Sexism in Sports

News Sexism in sports: part 2

Flannery Warner

Opinion Editor

This article is second in a series of articles concerning sexism in sports at Arcata High School.

Everyone deserves a safe and fair practice space when training for their sports as stated by Title IX, the federal law which aimed to increase and equalize educational opportunities for both women and men. This principle may not be being followed within Arcata High’s campus.

In the aftermath of publishing the first article on sexism in sports, girls from Arcata High School’s cheer team brought up many issues they’ve faced as athletes.

“They [administration] don’t prioritize us at all compared to any other [boys] sports,” sophomore and cheerleader Engelina Reed shared.

The cheerleaders and girls basketball players shared an overwhelming desire for simple equality and acknowledgment by the school and surrounding communities.

The athletes and their coaches shared strong sentiments of wanting to see the school make a change in how it goes about recognizing their respective sports.

“It’s just sad. You would think that with the year we’re in, this wouldn’t still be happening…it has made a lot of people quit, and I understand why, it’s just miserable,” Reed stated.

Every year, AHS puts on a large assembly for the Arcata High Invitational Basketball Tournament, filled with interactive games, T-shirt tosses and awards for players competing in competitions.

Where is this same celebration for the Women’s Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament held just a mere week before?

AIBT and WAIBT are huge basketball tournaments that Arcata High hosts. However, the school has traditionally only hosted an assembly for AIBT.

During this year’s tournaments, only AIBT was ever featured or promoted on any school-sanctioned social media account, leaving the girls to advocate and advertise for their own games.

“They didn’t even post that the games were even happening, but for the boys they put up like three posts…there was even a whole trailer [for AIBT], but not even a consistent bulletin announcement for WAIBT,” senior Grace Talty said.

When Arcata High’s Instagram account was surveyed, it was found that the account had posted “stories” for each of the games, both boys and girls.

However, the boys were the only ones that got an actual post on the general feed. Furthermore, many of the girls feel unappreciated by the historical lack of an assembly.

“It just puts off the image for the school that the guys’ teams are more important than the girls and that they deserve more acknowledgment because they’re men. It feels like the girls are really just there but like it doesn’t really matter to the school campus,” Talty stated.

A new development for both the cheerleaders and the girls basketball team was the inclusion of cheerleaders on the sidelines for the girls games.

“Our whole team was jittery with excitement, it was really nice to have that support…,” Talty stated as she discussed the inclusion of the cheerleaders.

From a cheerleader’s perspective, Reed shared a similar sentiment. “It ended up being so much more fun to watch and to cheer for than the boys…hopefully, we’ll continue to do it,” she stated.

It’s a breath of fresh air to witness female athletes of differing sports appreciating and celebrating the value found in their sports.

They, and the broader female athlete community, hope that the entire school will soon start to share that appreciation.

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