Sexism can be defined as any system in
which people's life decisions are unnecessarily preordained on the basis of
perceived biological sex. In the United States, it specifically refers to any
belief or behavior that puts women and girls in a position of subservience to
men and boys (Head 2009). Though gender domination and sexism has occurred from
centuries ago, the definition of sexism was formed in somewhat recent years. The
term is actually very new, coined by English professor Pauline Leet in 1965 to
describe the practice of excluding women from poetry anthologies (Head 2009). Sexism
has been created through gender. Our conception of what women and men are and
what they are supposed to be is produced by the society in which we live,
causing many people to say that gender is
“socially constructed.” The day-to-day, continuous production of gender has been called “doing gender,” meaning
that gender is “made” by us in
everyday lives in our interactions with others (West and Zimmermann 1987).
Processes of doing gender are not only
carried on in our society by individuals, but also through socially-standardizing practices such as
legislation or the institutions of the family and marriage. “Doing gender” thrives on continually establishing
a dual order of two sexes.
The historical development of modern
men’s sport has been closely intertwined with the consumption of alcohol and
with the financial promotion and sponsorship provided by beer and liquor
producers and distributors. The beer industry plays a key economic role in commercialized
professional and college sports, and their advertisements heavily influence the
images of masculinity promoted in sports. Beer and liquor are central players in
a “high holy trinity of alcohol, sports, and hegemonic masculinity” (Messner and
Montez de Oca 2005).
