Men vs Women in Popular Culture

Both men and women’s bodies are used for advertising in popular culture. Both of them are considered “athletic bodies” and try to convince people that they need to look like that. Also both the men and women are used for sex appeal. We see this in People’s magazines’ “Sexiest man of the year”, and we know that women are sexually objectified all the time and their sex appeal is used to sell objects.

The type of body both men and women have to achieve is “athletic”, but they are both completely different body types. For men, they have to be muscular and have 6 pack abs. For women, they have to be skinny, and can’t be too curvy or they might be considered fat. If a woman had a bunch of muscles and 6 pack abs, we wouldn't view them as feminine. We would view them as masculine, and not appealing.

Football High

One example of BIRGing that I saw in "Football High" was when the coach was talking about how once the team started winning, everyone knew who they were, and you could see people wearing their apparel, even when they weren't playing. Also the pastor and other people would say "we" when talking about the team. The fans of the Shiloh team would take the team's successes as their own successes in a way. They also talked about how much money they put into the football program, and that a big majority of the guys who go to their high school, are in the football program. It just shows that because the team is doing well, football becomes everyone's lives.

An example of CORFing that I saw would be when they were talking about other teams that they may play, they sort of demonize them in a way by saying that no one was as good as them and they would beat anyone. Also, after Shiloh lost to that #1 team in the nation, Trinity High School, they sort of blamed it on the fact that they had bigger guys and were just physically outmatched.

Sports

I believe the purpose of sports is mainly to provide entertainment and to express our need to win and compete. I know a lot of people who also play sports so they can stay healthy and in shape, and also just because they love the game and think it's fun. I think sports can be for anyone, but I feel like more people watch men's college and professional teams over women's. I don't know if that is because men are seen as better at sports than women, or if men's sports are just more entertaining to some people, but you hear a lot more people watching the men's Iowa Hawkeye basketball team, and barely any watch the women's team.

I believe there are a lot of benefits to having sports in America. I think one important benefit is that it keeps a lot of people, especially young children/teens, in shape and helps combat the obesity epidemic. Also I think sports provide an activity for young people that can keep them out of trouble. Also I think a lot of people first learn teamwork skills in sports as children.

Along with benefits, there are drawbacks as well. I think that a major one is that a lot of young people get pressured into playing sports by their parents (who most likely played sports in their younger years), and they may not be happy. Another drawback would be that playing sports may lead to people getting injured at a young age, especially in football.

I feel like sports are a HUGE deal in America, and I don't really see a lot wrong with that so I don't think we need to change it. However, at the same time, some people may take sports way to far and put too much pressure on the athletes.