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Child Item

Why don't women follow women's sports?

gormdubhgorm

With all the sport on Telly this year and the probable success of Ireland's Gold hopeful Katie Taylor, the question why women do not follow women's sports is annoying me.

Katie Taylor has won one Olympic gold and five world titles in boxing. Yet I cannot name any of the women she defeated.
Why is this? I asked myself.
It does not get enough coverage why does it not get coverage = not enough interest in the viewing public. You would think at least the women would show show more then a token interest in thier own sports? Thereby increasing interest.

I then thought about the women's Rugby, Camogie and Ladies Football. Wouldn't you think the women would support thier own games and follow the teams in greater numbers?
Yet when the men's equivalent sports are on the women go to games!? (This maybe because it is a good day out, a chance to be seen there, or to get a fella! Who knows?)

Now I realise that statistically women prefer to go to the theater/show rather then follow sport. In fact relationships could be said to be the female sport of choice. To discuss who is going out with who from the celebrity world or down the road. Or better still who broke up with who. Soap operas are created for this market.

But then why do women not go to the soap operas that are played out in sport between female competitors?

I found an American article which discusses this dated 2003!
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/weekinreview/ideas-trends-why-don-t-women-watch-women-s-sports.html

Nothing much seems to have changed.

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upandcumming

seamus wrote:

I'm pretty sure women watch men's sports for exactly the same reasons that men do. And a large part of it comes down to the fact that men's sports take the lion's share of the advertising and funding in a continuous feedback loop that means that men's sport is better resourced than women's.

That's not it...

suicide_circus

Women like men's sports for the same reason men do - a loada youngfellas runnin around in shorts.

CloudCumulus

In fairness I watch a lot of men's sports and never any women's. I think I would if they were broadcast as readily as the men's, but they're not.
It's not solely based on lads running around in shorts, I don't really watch that much soccer. There's no shorts involved in golf and snooker, thsnk god.
But finding a player attractive adds an impetus for me to support them. Maybe I'm just shallow!

mikeym

Im a big fan of the LFL myself

(lingerie football league)

[Deleted User]

gimmick wrote: »

Most women don't like sports and those that pretend to do only so they can bag a man.

What women have you been hanging with? I have not met them.

In my experience - in my circles - which I would not presume to extrapolate like you have - the men around me love watching sports but hardly ever play them. The women I know spend a lot of time playing them but hardly ever watch them.

Perhaps the message is - given that our sex has more of a penchant for things like porn - we enjoy watching more than engaging?

One eyed Jack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What women have you been hanging with? I have not met them.

In my experience - in my circles - which I would not presume to extrapolate like you have - the men around me love watching sports but hardly ever play them. The women I know spend a lot of time playing them but hardly ever watch them.

Perhaps the message is - given that our sex has more of a penchant for things like porn - we enjoy watching more than engaging?

What women have you been hanging out with? I wouldn't presume to extrapolate like you have, but in my experience, in my circles, the women I hang out with enjoy porn, and sports, just as much as I do.

Perhaps that's why we're such good friends, we have a lot in common

[Deleted User]

Yeah maybe the statistics on porn would support me more than the stats on sport support the other user. But I would be _very_ happy to be corrected otherwise

_please_ correct me on this

But - I hope you will notice - my own extrapolation had a smiley at the end. I only wish HIS did.

As to OUR common ground - it does make me laugh sometimes

Jimoslimos

One eyed Jack wrote: »

What women have you been hanging out with? I wouldn't presume to extrapolate like you have, but in my experience, in my circles, the women I hang out with enjoy porn, and sports, just as much as I do.

Perhaps that's why we're such good friends, we have a lot in common

Please, for the love of god don't get him started.

[Deleted User]

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Please, for the love of god don't get him started.

Started? He has been making my point for me so well - I feel I could retire

One eyed Jack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Started? He has been making my point for me so well - I feel I could retire

What was your point that you think I was making for you? You appeared to be saying that the men in your circles enjoy watching sports, but hardly ever play them, while the women you know spend a lot of time playing them than watching them. Then you went on to posit that "given our sex (men) have more of a penchant for things like porn - we enjoy watching more than engaging?"

I think it is about time to retire when you start offering generalisations that are as strange as the stereotypes offered in the opening post.

[Deleted User]

One eyed Jack wrote: »

I think it is about time to retire when you start offering generalisations

But I didn't

Not once.

What I offered was a statistic from which someone could make a "better" generalization.

But I never - not once ever not even if you wanted to get bored and even think about it - offered one of my own

"do keep up"

FTA69

Cain Yummy Miner wrote: »

Well I have to admit the amount of sports I'd spectate at is limited.

I don't watch any ball games, so GAA, soccer & rugby is out for me.

I follow (mostly) combat sports, and coach Judo.

I much prefer to watch women fight than men, I prefer to coach a woman too ~ they're easier, they don't pretend they already know how to fight without coaching and when they do learn they're fecking tenacious.

When women fight its almost entirely technical and very aggressive.

Give me a woman to train to fight over most men, and they're usually spectacular to watch.

My other sport (I don't compete) would be cycling, tbh I've no idea why I don't watch women cycling events ~ maybe they're not televised as much.

My missus is having her first fight tomorrow evening. I thought she'd be a pain to coach but she has committed herself totally and is soaking up things like a sponge. I know for a fact now if she keeps it up she'll fight to a higher level than me. In her show tomorrow as well I know for a fact her's will be one of the most engaging and technical.

Women fighters seem to switch off more and act in a much more methodological fashion in the ring, would watch them all day.

Joe_ Public

FTA69 wrote: »

My missus is having her first fight tomorrow evening. I thought she'd be a pain to coach but she has committed herself totally and is soaking up things like a sponge. I know for a fact now if she keeps it up she'll fight to a higher level than me. In her show tomorrow as well I know for a fact her's will be one of the most engaging and technical.

Women fighters seem to switch off more and act in a much more methodological fashion in the ring, would watch them all day.

Don't know if you're referring to boxing or not, but anybody who watched Kellie Harrington at the world championships last month will understand just how great women's boxing is to watch and how it has come on leaps and bounds in a short space of time. She is as adept and skillful as most male amateur boxers I have seen.

Hulk Hands

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Those were due to the womens final containing an American hero in Serena Williams with a largely American viewing audience. The Mens 2014 final also contained two largely unknown (to irregular viewers) foreign players in Nishikori & Cilic, which affected figures. Womens Tennis isn't anywhere near as popular as Mens generally, by any metric

Juan8

When I saw this thread I just thought of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdIpdGS9m1g

Could you blame them for laughing if we're honest

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

rainbow kirby

I follow quite a few sports, but athletics is my lifelong #1 - even went to a Diamond League meeting (in Eugene, Oregon) on my honeymoon! It's quite balanced overall gender-wise in terms of coverage.

I also went to the women's FA Cup final last year - full lower tier at Wembley, good craic.

One eyed Jack

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What I offered was a statistic from which someone could make a "better" generalization.

But I never - not once ever not even if you wanted to get bored and even think about it - offered one of my own

What statistic did you offer?

This is the generalisation I was referring to:

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Perhaps the message is - given that our sex has more of a penchant for things like porn - we enjoy watching more than engaging?

That might be a given to you, but I wouldn't take it as a given, which is why to me it appears to be based on stereotypes rather than statistics. You haven't offered any statistics, you've only offered an opinion based upon your own circles of friends?

Jimoslimos

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Those were due to the womens final containing an American hero in Serena Williams with a largely American viewing audience. The Mens 2014 final also contained two largely unknown (to irregular viewers) foreign players in Nishikori & Cilic, which affected figures. Womens Tennis isn't anywhere near as popular as Mens generally, by any metric

Regardless, the gap in popularity between mens' and womens' tennis is far less than you see in football.

Why is that? A major reason is playing both competitions (men and women) at the major Grand Slams (Aus/Fre/Wim/US) at the same time. I guarantee you'd see a similar upsurge in popularity in the womens game if the same happened at this years Euros in France.

[Deleted User]

One eyed Jack wrote: »

Then you went on to posit that "given our sex

You are almost there. You might get it yet

That sentence was offered up as a CONTRAST to the guy who said "Most women don't like sports and those that pretend to do only so they can bag a man."

The point was to make a JOKE about how "our sex" spends more time watching sport than playing it.

That it went over your head was a given from the start

But I hope you appreciate the joke now

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

gormdubhgorm

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Regardless, the gap in popularity between mens' and womens' tennis is far less than you see in football.

Why is that? A major reason is playing both competitions (men and women) at the major Grand Slams (Aus/Fre/Wim/US) at the same time. I guarantee you'd see a similar upsurge in popularity in the womens game if the same happened at this years Euros in France.

Great point. You could have the women's final the day before the men's. I could see that idea working. It would be better then watching a men's 3rd/4th placed play off and the neutrals might go for the craic

Mint Aero

Cos they're shiote

mdwexford

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Actually almost all the biggest ppv buys of all time are heavyweight fights bar Floyd.

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

If that's the case you must not watch much football.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Juan8

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

4 Floyd fights, 5 Heavyweight fights, how isn't it true?

And if there were some actual good heavyweights around these days I'm sure there'd be more fights in that top 10.

And just because a game is 4-3 doesn't make it one of the best games ever, you're entitled to your opinion fair enough, but I watched the highlights there and the quality was poor enough,

If you think that game is one of the best ever with that quality of defending you obviously don't watch much football, if the defending for the 2nd goal happened in the semis of a men's tournament I'd just shake my head in disbelief, never mind some of the defending for the others

Lyaiera

I really like the Invicta MMA. When I could commit to staying up until 6am on a Saturday/Sunday night I watched a lot of MMA. I don't know if McGregor had just signed or was just not considered ranked at the time. He was definitely starting at the bottom of the UFC.

The women's MMA was really interesting though. A totally different take on the top 10 UFC, and the lower end of the UFC. There was much better matchmaking, not always perfect but the fights were more likley to be competitive. There were a few one sided ones but generally there was some balance between the women. The competitors were of course nowhere near as skilled as the UFC top ten, which is to be expected. I enjoyed it a lot more than an average UFC night though.

Similarly, North America has had their first professional rugby competition running this year. There is a mixture of both amazing and awful. I've seen people fall off the simplest of tackles, and the next person, and another before the runner cruises in for a try. And I've seen the most intricate, passing backs moves result in huge gains on the pitch. I haven't watched many games, but the few I have have been really enjoyable.

Maybe I just have a thing for lower level sport. Sometimes you see an amazing football time like Barcelona play, and I use a football term here, they play like pure poetry. What they do is absolute joy to watch. The level of skill, and control, not just personal control, or team control, but control over the entire game even when they're playing a difficult opponent is like watching the most well oiled intelligent, emotional machine. There's nothing like it. But if I tune into two weeks of the Champions League the chances of finding a game I really enjoy, without any dedication to a particular team is low. If I tune into Invicta, or the American rugby, I'll find something charming about it.

I think a lot of sport is theoreticised, and intellectualised, where everything is calculated to cancel every opposing thing out it's not enjoyable to watch. Sometimes you get superb moments where brilliance breaks through. Often not though. I think the lower level sports can be a lot more interesting to watch, as someone who just likes watching sports.

gramar

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I witnessed the whole of Houston Station coming to a standstill to watch one of her fights they had on TV one afternoon a few years ago

Sheep mentality. Most wouldn't know a box if it hit them in the face.

whisky_galore

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I witnessed the whole of Houston Station coming to a standstill to watch one of her fights they had on TV one afternoon a few years ago

Never knew she was so popular in Texas.

Shenshen

Isn't the real question here why men watch men's sports?

Personally, I like watching football. It's 22 men running around in shorts, some of them quote handsome, and all of them with nice bodies. Brilliant entertainment.

I never understood what straight men would get out of it, though.