Sport has for many years been a domain for athletes to display sex-role stereotypes. Males to display masculinity and participate in typically male dominated sports and women to present feminine characteristics and engage in typical female dominated sports.

In terms of masculinity the male physique is stereotypically characterised by a strong, muscular, aggressive and competitive makeup. Whereas females were to engage in sport but also uphold those attributes of femininity including fragility, delicate and non-confrontational.

Societal norms and the pressure from the media have presented body image issues for both males and females playing sports that lie outside of the traditional realm.

When we encourage young people to play sports we automatically associate the correct sport with their gender. Women have challenged these ideas in recent years with the introduction of many sports creating a pathway for female athletes to play elite level sport and even World Cup teams. Rugby, cricket and Soccer are examples of sports that have moved away from the typical male domain.