Playing The Field Film Analysis

As a result of the immense sexual objectification of women in sports in modern times, ''Playing the Field:Sports and sex in America”' examines the evolution of women's sports from a time when sweating was taboo, as was wearing shorts, to temporarily, when the muscular physiques of Venus and Serena Williams reflect new paradigms of beauty. Ironically, when many women first began to play sports, they were shunned and covered up, unable to play in venues with men in attendance because it would be unladylike for men to see women sweat. Therefore, how we as Americans react contemporarily to women's sports (glorification, hypersexualization), represents a stark contrast. Therefore, a downside of hypermasculinity, is the burden that it puts on male and female athletes who don’t meet its standards. From requiring women to be fully covered in a full body veil to having women play tackle
In the movie, Playing the Field:Sports and sex in America, Josephine D'Angelo, a gay player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was kicked out for cutting her hair severely short; a violation of the pact that the players preserve the appearance of ladylike heterosexuality. The prevalence of masculinity and homophobia in society is so powerful, John Salley, the former Detroit Piston, told HBO: ''John Rocker would be accepted, you know, into the N.A.A.C.P. first than a gay guy on a team.'' Organized professional sports in America are so paranoid of homosexuality, female golfer Jan Stephenson became a godsend for the L.P.G.A. Tour. As a straight, beautiful woman who could golf well, She told HBO a worried tour official calling her ''because Billie Jean had just come out and said something about her gay relationship. And he said, 'I want, I really want to use you to promote the fact that we know you're not gay and show the new image of the L.P.G.A.