Watching Women’s Sports – A Men’s Liberation Tool?
In recent years, we’ve seen how women’s sports can bring the masses to the stands. From the NCAA to the WNBA to the Women’s World Cup, ratings have drastically increased viewership and attendance. While this newfound popularity is primarily due to women fans showing up and showing out, men are in there too—not just to support, but to enjoy women’s skill and performance. This last point is important because there is this notion that men should be allies to women’s causes because it’s the right thing to do for women and not because they would benefit.
Hearing Jackson Katz say that violence against women is a men’s issue brought up some of the other aspects of patriarchy that perpetuate inequality for men’s substantial benefit (and to their detriment). Other forms of institutional marginalization are also men’s issues: the pay gap, domestic division of labour, and sports viewership. In many ways, it is up to men to create the space necessary for other genders to get the representation, pay, rest, and recognition they deserve and were kept from. And that happens by unlearning their own perceptions, inspiring fellow men to do the same, and actively showing up to create a culture that treats women as people of equal value. Thankfully, women’s sports viewership is on the up and up–a positive step in the right direction.
Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and the other athletes who kept us on the edge of our seats this year could do so because networks finally gave them more screen time. Prior to 2021, only nine of the 32 first-round games during March Madness were televised. Since 2021, viewership and marketing have drastically increased, leading to more resources, deals, and recognition for women collegiate athletes simply because people know where to watch them and finally get to tune in.
Currently, the WNBA has $60 million worth of network deals and is looking to increase that by an additional $40 million at the end of the year. Women’s basketball is also getting better facilities, equipment, and exposure—all improvements that support athletes and staff to perform at a higher level.
Why did it take so long? When women started playing basketball in 1892—just one year after it was invented—they were required to wear floor-length dresses and keep their hair neat. There was pressure to keep women’s basketball feminine and appealing to the male gaze, and the rules were amended to that effect. Players were not allowed to dribble more than three times in a row and were assigned a section, where they had to remain, on their three-section court because fainting and lack of decorum were out of the question. Biological essentialism and repression, not skill, are at the root of why women’s sports are still so far behind compared to men’s.
While the sport itself has evolved for women, the legacy of that repression remains. Remember the Tony Yayo-face-wave feud between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark? Adrenaline anger on women’s courts is less tolerated, even at the highest level of collegiate competition. But adrenaline is part of sports, and policing women athletes’ social behaviour more harshly than men’s further reinforces the notion that men’s lack of femininity makes them tougher, stronger, and better. And the conditioning gets stronger. People assume that women’s sports are for women to enjoy and that men’s sports are for everyone to enjoy. But the truth is, if women were seen as the hardworking athletes that they are in their own right, people might tune in to watch them more.
I mean, Shaq did say that he only watches women’s basketball these days because “it’s just a better game.” Jason Tatum, Trae Young, Steph Curry, and more have shouted out their sister-league players as worthy of all the respect they get themselves. If Jaylen Brown was modeling his game after Diamond DeShields, clearly, there’s a lot for men to get out of watching women’s basketball.
As media scholar Soraya Giaccardi just dutifully reminded us, “Control the narrative, and you control everything.” Just like there is a sense out there that boys don’t enjoy TV shows with girls in leading characters, there is a sense that men just won’t enjoy women’s sports as much. Is this actually true? Is there a thing where some men feel that enjoying women’s sports makes them more feminine? Food for thought. Regardless of perceptions, we’re learning that the lack of viewership is less about women’s performance and more about the infrastructure and support they deserve just coming together after 100 years. This sense that women’s basketball is just for women–rather than just a sport–is a direct result of this perfect decorum and infrastructure storm. And where men can change that perception and get their basketball fix is by continuing to show up and doing it more.
I’ve frequently talked about how a key part of men’s liberation is changing how they relate to and receive women and femininity. Masculinity is so often defined by how feminine it isn’t... Engaging and supporting the viewership and attendance of women’s sports brings men closer to experiencing all the badassery that women athletes bring and expands what men think of as competitors worth watching.
Samantha Nzessi (she/her) is the talented co-host of MASKulinity pod and culture junkie.