Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport

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Gender Typing of Sports: An Investigation of

Metheny's Classification
Brenda A. Riemer & Michelle E. Visio
To cite this article: Brenda A. Riemer & Michelle E. Visio (2003) Gender Typing of Sports: An
Investigation of Metheny's Classification, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 74:2,
193-204, DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2003.10609081
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2003.10609081

Published online: 26 Feb 2013.

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Date: 15 October 2016, At: 17:59

Sociology and Cultural Anthropology

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport

2003 by the American Alliance for Health,
Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
Vol. 74, No.2, pp. 193-204

Gender Typing of Sports: An Investigation of Metheny's

Classification
Brenda A. Riemer and Michelle E. Visio

Thepurposeof thisstudy was to investigate if children perceived certain sports tobemasculine, feminine, orneutral. Students
attending a University Laboratory school (grades K-12) were askedtojill out a surveyaboutsports during a class period.
Children in grades K-6 were given a sport(such as baseball) and asked if a boy named David wouldplay it, if a girl namedJane
wouldplay it, or if bothDavid andJane wouldplay thesport. Students in grades 7-12 were askedto name theirfavorite athlete
orteamand sportand indicate what sports they felt was bestfor a girl and a boy. Then they were given a list of sports and asked
toindicate, using a 5-pointLikert-type scale, whether they believed thesportwas masculine, neutral, orfeminine. Resultsfrom
loglinear analyses indicatedthat students sex-typed certainsports, such as aerobics and football. Additionally, althoughsome
responses from students in grades 7-12 indicatedthat individuals should beable toplay any sportthey wanted, there were many
gendered responses in terms ofwhat sport(s) girlsand boys shouldparticipate in. Theresults arediscussed with reference to
Metheny's categories ofpermissible sportsfor girlsand in theframework of thegendertypingof sport.

Key words: sport typing, stereotypes

eth eny (1965) proposed that acceptable sports for

girls and women were individual activities that emphasized aesthetics. Sports, such as gymnastics, would
be perceived as acceptable, because the participants did
not engage in bodily contact or use bodily force against
a heavy object. Research has supported Metheny's model
of acceptable sports for girls and women (for a review,
see Gill, 1994). Support for Metheny's model indicates
that the arena of sport is biased; individuals may be
judged not on how competent they are in an activity,but
if an activity is gender appropriate. The majority of the
research on Metheny's model has been conducted with
adult participants. In fact, Metheny developed her classification using data collected by Huester and Hart
(Metheny, 1965), which reflected attitudes of college
Submitted: February 3, 2000
Accepted: July 29, 2002
Brenda A. Riemer is with the Department of Physical Education
andExercise Science at the California State University-Chico.
Michelle E. Visio is with the Psychology Department Qfat
Southwest Missouri State University.
.

ROES: June 2003

women in the early 1960s. Most studies have ignored

testing children to determine if children of certain ages
are more likely to sex-type sports than other children.
The purpose of this study was to investigate if children
perceived certain sports to be masculine, feminine, or
neutral and determine if sports with a gender label support Metheny's proposed model.
Metheny (1965) proposed a classification system of
acceptable and unacceptable sports for girls and women.
Metheny's terms of acceptable and unacceptable are
analogous to the terms gender-appropriate and genderinappropriate (Kane & Snyder, 1989). It should be
noted that this classification system was proposed before
Title IX and the increased publicity for sports such as
women's basketball, ice hockey (the 1998 Olympics),
and soccer (note that the data collection for this study
took place before the 1999 World Cup Soccer tournament). Metheny's classification system is structured
around four postulates. First, some forms ofcompetition
are unacceptable at the in ternationallevel (1965); these
are characterized by either bodily contact with an opponent, direct application of bodily force to a heavy object,
projecting the body through space over long distances,
and face-to-face opposition, where some contact may
occur with an opponent. Examples of these sports in-

193

Riemer and Visio

elude high hurdles, pole vault, and boxing. Second,

some forms of competition are not acceptable for college women in the United States but may be acceptable
for minority women within the college population; these
are characterized by projecting the body through space
over a moderate distance, application offorce to a moderately heavy object, and a display ofstrength in controlling bodily movements. Some examples of these sports
are javelin, long jump, and gymnastics. Interestingly,
Metheny (1965) included women of Germanic and
Slavic ancestry in her definition of minority women for
this classification. She noted that "most...have developed
their interests and abilities [in gymnastics] in ethnicallydefined social and athletic clubs rather than in the college setting" (p. 50).
Metheny's (1965) third postulate was that some
forms of individual competition were "generally acceptable" for college women to participate in. These sports
are characterized by the resistance or force of an object
being light, using a manufactured object to help body
movement and projecting the body into space in an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Examples of these sports
include swimming, figure skating, golf, and bowling.
Metheny noted that participants in this group tended to
come from the upper middle class (except for bowling).
Last, Metheny (1965) proposed there were some
forms of face-to-face activities acceptable for college
women, such as tennis and badminton. These sports are
characterized by a barrier between opponents, the application offorce using a light implement (such as a racket),
and overcoming the resistance of a weightless object.
The only team sport mentioned in this category was volleyball.Volleyball was probably included as an acceptable
sport, because it was a team sport in which women could
participate on an international level (e.g.,Women's World
Championships in 1952, Pan American Games in 1955,
Olympic debut in 1964) and the fact that the sport in the
1950s and 1960s was less physical than in the year 2002.
Over the past 30 years, such researchers as Kane and
Snyder (1989) have examined Metheny's work. Kane and
Snyder's results (the latest study to date on Metheny's
work) supported Metheny's model; college students
perceived "female athletes, and the gender-appropriate/inappropriate sports of gymnastics and basketball
in very traditional, stereotypic ways" (p. 90). Additionally,the results indicated that the physicality of the sport
was the major feature for the gendered nature ofsport.
Although Kane & Snyder's (1989) study is from the sport
sociology literature, the vast majority ofstudies supporting Metheny's (1965) work have been in the sport psychology literature ( for a review, see Gill, 1994).
Metheny emphasized that "the socially sanctioned
images offemininity and masculinity are alwaysrelative.
They differ from era to era, from culture to culture, and
from group to group within a given social organization"

194

(1965, p. 48). Metheny's work captured the polarized

image ofmasculinity and femininity, which assumed they
were opposite ends of the same scale. This polarized
image of masculinity and femininity was rampant in the
psychological literature until Spence (1991) and Bem
(1974) created bipolar scales. However, even the bipolar
scales reflected cultural norms. For example, the Bem Sex
Role Inventory (1974) used such terms as "childlike," and
"passive"for women and "aggressive," and "competitive"
for men. Current research outside of psychology proposes that there are multiple meanings given to genders, which may be defined differently depending on a
person's race orethnicity (e.g., Hall, 1996). Hall's (1996)
work is an example ofthe type ofcritique Metheny's work
received from sociologists due to the unipolar use of the
terms masculinity and femininity. Although much of the
sociological literature refers to multiple meanings given
to genders, we considered the age of our participants
in developing questions about masculinity and femininity.We relied on the model proposed by Costos (1990)
on gender role identity. Costos reminded us that children see things concretely from an egocentric point of
view.For young children, external features are the gender role markers, and social roles are understood with
regard to the sexes. Children do not have the cognitive
capability to understand gender fluidity and multiple
definitions, nor do they have an idea about "gender stability" until they are older than 7 years. Because of the
range in ages in this study, we decided to use the terms
masculinity and femininity as they were defined during
the time that Metheny (1965) proposed her classifications. This decision was made to be consistent with
Metheny's work and the research conducted on her classifications that supported perceptions about the appropriateness of certain sports for girls and women.
Although it may be a limitation of this study, we did not
want to confuse the younger participants with multiple
definitions of gender.
In the last decade, girls and women have made significant strides in sport. The impact of the increase in
female participation and the visibility offemale athletes
on sport typing has yet to be studied in children or
adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate
whether children perceived certain sports to be masculine, feminine, or neutral and to determine if sports with
a gender label support Metheny's proposed model.

Method
Participants
Participants were 365 students in grades K-12, who
attended a University Laboratory school located on the

RDES: June 2003

Riemer and Visio

campus of a midwestern university. The Laboratory

School was chosen for this study due to the difficulty of
conducting research within the city's school district. The
participants ranged in age from 4 to 19 years (190 boys
and 175 girls). The laboratory school held classes for
students in grades K-12, with two classes called primary
(primary 1 and primary 2). The primary classes were for
students who attended city schools but lagged in such
skillsas reading or mathematics. Students in the primary
classes ranged in age from 4 to 7 years.' Many of the participants' parents were employed as university professors or held other professional occupations in the city
(99% of the participants were White, upper middle
class). When parents enrolled their children in this
school, they signed a consent form allowing their child
to participate in university research projects approved
by the Human Subjects Review (HSR) board. Once the
HSR has reviewed a study and received approval from
the school principal, an announcement about the study
is posted on a bulletin board in the laboratory school for
the parents to read. A parent may request that a child
not participate in the posted study and may also request
more information about a study. The parents did not
contact researchers about this study, and all children
were able to participate.
Instruments and Procedures
Data from participants were collected using paperand-pencil questionnaires designed for different age
groups. The questionnaires were divided into demographic measures (two versions, grades K-6 and 7-12)
and the sport-typing measures (three versions, grades
K-3, 4-6, 7-12).
The sport-typing measures used in the study were
adapted from measures used to study gender stereotyping among adults and children (e.g., Alfieri, Ruble, &
Higgins, 1996; Bem, 1981; Engel, 1994; Martin, 1989;
O'Keefe & Hyde, 1983; Rosenkrantz, Vogel, Bee,
Broverman, & Broverman, 1968; Spence, Helmreich &
Stapp, 1974, 1975 ). Reliable, valid, and well established
measures of gender stereotyping are typically lists of
descriptors in which respondents are asked to indicate
if the characteristic is feminine, masculine, or neutral.
Evidence for construct validity for the measures used in
this study is provided by research in sport sex-typing
conducted by Engel (1994) in which girls rated a list of
sports as either male, female, or neutral. The measures
used in the study have high face validity, because they
look like they are designed to measure perceptions of
gender-stereotyping ofsports. Specifically,each measure
included listings of sports and instructions to the participant, indicating whether the sport was feminine,
neutral, masculine, or some variation of gender labels
depending on the age of the participants (i.e. see the

RUES: June 2003

descriptions of the instruments in the next section).

Sport activities were chosen based on Metheny's (1965)
article and on sport activities prevalent in the region.
No test-retest reliability study was conducted to determine the stability of the measures; however, evidence
for a type of"consistency" reliability is provided with the
qualitative data, because the qualitative data support the
quantitative data.
Primary/Kindergarten Through Third Grades. The first
questionnaire was written for the primary/kindergarten
through third-grade participants and was designed to
be read to the participants. It was shorter than the other
questionnaires because of the time limitations with reading the questions. The following eight sports were included on the questionnaire: baseball, basketball,
football, tennis, swimming, hockey, golf, and softball. The
children were divided into groups of four, and each
group had at least two adults helping with the questionnaires. The children were told that David was a boy and
Jane a girl. They were asked a few questions to make
certain that they understood that Jane was a girl and
David a boy. Each child was given an answer sheet with
which to mark their responses. Response options were
David (3),Jane (1) ,andBoth (2). Above each response
option was a large box for the children to mark their
response. Higher scores indicated that the sport was
perceived as more masculine. The children were then
asked if they understood what was written under each
box, and adults helped the youngest children to read.
After the children were given their answer sheets,
they selected a crayon to use (and keep). One adult in
each group then read a sport to the participants (e.g.,
basketball) and asked the children if they knew about
basketball. Ifall the children said "yes," then they were
asked if basketball was a sport David would play, Jane
would play, or both David andJane would play. This was
done for each sport.
After all of the sports were read to the children, they
filled out (with help from adults when needed) a demographic questionnaire that asked the children to
circle their sex (boy or girl), grade, favorite athlete, and
favorite sport or game. (At all ages, the results for favorite athlete and favorite sport or game will not be discussed in this paper.)
Fourth Through Sixth Grades. The questionnaire for
the fourth- through sixth-grade participants was the
same as for the kindergarten through third grade, except for seven additional sports listed on the questionnaire (15 vs. 8). The additional sports were aerobics,
soccer, boxing, volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, and racquetball. The wording on this questionnaire was the
same as for the kindergarten- through third-grade questionnaire, because we wanted to ensure that the children
could read the questionnaire on their own or with minimal help from the adults (teachers, investigators). Over-

195

Riemerand Visio

all, these children were able to answer the demographic

questionnaire on their own.
Seventh Through Twelfth Grades. Students in grades 712 completed the demographic questionnaire first, which
requested information about their sex, grade, age, favorite sport, and favorite athlete or team. These participants
then read directions that asked them to rate all 15 sports
(i.e., baseball, basketball, football, tennis, swimming,
hockey, golf, softball, aerobics, soccer, boxing, volleyball,
wrestling, gymnastics, and racquetball) using a 5-point
scale indicating whether they believed the sport was feminine (1), between feminine and neutral (2), neutral (3),
between neutral and masculine (4), or masculine (5). In
addition to the labeling, the response points were defined for the participants. Participants were told that a
feminine response indicated they believed the sport was
for girls, that boys should not play this sport. Participants
were told that the between feminine and neutral response indicated they believed more girls played the
sport than boys. A response of neutral meant they believed the sport should be played by both boys and girls.
A response of between masculine and neutral meant
they believed more boys played this sport than girls. Last,
a response of masculine meant they believe the sport
was for boys and that girls should not play the sport. The
last portion of the questionnaire consisted oftwo questions that asked the participants to state the best sport
for a girl (and why) and the best sport for a boy (and why).

Analysis
A series ofthree-way (Sex x Grade x Sport) hierarchicalloglinear analyseswere computed to examine relationships among the variables ofsex, grade level, and ratings
for each sport. These analyses enable the researchers to
determine the extent to which the participants' ratings
ofspecific sport varied as a function ofseveral variables,
alone and in combination. The specific variables examined were the participant's sex and grade level.
Loglinear analysis in this context involves two steps:
model selection and model estimation. In model selection, the most parsimonious yet adequate model is
sought. Nested model selection is used in that if a higher
order term (i.e., interaction) accounts for significant data
variation, lower order terms (i.e., main effects) are included in the model even if they are not significant.
Nonsignificant lower order terms are only dropped if
all higher order terms containing the lower order variables are also nonsignificant. The goal of this step is to
arrive at a model that includes the lowest number ofvariables and interactions (i.e., parsimony) that adequately
accounts for the variation in the actual data. The fit ofthe
parsimonious model to the data is how adequacy is assessed, and, thus, nonsignificant goodness-of-fit tests
(here, maximum likelihood chi-square, (;l) are desired,

196

because they indicate that the model and data do not

differ. This process of model selection was accomplished using a sequential step-down procedure that
entails starting with the saturated model (i.e., the model
that includes all possible interaction terms and, thus,
perfectly accounts for data variation) and deleting the
larger interaction term (e.g., the three-way term), testing the fit of the reduced model, deleting another large
interaction term, testing the fit ofthe reduced model, and
so on, until terms can no longer be deleted from the model
without resulting in a poor fit (significant (;l) to the data.
This final, reduced model is the one selected as the most
parsimonious yet adequate description ofdata variation.
Following model selection, the parameters of the
model are estimated. These estimates can then be examined as to their significance, using standard z statistics to yield information on which cells vary significantly
from chance. In any application using as many cells as
in this study, there is typically a great number of z statistics examined in the post hoc analysis, increasing the
probability ofa Type I error. The power of these post hoc
zstatistics, however, is much lower than the power of the
maximum likelihood goodness-of-fit test because of the
reduced number of frequencies used in each specific
cell estimation. So, to balance the lowered power of
these post hoc z tests, it is common to use an alpha level
of .05 as the cutofffor significance (Feinberg, 1980).
The above model selection and model estimation
steps were conducted separately for each sport. Before
the loglinear analyses were conducted, the data were
examined for adequacy of cell frequencies by examining all two-waycontingency tables. Inadequate cell frequencies do not contribute to a Type I error; however,
they reduce the power of finding an effect if one is
present (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001). As suggested by
Tabachnick and Fidell (2001), response categories with
a predominant number of zero frequency cells or predominant number of cells with inadequate frequencies
were dropped from the analyses."

Results and Discussion

Sport Categorization
Response points were designed to be age appropriate and, thus, differed by grade. Because of differences
in the response points, the data are presented by grade
ranges in which response points were the same.

Primary "Through Sixth Grade

Before conducting the loglinear analyses, the cell
frequencies for each sport were examined for adequacy.

RaES: June 2003

Riemer and Visio

Because of the large number of cells with zero frequencies or less than adequate frequencies, the feminine
response category was dropped from baseball (n = 2),
basketball (n= 7), golf (n= 6), and hockey (n= 4). The
masculine category was dropped from tennis (n = 11).
Main effects were found for all sport activities except for baseball. An examination of the main effects and
the percentage of responses revealed that most of the
children rated basketball, X2 (1) = 100.00, p< .01, golf,
X2 (1) = 14.32, P< .01, softball, X2 (2) = 59.69, P< .01,
swimming, X2 (2) = 196.53, p .01, and tennis, X2 (1) =
76.16, p .01, as sports both David andJane would play
(basketball, 80.3%; golf, 61.5%; softball, 55.9%; swimming, 80.3%; tennis, 75.8%). Metheny (1965) specifically
mentioned golf, swimming, and tennis as acceptable
sports for girls and women. Golf and tennis were acceptable, because both sports use a light implement to strike
a lightweight object. Swimming was an acceptable activity, because the body is projected through water in an
aesthetically pleasing way. In Engel's (1994) studyexamining sex-typing of sports, girls rated basketball as a
masculine sport; thus, our study may provide some evidence that stereotypes about basketball as a sport primarily played by boys may be changing. Metheny also did
not mention softball in her paper; however, as early as
1895, women in the United States were participating in
softball (Berlage, 2000) and anecdotal evidence shows
that a group of men originated softball in 1887 (D'Orso,
1993). Thus, our finding that softball is considered a
sport played by both "David andJane" is not surprising.
Most children rated football, X2 (2) = 201.39, P< .01,
and hockey, X2 (1) = 6.98, P= .01, as sports David would
play (77.1% and 58.2%, respectively), which appears to
support Metheny's classification system. Football may be
characterized as "an attempt to physically subdue the opponent by bodily contact" (Metheny, 1965, p. 49). Likewise,hockey may be described as "cooperative face-to-face
opposition in situations in which some body contact may
occur" (Metheny, 1965, p. 49). Physically restraining an
opponent and engaging in face-to-face opposition with
some body contact are two of the four principles Metheny
(1965) proposed as forms of competition "categorically
unacceptable" (p. 49) for women in the United States.
Ratings of baseball, X2 (2) = 0.57, P= .45, were not
significantly different between children who identified
it as a sport both DavidandJane would play (47.2%) or
a sport David would play (51.9%). Only two children
reported that baseball was a sportJane would play (0.9%).
Metheny (1965) did not discuss baseball in her essay
about socially sanctioned sports for girls and women.
Historically, softball has been the "substitute" version of
baseball for girls (Berlage, 2000). Because approximately half of the children perceived baseball as appropriate for both sexes, it suggests that perceptions about
this sport may be changing.

ROES: June 2003

The main effects ofswimming and tennis described

above were further qualified by Sex x Sport interactions,
X2 (2) = 7.29, p .03, and X2 (1) = 24.07, p< .01, respectively. According to the parameter estimates and zscores,
a greater percentage of boys rated swimming as a sport
David would play (16.5%) when compared to the girls
who rated swimming as a sport David would play (2.9%).
In addition, 85.4% of the girls reported swimming was a
sport both David andJane would engage in, while 75.2%
of the boys reported swimming was a sport for both David
and Jane. No significant differences were found between boys and girls in ratings of swimming as a sport
Jane would play (8.3% and 11.7%, respectively).
The Sex x Tennis interaction revealed that 33.3%
of the girls rated tennis as a sportJane would play, while
only 5.6% of the boys rated it as a sportJane would play.
A greater percentage ofboys (85.2%) than girls (65.7%)
rated tennis as a sport both David andJane would play.
No significant differences were found between the frequency ofboys and girls ratings for the other six sports.
Statisticallysignificant Grade x Sport interactions were
found for baseball, X2 (7) = 40.23, P< .01, basketball, X2 (7)
= 33.51, P< .01, hockey, X2 (7) = 21.06, P< .01, softball, X2
(14) = 67.94, p .01, swimming, X2 (14) = 47.65, p< .01,
and tennis, X2 (7) = 17.07, P< .01, indicating that the frequency of ratings in categories differed by grade level.
An examination of the cell frequencies and z scores
for the Grade x Baseball interaction revealed significant
differences between frequency of ratings for children
in the primary, first, fifth, and sixth grades. In general,
the percentage of children rating baseball as a sport
David would play increased as grade level increased
(primary, 14.7%; first grade, 50%; fifth grade, 74.1 %;
sixth grade, 83.3%). Conversely, younger children more
often rated baseball as a sport both David andJane would
play (primary, 85.3%, and kindergarten, 65.2%).
An examination of the cell frequencies and zscores
for the Grade x Basketball interaction indicated that a
greater percentage of older children believed basketball to be a sport both David andJane would play (fourth
grade, 95.7%; fifth grade, 100%; and sixth grade, 100%)
when compared to younger children's frequency of ratings, in which a greater percentage indicated basketball
was a sport David would play (primary, 23.5%; kindergarten, 34.8%; first grade, 26.9%; and third grade, 30%).
Examining the cell frequencies for the Grade x
Hockey interaction revealed no clear pattern in frequency
of responses increasing or decreasing as grade level increased or decreased. Generally, children in all grades,
with the exception of those in primary (60.6% rated as a
sport both David andJane would play) and fourth grade
(58$% rated as a sport both David andJane would play),
rated hockey as a sport David would play (kindergarten,
52.2%; first grade, 73.1 %; second grade, 69.2%; third
grade, 60%; fifth grade, 59.3%; and sixth grade, 83.3%).

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Riemer and Visio

Although the main effect for softball indicated the

sportwasperceived as one both DavidandJane would play,
the Grade x Softball interaction revealed that a greater
percentage ofolder children (fifth, 63%; and sixth grade,
62.5%) rated softball as a sportJane would play when compared to younger children, who more often rated softball
as sport both David andJane would play (primary, 75.8%;
kindergarten, 65.2%; first grade, 53.8%, second grade,
65.4%; third grade, 50%; fourth grade, 66.7%). The frequency of ratings that softball was a sport David would
play decreased as grade level increased. Similar to our
speculative interpretation for baseball and basketball,
it is possible the ratings that softball was a sport Jane
would play increased as fewer older boys played softball.
Examining the expected frequencies and standardized residuals for the response categories of the Grade x
Swimming interaction, the decrease in frequency of responses that swimming wasa sport Davidwould play made
the greatest contribution to the partial association X2 That
is, a greater percentage of children in primary (30.3%),
kindergarten (13%), and first grade (23.1%) reported
that swimming was a sport David would play,as compared
to children's responses in the second (0%), third (0%),
fourth (0%), fifth (3.7%), and sixth grades (4.2%). Overall,students were lesslikelyto perceive swimming as a sport
David would playas grade level increased and more likely
to perceive it as a sport both David and Jane would play
(primary, 63.6%; kindergarten, 65.2%; first grade, 73.1%;
second grade, 88.5%; third grade, 100%; fourth grade,
95.8%, fifth grade, 88.9%; and sixth grade, 66.7%).
The Grade x Tennis interaction indicated that children's ratings frequency for tennis as a sportJane would
play decreased as grade level increased (primary, 18.8%;
kindergarten, 8.7%; first grade, 32.0%; second grade,
30.8%; third grade, 30.0%; fourth grade, 4.2%; fifth grade,
7.4%; sixth grade, 16.7%). Older children more often
reported that tennis wasa sport both DavidandJane would
play (primary, 65.6%; kindergarten, 81.3%; first grade,
48.0%; second grade, 69.2%; third grade, 70.0%; fourth
grade, 95.8%; fifth grade, 88.9%; sixth grade, 83.3%).
Only 11 (5.2%) of the 211 children reported that tennis was a sport only David should play.
Sex x Grade interactions emerged as necessary for
the model fit for seven of the eight sports (i.e., swimming
did not include the Sex x Grade interaction). The Sex
x Grade interactions are not of interest to this study, but
they indicate that the frequency of male and female
participants are not evenly distributed across all grade
levels for the specific models.

Fourth Through Sixth Grades

Children in the fourth through sixth grades rated
seven additional sports (i.e., aerobics, boxing, gymnastics, racquetball, soccer, volleyball, and wrestling) that

198

were not presented to children in primary through third

grades. The children in primary through third grade
did not rate these sports because of time constraints in
administering the survey.
Before the loglinear analyses were conducted, cell
frequencies for each sport were examined for adequacy.
Response categories with a large number of empty cells
were deleted. The masculine response category was
deleted from aerobics (n = 1), and the feminine response category was deleted from boxing (n = 2), soccer
(n = 1), and wrestling (n = 3).
Main effects were found for boxing, X2 (1) = 48.43,
p< .01, gymnastics, X2 (2) = 37.25, p< .01, racquetball, X2
(2) = 67.26, P< .01, gymnastics, X2 (2) = 37.25, P< .01,
soccer, X2 (1) = 21.96, p< .01, and wrestling, X2 (1) = 52.71,
P< .01. Examining the percentage of responses revealed
that most of the children deemed racquetball and soccer as sports both David andJane would play (79.7% and
75.7%, respectively). Racquetball was not mentioned in
Metheny's (1965) essayon sport activities appropriate for
women; however, racquetball is characterized by three of
the principles Metheny mentioned that would have made
it a sport acceptable for women in the United States. Specifically, the in racquetball one uses a light instrument to
strike a light object, and there is no body contact with the
opponent. Metheny also did not discuss soccer in terms
ofher classification system; however, she maintained that
team sports were unacceptable activities for women, with
the exception of volleyball. Therefore, according to the
proposed classification scheme, soccer would be labeled
as an unacceptable sportfor women. Because the children
in this study reported that soccer was a sport both David
andJane would play, we suggest this finding may be evidence that stereotypes are changing about soccer as a sport
primarily played by boys and men.
The main effect for boxing revealed that most ofthe
children (86.3%) identified boxing as a sport David
would play, while only 11.0% of the children thought of
boxing as a sport both David andJane would play, and
2.7% thought it was a sportJane would play. Similar results were found for wrestling. Most of the children
(86.5%) reported that wrestling was a sport David would
play, and 9.5% thought wrestling was a sport both David
andJane would play, while only 4.1 % reported it was a
sportJane would play. These findings lend evidence to
Metheny's principles of acceptable and unacceptable
sport activities for women and suggest that the current
culture in the United States may still find boxing and
wrestling unacceptable competitions for women.
The main effect for gymnastics indicated that a very
small percentage (5.4%) of the children thought gymnastics was a sport David would play. Most of the children
reported that gymnastics wasa sport both David andJane
would play (37.5%) or a sportJane would play (56.8%).
No statistically significant difference was found between

ROES: June 2003

Riemerand Visio

the feminine and neutral categories. Metheny maintained

that gymnastics was generally not acceptable for college
women in the United States but acceptable for women of
Germanic and Slavic ancestry. However, she noted it was
common for adolescent girls to engage in these sports.
Only one child (1.4%) reported that aerobics was a
sport David would play. This observation was dropped
before the loglinear analysis was conducted, and the
subsequent results indicated no significance difference
between children's responses that aerobics was a sport
Jane would play (41.9%) and a sport both David andJane
would play (56.8%), X2 (1) = 1.66, p= .20.
Statistically significant Sex x Sport interactions did
not emerge in any of the loglinear analyses conducted for
the three grades. Thus, ratings as to the perceived sextype ofsport activities did not differ by the children's sex.
Grade x Sport interactions emerged as effects in the
the best fitting models for aerobics, X2 (2) = 20.59, P<
.01, boxing, X2 (2) = 7.47,
.02, scoccer, X2 (2) = 5.99, P
2
= .05, and volleyball, X (2) = 11.83, P< .01. All interactions are discussed in the following paragraphs except
for the Grade x Boxing interaction, in which the parameter estimates did not emerge as significant.
The Grade x Aerobics interaction revealed the
majority of the older children (sixth grade) rated aerobics as a sportJane would play (79.2%) when compared
to younger children (fourth, 26.1 %, and fifth grades,
22.2%). Children in the fourth and fifth grades rated
aerobics as a sport both David andJane would play (73.9%
and 74.1 %, respectively). Only 20.8% of the children
in the sixth grade rated aerobics as a sport both David
andJane would play.
The Grade x Soccer interaction revealed the majority of children across all three grades rated soccer as
a sport both David and Jane would play (fourth grade,
65.2%; fifth grade, 88.9%; and sixth grade, 70.8%). However, the percentage of responses for children in the
fifth grade was statistically higher when compared to the
percentage of responses across grades that soccer was a
sport David would play (fourth grade, 34.8%; fifth grade,
7.4%, and sixth grade, 29.2%). Only one child (1.4%)
reported that soccer was a sportJane would play.
The Grade x Volleyball interaction indicated the
majority of the older children (sixth grade, 75.0%) rated
volleyball as a sportJane would play when compared to
younger children's (fourth grade, 26.1%; and fifth grade,
33.3%) ratings. Most ofthe children in the fourth and
fifth grades rated volleyball as a sport both David and
Jane would play (69.6% and 59.3%, respectively).

r-

7th Through 12th Grades

As with the preceding analyses, before the loglinear
analyses were conducted, cell frequencies for each sport
were examined for adequacy. Response categories with

ROES: June 2003

small frequencies and empty cellswere deleted. The feminine response category was deleted from boxing (n =1),
football (n= 1), golf (n= 1), hockey (n= 1), racquetball (n
= 1), and tennis (n = 1). The neutral-feminine response
category was deleted from basketball (n = 1) and boxing
(n = 1). The neutral-masculine response category was
deleted from gymnastics (n = 1) and tennis (n = 1).
The loglinear analyses revealed main effects for all
sports, with the expection of hockey; aerobics, X2 (2) =
35.84, p .01, baseball, X2 (3) = 77.65, p< .01, basketball,
X2 (2) = 207.77 P< .01, boxing, X2 (2) = 22.12, P< .01,
football, X2 (2) = 74.63, p< .01, golf, X2 (3) = 191.13, p<
.01, gymnastics, X2 (3) = 102.61, p< .01, hockey, X2 (2) =
5.57, p= .06, racquetball, X2 (3) = 235.50, p: .01, soccer,
X2 (4) = 283.32, p .01, softball, X2 (4) = 132.86, p< .01,
swimming, X2 (2) = 168.92, p .01, tennis, X2 (1) = 148.79,
p< .01, volleyball, X2 (2) = 61.22, p< .01, and wrestling,
X2 (2) = 107.22, p< .01. An examination of the parameter estimates for the main effects and percentage of responses (see Table 1) revealed that most of the
adolescents rated basketball, golf, racquetball, soccer,
swimming, tennis, and volleyball as primarily neutral
sports (i.e., sports both boys and girls should play). All
of these sports, except for basketball and soccer, are characterized by objects and movements that, according to
Metheny (1965), would lend them acceptable for women
in the United States. As discussed in the preceding sections, basketball and soccer share some characteristics
that we speculate may have made them unacceptable for
women in the United States at the time Metheny wrote
her paper. Because adolescents reported that basketball
and soccer were neutral sports, we suggest this may be
evidence ofchanges in the classification system Metheny
proposed.
No statistically significant differences were found
between the neutral and "tending" toward neutral ratings (i.e., response points of between feminine and
neutral or between neutral and masculine) for baseball
and softball. As shown in Table 1, most of the adolescents
rated baseball as neutral or between neutral and masculine. Thus, a sport that may have been considered not
appropriate for women at one time, is now considered a
sport both sexes play. Similarly, most of the adolescents
rated softball as neutral or between feminine and neutral. Softball was once considered a sport appropriate
for women, but it may now be perceived as a sport both
sexes play.
None of the sports were rated predominately as
sports girls should play and boys should not play; however, aerobics, and gymnastics were more often rated as
sports more girls play than boys. As shown in Table 1, no
one rated aerobics as masculine or between neutral and
masculine. Likewise,no one rated gymnasticsas maculine,
and only one response was found for the response between netural and masculine. Metheny (1965) did not

199

Riemer and Visio

discuss these sports in terms ofwhether they are acceptable or unacceptable for boys and men, although the
current study's finding of sex-typing of sports is similar
to other studies (e.g., Engel, 1994) that found some
sports were perceived as predominantly feminine, masculine, or neutral.
Football and wrestling were rated predominately as
sports boys should play and girls should not play. These
findings support Metheny's premise that some sports
may be characterized by activities people may perceive
as unacceptable for female participation. Most of these
sports involve body contact, physical domination, and
movement of the body over long distances. It is notable
that 30% of the adolescents perceived football as a between neutral and masculine sport, and 35.3% perceived
wrestling similarly. Although our data indicate that children still sex-type these sports as masculine, the percentage of responses to the between response point indicate
this perception may be changing.
Sex x Sport interactions emerged as significant effects in the best fitting models for basketball, X2 (2) =
9.39, p .01, football, X2 (2) = 16.47, p< .01, golf, X2 (2) =
12.65, p-: .01, gymnastics, X2 (2) = 8.75, p= .03, hockey, X2
(2) = 17.35, p< .01, and swimming, X2 (2) = 10.13, p= .01.
These interactions suggest that frequency of observa-

Table 1. Percent of feminine, neutral, and masculine responses

for each sportfor participants in seventh through twelfth grade

Sport
Aerobics
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Hockey
Racquetball
Soccer
Softball
Swim
Tennis
Volleyball
Wrestling

F
33.3'
0
0
0.7
0.7
0.7
24'
0.7
0.7
1.3'
14.7'
2.7'
0.7
8'
1.3'

Response categories
N
FIN
MIN
52.7 b
2.7'
0.7
0.7
0
2.7'
53.3 b
0.7
2.7'
0.7'
42.7 b
14.7b
4.7'
36 b
0

14'
39.3 c
88.7'
16'
7.3'
73.3b
22.0'
27.3'
83.3b
77.3 c
38.7 b
82.7 c

94b
56 c
6.7'

0
41.3 c
8b
40.7b
30 b
20.7'
0.7
42'
9.3'
19.3b
2.7'
0
0.7
0
35.3b

M
0
16.7b
2.7 b
42 b
62c
2.7'
0
29.3'
4'
1.3'
1.3'
0
0
0
56.7 c

Note. n for each sport = 150; F = you believe this sportis for
girls; FIN = you believe more girls play this sportthan boys; N =
you believe that the sportshould be played by both girls and
boys; MIN = you believe more boys play this sportthan girls; M
= you believe that this sportis for boys. Percentages with
different superscripts within a row differ significantly at p < .05,
as indicated by log linear z scores (2': 1.96).

200

tions of the sex-typing of each sport differed for male

and female adolescents. Examining the post hoc analyses, the Sex x Gymnastics and Sex x Swimming interaction did not emerge as signficant in the post hoc analyses
and were not interpreted.
The Sex x Basketball interaction indicated boys
more often reported basketball as a sport more boys play
than girls (14.1 %) when compared to the percentage
of responses reported by girls (2.6%) for the same category. Girls were more likely to report that basketball was
a neutral sport (96.2%) when compared to responses
by boys (81.7%). Basketball was rarely perceived as a
sport boys play and girls should not play (4.2% for boys
and 1.3% for girls).
The Sex x Football interaction indicated the majority
of the girls reported that football was a sport more boys
play than girls (43.6%) or boys play and girls should not
play (47.4%). On the other hand, the majority of the boys
reported that football was a sport boysplay and girlsshould
not play (78.9%). Only 15.5% of the boys reported that
football was a sport that more boysplay than girls. Few of
both the male and female adolescents reported that football was a neutral sport (5.6 and 9%, respectively).
The Sex x Golf interaction revealed that girls more
often perceived golf as a sport more boys play than girls
(28.2%) when compared to boys' responses (12.7%).
In contrast, boys more often considered golf a neutral
sport (80.3%) when compared to girls' responses
(67.9%). None of the girls reported golf as a sport more
girls play than boys, but 5.6% of the boys reported that
golf was a sport more girls play than boys. Few of the boys
and girls reported that golfwas a sport only boys play and
girls should not play (1.4 and 3.8%, respectively).
The Sex x Hockey interaction indicated that a greater
percentage of boys (44.3%) perceived hockey asa sport only
boys playwhencompared to the percentage reported by girls
for the same category (16.7%). Girls were more likely to
report that hockey was a sport more boys play than girls
(50%) when compared to the percentage reported by
boys (34.3%). A greater percentage ofgirls also reported
that hockey was a neutral sport when compared to the
percentage reported by boys (21.4%).
Grade x Sport interactions also emerged as effects
in best fitting models for aerobics (which was further
qualified by a three way interaction), X2 (10) = 24.12, p=
.01, gymnastics, X2 (15) = 35.84, p< .01, and racquetball,
X2 (15) = 28.67, p= .02. Although, model parameterestimates and accompanying zscores indicated some statistically significant differences among grade levels, an
examination of the cell frequencies revealed that the
percentages across grade levels were not consistent in a
linear direction. That is, we did not find the frequency
of ratings increasing or decreasing as grade levels increased or decreased. It seems unlikely that frequency
of observations for sex typing of sports would fluctuate

ROES: June 2003

Riemer and Visia

across grade level to a great extent, if stereotypes were

becoming more or less flexible. Although we cannot
state unequivocally that the few grade differences we
found were the result of random error, given the inconsistent directions of the frequency of observations, we
speculate these differences are not the result ofsystematic changes in ratings but error variance.
Sex x Grade interactions emerged as necessary for
the fit ofthe models for two of the 15 sports (i.e., gymnastics and hockey). The Sex x Grade interactions were not
of interest to this study, but they indicated that the frequency of male and female participants were not evenly
distributed across all grade levels in the specific models.

"Best" Sports for Girls and Boys

The 7th- through 12th-grade participants were
asked to write what sport they thought would be best for
boys to participate and girls to participate. Thirty-four
of the 132 participants who filled out this portion of the
questionnaire stated there wasn't a "best" sport for a boy
or a girl. Of these respondents, 30 of the 34 were girls.
Girls tended to elaborate on the reasons for their response. For example:
There is not a best sport for girls to play
in, they just play in whatever sport they
want. Same for boys, there is no best sport
they should play in. Whatever they feel
like. (seventh grade girl)
Sex shouldn't be the deciding factor, one
should choose a sport according to what
they are individually best suited to. (ninth
grade girl)
A common response from the male respondents was:
All. Because women have the same skill
abilities as men. (10th grade boy)
These respondents did not believe sports should be
catagorized according to gender. What differed from the
large amount of neutral comments were the responses
that could be viewed as stereotypically female or male.
For example:
Gymnastics, because girls shouldn't do
sports where you could get hurt by another person, like football. Football-they
are all big and tough, and that's how a man
should be. (seventh grade girl)
Dance-improve flexibility, more gracefulness, exercise. Basketball-improve

ROES: June 2003

height, work as a team, more or better

body control. (seventh grade girl)
Gymnastics, because they are limber and
it doesn't contain physical contact. Football because guys like to. be banged
around. (seventh grade boy)
Gymnastics more flexible. Football, because it is tough and manly. (eighth grade
boy)

Aerobics, because it seems feminine to

me. Football, because it is so rough. (ninth
grade girl)
Tennis. They wear short skirts, and lots of
girls play it. Soccer. Guys don't need a reason for anything they do. (10th grade boy)
Aerobics. Girls are more stressed to keep
their figure "in shape." Football.lt is hard
on a woman's system. Men are tougher,
stronger. (11th grade girl)
I don't know. I'm not a girl, I don't understand them. I don't care what they do.
(12th grade boy)
Football. I believe football is a critical and
integral part of the upbringing in today's
youth. Football gives boys becoming men
many necessary skills that are essential for
life. Football shows maturity, and boys
learn self discipline, hard work, effort, and
many related ethical skills along with social skills. This is an enormous life changing impact on all children who play.Along
with an incredible advantage on the body.
(12th grade boy)
The respondents of the above quotations used stereotypical reasoning to determine the best sport for a
male or a female. There were some respondents who
listed a sport that was quite different from the stereotypical comments from above. For example:
Boxing, because guys don't think that we
can do it. Golf [for boys]. (seventh grade
girl)
Boxing so they [girls] can learn self-protection. Skateboarding, because you push
your own limits with no coach on the sidelines screaming. (seventh grade boy)

207

Riemer and Visio

Football. They need to prove sexist

people wrong. Basketball. Best sport to
play and watch. (eighth grade girl)
Basketball, it incorporates many different
skills. Golf, because women know better
than to hit a little ball and go chase after
it for 2.5 hours. (12th grade girl)
These comments show a departure from the stereotypical comments and also emphasize that perhaps girls
can do more than what stereotypes would predict. There
were less than 10 respondents who wrote down traditionally "masculine" sports for women (such as boxing and
football). Although these respondents expanded their
perception of"best" sports for girls,"feminine" sports were
not listed by any participants for a "best" sport for a boy.

Conclusions
Over 30 years have passed since Metheny (1965)
proposed a classification system that characterized certain sports as socially acceptable for girls to perform
based on how each sport conforms to stereotypical views
of appropriate female behavior. Our results indicate that
certain sports continue to be perceived as gender specific. That is, kindergarten through high school participants continue to perceive football and wrestling as
male-appropriate and aerobics and gymnastics as female-appropriate. The quantitative data indicate that
many sports are perceived as appropriate for both sexes
to perform, such as basketball, golf, soccer, and tennis.
Therefore, the findings from the present study provide
evidence that lead us to question whether Metheny's
premises are used by these age groups in their perception of gender-appropriateness of sports. Some of the
neutrality may be due to the popularity ofyouth soccer
and the collegiate environment where they attended
school (very popular women's basketball and softball).
Our results also support past research, which has
indicated that certain sports continue to be masculine
domains (Cahn, 1994; Engel, 1994; Kane & Snyder,
1989; Lenskyi, 1986). Respondents in our study perceived certain sports as masculine (e.g., boxing, football,
wrestling). Sports that involve less contact were perceived as appropriate for boys and girls, but this was only
evident in participants' quantitative sport ratings. The
vast majority of the 7th- through 12th-grade open-ended
responses were highly gendered. Thus, participants gave
more egalitarian responses to the questionnaire, but their
open-ended responses were influenced by stereotypes
and could be considered sexist. The present study supports previous findings that conscious responses (e.g.,
responses on Likert-type scales) are becoming more
egalitarian (Offermann, 1986), but actions and more co-

202

vert measures (i.e., written responses and open-ended

questions in which private feelings are more difficult to
hide) still reflect stereotypes (Deaux, 1984).
It is promising that basketball and soccer appear to
be exceptions to Metheny's (1965) classification. Although Metheny did not list basketball and soccer as
sport inappropriate for women, Metheny did indicate
that most team sports (i.e., with the exception ofvolleyball) were socially unacceptable for women because of
the body contact, "face-to-face opposition" (p. 49), and
distance the body is projected. However, participants'
ratings of basketball and soccer were predominantly
neutral (i.e., appropriate for boys and girls). The neutral rating for basketball may be due to the increased
popularity ofboth women's collegiate basketball and the
Women's National Basketball Association (the American Baskteball League was still in existence when the
data were collected). Additionally, this finding may be
due to the enormous popularity ofwomen's basketball
where the study was conducted. Although Metheny did
not list soccer as a sport inappropriate for women, we
posit that soccer is characterized by dimensions (e.g.,
body contact and face-to-face confrontation) that would
have been perceived as inappropriate for college
women in the United States at the time Metheny's essay
was published. If our premise is correct, then the neutral rating for soccer found for all participants from 4th to
12th grade suggests a stereotype change. A recent survey
conducted by the Soccer Industry Council of America
(1997) provided supporting evidence for our data. The
data from the Soccer Industry Council surveyshowed that
from 1985-95 the number of high school girls playing
soccer increased 225%, and over 40% ofsoccer players in
the United States are women. Another factor contributing to the neutral rating we found in our study is that the
state (i.e., Missouri) in which the study was conducted is
ranked 10th in the top 20 soccer participation states (Soccer Industry Council of America, 1997). These findings
suggest there are several mechanisms that may help reduce negative stereotypes about grls and women participating in traditional male sports. One mechanism is
through increased media coverage ofwomen performing these sports (Jones, Murrell, &Jackson, 1999). Another mechanism is through early participation (i.e.,
kindergarten or first grade) by girls in these sports.
Rating differences between male and female participants were found for several sports. For example, a
greater proportion of girls than boys (primary through
sixth grade) rated tennis as a sport acceptable for girls.
Boysmore often rated tennis as a sport for both genders.
Adolescent boys (7th through 12th grades) more often
rated basketball a masculine sport than did adolescent
girls. The adolescent girls more often rated basketball
as a sport appropriate for both sexes to perform. Female
adolescents (7th through 12th grades) more often rated

ROES: June 2003

Riemerand Visio

swimming as a neutral sport than their male counterparts. A greater proportion of male adolescents rated
swimming as a feminine sport. The results of this study
do not support previous research that indicates men are
more likely to apply stereotypes to both men and women
(Deaux & Kite, 1994; Frey & Ruble, 1982; Williams &
Best, 1990). The few sex differences in ratings we found
suggest that gender stereotypes held by children and
adolescents are more complex than the classifcation
proposed by Metheny (1965).
Evidence was found for changes in perceptions of
appropriate male and female sports across age groups.
Ratings of baseball became more masculine as grade
level increased (i.e., primary through sixth grade). In
contrast, ratings of basketball became more neutral as
participant age increased (i.e., primary through sixth
grade). Rating changes were more pronounced for
those in primary through sixth grade. Even more interesting were the Sport x Grade interactions found for
primary through sixth grade respondents' ratings of
softball and tennis. Ratings for tennis became increasingly more neutral as grade increased. In comparison,
ratings ofsoftball were initially more often neutral, and
ratings became increasingly more feminine as grade
increased. This may be a by-product of the youth sport
environment, in which boys play baseball and girls play
softball. Bysixth grade, few boys are participating in recreational softball leagues.
Perceptions ofbest sports for girls seem to be expanding to include more masculine sports. However, the children and adolelscents in this study did not perceive
feminine sports as appropriate for boys. Therefore, although we may see girls participating in what Metheny
(1965) viewed as masculine sports, the opposite does not
seem to be true for boys and feminine sports. This does
not mean that girls and women are sociallyaccepted when
they participate in masculine sports (i.e. the feminization
ofthe athlete), but they see the opportunity to participate.
Future research may incorporate open-ended questions to allow for participants to define masculinity and
femininity and investigate the perceptions of girls and
boys who are actively participating in sport. Future research may also use participants from other ethnicities
and socioeconomic status, as the results and generalizability of this study are limited due to the nature of the
sample (i.e., White middle class youth).

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Notes
1. Data collected from the two primary classes were
combined, because the distribution ofboys and girls was
highly unequal in one of the classes (i.e., 12 boys and 2
girls). Initial analyses revealed no significant differences
in gender sports typing between the two classes.
2. For all questionnaires, the sport of hockey refers to
ice hockey. The university where this study was con-

204

ducted did not have a men's or women's ice hockey team.

There were comments made by the participants, including the youngest ones, when they filled out the questionnaire that they were aware of the women's ice hockey
team in the Olympics.
3. Tables presenting the final best-fitting models, maximum likelihood chi-square statistics, and percentage of
responses by participants are not presented in order to
reduce the length of the manuscript. These tables are
available from either author.

Authors' Notes
Due to the length of the manuscript, many tables could
not be included. Please contact either author for a copy
of the statistical tables. The authors would like to thank
Cynthia Hasbrook and the two reviewers for their helpful comments of this manuscript. Please address all correspondence concerning this article to Brenda Reimer,
Pjysical Education and Exercise Science, California
State University at Chico, 400 W. First Street, Chico, CA

95929.
E-mail: briemer@csuchico.edu

ROES: June 2003