CSUN On Point

More women are participating in sports today, from youth to pro athletics, but you wouldn’t exactly know that by watching television. A USC study shows that in 1989, five percent of television news media covered female athletics, but in 2014 the percentage had decreased to three percent, and the representation of women in sports media lacks substance as well.

“The number of girls or women [who are] participating in sports in the United States is some 40 percent,” said CSUN Professor of Kinesiology Chris Bolsmann, “so if we’ve got only four percent coverage, for me it suggests what is taking place is just a replication of inequality within society. Sport is an interesting vehicle or lense to look at society. If we look at the patriarchal nature of our society, and more recently the misogynistic nature of our society, that is a reflection of that more generally.”

Title IX is the federal law within the Education Act of 1972 that gave way for equal opportunity, protection from discrimination based on sex, and protection of benefits based on sex. Since its passage, the United States has seen a rapid increase in women’s participation in sports. That increase in women’s participation in sports, from the youth level to pro, hasn’t led to an increase in women’s sports coverage, but it has been extremely beneficial for giving opportunities to women within athletics within the last 40 years.

“Sometimes change requires law, and sometimes change requires some enforcement,” said CSUN’s Associate Athletics Director of Marketing Dawn Ellerbe,” because even now, in 2016, every university, high school, and junior high hasn’t embraced the equal play for women. Without [Title IX], I don’t think we would have seen the rise in women’s sports.”

 The future of women’s sports might very well be the inclusion and integration of the best women within athletics competing with and against men. From real life representations like Little League World Series sensation Mo’ne Davis, to dramatized versions for Hollywood like Fox’s Pitch, maybe more and more women within predominantly male sports will become more accepted.

“The question we should possibly be asking is, ‘Why do we have gendered sports in the first place?’” Bolsmann asked. “Should we not be talking about having not-gendered sports, so if somebody is good enough, without respect to if they are male or female, they can play on a team? If we have a level playing field of some sorts and open it up to competition on the basis of being a human, rather than being a man or a women, we could move into some interesting spaces and interesting discussions more generally.”

Moderator: Alicia Dieguez

Producer: Susana Guzman

Anchor: Jackie Wawee

Social Media Editor: Nick Torres

Reporters:  Alicia Dieguez, Thomas Gallegos, Susana Guzman, Ebony Hardiman, Ke-Alani Sarmiento, Nick Torres and Jackie Wawee

“# Oscars So White” is the hot topic again this year as preparations get under way for the 88^th Academy Awards. This is the second year in a row that all of the nominees in major categories are white.

A Los Angeles Times study found that Oscar voters have a median age of over 60 years old, and are 94 percent Caucasian, and 77 percent male.

“This [year’s group of nominees] is a literal reflection of the members who make up the academy,” actress and comedian Alexandra Karova said. “They are old school dinosaurs; they do not reflect what the people are feeling at all.”

UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies Studies looked at movies, television and digital platforms in 2012 and 2013 in its recent Diversity Report, and found that minorities had only half as many acting roles as whites, and are proportionately under-represented in writing and directing as well. Over the course of its 87 years, only 35 awards have been given to African American actors and actresses, and Halle Berry is the only African-American woman to win best actress, in 2002.

CSUN Africana Studies Professor Marquita Pellerin-Gammage, author of “Representations of Black Women in the Media: The Damnation of Black Womanhood”, said many of the roles offered to African American actors and actresses reflect negative stereotypes.

“African Americans are pigeonholed into these stereotype roles,” she said.  “They almost validate the reason why they are not nominated for these types of awards, when they’re only granted such narrow representations.”

Many movie-goers are expressing their concern about the lack of diversity among the nominees on social media platforms, calling this year’s Academy Award nominations ‘a controversy’.

“This is not a controversy, because it has been happening for so long,” Cinema Television and Arts Professor Nate Thomas said. “They need to stop talking and do something about it.”

Some minority actors and actresses are choosing to boycott this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith and director Spike Lee have vowed not to attend this year’s award show.

Karova said she believes that Oscar nominees should not be the only ones who boycott the Oscars this year.

“Do not give them the ratings,” she said. “Let’s give it to the other shows, [who give awards] that are based on talent, not based on appearance. Stop giving [the Oscar telecast] our eyes and money…and start paying attention to shows where people are paying attention to us.”

Moderator: Glenna Dixon

Anchor: Anna Logan

Producer: Harry Abelson

Social Media Editors: Harry Abelson and Jasmin Dalton

Reporters: Jasmin Dalton, Kiara Draper, Anna Logan and October Primavera

Moderator: Sharon Shin

Producer: Rosanna Siracusa

Anchor: Rosanna Siracusa

Reporters: Precious Allen, Kelly Hernandez, Evan Mederos and AJ Romero

Social Media Editor: Cyndy Alvarado