Get it girl

  Sports have always been a man’s world. Women show up every once in a while to shoot T-shirts at fans during the seventh inning stretch, scrape excess ice off the rink in skin tight outfits, or perform as a cheerleader complete with pom-poms and short skirts.
  Oh yeah, and sometimes they actually show up to play or, at best, make some money.
  Ever heard of Danica Patrick, the most well known female IndyCar driver? Patrick promotes herself as either an inspiration to young girls or a sex symbol for middle aged men. Her “enhanced” godaddy.com commercial was one of the most watched during the Super Bowl. She’s been barely clothed in Maxim and FHM page spreads. Yet she’s only won one race, and many fans who follow her would admit thinking Patrick is a mediocre racer at best.
  Professional mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano has also used her face to her advantage.
   Making her debut in 2006, the beautiful Carano has quickly become the unofficial face of female MMA. In a sport where attractive women only appear to show the round number, an attractive fighter would be a goldmine.
  Carano’s recent title fight against Christiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos was nicknamed beauty versus the beast by fans and bloggers. Though Carano lost in the first round, she was able to walk away with a $125,000 paycheck for her trouble. Her less feminine opponent was paid 80 percent less.
  One industry that makes no attempt to hide the objectification of women is professional wrestling. World Wrestling Entertainment regularly brings out girls of the week to hang on the arms of brawny male wrestlers.
Occasionally they may fight but none of them have the screen time of John Cena or former wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
  Then there’s track. Allison Stokke, a pole-vaulter from Newport Harbor High School, broke five national records, won a 2004 California State title and received a scholarship to the University of California.
  After an innocent photo of Stokke was taken at a track meet, her face was plastered all over the Internet along with lewd comments from men who were more interested in her body than her achievements. Internet attention descended upon her overnight. Now when she shows up at competitions, Stokke has to wonder: are these fans here to see me compete or just to see me?
  But don’t worry. The men are being objectified, too. Well, only when the team decides to take advantage of on an untapped market.
  Last season the NHL’s Washington Capitals created scarletcaps.com, a website for their all-female fan club, complete with a blog, easy to learn hockey 101 and even beefcake photos of the Capitals’ star players. The site not only objectifies the men but also alienates the women who already know and love the sport, not just the men who play it.
  Women have made great strides in the past century by excelling in professional sports. It’s easy to capitalize on beauty to get ahead, but women must make the choice between what is right and what is easy. Change will come not only when men stop objectifying women but when women stop allowing themselves to be objectified.