We perform an experiment showing participants video clips of elite female and male soccer players. In the control group, participants evaluated normal videos where the gender of the players was clear to see. In the treatment group, participants evaluated the same videos but with gender obscured by blurring. We find that participants only rated men’s videos higher when they knew they were watching men. When they didn’t know who they were watching, ratings for female and male athletes did not differ significantly. The findings are consistent with the interpretation that gender bias plays a role in the evaluation of athletic performance.
How much did they blur? I expect that in order to blur gender id they blurred too much. The speed difference is huge that alone will change the quality of the game but if legs are blurred the footspeed may not be perceivable. A better experiment would be to put female body images over males and ask participants to rate the quality.