Chicagotribune.com featured an article on May 4th about the WNBA holding a seminar that offered fashion tips to its rookies. Chicago tribune reporter Shannon Ryan describes the seminar: "a cosmetics artist brought in by the league last month to teach the rookies how to arc their eyebrows, apply strokes of blush across their cheekbones and put on no-smudge eyeliner to receive the right attention off the court."Initially I did not know how to react to this. Is it wrong to give these women tips on how to appear attractive? After thinking about it I realized of course it is not. Any person would glady accept professional advice on anything, male or female. They were able to receive professional fashion advice and in addition to this there were featured seminars on financial advice, media training, and fitness and nutrition. Becuase the focus is on offcourt advice and the WNBA is not forcing them to do anything I look at this as harmless advice. I understand that women in sports are challenged with being a strong athelete as well as appearing lady-like. Women in this posistion must feel extremely insecure about this pressure. I do not feel like this adds to the pressure rather it helps these women to take steps in feeling great about themselves.
Ryan Herald
Kin338
Tu/Th 9:30am
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Wow! I am completely shocked by this article. To me, the WNBA is taking this too far and over emphasizing the heterosexy appeal in order to boost the appearance of the league. I do not see the NBA giving their athletes fashion tips or advice on how to appeal to the public using their looks, why should the atheltes in the WNBA be treated differently? If I were in the WNBA I would prefer for people to watch me because I played hard or had a nice jumper, not because I looked sexy. I feel that in order for women to gain more respect in athletics they cannot give in to the sociocultural norms and conform to how society would like them to look. Instead, females need to be persistent and continue to strive for equality by expressing thier talent and being comfortable in their own body. Whether it be makeup or no makeup, tight jeans or baggy jeans, female athletes should gain respect through their game not their looks.
oops! the above post was by... Lauren Sims T/Th 2-315
Post a Comment