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Where are the female athletes in Sports Illustrated? A content analysis of covers (2000–2011)
Abstract
We content analyzed more than 11 years of Sports Illustrated (SI) covers (2000–2011) to assess how often females were portrayed, the sports represented, and the manner of their portrayal. Despite females’ increased participation in sport since the enactment of Title IX and calls for greater media coverage of female athletes, women appeared on just 4.9 percent of covers. The percentage of covers did not change significantly over the span and were comparable to levels reported for the 1980s by other researchers. Indeed, women were depicted on a higher percentage of covers from 1954–1965 than from 2000–2011. Beyond the limited number of covers, women’s participation in sport was often minimized by sharing covers with male counterparts, featuring anonymous women not related directly to sports participation, sexually objectifying female athletes, and promoting women in more socially acceptable gender-neutral or feminine sports.
... Such an urgency is also pertinent to elite sports magazines, which is defined as magazines that demonstrate a top-level commercial performance in terms of circulation and sales. Elite sports magazines have abilities to circulate their contents to a large customer base, but they further aim to grab potential readers' attention by curating various contents (Weber & Carini, 2012). One of the important strategies is to emphasize eyegrabbing contents on cover pages as the sales of most magazines highly depend on attractiveness of cover pages (Johnson & de Lozano, 2002). ...
... In the academic literature stream, past sports magazine studies have mostly centered on how athlete gender influences media representations. For example, Weber and Carini (2012) analyzed the covers of Sports Illustrated between 2000 and 2011, and examined how female athletes were represented on these covers. Of the 716 issues in 11 years, there were only 35 female athletes were displayed on the cover, of which only 18 featured a female as the primary or sole image. ...
... The purposes behind these representations are often irrelevant to their expertise (Carty, 2005;Fink, 2015;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Trolan, 2013). More in line with the current study, female athletes have been underrepresented in media coverage of sport in the United States (Bishop, 2003;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Weber & Carini, 2012). In fact, Martin and McDonald (2012) found that there were declining features of women on the covers of Sports Illustrated from the mid-1980s through 2009. ...
Research question:
The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of the members of the Iran Taekwondo Federation (ITF) regarding the appropriateness of the introduction of sports engineering.
Research methods:
A back-translated questionnaire drawn up from parts of existing instruments assessing those perceptions was responded to by 244 males and 69 females belonging to the ITF from all over Iran. The subscales assessed (a) the appropriateness of sports engineering, (b) its usefulness (c) its ease of use, (d) it being personally beneficial (e) respondents attitude toward change (f) self-efficacy to adopt, (g), group’s efficacy, and (h) leadership. The analyses included estimates of the internal consistency of the subscales and multiple regression analysis with appropriateness of sports engineering as the dependent variable with the remaining variables as the predictors.
Results and Findings:
Results showed that the internal consistency estimates of the subscales were more than .70 for 7 of the eight subscales while it was .67 for the personally beneficial subscale. In the multiple regression analysis, the Personally Beneficial subscale entered first explaining 44% of the variance in perceived appropriateness of sports engineering. The next two variables entering the equation were Group Efficacy explaining an additional 11.9%, and Usefulness explaining another 3.7%.
Implications:
The major implication of the study is that if members perceived a specific change to be personally beneficial, they are likely to perceive the change as appropriate and adopt it when introduced. Thus, it is important for sport managers when considering a specific change, to identify and articulate the benefits accruing to the members because of the proposed change.
... Feature coverage by SI of women's sports also did not increase in the 20 years following the study by Reid and Soley (Bishop 2003). Weber and Carini (2013) found that women only appeared on 4.9% of SI covers from 2000 to 2011. Interestingly, women were depicted on a higher percentage of SI covers from 1954 to 1965 than from 2000 to 2011. ...
... However, of the 1794 females, 69% were pictured with males. As noted by Weber and Carini (2013), women's participation in sport is often minimized by sharing covers with their male counterparts. Only 9% of all sampled photographs pictured females by themselves or in groups with only females. ...
... As discussed, research shows that media marginalizes females in sport, preferring to show them in sexually appealing ways (Bernstein and Kian 2013;Kane and Maxwell 2011;Lumpkin 2007;Weber and Carini 2013). BWhen female athletes are featured, limiting and dangerous stereotypes tend to prevail, for example, the emphasis of physical beauty over performance, sexual objectification, women as more fragile and domestically oriented, and that there are 'inappropriate' sports for females to play ( Weber and Carini 2013, p. 197). ...
A content analysis was conducted of all 618 Black Belt magazine print edition covers between 1961 and 2017. Each person featured on the cover was examined in regard to their sex and the manner of their portrayal. Data collected from the analysis was quantized using previously identified gender characteristics adapted for this study. Results support existing literature that female athletes are underrepresented by sport media. Twenty-one covers (3.40%) featured females. Results found females were portrayed differently than their male counterparts. Featured females were more likely to show excessive skin in their photographs, and were more likely to be sexualized or objectified. Only 1.78% of featured males were sexualized or objectified as compared to 33% of featured females. Additionally, covers featuring women were significantly more likely to include text referring to gender. These references often infantilized, gender stereotyped, or objectified women.
... Mass media have the power to construct gender through the presentation of images and text contents and to send messages to the public about gender stereotypes and ideologies (Hardin et al., 2002;Weber & Carini, 2013). "Biased reporting and constructions are portrayed in terms of gender stereotyping where women are packaged as being beautiful or sexy and men as being strong and robust" (Serra & Burnett, 2007, p.149). ...
... Media continue to exclude and underrepresent women's sports, presenting sports as "the purview of men" (Hardin & Greer, 2009, p.208;Nicely, 2007;Bishop, 2003;Bernstein & Pedersen, 2002;Delorme & Testard, 2015). Frames portray power and discrimination and through the symbolic annihilation of women's sports, the media display a patriarchal society in which women are inferior to men (Weber & Carini, 2013;Billings, Angelini & Eastman, 2005). Of all sport media's spectators, children are the most easily influenced. ...
... For instance, NBC's (National Broadcasting Company, New York) Olympic coverage displays women's gymnastics and figure skating, while "Olympic sports such as women's shot put or discus [throw] are virtually invisible, and women's team sports receive less prime-time coverage than individual sports" (Hardin & Greer, 2009, p.211;Tuggle, Huffman & Rosengard, 2002). These representations of female athletes are role models for millions of females, but the media transmit an ambivalent message, that athleticism and skills are not enough, but should be supported by beauty and sexiness (Weber & Carini, 2013;Biskup & Pfister, 1999). ...
... Such an urgency is also pertinent to elite sports magazines, which is defined as magazines that demonstrate a top-level commercial performance in terms of circulation and sales. Elite sports magazines have abilities to circulate their contents to a large customer base, but they further aim to grab potential readers' attention by curating various contents (Weber & Carini, 2012). One of the important strategies is to emphasize eye-grabbing contents on cover pages as the sales of most magazines highly depend on attractiveness of cover pages (Johnson & de Lozano, 2002). ...
... In the academic literature stream, past sports magazine studies have mostly centered on how athlete gender influences media representations. For example, Weber and Carini (2012) analyzed the covers of Sports Illustrated between 2000 and 2011, and examined how female athletes were represented on these covers. Of the 716 issues in 11 years, there were only 35 female athletes were displayed on the cover, of which only 18 featured a female as the primary or sole image. ...
... The purposes behind these representations are often irrelevant to their expertise (Carty, 2005;Fink, 2015;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Trolan, 2013). More in line with the current study, female athletes have been underrepresented in media coverage of sport in the United States (Bishop, 2003;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Weber & Carini, 2012). In fact, Martin and McDonald (2012) found that there were declining features of women on the covers of Sports Illustrated from the mid-1980s through 2009. ...
Understanding the differences and similarities in sports coverage between the United States and Japan will aid marketers in their sales strategies, as well as understand how cultures value and market some sports more than others. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences regarding how sports magazines package their cover page contents between the United States and Japan as a cross-cultural comparison. Samples were collected by coding the cover page contents of Sports Illustrated ® and Number ® , which are two magazines that are published from the United States of America and Japan, from 2010 to 2015. As the authors tested four hypotheses, it was revealed that there were significant differences in the display frequencies surrounding sports, level of sport, and the number of athletes on the magazine cover pages.
... Such an urgency is also pertinent to elite sports magazines, which is defined as magazines that demonstrate a top-level commercial performance in terms of circulation and sales. Elite sports magazines have abilities to circulate their contents to a large customer base, but they further aim to grab potential readers' attention by curating various contents (Weber & Carini, 2012). One of the important strategies is to emphasize eyegrabbing contents on cover pages as the sales of most magazines highly depend on attractiveness of cover pages (Johnson & de Lozano, 2002). ...
... In the academic literature stream, past sports magazine studies have mostly centered on how athlete gender influences media representations. For example, Weber and Carini (2012) analyzed the covers of Sports Illustrated between 2000 and 2011, and examined how female athletes were represented on these covers. Of the 716 issues in 11 years, there were only 35 female athletes were displayed on the cover, of which only 18 featured a female as the primary or sole image. ...
... The purposes behind these representations are often irrelevant to their expertise (Carty, 2005;Fink, 2015;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Trolan, 2013). More in line with the current study, female athletes have been underrepresented in media coverage of sport in the United States (Bishop, 2003;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Weber & Carini, 2012). In fact, Martin and McDonald (2012) found that there were declining features of women on the covers of Sports Illustrated from the mid-1980s through 2009. ...
Governance in sport organizations has become a much-researched topic in recent time. However, we have identified a lack of studies on the organizational structures of national federations, in particular against the background of local/national histories. We aim to fill this research gap by centralizing the governance structures of the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association (CTAA) in light of recent governance structure reforms in international athletics. Our approach is twofold. First, we use previously unexamined sources from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Archives in Monaco to explore the CTAA´s reintegration into the IAAF in the late 1970s. This historical context provides essential background for the specific sport political circumstances in which the CTAA is situated. Second, we focus on seven key areas of the IAAF´s recent reform and explore how they are applicable to the CTAA. These areas are: 1) Presidential Power, 2) Area Representative Voice, 3) Greater Voice for Athletes, 4) Gender Balance, 5) Independent Anti-Doping Regulations, 6) Integrity and External Control Mechanisms, and 7) Readjustment of Finance Management/Control. Our findings indicate that there are discrepancies between the CTAA`s organizational structures and internationally recognized governance concepts. However, we argue that there is a need for an individual governance concept as the CTAA cannot completely follow the IAAF´s blueprint. In order to do so, the CTAA must be open for reform and thereby take its significant historical background into consideration.
... . Most coverpersons are young in age (see Figures 1 and 2), artificially light-skinned (see Figure 3), and lean in body type (see Figure 4), reproducing global patterns of ageism (Gullette 2011), colorism (Hunter 2007), and fatism (Raisborough 2016) in media and society. . Among the portrayals of young, lean, and light-skinned coverpersons, portrayals of men emphasize business casual style and career success (see Figure 1), while portrayals of women emphasize their high-fashion apparel and embodied beauty (see Figure 2), echoing global patterns of media sexism (Collins 2011;Eisend 2010;Grau and Zotos 2016 Roy and Harwood 1997;Taylor and Stern 1997;Weber and Carini 2013). Instead, they are grouped into ensembles of 3-5 young and lean coverpersons on special issue covers (see Figure 4). . ...
... The representation of Mr. Modi evinces a pattern of misrepresentation in that people from shunned categories such as "fat" and "old" only grace lifestyle magazine covers if they are wildly successful (e.g. a prime minister; Gopaldas and DeRoy 2015). Yet even when people from shunned categories are featured on magazine covers, they are implicitly deemed too unworthy of solo covers and are often grouped with other coverpersons of privileged categories (see also Roy and Harwood 1997;Taylor and Stern 1997;Weber and Carini 2013). ...
Media diversity studies regularly invoke the notion of marketing images as mirrors of racism and sexism. This article develops a higher-order concept of marketing images as “mirrors of intersectionality.” Drawing on a seven-dimensional study of coverperson diversity in a globalizing mediascape, the emergent concept highlights that marketing images reflect not just racism and sexism, but all categorical forms of marginalization, including ableism, ageism, colorism, fatism, and heterosexism, as well as intersectional forms of marginalization, such as sexist ageism and racist multiculturalism. Fueled by the legacies of history, aspirational marketing logics, and an industry-wide distribution of discriminatory work, marketing images help to perpetuate multiple, cumulative, and enduring advantages for privileged groups and disadvantages for marginalized groups. In this sense, marketing images, as mirrors of intersectionality, are complicit agents in the structuration of inequitable societies.
... The scarcity of studies about the nature of women representations in sports, and more specifically about the ideology associated with those representation, calls for more studies about the image of women in sports contexts, and about how that image points towards aspects that, in many cases, have no relation whatsoever with the practice of sports. Therefore, whether women are represented practicing sports or not, the scenery and the role assigned to them, their clothes, attitude, etc., derives from a given perception of the relationship of women with sport, perception that, far from being neutral, is usually loaded with prejudices (Duncan 1994;Wanneberg, 2011;Weber and Carini, 2012). The analysis approach might comprise different spheres, but for a number of reasons that will soon be explained, we will focus here on the inequalities derived from gender ideology, and we will analyses way in which paintings dealing with sports reflect those inequalities. ...
... By virtue of their characteristics (action, social meaning, spectacularity, etc.), the images provided have a great visual force and their own iconography. Under the pretext of gaining audience and profitability as main values, they broadcast and amplify an image of sports focused on male practice and male achievements and less on those of females (Weber and Carini, 2012). ...
The aim of this study is to analyse how women are represented in the sports paintings, taking as reference a selection of works supported by the Superior Council of Sports, collected in the publication "Sport, art and literature". Quantitative analysis note that the female figure appears in a very small number of works and they are represented young and thin. Qualitative analysis allows to identify a sexist treatment and discriminatory of women, who is painted from an androcentric perspective: a sexual object, passive character, secondary and based on the male character. When the women appears as an active character and central of the work, they are marked by the emphasis in the aesthetic aspects and expressive of the movement, what defines the physical-sports activities that the gender ideology considers to be female. In conclusion, sport painting offers an image skewed and uneven, reproducing stereotypes regarding the masculinization of the sport and the limited nature of female sports. © 2017, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid y CV Ciencias del Deporte. All rights reserved.
... One of the longstanding trends in the research on gender, sport, and media is the underrepresentation of women's sports and the objectification and trivialization of sportswomen in media (Bruce, 2016;Thorpe, Toffoletti, & Bruce, 2017). With minor exceptions during international competitive events (what scholars term "sports mega-events") such as the FIFA Women's World Cup (Bell & Coche, 2018;Petty & Pope, 2019) and the Olympic Games (Arth, Hou, Rush, & Angelini, 2018;Houghton et al., 2018), as well as local news (Kaiser, 2018) or niche media outlets (Wolter, 2015), the vast majority of sport media coverage centers on men's sports (Billings & Young, 2015;Cooky, Messner, & Musto, 2015;Eagleman, Pedersen & Wharton, 2009;Hull, 2017;Kane, LaVoi, & Fink, 2013;Turner, 2014;Weber & Carini, 2013). ...
... • Longitudinal research examining the coverage of men's and women's sports on televised news and highlight shows has found that the coverage of women's sports has declined over the 25-year time period with only 3.2% of coverage devoted to women's sports in 2014 (Cooky, Messner, & Musto, 2015). According to that same study, ESPN's SportsCenter devoted 1.3-2.2% of its coverage to women's sports during a 15-year time period (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) , as well as local news (Kaiser, 2018) or niche media outlets (Wolter, 2015), the vast majority of sport media coverage centers on men's sports (Billings & Young, 2015;Cooky et al., 2015;Eagleman, Pedersen & Wharton, 2009;Hull, 2017;Kane, LaVoi, & Fink, 2013;Turner, 2014;Weber & Carini, 2013 (Houghton et al., 2018). ...
Girls and Women shines a light on the current landscape for girls and women in sport reflected in the latest data from nearly 500 research reports and results from a new national survey of more than 2,300 women working in women's sport. Taking stock of where we are in achieving gender equity in sport requires study, transparency and candor. This groundbreaking report brings together the latest facts and milestones and elevates the voices of women offering fresh insight and perspective. Importantly the report includes calls to action to help propel momentum for change. Stakeholders in all areas of sport, from grassroots to high school, college and elite athletics, collegiate administrators, coaches, policymakers, leaders in the corporate and media sectors all have a critical role to play. The WSF is committed to keeping these conversations at the forefront and working collaboratively with others to accelerate the pace of change. Continued progress depends on comprehensive, up-to-date information in real time. Only when we operate from a shared understanding of the landscape can we ensure thoughtful conversation and sound decision-making necessary for progress. From playing fields to board rooms, girls and women continue to live out their passion for sport. As these accomplishments are celebrated, let's continue to examine the gaps and opportunities to ensure that all girls and all women can get in the game. Only then will we be able to realize the full potential unleashed by sport. All girls. All women. All sports.
... While the photographic coverage of female athletes in sport print publications overtly alienated their athletic accomplishments Pedersen, 2002;Weber and Carini, 2012), it was proposed that the depiction of those published images helped to influence consumer behavior (Jones, 2006). ...
... Women athletes received significantly less photographic coverage that featured them in uniform, field of play, and action shots. Weber and Carini (2012) found sportswomen were largely photographed in sexually suggestive positions and tended to participate in culturally constructed gender-neutral or feminine sports. ...
... Research has consistently shown that photographic coverage serves to highlight athletes' heterosexuality and conformance to traditional notions of femininity. In so doing the gender transgression represented by their participation-or perhaps more accurately their success-in sport is mitigated and the primacy of their role as a heterosexual woman is reasserted (Duncan 1990;Pirinen 1997;Theberge and Birrell 2007;Weber and Carini 2013). In addition, research has shown that sports media regularly features women unconnected with sport; for example, Weber and Carini's (2013) U.S. content analysis of Sports Illustrated covers over an 11 year period noted that images of female family members accompanied articles about male athletes. ...
... In addition, research has shown that sports media regularly features women unconnected with sport; for example, Weber and Carini's (2013) U.S. content analysis of Sports Illustrated covers over an 11 year period noted that images of female family members accompanied articles about male athletes. Further, the cover images rarely featured a female athlete as the sole or primary image; female athletes were more commonly featured sharing the spotlight with a male athlete (Weber and Carini 2013). Their findings confirm those of Duncan (1990) whose study of Bpopular illustrated magazines with large circulations in North America^(p. ...
Despite the steady increase in volume and quality of women’s sport participation over the last century, female athletes continue to be underrepresented across all platforms of the media. A range of mechanisms have been shown to contribute to media constructions of women’s sport, including the low volume of media attention, narrative focus, prominence of placement or scheduling, linguistic choices and visual representations of women’s sport. This review paper examines scholarly research on the role of print media images in the construction of attitudes towards and perceptions of women’s sport. Beginning with international research, the review thematically summarises selected literature to draw out some of the ways in which images are pressed into service in the sports media. Research from the Australasian region (Australia and New Zealand) is then reviewed and compared with the international research with a view to observing commonalities and differences. The review reveals that internationally and in Australasia, media images of sports women continue to fail to represent the realities of women’s sport performance. Some movement away from sexualisation is noted; however this appears to be occurring in concert with a slight reduction in terms of volume.
... But next to this historical artifact, the confirmation of gender stereotypes is seen daily on the sports field, in the board room and in sport governing bodies (Claringbould & Knoppers, 2012), and is manifested on female athlete's paychecks (Flake et al., 2012). There is also the fact that women's sports receive less media coverage (Adams & Tuggle, 2004;Huffman, Tuggle, & Rosengard, 2004;Weber & Carini, 2012) and are subject to sexual objectification and trivialization of athletic achievements (Vincent, 2004;Weber & Carini, 2012). ...
... But next to this historical artifact, the confirmation of gender stereotypes is seen daily on the sports field, in the board room and in sport governing bodies (Claringbould & Knoppers, 2012), and is manifested on female athlete's paychecks (Flake et al., 2012). There is also the fact that women's sports receive less media coverage (Adams & Tuggle, 2004;Huffman, Tuggle, & Rosengard, 2004;Weber & Carini, 2012) and are subject to sexual objectification and trivialization of athletic achievements (Vincent, 2004;Weber & Carini, 2012). ...
Ethical challenges and scandals worldwide have generated widespread interest in unethical behavior in the sports domain, both on and off the field. An often-used approach to tackle unethical behavior in sports organizations is the establishment of an ethical code, although its effectiveness remains controversial. This study aims to detail ethical codes in Flemish sports organizations. Not only the mere existence is the object of this research, but also the creation, content, implementation, and enforcement are studied. It is investigated whether the ethical code and its characteristics influence ethical behavior in sports organizations. To evaluate code effectiveness, the ethical climate index of sports organizations is assessed. Results show that although a code of ethics, as such, is not capable of influencing the ethical behavior in sports organizations, it can still be a helpful and inspiring document. For the code to become truly effective, certain conditions need to be in place. The motivation to genuinely promote ethical behavior, the involvement of the coaches in the design of the code, the explicit mentioning of management responsibilities in the code, and the communication of the code at the registration of new club members improve the ethical behavior in the sports organizations. Also the tone of the code, the applied ethical orientation and the number of statements play a key role in the code effectiveness. Therefore, although the mere presence of an ethical code seems to be ineffective to guide ethical behavior, this is still no reason to throw this instrument overboard in the battle of malicious events in organizations. A code of ethics could be a sound starting point to enhance ethics in organizations and could prove to be successful when the right conditions are in place. A fundamental concept in ethical codes is Fair Play, which concerns sports participation ethics (as opposed to the more general organizational ethics). The way in which this concept is applied, has striking consequences for the domain of sport ethics on the field. The application of this crucial concept is observed for the first time in athletes themselves, using the advanced Factorial Survey Method. The research reveals that the judgment on Fair Play by athletes is affected by the act, the level of the match and the presence of an ethical code. The use of a certain conceptualization differs according to the observed act as well as to the gender of the subject that makes the judgment. When it comes to the intention of the athletes to engage in questionable behavior, this decision again shows to be influenced by the act and the gender of the subject. Overall this study has attributed to our knowledge on ethical codes in sports organizations, and provides us with the characteristics that need to be in place to make this instrument effective in promoting organizational ethics. A quintessential concept in both sport ethics and ethical codes in sports organizations, namely Fair Play, is further investigated. This study increased the findings on the use of this central concept by athletes themselves. This project renders practical implications to increase the effectiveness of ethical codes on the sports field and points out ethical dilemmas that come forward from the different application of Fair Play by athletes.
... No matter how they are portrayed, ESPN The Magazine should be applauded for including both men and women in their issue because women's sports are virtually ignored by the mainstream media (Cooky, Messner, & Hextrum, 2013). However, previous research on male-female portrayals in magazines leads to questions about the differences in how the sexes are portrayed (Hardin, Lynn, & Walsdorf, 2005;Hardin, Lynn, Walsdorf, & Hardin, 2002;Martin & McDonald, 2012;Weber & Carini, 2013). Much of this stereotyping happens due to media framing techniques where athletes are often labeled based on the athlete's history both on and off the field. ...
... An examination of SI for Kids demonstrated that male athletes were in more than 75% of all photos and were shown being active in 58% of their pictures, compared to an only 15% active rate for women (Hardin et al., 2002). For the regular edition of Sports Illustrated, the results are similar, with the front cover of the magazine featuring almost exclusively men (Martin & McDonald, 2012;Weber & Carini, 2013). Photos in Shape, a popular women's health and fitness magazine, depicted the females in photos as mostly passive, despite the aim of reaching female readers (Hardin et al., 2005). ...
This study compared coverage differences in gender of athletes in the photographs over the five years of publication of ESPN The Magazine's annual “Body Issue.” Grounded in the theoretical basis of framing, gender, photograph motion and context, and amount of clothing worn in photographs were examined for incidence of gender bias. Though males and females were represented and framed in relatively equal amounts, the manner in which the athletes were framed was troubling. Overall passive in nature in their framing, the photographs of the athletes seem to do anything but highlight the athleticism in the vast majority of the photographs. The findings suggest that gender bias is still present in mainstream sports media.
... . Most coverpersons are young in age (see Figures 1 and 2), artificially light-skinned (see Figure 3), and lean in body type (see Figure 4), reproducing global patterns of ageism (Gullette 2011), colorism (Hunter 2007), and fatism (Raisborough 2016) in media and society. . Among the portrayals of young, lean, and light-skinned coverpersons, portrayals of men emphasize business casual style and career success (see Figure 1), while portrayals of women emphasize their high-fashion apparel and embodied beauty (see Figure 2), echoing global patterns of media sexism (Collins 2011;Eisend 2010;Grau and Zotos 2016 Roy and Harwood 1997;Taylor and Stern 1997;Weber and Carini 2013). Instead, they are grouped into ensembles of 3-5 young and lean coverpersons on special issue covers (see Figure 4). . ...
... The representation of Mr. Modi evinces a pattern of misrepresentation in that people from shunned categories such as "fat" and "old" only grace lifestyle magazine covers if they are wildly successful (e.g. a prime minister; Gopaldas and DeRoy 2015). Yet even when people from shunned categories are featured on magazine covers, they are implicitly deemed too unworthy of solo covers and are often grouped with other coverpersons of privileged categories (see also Roy and Harwood 1997;Taylor and Stern 1997;Weber and Carini 2013). ...
... Research has consistently shown that female athletes are marginalised and receive far less day-to-day coverage than male athletes across various media channels. 3 Among the few longitudinal studies on gender representation across different media platforms, several have shown that media coverage of sportswomen has even declined in recent decades (Cooky et al., 2015;Fink, 2015;Weber & Carini, 2013). Longitudinal findings on Olympic Games coverage are inconsistent and conflicting, showing increased, stable and decreased coverage of female athletes across the years even as their numbers on Olympic teams have risen (e.g. ...
... For sport magazines, see, e.g. Lumpkin (2009) and Weber and Carini (2013). For broadcast media, see, e.g. ...
With more than 10,000 participants from all over the world competing in hundreds of events, the Olympic Games have relevance based on both their large scale and their omnipresence in the media, generated by approximately 30,000 international media representatives working on site. These figures raise the questions of what the mediated reality of the Olympic Games looks like and what central reference points shape this mediated reality. International studies on visual print media coverage often claim that sportswomen are still systematically underrepresented and content-related visualisations display gendered differences. Anchored in systems theory and agenda-setting theory, this article examines the visualisations of male and female Olympians in print media and the relevance of participation, success and disciplines to gender. The sample comprises a total of 3394 pictures from two daily German newspapers’ coverage of the Summer Olympics from 2000 to 2016. The longitudinal design allows analysing changes in the visual construction of gender in 21st-century sport media. The study results indicate growing marginalisation of female Olympians in recent decades and disprove that success is the most important news value in Olympic Games coverage.
... Female surfers resist and reproduce dominant discourses of sex (Kayoung, 2014 ), heterosexuality being the organizing principle where maintaining a heterosexual, feminine appearance has been a survival strategy for female athletes (Kolnes, 1995 ) or an act of embracing their sexuality (Thorpe, 2008 ). Sexualization through heteronormative femininity reinforces heterosexism and indirectly suggests that lesbian athletes are less worthy of attention and emulation (Weber & Carini, 2013 ). Recently though, there have been some previously unseen, hidden, or unrecognized sgs manifesting in public media. ...
How is sex/gender/sexuality (sgs) employed through practices of recognition, legitimation, and positioning in surfing to constitute learning one’s body, one’s habitus, one’s positioning as particular bodies in a social field such as surfing? How does visuality, in the form of presence, perceived presence, and visual imagery (art, cartoons, photography, film) act as a pedagogical device of possibility, mediated by the pedagogical work of surfing and its media, to facilitate learning who one is and where one is positioned in relation to others in the field? I argue that qualities that constitute the pedagogical force of who/what could be recognized and legitimated as ‘surfer’ are embedded in politics of sgs based upon the taken-for-granted presuppositions, or doxa, of patriocolonial (hetero)normative supremacy and hegemony. Not only does this pedagogical force circumscribe what narratives we have to live by but also acts as an instrument of censorship against new narrative visions of surfing, different ways of knowing surfing, re-membering who and what constitutes/ed surfing, and recognizing those who contest surfing through their non-normative surfing bodies. This chapter discusses the pedagogy of visibility, including that contained in artefacts; of the image as a powerful mechanism for controlling female access to the waves, as a way for legitimating her as an athletic participant, and through recognition as a valued contributor constituting the surfing field.
... As pointed out by Caple et al. (2011), while male athletes receive more year-round attention, even during off-seasons, the reporting of female athletes is event-driven and confined to a brief mention of match results to a large extent. Some researchers even found that the coverage devoted to female athletes not only failed to reflect women's increasing participation in sports, but had actually decreased (Cooky et al., 2013;Weber and Carini, 2013). Meanwhile, the situation seems to be better in certain kinds of sports. ...
Despite the increasing popularity of women’s sports, it has generally been found that female athletes receive less media coverage and are portrayed negatively with myriad gender-specific descriptors. Such biased representations warrant attention as they construct and reinforce traditional gender beliefs. This study compared the representations of female and male tennis players on the official site of the Australian Open 2015 and ESPN. A total of 357 articles were analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that gender representations on the two media outlets were quite similar as they both portrayed female players more negatively than male players by focusing on a few areas directly or indirectly: athletic weaknesses, negative skills, mental weaknesses and non-competitive roles (including appearance, attire, family and personal relationship). However, the use of certain descriptors might indicate the possibility of more gender-neutral representations of athletes in the future. It was concluded that while hegemonic masculinity was challenged at times, stereotypical beliefs about females were largely reinforced in the mediated gender representations on the two websites.
... Female fairness perceptions are significantly lower than male sport students (Yilmaz 2014). The statistics regarding sport in the media are devastating: 95 percent of all coverage refers to men, and only 5 percent to women (Bishop 2003;Engleman et al. 2009;Weber and Carini 2013). When newspapers do opt to cover women's sport, they often focus more on physical appearance than on the achievement itself, with the paper generally featuring the athlete's photograph (Daniels 2009;Gurrieri et al. 2013;Thomsen et al. 2004). ...
The objective of this paper involves two related ideas. The first one is to provide a historical overview of women’s wrestling from ancient times until the present day. The second one is to determine the influence of historical context on the development of women’s wrestling and, more generally, on the position of women in a wider sports sphere. The historical overview provides an example of women’s wrestling in Sparta, Rome, Antioch and China. The overview examines women’s positions within the institutions that nurtured wrestling in Nubia, Japan, India, Iran, Turkey and Greece. The correlations are then drawn between women’s wrestling in the ancient and the modern worlds. Women’s roles in wrestling have always been closely related to the position of women within sport, as well as to their position in society in general. With the exception of women’s wrestling in Antioch, all other examples presented depict varying states of sexual inequality within this sport.
... First, female athletes are considerably underrepresented in terms of the amount of coverage received in comparison with their male counterparts (Buysse & Wolter, 2013;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Grau, Roselli, & Taylor, 2007;Kane & Maxwell, 2011;Kian, Vincent, & Mondello, 2008;Messner et al., 1993). For example, Weber and Carini (2012) examined the frequency and manner in which women were portrayed on the covers of Sports Illustrated magazine. From 2000 to 2011, female athletes were represented on less than 5% of Sports Illustrated covers. ...
Unlike traditional media, which frames female athletes in sexualized manners and in socially accepted roles such as mothers and girlfriends, user-controlled social-media Web sites allow female athletes to control the image and brand they wish to portray to the public. Using Goffman’s theory of self-presentation, the current study aimed to investigate how female athletes were portraying themselves via their Twitter avatar pictures. A total of 207 verified Twitter avatars of female athletes from 6 sports were examined through a content analysis. The avatars from each player were coded using the following themes: athlete as social being, athlete as promotional figure, “selfie,” athletic competence, ambivalence, “girl next door,” and “sexy babe.” The results revealed that athletic competence was the most common theme, followed by selfie and athlete as social being. Thus, when women have the opportunity to control their image through social media they choose to focus on their athletic identities.
... The study has also been replicated by scholars both inside and outside the United States (Koivula, 1999; Turner, 2014). The ongoing study contributed to a growing body of scholarly literature that explores the implications of gender inequitable and gender-biased coverage in sports media (e.g., Adams & Tuggle 2004; Bernstein, 2002; Billings & Young, 2015; Caple, Greenwood, & Lumby, 2011; Cooky, Wachs, Messner, & Dworkin, 2010; Daniels, 2009; Eastman & Billings, 2001; Etling & Young, 2007; Farred, 2000; Kane, LaVoi, & Fink 2013; Kian, Vincent, & Modello, 2008; Koivula, 1999; LaVoi, Buysse, Maxwell, & Kane, 2007; Rightler-McDaniels, 2014; Sheffer & Shultz, 2007; Tuggle, 1997; Turner, 2014; Webber & Carni, 2013; Whiteside & Hardin, 2012). This body of research, which includes studies of the coverage of live televised sports events, print, online, social, and televised news media coverage of sports as well as the implications of media coverage for women's sports, consistently find that, with minor exception for quality of media coverage, particularly during the Olympics (Billings & Young, 2015; Hardin, Chance, Dodd, & Hardin, 2002), and for some collegiate-based media outlets (Kane & Buyssee, 2005; McKay & Dalliere, 2009), the vast majority of media coverage centers on men's sports and male athletes. ...
The last quarter century has seen a dramatic movement of girls and women into sport, but this social change is reflected unevenly in sports media. This study, a 5-year update to a 25-year longitudinal study, indicates that the quantity of coverage of women’s sports in televised sports news and highlights shows remains dismally low. Even more so than in past iterations of this study, the lion’s share of coverage is given to the “big three” of men’s pro and college football, basketball, and baseball. The study reveals some qualitative changes over time, including a decline in the once-common tendency to present women as sexualized objects of humor replaced by a tendency to view women athletes in their roles as mothers. The analysis highlights a stark contrast between the exciting, amplified delivery of stories about men’s sports, and the often dull, matter-of-fact delivery of women’s sports stories. The article ends with suggestions for three policy changes that would move TV sports news and highlights shows toward greater gender equity and fairness.
... En esta línea encontramos numerosos estudios que desde los años setenta en Estados Unidos, Canadá o Australia hasta nuestros días, han analizado la representación de las deportistas en los medios de comunicación, tanto en la televisión (Messner y Cooky, 2010;Martin, McNary, Suh y Gregg, 2018) como en la prensa escrita (Crolley y Tesso, 2007;Weber y Carini, 2013;Sainz de Baranda, 2014;Delorme y Testard, 2015) o en los nuevos medios digitales (Ravel y Gareau, 2016; Almeiras, 2019), y en su inmensa mayoría encuentran una escasa presencia femenina, especialmente en la prensa deportiva, y sesgos y estereotipos de género. ...
El deporte ha sido desde sus orígenes un espacio de exclusión para las mujeres, que han tenido que desafiar normas y convencionalismos sociales para poder acceder a este ámbito tradicionalmente masculino. Este artículo estudia la investigación desarrollada sobre la presencia y evolución de las mujeres en el deporte de élite a través de los Juegos Olímpicos y su cobertura en los medios de comunicación deportivos. El objetivo principal es definir la forma en que las deportistas son representadas a través de estos medios y si existen todavía hoy desequilibrios en la cobertura de género. Se establece que las deportistas y sus logros profesionales son infrarrepresentados y trivializados, así como la existencia de sesgos y estereotipos de género que limitan el avance de las mujeres en el deporte.
... over a 15-year span (1999Cooky et al., 2015). A similar pattern of invisibility exists in prominent sport magazines, such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN, which depict female athletes on just 5-10% of their covers (Frisby, 2017;Weber & Carini, 2013). Portrayals of female athletes with disability are rare as well (see Chapter 9). ...
Rates of obesity in the United States continue to climb with the largest increases
among African-American females (Flegal, Kruszon-Moran, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2016;
Ogden et al., 2016). In 2014, nearly a quarter of African-American girls age 6-11 years
(21.6%) and age 12-19 years (24.4%) were obese with a BMI (body mass index) at or above the sex-specific 95th percentile on the CDC BMI-for-age growth charts (Ogden et al., 2016). These rates are much greater than the rates of obesity among White girls and are concerning as childhood obesity is predictive of obesity later in life (Whitaker, Wright, Pepe, Seidel, & Dietz, 1997), which can have numerous health and well-being implications. Currently, 57.2% of African-American women are obese with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2
(Flegal et al., 2016). African-American women’s obesity statistics are more prevalent than rates in other demographic groups of adults. All evidence points to a pressing need to address excessive weight in African-American females, starting in childhood and adolescence.
... In the decade that followed, coverage on the same networks dropped still further to 2% (Adams and Tuggle 2004). More recent studies have found that Western coverage of women's sports remains below 5% across multiple media channels including magazines (Weber and Carini 2012), television (Cooky et al. 2013;Cooky et al. 2015), and online sources (Coche 2015;Sherry et al. 2016). There are some exceptions; in tennis, for example, women's and men's events are afforded roughly similar media coverage (Vincent 2004). ...
In four studies, we examined the importance of gender-matched athletic role models for women. Although both women and men may benefit most from exposure to high profile athletes in their own sport, women may have fewer motivating role models available to them. When asked to nominate examples of athletes, women were less likely than men to list same-gender examples (Study 1) and athletes from their own sport (Studies 1 and 2 with 183 and 382 MTurk workers, respectively); even high-performing female athletes were less likely to nominate a same-gender role model than their male peers (Study 3 with 110 varsity athletes and 126 recreational college athletes). Women were nevertheless significantly more motivated by the same-gender and sport-matched examples (Studies 1–2). We demonstrate that same-gender role models are particularly valuable for women because they provide evidence that success is attainable, better represent a possible future self, and counteract negative gender stereotypes (Study 4 with 508 MTurk workers). Thus, although they derive special benefit from exposure to female athletic superstars, women are less likely than men to find such role models in their own sport of interest and, consequently, may be at a disadvantage relative to men. The present research illustrates the practical value of role models for women, with important implications for media and educational programming.
... What is known is that most traditional outlets are at all-time lows in featuring women athletes. Weber and Carini (2013) found that women athletes received more Sports Illustrated covers in the 12 years from 1954-1965 than from 2000-2011, as less than 5% of the covers featured women in the latter time period. The year 2013 brought two covers featuring the same woman, which could be seen as progress until one is told the doubly covered woman was a nonathlete: swimsuit model Kate Upton. ...
A total of 118 hr of sports news broadcast programming was subject to gender clock-time analysis, half from Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN's) SportsCenter and half from 2013 startup network Fox Sports 1's Fox Sports Live. Results showed that both programs featured women's sports less than 1% of the time, with only modest gains found in an Olympic month (February 2014) of presumed heavy women's sports exposure compared to a fall (October/November 2013) coding period. Moreover, both programs featured the same top five sports in nearly identical proportionality and story lengths of women's spots were consistently 70% of a men's spot regardless of program. Results indicate that Fox Sports Live is replicating SportsCenter's programming choices far more than challenging them from a gender perspective.
... Studies examining the visual representations of female athletes have consistently found that female athletes are more often framed using the athletic passive rather than the athletic active frame, and that their femininity and sexuality are emphasized more than their athleticism (e.g. Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Hardin et al., 2005Hardin et al., , 2002Martin & McDonald, 2012;Weber & Carini, 2013). These findings were replicated in a content analysis of ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue" with women being framed primarily using the athletic passive and sexualized frames while men were framed most often using the athletic active frame (Hull, Smith, & Schmittel, 2015;Onslow, 2013, p. 1). ...
Previous research on the effects of visual framing of athletes has inferred that photographic visual frames drive visual behavior by demonstrating that visual frames influence picture viewers’ evaluative ratings and memory for the pictures. This study uses eye-tracking methodology to ask if these previous findings are actually the result of visual frames driving eye gaze/visual behavior. The study operationalizes the selection function of framing as time to first fixation and the emphasis/salience function as dwell time. Results show large effects of type of visual frame on the time to first location fixation on the body compared to the face and dwell time on the body compared to the face. Results show that body framed pictures (athletic active and sexualized) drive visual behavior toward faster fixations on bodies and higher dwell time on bodies, while face framed pictures (athletic passive and personal frames) lead to faster fixations on faces and longer dwell time on faces. Additional analyses show that these effects are further influenced by the biological sex of both the athlete in the picture and the person viewing the picture.
... When sport media producers reduced objectified coverage of female athletes, they did not replace it with respectful coverage of women's sports (see Musto et al. 2017). This pattern of ignoring women's sports is common in sport media (e.g., SportsCenter [a TV show], Sports Illustrated magazine, ESPN magazine, and Instagram accounts for major sports networks such as NBC Sports; Cooky et al. 2015;Frisby 2017;Romney and Johnson 2019;Weber and Carini 2013). Taken together, these patterns show that producers of media privilege men over women and pay minimal attention to women's sports. ...
Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated college students’ attitudes toward media images of female athletes. We are particularly focused on how viewers perceive media images of female athletes that have both an appearance and athleticism focus, such as those found in ESPN’s The Body Issue. An aim of our study was to assess viewers’ attitudes toward these images that are not purely objectified, thereby contributing to the objectification literature and providing empirical data relevant to theorizing on the social impact of these images. U.S. college students (n = 563) viewed one of four types of images of the same athletes including: (a) sexualized athletes, (b) sexualized performance athletes (in which both athleticism and sexualization are present), (c) sport performance athletes (in which athletes are depicted playing their sport), or (d) non-sexualized athletes. They then rated the athletes’ competence, esteem, and sexual appeal. Overall, sexualized performance athletes were rated more positively than sexualized athletes, but less positively than sport performance athletes. These results have implications for advocacy efforts calling for more media coverage in which women are depicted as athletes rather than as sexual objects.
... Several longitudinal studies, across a variety of media platforms, show that media coverage of women's sports and female athletes has actually declined over the years despite women's increased participation and athletic performance (e.g., Kane 2013;Weber and Carini 2013). Cheryl Cooky, Michael A. Messner, and Michela Musto (2015) replicated a longitudinal study of television coverage of the 11 p.m. sports news and highlights of the local Los Angeles network affiliates as well as ESPN's SportsCenter, a study that has been ongoing every five years from 1989 to 2014. ...
The chapter explores the intersections of gender and sports in the media, such as gendered sports coverage and the marginalization of female athletes. The author uses critical theory to focus on the media’s social construction of gender and sports and poses
questions about the picture that mass media paints about sports, sportsmen, and sportswomen; the kinds of information themedia are imparting to consumers; and the consumption chain of the media. The chapter concludes with demands for future research in the field of sports, gender, and media.
... Similar results were found in Sports Illustrated for Kids by Hardin et al. (2002), women were underrepresented in all editorial photographs, overrepresented in aesthetic sports (such gymnastic or figure skating and framed more likely than men in a minor way (Hardin et al. 2002). Similarly, Weber and Carini (2012) analyzed Sports Illustrated cover from 2000 to June 2011 to find that only 4,9 percent of covers were showing women. ...
The aim of this thesis was to analyse gender portrayal in social media communication of the Czech Olympic Committee. Content analysis of Instagram account of the Czech Olympic Committee has shown how coverage of female and male athletes differ. Framing theory explains the consequences of such ambivalent communication.
... Another piece of research worth highlighting is the examination of the front covers of Sports Illustrated over a period of 11 years (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011) carried out by Weber and Carini (2013). The authors pointed out that the «percentage of covers [that featured women] did not change significantly over the time span and were comparable to levels reported for the 1980s by other researchers. ...
According to their centrality as transmitters of information and values in democratic societies, the quality media should carry out a responsible treatment of all areas of the news arena, including sports. However, a major ethical drawback in the field of sports journalism has been the long-standing underrepresentation and biased portrayal of female athletes. This article has examined to what extent six prestigious newspapers (The Guardian/ The Observer, The Daily Telegraph/ The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post, El País and La Vanguardia) complied with the deontological principle of justice in their portrayal of sportswomen during the London 2012 Olympics. The content analysis of 4,507 pieces revealed that the newspapers sampled delivered the message of non-discrimination and considered sportswomen's triumphs as salient content. Despite this, certain forms of overt and covert stereotypes (sexism and mentions of physical attributes, emotionality, infantilizing and out-of-context reporting) permeated the coverage.
... Firstly, in terms of the amount of coverage on men and women's sports, previous studies have concluded that, women's sports have received less coverage than men's in both electronic and print media Billings, 2008a;2008b;Billings, Brown, Crout, McKenna, Rice, Timanus, & Ziegler, 2008;Billings & Eastman, 2002;2003;Billings, Angelini, & Duke, 2010;Eastman & Billings, 1999;Fink & Kensicki, 2002;Grossman, Vincent, & Speed, 2007;Messner & Cooky, 2010). In detailed, studies on sports at all levels shown that, the coverage that print media (Eagleman, Pedersen, & Wharton, 2009;Mason & Rail, 2006;Weber & Carini, 2012), broadcast media , and online media (Bissell & Holt, 2005;Jones, 2006;2010) devoted for female athletes and women's sports was all less than those media did for male athletes and men's sports. Specifically, women were not fully expressed in sports media shown in a passive role and got diluted and infantilized in language description (Kachgal, 2001;Jones, 2004;Sagas, Cunningham, Wigley, & Ashley, 2000). ...
To explore the role of sports journalism in communicating complex social issues, we seek to understand how sport for development and peace (SDP) programs are covered by newspapers around the world. To achieve this goal, we conducted an exploratory content analysis of 284 English-language articles from 2013 to 2016 using Iyengar’s (1991) thematic and episodic frames and Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000) five generic news frames. Results indicate that coverage of SDP is often episodically framed, attributed to wire reports rather than individuals, and emphasizes responsibility and human interest. These frames may provide limited understanding of SDP issues in the general public and show that sport journalists still need to embrace their role as sport journalists for good. Recommendations are made for journalists covering this topic globally.
This study analyzed 264 athlete images featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Among males, who accounted for 227 (81%) of the 264 athletes, African Americans and Latinos each represented 6 sports, most of which involved team competition, while White males represented 21 sports, many of which were individual. Analyses of position stacking in football showed White players in positions considered “central” to contest outcomes and Black athletes assigned to more “peripheral” roles. Among females, nearly all of whom were White, more than one in three participated in professional wrestling or sports entertainment. Other female athletes represented individual sports such as tennis and swimming. Overall, the study concludes that men’s magazines reproduced stacking patterns observed in earlier research.
The aim of this article was to examine sex equity in the photographic coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games by a French sports daily newspaper. A sample of 1073 photographs was collected and analysed. A content analysis was carried out focusing on the number of photographs, the space they cover, their location and position, the type and colour of shot and the sport they depict. A significant under-representation of female athletes' photographs was found. However, contrary to most of previous research in this field, the other quantitative and qualitative variables do not show any differences. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation between the number of photographs for each sport and the number of French medals was found (for women, for men and for the whole sample), suggesting that the photographic coverage of this event is mainly based on the success of French athletes independently of their sex.
Thirty years of sport media and gender research will be summarized in this chapter. In what some scholars call mediasport, a site where sport is not experienced in the space where it happens but represented through media, differences such as gender, class, race, sexuality, identity, disability and nationalism are naturalized and reproduced (Bruce, 2013, p. 126).
Sports are forms of popular culture deeply rooted in modern society. Within this chapter, we will discuss the meaning of sport and the importance of studying sport from a sociological perspective. This chapter also includes: (a) a discussion of women’s involvement and history in sport from the late 1800s to present, with attention directed toward the barriers that have kept women from participating in different forms of physical activity, (b) an overview of first and second wave sport media research and the televised sports manhood formula, and (c) a brief examination of future directions within sport.
Medien und die massenmediale Kommunikation beeinflussen die Bilder von Geschlechtern und vergeschlechtlichten Körpern in einer Gesellschaft. Diese Bilder sind wirkmächtig – für unser Denken, für die körperlichen Praktiken, für die gesellschaftlichen Strukturen und Diskurse. Die Medien strukturieren und verstärken Geschlechternormen, sie können jedoch auch eine symbolische Bühne dafür bieten, die Geschlechterordnung zu irritieren und neue Formen von Geschlechtlichkeit zu inszenieren.
The study of Barça's image in Japan is useful to understand both the scope of the globalization of football and the projection of a club from a small European country in a big Asian nation. Barça’s glocal dimension is reflected in the coverage of the daily Nikkan Sports and Sponichi during the 2010-11 and 2013-14 seasons. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of photographs, headlines and texts reveals the positive image of a famous Spanish club known as FC Barcelona and represented especially by Lionel Messi. The coverage focuses on the sporting side of the organization and concentrates on the decisive phase and events of the season and on it’s relationship with Japan. It doesn’t present inconsistencies between headlines, photographs and bodies and shows an implicit narrative where universal and Japanese metaphors are prominent and stereotypes are absent.
In June 2012, Title IX celebrated its 40th anniversary to much fanfare nationwide, particularly in sporting circles. The event generated widespread news coverage, and journalists thus played a key role in situating the story of not only the law’s beginnings but its place in contemporary gender politics. This study examines the public memory of Title IX, as told in mainstream media outlets in the weeks surrounding the law’s anniversary. Using the concept of intersectionality as an analytical lens, we argue that the logic of Title IX at 40 gives rise to a narrative of progress that universalizes the experiences of girls and women and situates discrimination as an historic relic while also celebrating and rewarding apoliticism.
The objective of this study is to analyse “how much” and “what” coverage of female athletes there is on Twitter and, for the first time, to identify whether female athletes share space and stereotypes with female non-athletes. A multi-method approach (quantitative/qualitative) was used. Out of the 5.260 tweets posted in the general media (@ElPais_Deportes and @ABC_Deportes) and specialised media (@Marca and @MundoDeportivo) analysed in Spain, only 1.6% (N = 84) included tweets concerning female athletes. In addition, an analysis of the tweets posted confirmed that the probability of media coverage of female athletes in specialised media, 56.38% (N = 84), is similar to the probability of mention being made of a female non-athlete, which is 43.62% (N = 65). However, this is not the case for general media. A qualitative analysis confirmed that tweets in sports media cover failures, sanctions and the undervaluing of female athletes’ achievements more than other stereotypes, whereas gender stereotypes and objectification/sexualisation characterize tweets concerning female non-athletes to a greater extent. In conclusion, female athletes suffer more discrimination in sports media (“how much”), whereas in terms of the “what”, female non-athletes suffer the most sexist stereotypes in tweets.
Over the last few decades, scholars have dedicated much attention to the coverage of sportswomen in the media. However, few of these studies are situated within the Central Eastern European context. In this study, I analyze the textual and visual coverage of sportswomen in the Hungarian monthly sports magazine Presztízs Sport and examine the ways in which Hungarian national identity is articulated through discourses of sport, athletic competence, and womanhood. This sports magazine reflects some of the global patterns in the representation of sportswomen, but also distinguishes athletes based on the sport’s historical success in Hungary. Further, it positions the családanya, the “family-mother” as a gender ideal that transcends other representation categories. The maternal athletic body affirms conservative values and contributes to the aspirations of nation-building through both reproduction and elite sporting success.
The reality of women continues to be explained by the media from an androcentric perspective, despite a greater female presence in the public sphere. In the context of sports journalism, the media coverage of athletes is modest, even null. Qualitatively, information about women and their activity repeatedly refers to gender stereotypes. This is because both sport itself and sports journalism have been constructed as a predominantly male territory, where gender inequalities and gender bias have been legitimized. This research analyzes the front pages of the four most widely read sports journals in Spain (Marca, As, Mundo Deportivo and Sport) over a period of five years (2010-2015), the results of which reaffirm that sport continues to exist, for and on men (Cooky et al., 2013: 205).
As the Olympic spectacle grows, broadcast coverage becomes bigger, more complex, and more sophisticated. Part sporting event, part reality show, and part global festival, the Olympics can be seen as both intensely nationalistic and a celebration of a shared sense of international community. This book sheds new light on how the Olympic experience has been shaped by television and expanded across multiple platforms and formats. Combining a multitude of approaches ranging from interviews to content analyses to audience surveys, the book explores the production, influence, and significance of Olympic media in contemporary society. Built on a central case study of NBC's coverage of the Rio Games in 2016, which is then placed within 20 years of content analyses, the book focuses on the entire Olympic television process from production to content to effects. Touching on key themes such as race, gender, history, consumerism, identity, nationalism, and storytelling, Olympic Television: Broadcasting the Biggest Show on Earth is fascinating reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, media, and the global impact of mega-events. © 2018 Andrew C. Billings, James R. Angelini and Paul J. MacArthur. All rights reserved.
Around the world, sport is principally organized around masculinity. Women are often afforded limited access to sports participation, situated as “others” in a male-dominated domain. This gender inequality is mirrored in sports media; selective representations have a tremendous influence on people’s perception and understanding of sport, athletes, and society. In this study, I examined media representations of two Chinese female athletes of different status—specialized athlete, Ding Ning, and professional athlete, Li Na— in China, a nation in the midst of political/economic/cultural transformation and a sports reform initiative. Analyzing stories drawn from two Chinese web portals, I focused particularly on how gender, nationalism, and collectivism/individualism entered into media representations to determine if there were differences in the portrayals of these two female athletes. The portraits that emerged were very distinctive. A textual analysis revealed significant differences in each of the three conceptual areas. A fourth theme, which I have identified as “monetary value” also emerged. Possible explanations for and implications of differences in the media portrayals of the two athletes at this particular historical moment in Chinese society were provided.
Despite an increased level of females’ participation in sports, the media coverage is still very low and inadvertently the use of female athletes as product endorsers has received limited attention. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical insight into the frequency and nature of portrayals of female athlete endorsers in UK Sports Magazine by replicating Grau et al (2007)’s earlier study carried out in USA over ten years ago. Results of the content analysis indicate that females are seldomly featured as brand endorsers, female in team sports and from black ethnic minority group are less likely to be featured as brand endorsers. The study offers theoretical knowledge and practical implication for managers to ensure female athletes are well positioned and given the opportunity to be commercially viable.
p>Despite an increased level of females’ participation in sports, the media coverage is still very low and inadvertently the use of female athletes as product endorsers has received limited attention. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical insight into the frequency and nature of portrayals of female athlete endorsers in UK Sports Magazine by replicating Grau et al (2007)’s earlier study carried out in USA over ten years ago. Results of the content analysis indicate that females are seldomly featured as brand endorsers, female in team sports and from black ethnic minority group are less likely to be featured as brand endorsers. The study offers theoretical knowledge and practical implication for managers to ensure female athletes are well positioned and given the opportunity to be commercially viable.</p
In this chapter, I raise critical questions regarding what is “new” in representations of sportswomen in American mainstream sport news media. To do so, I examine the contemporary cultural moment wherein feminism has been “taken into account” and disavowed (McRobbie, The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture, and Social Change. London: Sage, 2008), in order to situate and contextualise representations of female athletes in the sport-media industrial complex in the USA. This chapter maps the continuities and divergences in representations of female athletes and media coverage of women’s sport, explores its intersections with postfeminism and offers critical insights as to how the sport-media complex shapes our understandings of sporting femininities.
From a feminist perspective sport has been viewed for a long time as a sexist institution, male-dominated and masculine in orientation. And yet, in recent years, women have truly advanced in organized, competitive sport. In this context this article looks at the role of the media in relation to women and sport, reflecting on the literature which has accumulated over the past two decades in this field and considering the notion that more recently a shift in the coverage of women's sports and female athletes has occurred. Through examining changes that did take place, this article shows that although women have gained some ground as far as media visibility is concerned, especially in major sporting events, it is far too early for a ‘victory lap’. By looking at findings of studies from the late 1990s and examining the media coverage of Marion Jones and Anna Kournikova this article shows that the type of coverage female athletes get has still a long way to go.
The success of female athletes in the 1996 Olympics brought with it a great deal of optimism that women in sports would finally receive acceptance for their athletic talents. This optimism was concomitantly fueled by the rise of women's sport magazines. This study was designed with 2 purposes. First, through an analysis of both visual and literal texts, we sought to replicate previous research in determining whether there had been any changes in the coverage of female sports and athletes in Sports Illustrated's historically male-centered magazine. Second, the same standards of review were applied to Sports Illustrated for Women to discover if the mandates for marketing femininity are so strong that they have crossed over to this female-specific sport magazine as well. An analysis of content (1,105 articles and 1,745 photographs) within Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women from 1997 to 1999 found that women continue to be underrepresented, portrayed in traditionally feminine sports, or shown in nonsport-related scenery in both media outlets. Within the pages of media explicitly focused on women's issues within sports, successful female athletes continue to be constructed in stereotypical and traditional conceptions of femininity that supercede their athletic ability. It is suggested that this generally unoffensive, status-quo approach has been continued to maintain marketability to advertisers and to general sports readers.
To examine how descriptions of the performance of female athletes are likely to reflect dominant beliefs about gender in society, 769 passages from the print media describing gold medal winning contests for four U.S. women’s teams in the 1996 Olympics (basketball, gymnastics, soccer, and softball) and the U.S. women’s hockey team in the 1998 Olympics were subjected to content analysis. The sports analyzed fall under the categories of Matteo’s study classifying the gender appropriateness of sport (masculine, feminine, and neutral). Two dimensions were examined for each passage: task relevance and use of gender stereotypes. Consistent with our expectations, female athletes in male sports were described by the print media using frequent male-to-female comparisons and comments that had little to do with sports or the athlete’s performance. Print media coverage of female athletes in female sports focused on performance while reinforcing female stereotypes. Implications of the images of female athletes portrayed by the print media are discussed.
From a feminist perspective sport has been viewed for a long time as a sexist institution, male-dominated and masculine in orientation. And yet, in recent years, women have truly advanced in organized, competitive sport. In this context this article looks at the role of the media in relation to women and sport, reflecting on the literature which has accumulated over the past two decades in this field and considering the notion that more recently a shift in the coverage of women’s sports and female athletes has occurred. Through examining changes that did take place, this article shows that although women have gained some ground as far as media visibility is concerned, especially in major sporting events, it is far too early for a ‘victory lap’. By looking at findings of studies from the late 1990s and examining the media coverage of Marion Jones and Anna Kournikova this article shows that the type of coverage female athletes get has still a long way to go.
Reports that the coverage of women's sports in "Sports Illustrated" did not increase from 1956 to 1976, although women's active participation in sports did. (GT)
Women’s sport magazines were launched during the mid-to-late 1990s as a response to the growing women’s sport movement in the United States. These magazines, including Real Sports, Sports Illustrated for Women, and Women’s Sports & Fitness, were marketed as more active and sport-focused than established titles such as Shape, a popular magazine launched during the early 1980s for fitness-oriented women. Shape has been criticized by scholars for reinforcing male hegemony in US culture through its emphasis on sexual difference. In the present research, we analyzed photo images presented in Sports Illustrated for Women, Women’s Sports & Fitness, and Real Sports to assess the reinforcement or rejection of sexual difference in these magazines as gauged against the presentation of sexual difference in Shape. The results show that the newer magazines do, to varying degrees, contest male hegemony more than Shape does. The impact of these magazines is discussed, and we speculate on the reasons that, although Shape continues to thrive, these magazines have ceased publication.
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