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     The UPEI SIN,'mursday,Feb.16‘,l978," ge 16 
     
    
   
   
    
     ’ THE W  * 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Professional sport is 
     
     big business. Like/most 
     
     similar enterprises it 
     
     suffers growing pains. 
     
     'lhese care and go in a 
     
     continualprocessicn, but 
     
     most of them are ‘ ‘ 
     
     eventually solved. Other 
     
     difficulties, however, 
     
     are more permanent. (he 
     
     such issxe is sexism. By. 
     
     repeatedly raising its 
     
     ugly head it creates 
     
     situations that are often 
     
     unjust and scnetimes even 
     
     funny. The results are 
     
     usually embarrassing, and 
     
     rarely are they 
     
     sufficiently Worked out. 
     
    

    
     Sexism in sport, as 
     
     everywhere else, revolves 
     
     around equal rights. 
     
     Media coverage and prize 
     
     money vastly favor males. 
     
     'lhis. is especially 
     
     evident in tennis and 
     
     golf where male and 
     
     female tours exist side 
     
     by side. Everyone hears 
     
     about Jack NiCk13na 
     
     and Tom Watson, but few 
     
     of us even know the 
     
     names of female stars. 
     
     The likes of Billy Jean 
     
     King regularly lament 
     
     their smaller stakes. Ch 
     
     the surface at least, 
     
     their argument holds 
     
     weight. The inequality 
     
     is rationalized aviay 
     
     though, on the grounds 
     
     that the men have, more 
     
     talent and that they 
     
     Is this 
     
     good reasoning? It's 
     
     debatable. _ 
     
    

    
     One might have the sexes 
     
     compete together. Yet 
     
     even then problems would 
     
      ‘Ihe women might 
     
     continue to win the ' 
     
     smaller portion 'of , the 
     
     prize money. ‘Ib make 
     
     matters worse, defeat by 
     
     the opposite sex would ’ 
     
     crush many male egos. 
     
    

    
     In professional sports , 
     
     where women take less 
     
     active roles, sexism also 
     
     comes into play. Even if 
     
     we ignore the lack of 
     
     female participants, base- 
     
     ball, football, hockey 
     
     and basketball are all 
     
     guilty. One publicized 
     
     example occurred during 
     
     the last World Series. The 
     
     New York Yankees allowed 
     
     only male reporters and 
     
     broadcasters into the 
     
     dressing room. Nothing, of 
     
     course, is unusual about 
     
     that. The frand’lises in 
     
     all major spbrts do the 
     
     sane. rIhis time, however, 
     
     the women retaliated. 
     
     belissa Ludtke, a female 
     
     reporter for Sports 
     
     Illustrated magazine, was 
     
     the offended party. She 
     
     and Time Incorporated 
     
     then filed suit in 
     
    
   
   
    
     American federal court 
     
     against the Yankees and 
     
     against the American ' ‘ 
     
     Baseball league. Her claim 
     
     was that it was unfair 
     
     discrimination for her to 
     
     be banned from theteam's 
     
     clubhouse solely because 
     
     of her sex. 'Ihe injustice, 
     
     she argues, "deprived her 
     
     of covering the sport in 
     
     the same way as he male 
     
     colleagues." What she said 
     
     is certainly true. She was 
     
     deprived, it was 
     
     discrimination, and it was 
     
     unfair. Athletes, though, 
     
     also have certain rights. 
     
     'Ihose of them wanting the 
     
     privacy deserve to have it. 
     
     Here too, a possible 
     
     solution comes to mind. 
     
    
   
   
    
     . V0005". 
     
     Yo. QETTHE GOALS ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     All reporters might be 
     
     banned from the playerS' 
     
     quarte‘ rs. 
     
     ever ,would be rather 
     
     unprecedented and even 
     
     more unpopular. Thus it 
     
    
   
   
    
     isn't likely to happen. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is just unfortunate , 
     
     that "the present situation 
     
     pits the rights of 
     
     athletes against those of 
     
     female reporters. One 
     
     grmp can't be satisfied 
     
    
   
   
    
     without angering the other. V 
     
    
   
   
    
     'Ihat is what you call a 
     
     trickt situation. ' 
     
    

    
     Same cases of sexism 
     
     border on the  
     
     Tne prdolems of Renee 
     
    
   
   
    
     .Richards are one example. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Now, although Richards 
     
    
   
   
    
     can play, her opponents 
     
     sometimes won't- First 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     That move, how-g 
     
    
   
   
    
     Helle Viragh of'Denmark 
     
     refused to finish a 
     
     match against her. flush 
     
     Beth Norton of Fairfield, 
     
    
   
   
    
     Connecticut , pulled file 
     
    
   
   
    
     / 
     
    
   
   
    
     same trick, giving no 
     
     reason except that "it 
     
    
   
   
    
     ,hadtobedone". Her. 
     
    
   
   
    
     father, however, declared. 
     
     ‘it against his daughter's 
     
     "religious and moral 
     
     convictions? to play 
     
     clear. knee just isn't 
     
     accepted. . - . 
     
     What is the, answer? There 
     
     may not\be  Sexism 
     
     has always existed and 
     
     probably always will. It 
     
     will remain' an issue in 
     
     professional sports, just 
     
     as it will in almost ‘ 
     
     everything else. , ' 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     OUR GOAL Is TO PLEASE y 
     
     We doitall I