Female Athletes, who takes them seriously?

ENTERTAINMENT - Is anyone taking female athletes seriously?

As a guy, I admit, we do tend to spend a great deal of time looking at a woman's assets. Pun intended.

So when female athletes get out oiled up and pose for Sports Illustrated/etc we men do tend to pay a lot of attention to whats on display.

But what about the athletes themselves? Don't they deserve to be taken seriously as athletes regardless of their sex?

"How good does a female athlete have to be before we just call her an athlete?" - Feminist Quote.

The following is a list of the 50 Hottest Female Athletes according to a magazine... you will notice almost all of them are white and that they're mostly golfers, tennis players or swimmers. In other words they're usually scantily clad (and thus we guys pay attention).

50. Daniela Hantuchová tennis

49. Jennie Finch softball

48. Flavia Delaroli swimmer

47. Sabrina Ferilli soccer

46. Christine Arron sprinter

45. Natalie Gulbis golfer

44. Lauren Jackson basketball

43. Mia St. John boxer/Tae Kwon Do

42. Kari Traa skier

41. Victoria Vanucci tennis

40. Danica Patrick Nascar

39. Tanith Belbin figure skater

38. Francesca Piccinini volleyball

37. Dara Torres swimmer

36. Amy Acuff high jump

35. Natalie Coughlin swimmer

34. Lokelani McMichael triathlon

33. Mary Sauer pole vaulter

32. Jamie Sale figure skater

31. Gretchen Bleiler snowboarder

30. Gabrielle Reece volleyball

29. Michelle Wie golfer

28. Victoria Adams Beckham, married to soccer star David Beckham which apparently got her onto this list.

27. Heather Mitts soccer

26. Misty May volleyball

25. Milene Domingues soccer

24. Laure Manaudou swimmer

23. Stacy Keibler wrestler/cheerleader

22. Ana Ivanovic tennis

21. Ashley Tappin swimming

20. Amy Taylor soccer

19. Kristi Leskinen skier

18. Anna Rawson golfer

17. Kristina Lum swimmer

16. Tatiana Grigorieva pole vault

15. Logan Tom volleyball

14. Elisabetta Canalis soccer

13. Ana Paula Mancino volleyball

12. Niki Gudex mountain biker

11. Malia Jones surfer

10. Romi Bean cheerleader (since when is that a sport?)

9. Amanda Beard swimmer

8. Maria Kirilenko tennis

7. Jenny Adams track and field

6. Daniela Cicarelli soccer

5. Maria Sharapova tennis

4. Haley Cope swimmer

3. Alisson Stokke pole vaulter

2. Bia e Branca swimming

1. Ana Kournikova tennis

The mere existence of this list is a testament to what men are interested in when it comes to women in sports: Sex.

And admittedly I have to agree sex does play a role in sports period. Look at football and all the cheerleaders. Look at all the sexual innuendos that revolve around baseball. Look at all the gay men into ultimate fighting.

And judging by the photos of the women on the list (almost all of them have posed for men's magazines, including Playboy and Sports Illustrated) there seems to be a culture amongst female athletes that in order to get attention media wise you have to show some skin and cater to the male crowd.

Where are the serious female athletes? The ones that take sports and athleticism seriously and aren't flashing their skin every chance someone waves some cash at them to do an ad for a sports bra or perfume.

Are male athletes showing off in women's magazines? No. So why is it "acceptable" for women?

Instead the focus is on the women who are the hottest, sexiest, etc. How about the highest paid female athletes? How about the strongest? Or the fastest? Or the gold medal winners?

I know there's a lot of people out there who think that if women weightlift or just plain exercise that they'll start looking masculine and ugly. That is bullshit nonsense. Women bodybuilders take steroids to look like that. Women's weightlifting is not going to make you look like a man.

Here's a prediction for the future: Female Mud Wrestling on public television. Its probably already here and I've missed it. Could sports get any more sexist?

Its no wonder most women don't watch sports or are interested in sports. Sports are so male dominated that even the female athletes are treated like sex objects.