Many activists support the
idea that females should be allowed to participate against male athletes in the
case that they possess the skills and physical tools to compete. As McDonagh and Pappano argue, “athletics
should be gender-neutral, a human activity and not a pumped-up, artificial
rendition of men’s strength and women’s weakness as a definition of sex
identity” (p.3). There have been
cases in the past in which women have suited up alongside men in professional
and collegiate athletics. During
the 1992 and 1993 preseason, female goaltender Manon Rheaume played games for
the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, becoming the only woman to participate in
professional ice hockey to this date.
There have also been eight female kickers that have played NCAA football
including Katie Hnida, who was a member of both the New Mexico Lobos and Colorado
Buffaloes division 1-A teams.
Hnida became the first woman to play in and record points in an NCAA
game during the 2002 SEGA Sports Las Vegas Bowl (Kagan, 2002, pg. 1).
While these athletes have
only provided a small sample size of women receiving the opportunity to
participate on an equal playing field with men, advances are also being made in
other areas of athletics (even during this week alone). Just this past Sunday, Shannon Eastin
became the first female to ever officiate an NFL game during the Detroit Lions
27-23 victory over the St. Louis Rams.
The EA Sports video game NHL 13 being released on Tuesday September 11
has expanded its game play to feature women create-a-player options along with
including women’s hockey legends Angela Ruggiero of the United States National
Team and Haley Wickenheiser from the Canadian National Team in its “Be A
Legend” mode. While this may just
appear as a minor step in improving gender equality, Wickenheiser states, “"I'm excited to be a part of NHL 13 and hope that the addition of women's hockey legends will
encourage greater participation in hockey from young women everywhere."
(Good, 2012, p.1). When
considering womens’ role in athletics, it is important not to only look at on
the field participation, but also responsibilities such as officials,
front-office executives, and smaller parts in marketing and even video games. These positions might not be as glamorous
or exciting as actually playing in the games, they all add up in to making
sports more gender-neutral.
That is an encouraging sign and a great idea by EA Sports to include the women in the video game. It could go a long way in encouraging females to be involved in sport on or off the playing surface. I would be interested to know how many females play the game. 2K Sports may also want to consider adding WNBA teams to their popular line of basketball video games. It could be a subtle way to market the league and give exposure to the WNBA players. I am a huge fan of the NHL franchise and I am excited to buy a copy tomorrow. If only they had a college hockey video game.
ReplyDelete-Marc Rodriguez
Being a female sports fan, I give so much credit to female athletes that try to compete with men. It is not easy breaking the norm in sports but these female athletes aren’t afraid to do it. I believe as sports will evolve we will see more and more female athletes competing against males. There is going to be a female athlete in the future I believe that will make a breakthrough while competing against the men that will change society’s mindset of men/female athletes competing against each and with each other. Aaron, you mention a good point about the NHL ’13 featuring the option of creating a female hockey player. It is excellent PR for the game and for the league to feature females. It represents EA Sports and the NHL is not inclusive. Being an avid EA gamer, it is good to finally see females recognize in the big four sports through there games. I hope other EA sports video games that come out in the future will feature female athletes in the games too. For example, MLB could future in there “legends” mode the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The NBA and WNBA could combine to make a video game together making both leagues inclusive and are able to market both teams. The more society is exposed to females in a so-called man’s sport, the more society will be comfortable with the idea. I’m excited to see how sports with females competing with/against males will evolve.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea VanAssche
Aaron,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the research you included in this entry. I'm glad you brought up about the different women who have been kickers on football teams (some even in college). I would like to share that article when we discuss it in class so if you could send me the link that would be great.
I agree with Marc and Chelsea that it is a great idea to have EA games more inclusive so that women are involved. I wondered how many females participate in EA sport videos. I was always under the impression that mostly males bought those products. I think if they did market college sports, it would be a great way to make games more gender-inclusive since female athletes have more opportunities at the college level than professionally.
This is a nice entry!
Dr. Spencer
I'm really glad that you brought up the fact that the EA NHL franchise has began to incorporate women into the game. The most interesting aspect to me is the way that the idea of bringing female characters into the game had come about. Although this is the first year that well-known female hockey players will have characters in the game, it was in last years release (NHL 12) that the female character first made an appearance. In NHL 12, gamers had the ability to customize a female in the "Be A Pro" mode, a first for the game franchise. It was the determination of a 14 year old girl named Lexi Peters who actually gave EA the idea. Lexi spoke about EA's exclusion of the ability to customize a female in an interview, stating that "it is unfair to women and girl hockey players around the world, many of them who play and enjoy the game. I have created a character of myself, except I have to be represented by a male and that's not fun" (Bradford, 2011). It was this persistence that gave EA the idea to begin incorporating the ability to customize a female character to be more appealing to the female game players, which has led to the franchise now bringing in known women hockey players in the most recent version of the game. I think this was a huge move for EA, as it not only brings more interest to the video game from females, but may in turn spark an interest in the sport in general if females become aware of these very successful athletes such as Ruggiero and Wickenheiser. Currently, it seems as though women's hockey reaches a very niche market, consisting of very dedicated college fans who attend or watch those schools that offer a women's program and others that have grown up with daughters who played the game. Not much is talked about women's hockey by the casual hockey fan except for Olympic coverage, which still does not garner the attention that these talented women athletes deserve. Hopefully by incorporating successful women hockey players into the video game, more interest in women's hockey will develop, especially in young girls that obviously enjoy the game if they are playing the video game. By playing as a female in a video game, it could be hoped for that these girls will carry their interest in the video game over into actually stepping on the ice and trying it out, increasing involvement and awareness in the women's hockey game.
ReplyDelete-Marc Horwitz
I think it is great that EA Sports has included females in its game. There are a lot of females out there, especially in Canada, who play hockey. Adding this feature says to females that they can play hockey and it's perfectly fine. Currently there are 34 Division 1 women’s college hockey programs. And the Women’s National Ice Hockey team won silver in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Women’s hockey is big and adding the female create a player feature was a great idea. Women should be allowed to play in men's sports if they are good enough, and it’s good to see that an increasing number of women are either playing or trying to make it.
ReplyDelete