the times and the improvement of the status of women, the sport of rock climbing is also adapting relatively quickly. Styles that have traditionally emphasized upper-limb strength are gradually expanding towards a more diverse and skill-based approach. Female rock friends are also increasing rapidly.
The presence of a female community in a sports field is also an important factor in supporting women's performance in sports.
The inclusiveness and diversity of the sports community
In recent years, the number of women around me who have been training in strength lifting has gradually increased, and I believe that everyone has felt that more sports women have promoted their participation in sports. In the field of sports we have long divided sports into more masculine (e.g. football, ice hockey) and more feminine (e.g. gymnastics, figure skating) types. The study also found that female athletes who participated in traditionally more feminine sports had higher social acceptance and media ratings. If a woman dares to participate in the traditionally masculine movement, her gender traits are called into question. Typical examples such as female shot put player Gong Lijiao was unreasonably asked by reporters what to do when marrying someone. And the long-standing discussion on the Internet about freedom fighter Zhang Weili", "whether there are men who dare to ask". The media will ignore and devalue women's athletic contributions by unnecessarily focusing on the figure, private life and femininity of female athletes.
This weakening of women's image in the field of sports will also make ordinary women feel isolated in their daily sports, without reference objects and role models, making it difficult to persist. In order to combat this situation, it is particularly important to consciously emphasize the emphasis of women in the movement, especially in the traditional masculine movement.
Another issue that is often overlooked, and even criticized, is the way women dress when they exercise. Many sports that have traditionally been more masculine emphasize their rugged, violent, untrimmed exterior styles. This is matched by people's tendency to belittle elaborate sports wear, believing that the strength of people who wear them in this way is not good, "girly", and in fact, there is no movement. I was also influenced by this concept to go to the rock museum for a while and was embarrassed to dress up too prominently. However, this also makes the atmosphere of the sports field single, and promotes the hegemony of masculinity. In an inclusive environment, people need to see how different groups of people behave, including appearance and movement styles. If it makes you happy to dress up beautifully and exercise, put on nail polish and wear nice clothes to exercise and become part of diversity. It will also invisibly support those who feel the same way as you.
Of course, with the increase in body acceptance brought about by sports, we should also pay attention to the fact that dressing up beautifully does not mean that the body meets specific standards. Participation in exercise is not about clinging to figures such as weight fat percentage, or for unnecessary weight loss. Increased diversity should not lead to more constraints. One of my favorite climbing photo wall accounts, called Thisrongsarah, is a plus-size girl who weighs about 200 pounds. It's certainly not a particularly favorable weight for rock climbing, but it doesn't stop her from enjoying rock climbing. I often watch her move her body to climb the route she can, reminding myself of the original intention of enjoying sports.
In recent years, many data have shown that although the status quo is still not ideal, women's participation in daily sports is gradually increasing. A 2019 Japanese study found that adult women and girls' participation in 15 daily sports decreased by 1% in nearly 5-10 years, while women's participation in sports traditionally dominated by men, such as soccer, increased slightly. The Australian survey found that comparing data from 2015 and 2019, women aged 4-89 had increased their participation in sports, with the age groups with the highest increase in participation rates being 4 and 5-9 years old. All over the world, sports are becoming a daily routine for little girls growing up. This indicates that the community of women in various movements in the future is expected to gradually expand, allowing more women to come out of the isolated family system and connect with each other in the movement.
(About the author: Ke Han, Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Female Climbing Theme Podcast "ClimbIng V8 Together!") 》Anchor)