Sports and Women = misconceptions

Too many times have I heard "softball" and "dykes" come together in the same sentence. For one thing, although both men and women, especially women in the sport, will tell you that there are lesbians, or dykes in this case, play softball, it is ridiculous to get the idea that dykes dominate the sport. This misconception is based off of gender socialization, the idea that we are taught and we are to learn the appropriate behaviors and thinking that are associated with being a girl or a boy. Let's look at hockey for a example. When the word "hockey" is said, normally one would think of a player on skates with pads, stick, gloves, helmet, missing a few teeth, but the main thing is that when one puts the pieces together, it is normally a male player. There are women hockey players in the world, but they are normally not as popular because of the male dominance when it comes to sports. But there are great women hockey players that are yet to be seen (some of them can even beat the professional players in the NHL). But the stereotype that because it is a male sport, women athletes who play hockey can be seen as lesbians. A sad and pathetic misconception that unfortunately falls on women, and it needs to stop.