Women have become recognized as a dominating force in professional sports fields within the last decade, following gymnastic champion Simone Biles’ first gold Olympic win in 2016. Three women in the Paris 2024 Olympics — Gabby Thomas, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Tara Davis-Woodhall — brought home the gold for the United States in their respective events: 200-meter, 400-meter hurdles and long jump.
These showcases of strength haven’t come close to wavering, especially with the U.S. women’s hockey team winning gold alongside U.S.-backed figure skaters this year.
Even with the skillful displays in women’s sports performances, or in any other field with a high concentration of female participation, misogyny is a rampant problem.
Everyone should feel celebratory in the face of multiple U.S. Olympic wins brought to the country by the women’s hockey team and talented figure skaters, which is why the negativity and misogynistic remarks these outstanding athletes have received in recent months are especially disheartening.
Following the men’s hockey team’s gold medal win at the Olympics in February, the team received a congratulatory call from U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he expressed that he would “have to invite the women’s team,” and would likely be impeached if he did not.
Everyone in the room laughed and seemed to move on. But many are still stuck there, and rightfully so. The noise of their amusement at the expense of women was disgusting to see, and invited a lot of discourse to the table surrounding the situation.
As best put by the women’s hockey forward team player Hilary Knight, the joke was “distasteful,” and is unfortunately overshadowing the success of the women at the Olympics for carrying the U.S. and bringing home remarkable gold medal achievements.
“It’s a great teaching point,” Knight said during another panel when asked about the comment made by the men’s team. “Women should be championed for their amazing feats.”
The men’s hockey team was invited to the White House following their win and phone call with Trump. Most players attended the State of the Union address near the end of February.
After the team seemed to sober up and become aware of the implications of their hyena-like laughter in the infamous video clip, a few players expressed their apologies online or in interviews, while others stayed wrongfully silent or even dismissive.
Jack Hughes, a key forward player for the men’s hockey team, whom many people surprisingly continue to support and obsess over, said that people are very negative and are trying to “make something out of almost nothing,” as reported by the New York Times.
This isn’t the first time women in sports fields have experienced sexism since the beginning of this year, and it likely won’t be the last.
Similarly, Timothée Chalamet’s comments about opera and ballet were equally disheartening to hear. In an interview with Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet said that he would not want to keep something alive that “no one cares about anymore,” in reference to the performing arts. The last time someone expressed interest in competitive ping pong is a mystery, but somehow “Marty Supreme” still made over $179 million worldwide at the box office.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2023, ballet and opera have some of the highest employment rates and employment concentration within the U.S. dance industry. In ballet, 77.8% of performers are women, similar to opera at 61.4%.
Clearly, it’s not as if no one cares about participating in or watching forms of performance art, but rather that people are becoming steadily more misogynistic and hateful toward women.
Alysa Liu, a 20-year-old figure skater and winner of three gold medals, recently returned to the world of figure skating after retiring at age 16. Liu is a champion and inspiration in her field, becoming the youngest woman ever to land a triple axel at the age of 12. Aside from her extensive achievements, Liu is also a compassionate supporter of other women.
Even after winning her latest gold medal in the Milan Cortana Games this year, she was there to celebrate with 17-year-old bronze medal winner Nakai Ami, hugging her, lifting her into the air and cheering along with her.
Despite her skill and stellar personality, Liu has been the subject of sexual and objectifying comments, as well as anti-left sentiments and implications that her actions and behavior only exist to cater to the male gaze. Artificially generated images of the popular figure skater in a sexual manner, often nude, have surfaced on X following her gold medal win.
Liu isn’t the only one. Many other women in their respective sports and other fields often face objectification and harassment at the hands of the internet, particularly from men. Women’s basketball players face the highest levels of online abuse, according to an AP News article from December 2024.
Women are strong, creative and capable. They are more than just objects to be sexualized at the hands of men — more than just individuals that should be subjected to the male gaze and patterns of objectification.
All women, especially young impressionable ones, look up to these strong athletes as inspiration to chase their own dreams. Seeing them reduced to nothing more than a sexual fantasy distorts the minds of young girls, generating the idea that this treatment is normal for them to experience.
According to the American Psychological Association, a person is sexualized when their significance is primarily determined by their sexual appeal, behaviors or actions and other characteristics of the individual are purposefully excluded.
Closely related to this definition of sexualization, sexual objectification, as defined by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is when a person, typically a woman, is reduced to her sex appeal or sexuality for the use and pleasure of others.
When people are perceived as sex objects, they are not seen as fully human or as deserving of dignity and respect. Sexual objectification can be directed at anyone, but it is disproportionately directed at women.
Many users of social media are also on the younger end of the user spectrum, and thus they are more susceptible to notions of sexualization and objectifying comments, which can push young girls into participating in self-objectification and into following objectification theory.
Objectification theory focuses on the effects of prolonged exposure to sexualized representations of women, which typically leads to increases in the probability of women viewing themselves as objects to be judged, as well as persistent body surveillance, more commonly expressed as the checking of one’s outward appearance.
The more normalized it becomes for women to be sexualized, objectified or even simply made fun of in online spaces, the more normal it feels for women to experience high levels of negativity, body image issues and struggles with confidence.
While women likely aren’t going to avoid being subjected to negativity at the hands of men anytime soon, society is well on its way to changing public opinion about the abuse and bullying many women face for existing, for being proficient in their fields, having a personality or choosing to prioritize their own happiness over being easily digestible to others.
As Knight puts it best, it’s not anyone’s responsibility to explain someone else’s behavior; “We’re just trying to focus on celebrating the women and the extraordinary efforts and continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history.”
