IX Reasons Why LPGA Is Wrong

Thirty years. Thirty years after the institution of Title IX, society is still not able to support female athletes solely on their athletic prowess.

The perception by those marketing women’s golf (and other women’s sports) is that women need to be attractive in order to draw fan support, which is utterly false.

If fans are telling Ty Votaw that women need more than their golf game to gain support, get new fans! Ty can take a hint from the Sacramento Kings: They certainly have been able to procure support with appearance deficits.

Melanie Horn

Long Beach

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Diane Pucin asks rhetorically (April 5) whether Tiger Woods could look like Craig Stadler and still be an “international icon.” If Tiger continued to tear up the tour, it wouldn’t matter if he looked like Godzilla and behaved like Hulk Hogan; he’d still be famous for his achievements. Mark McGwire is revered because of his spectacular home-run season, not because he’s willing to drop his shorts for Playgirl.

Advising women athletes to pander to pop culture by marketing themselves as sex objects will only cement their unequal status in the sports world. Why should women be encouraged to play a game that’s set up for them to lose?

Bonnie Sloane

Los Angeles