Women in Sport and Beauty

For decades women in sports have always been judged on two things, her ability and her looks. No matter how accomplished or talented a woman is at her respected sport if her looks aren't up to our standards of what a beautiful women should look like, she will not receive the amount of publicity or fame that the prettier ones would get.
The women's world cup this last year is a perfect example of how this still goes on today in the media. If you watched the world cup this summer you probably noticed Abby Wambach flying through the air and scoring four goals all of them headers making her the USA's leading goal scorer and earning her the bronze boot (which goes to the player with the 3rd most goals in the tournament). But when the team came home from Germany the two women who got all the media attention and ESPN interviews were Alex Morgan and Hope Solo, coincidentally they both matched the standard of what a beautiful should look like and then some. Now admit I am an Alex Morgan fan, but she was just a "super-sub" she never played a full game and only scored 2 goals in the entire tournament, but somehow when she got home her and Hope Solo suddenly became the face of women's soccer in the US and arguably the best player Abby Wambach was nothing but an after thought.
This is due in large part by the media and how they continue to glorify beautiful female athletes, while scrutinising female athletes that appear "too masculine" or don't meet the standards of what our culture views beauty as. The journalist that cover sports are majority men and because of this, women's sports in the media is still just an after thought, and they are not receiving the attention that these athletes deserve. You can't just be talented or accomplished you have to be "pretty".