Women have come a long way since the early 1900's. One can see examples of this progress in every day life from equal opportunities in education to politics. Although women have come far, the journey is still in progress, and there is much work to be done. In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf mainly speaks of the dissadvantages women face with regards to education and ecomonic status, but one can still apply those ideas to many injustices women still face in today's age. I think that the same obsticals and prejudices that existed for women writer's of the 1920's and earlier still somewhat exist today for women in many areas of pop culutre, including sports. One can draw many parrallels to the disatvatages women have in sports today to the disadvantages Woolf speaks of in A Room of One's Own. .
The view of female athletes seems to be one of inferiority to that of their counterparts. Men seem to have the upper hand, just as they did in literature (among other things) in the late 1920's. One of these privileges men possess is the dominance in the athletic world. Men have gained this advantage with the help of many factors. The stereotypes placed on female athletes, the upbring of men to be inclined towards athletics, and lack of support from our current society all contribute to the upper hand men have over women with regard to sports.
There are many stereotypes placed on women athletes today. When women decide to participate in sports traditionally for men such as bodybuilding, they risk the chance of being socially stereotyped as lesbians, or simply viewed as "less feminine". With women like Venus and Serena Williams as sports stars, one can see why this image exists. Because of their muscular physique, they are given masculine stereotypes. .
Similarly, as Woolf indicates in A Room of One's Own, female characters in most classic literature written by both men and women seem to adhere to the classic stereotypes.
