"Originally, Dana White had that attitude towards women fighting, and had that kind of visceral reaction to women hitting each other," notes Spencer.
![world of mixed martial arts wmma 5 world of mixed martial arts wmma 5](http://blog.espol.edu.ec/carrarod/files/2012/11/MixedMartialArts_big.jpg)
How quickly these attitudes have been overcome is maybe the most surprising aspect of how the female side of the sport has developed. There is nothing sinister about this attitude, and it even seems strange to criticise men for caring too much about the well-being of women, but within the context of MMA, it is something female fighters have been forced to overcome in order to be taken seriously. Many men are instinctively protective of women and have a visceral reaction to watching them take punishment. The second, more liberal brand of sexism concerns the way society tends to infantilise women. It is an attitude that is explicitly oppressive, but it is becoming less and less common as society becomes more progressive. Pursuing a career in a violent sport like MMA trespasses overtly on male territory and is actively discouraged. Traits associated with females include being dependent, emotional, passive, nurturing and submissive. The more conservative brand of sexism concerns traditional attitudes toward gender roles. When it comes to combat sports, there are two distinct types of sexism-from opposite ends of the political spectrum-that women are invariably forced to deal with. Perhaps the most impressive part of the growth of women's MMA is how it has been able to transcend attitudes toward gender. Men may at first be drawn to the fact that these women are physically attractive, but they have ultimately been able to garner a level of respect based on their technical and physical prowess when they enter the cage." They've been able to tap into that, and at the same time these women display a kind of gutsiness and aggression that is appealing. "In mixed martial arts, they've been able to hypersexualise the women, from someone like Gina Carano-who was the original queen of MMA-to Ronda Rousey, as well as others who have come along.
![world of mixed martial arts wmma 5 world of mixed martial arts wmma 5](https://cagesidepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/image-1-min.png)
It's tempting to think that individual sports are intrinsically more egalitarian, but it may have more to do with the way sports like tennis and MMA have been able to focus on marketing individual athletes. Women's tennis is arguably the only other sport that can make such a claim.
![world of mixed martial arts wmma 5 world of mixed martial arts wmma 5](http://greydogsoftware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/FULL.png)
Despite this, female mixed martial artists have almost achieved promotional parity with their male counterparts. Here we have a sport that, perhaps more than any other, showcases traits traditionally associated with masculinity, such as strength, aggression, toughness and competitiveness. With this in mind, the rapid growth and booming popularity of women's mixed martial arts seems utterly counterintuitive. "The valorisation of bigger, stronger, faster ends up taking away from women's sport because, in the main, women's sport is characterised by more emphasis placed on things like technique. There's not as much emphasis placed on being ultra-muscular, so there's that twofold effect, and I think in the economy of time, that attitude takes away from people wanting to watch women's sports." Therefore, it's not worthy of being watched, and there's this bigger, stronger, faster mentality. "There's a general attitude in relation to women's sport," Spencer argues, "and what leads to the lack of viewership is the fact that women's sports aren't at the caliber of men's sport.