Media And Female Sports

Gender classification is a predominant topic within today’s sports and is most broadly understood through the portrayals of sports media. Through overt and covert ways, sports media has continued to promote a masculine representation of sports (Millington & Wilson, 2010; Messener, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). By understanding the way in which sports media portrays sports, one can recognize how masculinity has dominated the world of sports. With the aid of two unique studies of sports media, this paper will critique the way in which media has effected the gendered depiction of sports.

While participation of women in sports has increased, the media representation of women in sports remains problematic. Even the most talented elite female athletes like Michelle Kwan and Monica Seles are portrayed in a sexual fashion, as a way of deemphasizing their athleticism and neutralizing any possible threat they might seem to pose to male viewers. Very few male athletes are portrayed in such an objectified manner; they are portrayed as competitors first and foremost, not as personalities. Also, the media coverage of athletes is disproportionately focused on male athletes. The coverage of female athletes tends to stress individualized female sports where women can be sexualized like tennis and figure skating, versus competitive team sports like basketball and soccer.

Women athletes are often exploited by marketers and advertisers who want to increase their revenues and bottom line sales. Advertisers focus more on the women’s “skin” and sex appeal rather than women’s athletes, leaving the impression that woman are not as talented in the sports as male athletes (Roenigk 1). Many spectators and advertisers do not take female professional sports seriously and think that female athletes play more for fun. Therefore, female athletes do not receive as much attention for their talent. Advertisers exploit women athletes by focusing on their looks and appearances. Advertisers focus on the female athlete’s sex appeal rather than talent (Julius 2). Those who are more talented can be drafted to play professionally where they receive a salary. However, marketers still focus more on male sports. Therefore, increased revenue continues as spectators buy tickets to watch professional male athletes. The female athletes continue to generate revenues from sex appeal and looks over talent. This professional salary in no way compares to the pay received by professional male athletes.

Women in professional sports fits into the Sex and Power: Global Gender Inequality class because many female athletes have experienced the inequalities in a professional sports setting. Female athletes are being put down by gender inequalities, causing less females participating in athletic programs. Women athletes are being paid less than their male counterparts. Along with being paid less, female and males are receiving unequal benefits in the form of scholarship, media coverage, transportation, and stadium conditions. The professional sport’s world is filled with the obsession of body image and sexuality. Through this obsession, female athletes have been abused from the people they trust the most. There is an increasing inequality in women’s professional sports in the form of pay, sexuality, and abuse.

This article talked about the daunting unequal media coverage in sports of male sports teams in comparison to females.They researched the true differentiations of coverage between men and women sports. The actual percentage difference of coverage of male vs female sports discovered in their research truly is unfathomable. Men’s sports receive 96.3% of the airtime, women’s sports 1.6% and gender neutral topics were 2.1%. When you think back about twenty years ago and the coverage of media people tend to think that America is generally trending positively forward, however that is not the case for the coverage of women's athletics. It has actually gone down since then. Although on the scarce occasion that they are feature in the news, more often than not they are conveyed in the stereotypical way: as wives, girlfriends, or mothers. When media is highlighting these aspects instead of their talent, hard work or success it takes away from their image as an athlete and it demonstrating that it is acceptable to do so in society. However if male athlete achieved equal success and he was a father, that

Sport media is no different from any other profession. There is gender bias in this field. Due to sexism, it makes it hard for women to even enter into the career path they desire most. There are many factors when it comes to gender bias, especially in sport media. Women are at a disadvantage in the field of sport media. Before 1978, female reporters were not allowed to interview players in the locker room before and after games (Clapp). It was not until 1978, when a female reporter decided enough was enough. In 1978, Sports Illustrated reporter Melissa Ludtke sued the New York Yankees for banning her from entering the locker room to interview players during the 1977 World Series (Clapp). This case went to federal court and the judge decided that banning female reporters violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution (Clapp). The Equal Protection Clause demands that the states “must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances” (LII Staff). Since women reporters were not allowed in locker rooms and men were, then this was a direct violation because women and male reporters were in the locker rooms for the same reasons. In the business of sport and as a sport manager, women being treated unfairly in sport media is something that needs to be addressed by fining and suspending those coaches, players and anybody involved with a sport organization who make sexist remarks toward women

In today’s world, men’s sports seem to always be in the spotlight while women’s sports do not draw much attention, as if women who play sports are not taken seriously. This happens on all levels of sports, and I have personally experienced it myself through basketball in high school. While the gym would be full for any of the boys’ games, our games had very little support with almost empty bleachers. When it comes to the professional level, when women’s sports do get covered by the media, most people judge female athletes more on their looks rather than their athletic skill, which is negative and unfair.

Before I conducted this media analysis about women in sports and sport broadcasting, I hypothesized the obvious - that more male sports would be in the media, and that there would be more male sports broadcasters as well. Through my observations I did find that the sports arena and sports broadcasting sphere are male dominated. However, I also found that although there are not many stories about women, there has been a steady progression and magazines like Sports Illustrated are becoming bold enough to highlight women athletes in a magazine that is targeted towards a male audience. Although women still have a long way to go, they are making some headway into the male-dominated sports arena.

For example, back in 1991 the best soccer player in history was Mia Hamm. So in order for them to sell seats to the World Cup game they had to advertise. So the media chose the team’s most “popular” player. Mia Hamm stared in a Barbie commercial, two Gatorade commercials, and a shampoo commercial. Media coverage rather focuses on an individual athlete rather than a team, because it is less masculine. So, when they only filmed Mia Hamm to represent the USWNST she could not be over powering or over barring. Media coverage is less on team sports because these athletes tend to be more masculine, competitive, and involves more body-to-body contact. Team sports being the total opposite of what media portrayed a female athlete to act like and look like. This could be one of the main reasons why the USWNT does not get much popularity through the media. Even after the World Cup in 2015 there was only a selective few who got to be on a cover of a magazine. For example, Carli Lloyd appeared on a sports illustrated magazine, and the title of the magazine was, “ ONE TEAM, ONE TITLE, ONE COVER for EACH of THE 23, MY CUP. OUR CUP.” If the whole title was talking about the team and it’s success on winning the world cup, then why was only one female athlete on the cover page? Was it because 23 girls on one magazine in uniform over barring to

Touching upon different media theories such as the social identity theory, the feminism theory and the communication accommodation theory, allows for a methodical means of comprehending the occurrences, behaviors and positions explained in past research, in particular the difficulties that women working in the sports media industry face (Baiocchi-Wagner & Behm-Morawitz, 2010; Turner & West, 2010; Baxter & Braithewaite, 2008; Desmarais & Bruce, 2010). Looking at and trying to understand the perceived credibility of women sports journalists by audiences and colleagues, is important in determining whether or not there is a strong enough bias against them that would contribute to their presence in the field (Ordman and Zillman, 1994; O’Keefe, 2002;

With the rise of feminism, gender inequality has been quite the topic in todays time. With the wanting of equal rights and treatment it has been pointed out as per which all places males have the hegemonic overview and women are the oppressed; one of the areas where its unequal in gender is in sport. This paper will examine and break down the issues regarding sex and gender biases within sports in modern day media and how it can be resolved.

Going into this experiment I viewed the subordinate group that was distinct, but hasn’t yet been done having its own unique. This directed me towards women, the difference of women on commercials in the sport network channels rather than feminine networks. I got this assumption from past experience; my mom is an avid food and HGTV network watcher, while I’m an avid watcher of ESPN. Specific questions were asked to create a foundation that correctly fit the direction intended for the project and its conclusions. In conclusion to the commercial experiment I found that the majority of women on the networks like ESPN have a different appearance then women on the Food, Bravo, and HGTV networks. My reasoning for this is there are more men

From the three network affiliates they studied, they found that 96.3 percent of the coverage was for men’s sports and women only received 1.6 percent (Messner and Cooky 4). When analyzing the coverage of Sports Center, which is arguably the most popular sports show on television, they found that women still only received just 1.4 percent of their coverage (4). This study also found that 100 percent of the Sports Center programs had a lead story that was about men’s sports (4). Even the most renowned and credible sports show, which only shows sports all year long, does not even provide women’s sports with equal attention. Even more shocking than this was that the study also revealed that reporters devoted more coverage to men’s sports that were out of season than they did women’s sports that were actually in season (4). This can be extremely disrespectful to female athletes when their sport is pushed aside and ignored so that a men’s sport that is not even being played can be covered by the media. These women put all their effort into performing their sport at the highest level, but their media attention gets replaced by men who are in their off-season.

Sports don’t exist in a cultural vacuum but the world of sports is very much like the world of masculinity. During the course we watched a video of “Killing Us Softly”, which has to do with the study of gender representation in advertising. It reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With

Similarly women are receiving less attention and media coverage than men. When someone puts on the television and turns on a sports game, it is most likely going to be a men’s sport. Even when females get their coverage, the commentators are usually talking about their body rather than their skill. In an article, “Examination of Gender Equality and Female Participation in Sport” by Joshua A. Senne, he talks about how women are referred by their appearance rather than their skill. During a study about the media, the commentators mostly talked about the women’s hair, make-up, and body figure, rather than their ability. This also occurred after the 1996 summer Olympics, where there was a lack of promotion for female athletes and the marketing of women’s sports. These athletes were also only recognized by their physical appearance instead of their ability. The tone of these broadcasters was proved in a study that men 's events were the standard in the society rather than the women’s. They would list the event as “other” rather than saying it is a women’s sport. In the study that was conducted, it states that the gender marketing showed that the woman sports were marked as “other” on an average of 27.5 times, but it 's never happened in the men’s sporting events (Senne). There is still coverage of women 's sports, but it rarely covered. The title IX project made a pie chart about the comparison of men’s and women’s sports media coverage on the show SportsCenter on