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Citation:Fink,J.S.,Kensicki,L.J.(2002)Animperceptibledifference:visualand
textualconstructionsoffemininityinSportsIllustratedandSportsIllustrated
forWomen.MassCommunication&Society,5(3),pp.317‐339.
Source:http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0503_5
An Imperceptible Difference:
Visual and textual constructions of femininity in
Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
Janet S. Fink
The Ohio State University
Linda Jean Kensicki
University of Minnesota
Submitted to:
Mass Communication & Society
Send all correspondence to:
Linda Jean Kensicki
Assistant Professor
University of Minnesota
304 Murphy Hall
206 Church Street, S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
phone: 612 625 9388
fax: 612 626 8251
kensicki@umn.edu
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
1
Abstract
The success of female athletes in the 1996 Olympics brought with it a great deal of optimism
that women in sport 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 two
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 sport 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 1997-1999 found that women continue to be underrepresented, portrayed
in ‘traditionally-feminine sports’, or shown in non-sport related scenery in both media outlets. Within
the pages of media explicitly focused on women’s issues within sport, 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 in order to maintain marketability to advertisers and to general sports readers.
Key Words:
gender construction, media representation, stereotyping, femininity, athletics
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
2
Introduction
The success of the United States’ female athletes in the 1996 Olympics spawned a great deal
of public enthusiasm for women’s sports in America. In the span of just a few weeks, the US
Women’s Olympic basketball team was chosen for the cover of Sports Illustrated, Sheryl Swoopes
appeared on the cover of New York Times Magazine, T.V. Guide ran two cover stories about Olympic
female athletes, and Newsweek featured Olympic gold medallist Gwen Torrence in proclaiming 1996
the ‘Year of the Woman’ (Gremillion, 1996). Along with this wave of interest came the concomitant
optimism that all female athletes – traditionally feminine or not, mother or childless, heterosexual or
lesbian/bisexual – would finally receive full societal acceptance and an unwavering appreciation of
their athletic accomplishments rather than merely their sex appeal (Fink, 1998; Lopiano, 1997;
Women’s Sports Foundation, 1997).
One method scholars have consistently utilized to gauge levels of societal acceptance has been
to study the coverage of female athletes in the media. As Kane (1988, p. 89) noted:
the mass media have become one of the most powerful institutional forces for shaping
attitudes and values in American culture. Mass media portray the dominant images or
symbolic representations of American society (Tuchman, Daniels, & Benet, 1978). These
images in turn tell audiences who and what is valued and esteemed in our culture (Boutlier &
SanGiovanni, 1983). How female athletes are viewed in this culture is both reflected in and
created by mass media images. Thus, it becomes critical to examine both the extent and the
nature of media coverage given to female athletes.
Indeed, a review of scholarly research highlights the persistent inadequate media coverage of female
athletes (Bryant, 1980; Creedon, 1994; Kane, 1988; Miller, 1975). Such research has spanned several
different mediums including television coverage (Blinde, Greendorfer, & Shanker, 1991; Duncan &
Hasbrook, 1988; Duncan, Messner, & Willams, 1990), newspaper content (Miller, 1975; Theberge,
1991; Wann, Schrader, Allison, & McGeorge, 1998), and magazine coverage (Hilliard, 1984; Kane,
1988; Kane & Greendorfer, 1994; Lumpkin & Willams, 1991). Invariably, each study has discovered
under-representation and/or misrepresentation of female athletes.
While such under-representation has been consistent throughout the years, the proliferation of
women’s sporting events during and after the 1996 Olympics and the ensuing fervent following these
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
3
events provided some hope that the current ‘male-biased’ practices of the sport media would be
challenged (Coffey, 1996; Ebersol & Roy, 1996; Gremillion, 1996). Four new women’s professional
sport leagues, network and cable television deals for the WNBA and the Women’s Professional
Softball League, two cable television stations with a focus on women’s sports, and four new
magazines focusing on women’s sports all served to trigger expectations that female athletes would
gain ground in the media (Lifetime, 1997; Lifetime TV Builds, 1997; Sandomir, 1996). Indeed, these
advancements brought some optimism that the tendency to marginalize and trivialize female athletes’
accomplishments would be denounced and, subsequently, serve to weaken the ideological dominion of
masculine superiority that the realm of sport has long perpetuated. That is, rather than continuing to
trivialize female accomplishments, there was hope that the media would begin to cover women’s
sports in a manner similar to men’s sport, not only in terms of an increased amount of coverage, but by
focusing on their athletic accomplishments rather than their sex appeal.
Some recent research regarding female athletes in the media have served to dampen any
optimism that was generated in 1996 (Eastman & Billings, 1999; Jones, Murrel, & Jackson, 1999;
Tuggle & Owen, 1999; Urquhart & Crossman, 1999). However, the entirety of these studies has
examined non-gender specific, ‘inclusive’ media content. Further, previous examinations into the
constructions of gender through sport have centered strictly on literal transmissions (Weiller & Higgs,
1999) or solely on imagery (Bruce, 1998). This research is an attempt to fill this theoretical gap by
examining the construction of gender within 1,105 articles and 1,745 editorial photographs from both
Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women.
This study was designed with two 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 sport 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. By examining female sport content in relation to similar male
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
4
representations, it may be possible to dissect both latent and apparent constructions of ‘appropriate’
gender roles to which ‘normal’ athletes should aspire. This has importance, not only for the athletes
who read these magazines, but also for a better understanding into how broader constructions of
gender are shaped in the United States.
Constructing Feminism
Entman (1993) writes that journalists “select some aspect of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem
definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item
described” (p.52). Therefore, news, like any other system of communication, can be understood as a
narrative that has implied meanings, which are transmitted through media frames. Indeed, frames are
integral to understanding how issues of relevance and importance are constructed in the media.
Frames are actually “the imprint of power,” (Entman, 1991, p.7) in that they bestow a singular
identity that often translates to transformations in public opinion. Hertog and McLeod (1995) concur
with Entman when they state that “the frame used to interpret an event determines what available
information is relevant” (p.4) . Gamson and Modigliani (1989) purport that frames provide an integral
“part of the process by which individuals construct meaning” (p.2). This assertion is supported by a
large body of research, which suggests that media frames effect how the public perceives reality
(Gans, 1979; Gitlin, 1980; Pan & Kosicki, 1993).
However, research has found that through media frames, the resulting construction of ‘reality’
is often skewed from one’s own immediate perceptual reality (Ghanem, 1996; Tuchman, 1978;
Funkhouser, 1973). Tuchman (1978) contends that news in particular and media in general construct a
version of reality that may not correlate with reality itself but normally serves to legitimate the status
quo. An ever-growing body of research has found that media often perpetuate both negative and
positive stereotypes found in our society (Greenberg & Brand, 1994; Lester, 1996; Oakes, Haslam &
Turner, 1994). While there are possibilities for breaks within an ideological media position, routine
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
5
practices and claims of professionalism create an atmosphere that make challenging media
constructions of reality extremely difficult (Tuchman, 1978).
Constructing reality in adherence to the status quo has proven particularly important in this
study of female representation in sports. Blinde, Greendorfer, & Shanker (1991) conceptualized sport
as a "system of social practices based on two symbolic assumptions" — first, that the human body
serves as a tool of power and second, that "the social construction of the human body is gendered" (p.
109). Thus, sport has provided a culturally salient mechanism for demonstrating power over women
(Messner, 1988). As Messner (1988) noted, the most major or popular sports (i.e., those receiving the
most media coverage) have served to highlight men's dominance over women due to the fact that they
are "organized around the most extreme potentialities of the male body" (p. 206). Thus, while women
may have enjoyed increased coverage in the media, such coverage may also serve to emphasize the
"natural" differences between men and women and further entrench the ideological hegemony of male
superiority (Blinde et al., 1991; Messner, 1988).
The manner of the coverage or how the issue is framed has proven vital to the continual
feminization of women. That is, the ways in which female athletes are portrayed by the media have
reinforced a patriarchal ideology (Blinde, et al., 1991; Duncan, 1990; Kane, 1988). In the first half of
the nineties, during the relative explosion of interest in female sport, Kane and Greendorfer (1994)
found that although there was greater interest and media coverage in women's sports, it was a
"superficial social change because deep-seated ideological change (had) not occurred" (p. 40). These
authors wrote further:
The mass media have been used as one means of resisting ideological change, as
media practices, production, content and messages continue to perpetuate notions of
sexual difference, gender difference, and gender hierarchy. The media have
transformed the meanings of women's physicality - women becoming active agents
with and of their own bodies and women using their bodies in skilled, physical
activity-to commodification, sexuality and femininity (Kane & Greendorfer, 1994,
40).
This marketability of feminism was further explored within NBC’s handling of the 1996
Olympics — the supposed ‘Year of the Woman’. Andrews (1998) purported that the
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
6
substantial market forces at work and the importance of American female viewership to the
monetary success of NBC's venture marshaled a rhetoric of equality to magnify profits, and
yet did so by continuing to replicate traditional gender ideologies. As Andrews (1998) further
stated:
NBC sought to hail, or interpellate (Hall, 1996), female members of the television
audience by proffering essentialized feminine subject positions within its primetime
discourse. NBC's Atlanta Olympic coverage highlighted events that represented
women in ways that the network deemed would be gender appropriate for the middle
American audience. Predictably, NBC's primetime coverage focused on the
overdetermined hyperfemininity (Feder, 1995) of gymnasts such as Shannon Miller,
Domique Dawes, Dominique Moceanu, and Kerry Strug……Of course there is
nothing inherently feminine about these sporting activities, or any other activity for
that matter. However, all of them have long been culturally coded as signifying the
type of vulnerable, aesthetic, and hetero-sexualized embodied femininity (Duncan,
1990; Ryan, 1995; Whitson, 1994) around which NBC chose to center its Olympic
reality. (p. 12)
Several studies have revealed that the 1996 Olympic games produced no gains in parity for
women in the media (Eastman & Billings, 1999; Jones, Murrel, & Jackson, 1999; Tuggle & Owen,
1999; Urquhart & Crossman, 1999). In their analysis of NBC’s coverage of the 1996 Olympics,
Tuggle and Owen (1999) found that although women received extensive coverage, most of the
coverage was on individual sports (e.g., swimming, diving, gymnastics) rather than team sports.
Further, NBC gave very little coverage to sports that required women exert enormous power or those
in which they engaged in a great deal of physical contact. Similarly, Jones et al. (1999) found that the
print media treated female athletes differently than male athletes during the 1996 and 1998 Olympics.
Female athletes in ‘typically male’ sports were described regularly using male-to-female comparisons
and many of the descriptions in the print media focused not on the women’s athletic feats, but instead
on information that was irrelevant to the athletic event. Jones et. al. (1999) also found that female
Olympic athletes in more typically ‘feminine’ sports (e.g., gymnastics) did receive more task-relevant
coverage, but the coverage was laden with comments reinforcing female stereotypes.
Such traditional constructions of femininity were not limited to the Olympic games. For
example, Bruce (1998) noted that only 3% of college basketball games shown during 1996-97 were
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
7
women’s games. Further, Tuggle and Owen (1999) found that only 5% of airtime involved in ESPN’s
SportsCenter and CNN’s Sports Tonight was devoted to women’s sports. Additionally, Bruce (1998)
noted that viewers of women’s sports felt that the production was less technologically advanced than
men’s sporting events and that commentators tended to trivialize and stereotype the female players.
Such disparity was also prevalent in televised golf (Weiller & Higgs, 1999). In fact, Weiller and
Higgs (1999) wrote that gender comparisons were made consistently throughout the women’s
tournaments; much more personal (as opposed to athletically relevant) information was provided about
female golfers; and commentators’ descriptions of strength differed substantially between the male and
female golfers.
These examples clearly illustrate that traditional constructions of femininity have proven
difficult to overcome within the general media. Yet, the entirety of these studies have examined non-
gender specific, ‘inclusive’ media content and did so in a strictly visual or, conversely, literal manner.
The advent of women’s magazines specifically dedicated to promoting and covering female sport
activities, without the incessant gender-laden comparisons across sexes, promised to create
fundamental shifts in female representation. This research is an attempt to fill this theoretical gap by
examining the differences in literal and visual constructions of gender in the more generalized Sports
Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women — a magazine whose marketing theme purports to "give
voice and vision to the stories of women in sports". That is, the research seeks to determine whether a
media outlet designed to specifically cover and promote women’s sports does so in a manner
consistent with the coverage of male sports.
Hypotheses
Several sport magazines have been created since 1996 that have a primary focus on female
readership (e.g., Real Sports, Sports Illustrated for Women, Conde Nast Sports for Women, Jump).
This research effort evaluates one of the largest circulating women’s sport magazines in the United
States, Sports Illustrated for Women, and compares its editorial and photographic content to the largest
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
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circulating sport magazine in the United States, Sports Illustrated. Both magazines are owned by
Time Inc. and are subsidiaries of AOL Time Warner. A perusal of the organizational structure of each
magazine shows that they have different editors and different writers, but many of the other staff
members (e.g., associate editors, art department workers, copy desk employees, etc.) work with both
magazines. The readership of Sports Illustrated totals over 20 million, 77% of those being men. The
average annual income of readers of Sports Illustrated is $56,482 and their median age is 36 (Sports
Illustrated Media Guide, 2002). In contrast, the readership of Sports Illustrated for Women 1.6 million
and well over 90% of the readers are female. The average age of readers is 34 and their median
income is $63, 467 (Sports Illustrated for Women Media Guide, 2002). Given previous heterosexual
and male-centered media constructions of reality as well as the historical marketability of femininity,
several research hypotheses were created to guide our analysis.
Consistent with the theoretical perspectives presented above, past scholars have found women
glaringly ignored or marginalized on the pages of Sports Illustrated (Bryant 1980; Kane &
Greendorfer, 1994; Lumpkin & Williams, 1991; Ryan, 1994). As Kane (1988) noted, Sports
Illustrated has been a “men’s magazine”. She emphasized the importance of going beyond a
proportional description regarding male and female athletes into an analysis of the content pertaining
to both sexes. Such an analysis of Sports Illustrated has produced consistent results. For example, in
terms of article content, researchers have found that feature articles on female athletes tended to
characterize them in blatantly sexist terms and articles about women were found to be non-
performance related while articles about men were found to be more task relevant (Kane, 1988; Kane
& Parks, 1990; Lumpkin & Williams, 1991). Due to the pervasive gendered nature of sport (Bruce,
1998; Tuggle & Owen, 1999; Weiller & Higgs, 1999), we anticipate that this trend will continue
despite the overwhelming success female athletes have experienced during recent Olympic and World
Cup games.
Hypothesis 1: The type of written coverage afforded to female athletes in Sports
Illustrated will be less sport related, or task relevant, than that afforded to men.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
9
Similarly, analyses of Sports Illustrated covers have found that men are more likely to be
depicted in active poses than women, even when the blatantly sexist swimsuit editions are deleted
from the analysis (Ryan, 1994; Salwen & Wood, 1994). To date, there has been no analysis of female
athletes’ photographs that are found within article content. However, we anticipate that the above trend
will hold true for these editorial-related photographs.
Hypothesis 2: The photographic depictions of athletes in Sports Illustrated will
portray women in fewer active poses than men.
The creation of Sports Illustrated for Women in 1997, the first female-targeted magazine
heralded to focus on women’s sports and athletes (Gremillion, 1996), brought with it the anticipation
of thorough and accurate coverage similar to that of male sports and athletes found in Sports
Illustrated. Given the fact that Sports Illustrated for Women was designed to capture a female market,
and purports to give “voice and vision to the stories of women in sports”, (Sports Illustrated for
Women Media Guide, 2002) it may be logical to assume that emphasis of the stories and photographs
within its pages would be on the women’s athletic accomplishments. However, Sports Illustrated for
Women has been met with some professional criticism charging that its coverage of female athletes
serves to marginalize the female athletic experience and further entrench ‘appropriate feminine roles’
rather than depict accurate athletic roles (Women’s Sports Foundation, 1997). Production of the
magazine was terminated after the first two issues due to lower than anticipated sales; however, two
new issues were produced and released in the summer and autumn of 1999 and production continues
today.
No empirical studies to date have been undertaken to analyze the content of Sports Illustrated
for Women. However, studies of women's sport television programming suggests that while media
coverage created solely for female sporting events may help alleviate the disproportionate amount of
coverage provided to men's sports, it does little to alter the trivializing and marginalizing nature of the
coverage (Bruce, 1998; Weiller & Higgs, 1999). Being a subsidiary of TimeLife, Inc., the main
purpose of the magazine is to create a profit, thus, its presentation is driven by the economics of the
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
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marketplace and, subsequently, the magazine may attempt to “package” women’s sports in “gender
appropriate” ways that appeals to the seemingly widest audience. Indeed, as Andrews (1998)
suggested, certain coverage may present a rhetoric of equity that serves vital market forces yet does
little to challenge the dominant ideologies that underlie sport and gender. Thus, we anticipate the
following:
Hypothesis 3: The written coverage of female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women
will be comprised of more non-sport related (or task irrelevant) material than sport
related (or task relevant) material.
Hypothesis 4: The photographic depictions of female athletes in Sports Illustrated for
Women will be comprised of more passive than active photographs.
Hypothesis 5: Written coverage of male athletes in Sports Illustrated will be
comprised of a greater proportion of sport related (or task relevant) stories than
written coverage of female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women.
Hypothesis 6: Photographic depictions of male athletes in Sports Illustrated will be
comprised of a greater proportion of active photographs than photographs of female
athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women.
Therefore, the purpose of this research was twofold. 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 sport 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.
Methodology
In order to answer these research questions, a content analysis of the articles and article-related
photographs within Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women was conducted. At the time of
the analysis, nine issues of Sports Illustrated for Women had been produced. All of the articles and
photographs (n = 1075) within each issue of Sports Illustrated for Women were analyzed. A random
sample of Sports Illustrated issues was taken for the same time period that Sports Illustrated for
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
11
Women was produced (i.e. 1997-2000) which resulted in the content analysis of 1,775 Sports
Illustrated articles and photographs.
Coding
In order to ensure objectivity within the content analysis of photographic material, a coding
method first established by Kane (1998) was utilized. Each photograph was placed in one of the
following four categories: athletic action, dressed but poised and pretty, non-sport setting, and
pornographic. This coding construction has a long history in previous pictorial studies searching for
active or non-active poses and competitive or non-competitive scenes (Salwen & Wood, 1994;
Duncan, 1990; Rintala & Birrell 1984). Further, this coding method enabled us to objectively
determine whether the pictorial depiction of female athletes served to challenge dominant ideologies or
merely "package" women's athletic participation into more non-controversial, stereotypically feminine
coverage. Showing women less in athletic action and more in "posed" photographs enables a media
outlet to "construct a reality" that serves to maintain the status quo ideology of women as different and
inferior athletes in comparison to men.
The operational definitions for these categories were:
Athletic action – Person(s) actively engaging in a sport and dressed in athletic apparel.
(e.g. photograph of athlete in game action)
Dressed but poised and pretty – Person(s) dressed in athletic apparel but posed for the
photograph. Person(s) is not engaged in athletic activity. (e.g. group shot of team)
Non-sports setting – Person(s) dressed in non-athletic apparel and photographed in a
non-athletic setting. (e.g. photograph of athlete at home with family)
Pornographic/Sexually suggestive – Person(s) dressed provocatively or photographed
in such a way as to focus solely on sexual attributes. (e.g. photograph framed on an
athlete’s breasts)
Because the authors could not locate a suitable established coding method for the article
analysis (i.e., one that thoroughly captured the article content found in both magazines), two issues of
each magazine were read separately to determine coding categories. The authors then met to discuss
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
12
category selection. Although categories were named differently, similar groupings of content were
found. After discussing key terms, a consensus was reached as to the final nine categories within the
coding scheme. Further, as with the pictorial coding scheme, this method allowed us to objectively
determine whether differences in the coverage of female athletes were present and, if so, how those
differences served to maintain dominant ideologies regarding gender and sport.
While an article could feasibly address many issues throughout a story, written content was
coded according to one overall narrative theme. The operational definitions of article content were
thus constructed as:
Personal – Content describing the non-athletic portion of a person(s) life. (e.g. story
of athlete’s family)
Victim – Content describing a person(s) struggle against adversity. (e.g. story of an
athlete’s history with drug abuse)
Sport Related – Content describing a person(s) ability as an athlete. (e.g. story of an
athlete’s sporting accomplishments)
System Critique – Content critiquing a sporting institution. (e.g. story investigating
television airtime of women’s sporting events as compared with men’s sporting
events)
Sport Struggle – Content describing difficulties of a sport achieving popularity or
content describing continued mismanagement/poor behavior of athletes. (e.g. story
detailing continued low awareness of a sport)
Sport Victories – Content describing triumphs of a sport achieving popularity or
content describing continued management/good behavior of athletes. (e.g. story
detailing rise of sport popularity)
Health-Personal – Content describing activities or products that improve a person(s)
non-athletic health. (e.g. story describing sun tan lotions)
Health-Sport – Content describing activities or products that improve a person(s)
athletic health. (e.g. story describing work-out routines for sport-specific
improvement)
Fashion – Content detailing clothing or makeup. (e.g. story describing new line of
jogging attire)
All content (both pictorial and editorial) was also examined for the presence of opposing
genders. For example, the number of females was noted in Sports Illustrated while the number of
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
13
males was counted in Sports Illustrated for Women. If the article or photo contained content regarding
both a male and female athlete, it was coded twice. If the article or photo portrayed a non-human (e.g.,
an article regarding a racehorse), it was not coded.
In order to assure greater objectivity, a graduate assistant was trained in the coding procedure
and then used as a reference to check for reliability. The graduate assistant was taught the different
coding schemes mentioned above and was provided examples of content from magazines that were not
part of this study. In order to practice the coding method, the graduate assistant coded an older issue
of Sports Illustrated, which had also been coded by one of the authors. Any disparities in the two
coders’ analyses were discussed in order to provide appropriate training for the graduate assistant
before the actual coding began.
After the training was completed, half of the issues were randomly selected and coded by the
graduate student. The authors coded all of the magazine issues included in the study. Thus, three
mechanisms for determining the reliability of the coding scheme were conducted (i.e., reliability
between the first author and the graduate student, reliability between the second author and the
graduate student, and reliability between the first and second author).
Analysis Technique
The study utilized descriptive statistics to describe the variables of interest. Inter-observer
reliability coefficients were utilized to provide an indication of the reliability of the coding scheme
used. Independent sample t-tests, simple percentages, and frequencies were utilized to answer the
stated hypotheses.
Results
Inter-observer reliability coefficients for the coded magazines were calculated. Interobserver
agreement between the three coders ranged from 90-98% on the number of articles and photographs.
The coefficient of agreement (i.e., total number of agreements divided by the total number of coding
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
14
decisions both had observed) for the three observers ranged from .92 to .94 for the pictorial and article
content. Scott’s Pi, a reliability assessment that corrects for ‘chance’ agreement, was calculated to be
.86 for photographic content and .80 for article content. Both scores were within the .8 to .9 range,
which denotes a high level of reliability (Riffe, Lacy & Fico, 1998).
Articles and photographs that were unnoticed by one of the coders, or that were coded
differently by the coders, were discussed and their content agreed upon before further statistical
analyses were conducted.
The analysis of Sports Illustrated content found that women are still far underrepresented
within the magazine’s pages. Of the 817 articles within the sample, only 82, or 10%, were stories
covering female athletes or female specific sports. Similarly, of the 958 photographs in the sample of
Sports Illustrated magazines, only 96, or 10%, of the photographs were of female athletes.
Hypothesis 1 predicted that men would be provided more sport related (or task relevant)
coverage than women in Sports Illustrated. Over 86% of the articles in Sports Illustrated regarding
male athletes were coded as ‘sport related’. Eighty percent of the stories regarding female athletes
were coded as ‘sport related’. However, 12% of the stories concerning female athletes were coded as
‘personal’, while only 6% of the articles on males were coded as such. Taken one step further, if all
non-sport related categories (‘personal’, ‘victim’, ‘health personal’, and ‘fashion’) are collapsed into
one, these stories comprise 20% of the stories about female athletes but only 8% of stories regarding
male athletes. Table 1 provides a comparison of all the categories by magazine and by gender.
Hypothesis 2 predicted that female athletes would be depicted in fewer ‘active’ poses than
male athletes in Sports Illustrated. In fact, over half (56%) of the photographs of female athletes were
non-action photographs (55% were female athletes in a ‘non sport setting’, .05% in ‘dressed but poised
and pretty’, and .05% in ‘pornographic’ photos) and 46% were ‘athletic action’ photographs. In
contrast, 66% of the photographs of male athletes were coded as ‘athletic action’ shots. Further, only
25% of the photographs of male athletes were coded as ‘non sport setting’ shots.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
15
Hypothesis 3 stated that the written coverage of female athletes in Sports Illustrated for
Women would be comprised of more non sport related (or task irrelevant) material than sport related
(or task relevant) material. However, 42.5% of all of the articles regarding female athletes were coded
as ‘sport related’. In fact, when all of the articles that have some sort of sport relevance (‘sport
related’, ‘sport critique’, ‘sport struggle’, ‘sport victory’, and ‘health sport’) are collapsed into one
category, nearly 58% of all stories have a sport basis. Thus, this hypothesis was not supported.
Hypothesis 4 predicted that the photographic depictions of female athletes in Sports Illustrated
for Women would be comprised of more passive than active photographs. However, ‘athletic action’
photographs comprised the largest percentage (56%) of the four categories while the other categories
were less represented (19% = ‘dressed but poised and pretty’, 24% = ‘non sport setting’). Thus, this
hypothesis was not supported.
Hypothesis 5 stated that written coverage of male athletes in Sports Illustrated would be
comprised of a greater proportion of sport related (or task relevant) stories than written coverage of
female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women. While 87% of the stories regarding male athletes in
Sports Illustrated were coded as ‘sport related’, only 43% of the stories regarding female athletes were
coded this way. Further, as indicated by significant results in 6 of the 8 the independent sample t-tests,
which utilized Bonferonni's correction (/number of analyses) to guard against family wise error, the
two magazines were statistically different in the ‘sport related’ (t = 7.61, p < .000), ‘personal’ (t = -
4.24, p < .001), ‘sport struggle’ (t = -3.39, p < .001) and sport victory (t = -4.47, p < .001) categories.
Thus, there were significantly more ‘sport related’ articles about male athletes in Sports Illustrated and
significantly fewer ‘personal’ and ‘sport struggle’ and “sport victory” related articles in comparison to
articles covering female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women. Sports Illustrated for Women also
had significantly more articles regarding ‘personal health’ (t = -4.124, p < .000), ‘sport health’ (t = -
5.05, p < .000), and ‘fashion’ (t = -5.23, p < .005).
Hypothesis 6 predicted that photographic depictions of male athletes in Sports Illustrated
would be comprised of a greater proportion of active photographs than photographs of female athletes
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
16
in Sports Illustrated for Women. This hypothesis was proven to be true as 66% of the male athletes in
Sports Illustrated photographs were ‘athletic action’ shots, while only 56% of the female athletes in
Sports Illustrated for Women photographs were ‘athletic action’ shots. Further, two of three
independent sample t-tests (which utilized Bonferonni’s correction to guard against family wise error)
were statistically significant. The t-test for the ‘athletic action’ category (t=-3.85, p < .007) and the
‘dressed and poised and pretty’ category (t = -3.8, p < .001) were significant. Thus, there were
significantly more athletic action shots of men in Sports Illustrated and significantly fewer ‘dressed
but poised and pretty’ shots in comparison to the photographs of female athletes in Sports Illustrated
for Women. The t-test for ‘non sport setting’ was not significant indicating that the magazines were
not different in this category. Due to the low number of pornographic photographs, t-tests were not
conducted in this category. However, it is interesting to note that 7 of the 9 pornographic photographs
were of the female athletes.
____________
Insert Table 1 here
____________
Discussion
Sports Illustrated
Although female athletes are becoming stronger, faster, and more talented than ever, very little
progress is being made in relation to the media's depiction of them as athletes rather than feminine role
models or trivialized sex symbols. As the results of this study show, women are still underrepresented
within the pages of Sports Illustrated, the largest circulating sports magazine in the world. This paper
suggests, as Tuchman (1981) first discovered, that such under-representation can result in the
‘symbolic annihilation’ of the female athlete. That is, because the media are relied upon to reflect the
important events within our culture, their lack of representation of the female athlete submits the
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
17
message that female athletes have very little value, especially in relation to male athletes (Kane &
Greendorfer, 1994).
Perhaps even worse, in many cases, the accomplishments of females as athletes are trivialized
in Sports Illustrated through non-action photographs and non-sport related articles. Most photographs
depicted female athletes in non-sport settings. That is, photographs of female athletes were taken in a
setting completely removed from the athletic arena in which they participate. Additionally, in many
instances, the athlete was ‘made up’ in these photographs, her hair was styled, they wore make-up, and
they were dressed in feminine (often revealing) clothing. Venus and Serena Williams, arguably two of
the best tennis players in the world were shown off-court, clad in street clothes, make-up, and
numerous pieces of jewelry. Swimmer Amy Van Dyken and sprinter Marie-Jose’ Perec were pictured
fully nude, from behind, in an article regarding an advertising campaign by Tag Heurer. In fact,
although Sports Illustrated devotes very few pages to female athletes, they found space (10 pages!) to
cover the fact that Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers, may hand over the team to his daughter, former
Playboy model, Jeanie Buss. The article contained a full page, layout photograph of a naked Buss
with two basketballs covering her breasts and another smaller picture in a low cut dress holding two
basketballs over her breasts with a caption that read, “Pass it on, the Lakers would be in good hands
with Jeanie”.
Such ‘removal’ of the athlete from the sport setting and highlighting of their ‘feminine’ rather
than athletic qualities serves to reinforce the socially constructed, ‘appropriate’ gender roles to which
‘normal’ women should aspire. As Duncan (1990, p. 40) notes, "the issue, at bottom, is one of power.
Focusing on female difference is a political strategy that places women in a position of weakness".
Thus, consistent with the theory regarding media constructions of reality, Sports Illustrated tends to
construct a “false reality” in which females are viewed only as feminine sex symbols rather than
powerful, talented athletes. Such depictions serve to strengthen the ideological hegemony of male
superiority.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
18
One could argue that 80% of the articles on women in Sports Illustrated falling into the ‘sport
related’ category is quite substantial considering past findings, and we would agree. We were, in fact,
quite surprised by this percentage. However, upon closer inspection, it appears that this finding is not
much different than other recent findings in which increased coverage still subtly reinforced
appropriate gender stereotypes (Jones et al., 1999; Weiller & Higgs, 1999). Although not an initial
aspect of this study, the researchers went back through the issues of Sports Illustrated that contained
articles regarding female athletes to determine whether these women were involved in ‘sex
appropriate’ (e.g., ice skating, track, tennis, gymnastics, golf) or ‘sex inappropriate’ roles (e.g.,
basketball, softball, boxing) as set forth by Kane and Parks (1990). Even with the recent introduction
of the WNBA and other women's professional sports teams, 65% of the sport related articles on
women fell into the ‘sex appropriate’ category while 19% were articles pertaining to women in sex
inappropriate sports. The other 16% fell into what we determined a ‘neutral’ category (soccer,
triathlons, lacrosse).
Sports Illustrated for Women
The articles regarding female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women were predominantly
sport related which counters the previous literature and our hypothesis. Because a large number of
readers for the magazine are sports minded women, perhaps the editors have recognized this large
potential market and plan to offer them a more realistic view of female athletes. As Messner et al.
(1996) suggested, perhaps capitalistic ventures have “won out” over the maintenance of patriarchy in
this situation. That is, due to the proliferation of active females since the passing of Title IX, the
media may be arduously constructing audiences for women’s sports in order to take full monetary
advantage of this societal change.
Still, there was plenty of evidence within these articles that the monetary forces were being
dealt with in the most innocuous manner possible. That is, while providing coverage of female
athletes, Sports Illustrated for Women did so in a manner that often served to maintain the status quo.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
19
Articles often "created" a female athlete that was different than the male athlete as stories were
produced to highlight the stereotypically feminine, heterosexual, "sexy" aspects of the athlete rather
than their athletic superiority. For example, in the 2000 May/June issue of the magazine, there were
five feature articles. The first was a swimsuit issue, picturing both male and female athletes in their
swimsuits with no mention of their athletic accomplishments beyond what sport they played. (Further,
while nearly all female athletes were pictured in a bikini, most of the male athletes were pictured in
long shorts and many wore tank tops). The second article was a story about Sheryl Swoopes, one of
the best basketball players in the WNBA. However, the article had little to say about her playing
ability as it focused on her decision to turn down an opportunity to play on the U.S. National Team in
order to stay home with her two year old son. The third article was a WNBA preview that provided an
in-depth analysis of the upcoming season. However, the last article of that preview was a full page
story entitled "How I spent my summer vacation" in which various players detailed their lives beyond
the WNBA. The third article in the feature was entitled "Over the top" and focused on Stacy Dagila,
the top U.S. women's pole vaulter, yet, much of the story focused on the fact that female pole vaulters
competed in swim suits in order to make the event more "interesting" for the audience. The final
article was about Karen Smyers, a triathlon champion in arguably one of the most physically
demanding sports of our time. However, rather than focusing on her athletic accomplishments, the
article detailed her fight with breast cancer; in fact the byline read…."Karen Smyers, wife and mom,
will do whatever it takes to win a tougher race -- against cancer".
This is just one issue of the magazine, but it provides an excellent example of the manner in
which female athletes are dealt with within its pages. While it does provide coverage of female
athletes, it often does little to challenge the existing stereotypes of female athletes and female
consumers.
As Andrews (1998, p. 11) noted regarding NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Games, …"NBC
manufactured their own Olympics reality centered around events deemed appropriate to female
viewers, and infused with sentiment designed to resonate with the female psyche". Similarly, Sports
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
20
Illustrated for Women appears to present female athletes in a manner that feminizes the content of their
accomplishments (through personal anecdotes, descriptions of their athletic clothing, focus on female
athletes' roles as wives and mothers, etc.) and, subsequently, trivializes their athletic accomplishments.
In a manner very similar to NBC's Olympic coverage, Sports Illustrated for Women seems to avoid the
threat of women invading the sacrosanct bastion of male superiority in sport even as they provide
greater coverage. As Andrew's (1998) commented:
…..female athletes, and the very notion of female sport participation, are becoming more
centrally located within the inventory of popular American cultural practices and experience.
Conversely, the politically progressive presence in the Olympic spectacle were neutered by the
demeaning way in which NBC chose to represent women. Despite - in fact because of- being
the focus of NBC's Olympic reality, female athletes and consumers were portrayed and
engaged in ways that subtly devalued their very existence….NBC's marketing….normalized
hierarchically differentiated representations, embodiments, and experiences of gender, within
and through coded circuitry of its televised discourse (p.16).
Such notions are directly supported by the photographic images from the magazine. The
majority of photographs of female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women were non-action shots.
Even though the magazine's marketing theme purports to "give voice and vision to the stories of
women in sports", this ‘vision' appears to be a stereotypically feminine one. For example, a story
regarding women of the 1996 gold medal Olympic basketball team who were preparing to play in the
WNBA displayed seven pictures, but only one was an athletic action photograph — Jennifer Azzi
dribbling during a game. One other photograph showed the players on the podium after receiving their
gold medals. The rest were totally non-sport related and ranged from a ‘made up’ Rebecca Lobo
holding a basketball, to a pregnant Sheryl Swoopes with her husband, to Lisa Leslie in only a bra and
underwear. Marion Jones, perhaps one of the greatest athletes of our time, was pictured on the cover
dressed in angel wings. Venus Williams was named the "Female athlete of the year" and yet the
picture accompanying the article showed her in a low cut, skin tight, revealing dress with a tennis
racquet in hand. The underlying message seemed to be: you can play sports, but make sure you're
feminine as you do it.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
21
Even when Sports Illustrated for Women provided coverage to "traditionally masculine"
sports, the pictures within the articles served to feminize the athletes. For example, in one issue, the
magazine provided a story regarding Laila Ali, a female boxer; however, the accompanying picture
showed Ali posed, clad in boxing gloves, with eye makeup, eye liner, and lipstick. Similarly, there
was a story of Cheryl Haworth, Olympic weight lifter, in which she was pictured standing, with a
barbell resting on her shoulders, covered only in feathers and feathers blowing all around her. In the
2000 Summer Olympics preview issue, there were 11 full-page pictures, only one of which was an
athlete in action.
In comparing Sports Illustrated for Women to Sports Illustrated, it was clear that the coverage
provided to female athletes in Sports Illustrated for Women was decidedly different that that provided
to male athletes in Sports Illustrated. While we don't want to suggest that a magazine for females
about female athletes has to mirror Sports Illustrated to be successful in advocating social change,
such a comparison can serve to concretely highlight the ways in which female athletes are depicted in
gender appropriate manners rather than as pure athletes. There were significantly more ‘personal’ and
‘sport struggle’ articles in Sports Illustrated for Women and significantly fewer ‘sport related’ articles
than in Sports Illustrated. Such journalism serves to send a potent message: that female athletes and
their on-court activities are not interesting in their own right. Further, these articles tend to exaggerate
socially construed notions of femininity. For example, in a story regarding Lisa Leslie, a prominent
WNBA player, much of the article focuses on her modeling career rather than her basketball career
and she is quoted as saying, "my mom took us out of that tomboy stage and instilled femininity in us"
(Wolff, 1997, p. 61). Similarly, in the same article, the focus on Swoopes was her pregnancy and the
last line read, "play the game, play it hard, and eventually a man will take notice" (Wolff, 1997, p. 62).
Furthermore, in an article on Marie-Jose Perec of France, the first athlete to win consecutive Olympic
400-meter gold medals, there is a line that reads, "Asked if she'd rather pose in a track uniform or
evening wear, Perec (above on a Paris runway in Paco Rabanne) says, "a designer gown, I love them".
(Layden, 1997, p. 98).
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
22
Additionally, several articles tended to focus on women's weaknesses and their supportive or
subservient roles to men. For example, in the first issue of Sports Illustrated for Women, there was an
entire article regarding allegations of sexual abuse among female volleyball players by their male
coach. The headline on the cover read, "The coach as a sexual predator: Are young girls safe?".
Another article within the same issue was devoted to a story of a former star basketball player from
Villanova who decided to become a cloistered nun. Given the vast amount of accomplishments by
female athletes in the same time period, these choices seem peculiar at best. In this case, media
constructions of supposed ‘reality’ seem to adhere strictly to the status quo and serve to further
entrench public attitudes that women’s sport is not valid in and of itself.
Towards an Explanation of Representation
A possible explanation for such contrasts between the article and photography content in the
magazine comes from Duncan and Hasbrook (1988). These authors coined the term "ambivalence" to
describe the mixed messages that the media sends. Ambivalence refers to the way in which a sport
magazine (in this case, Sports Illustrated for Women) can combine positive portrayals of female
athletes with subtle messages that tend to trivialize female athletes' sport performances. Kane and
Greendorfer (1994, p. 39) suggest that ambivalence allows "those in power to acknowledge (and
therefore accommodate) the social changes that have taken place within the last two decades while
simultaneously offering resistance through the maintenance of the status quo".
Perhaps another reason for the overt attempts to focus on femininity is the blatant homophobia
that exists within women's sport (Krane, 1997). Focusing on female athletes' personal lives with their
husbands or boyfriends (e.g., showing a pregnant Sheryl Swoopes, discussing Mia Hamm's marriage,
pointing out that Shea Ralph and her mother "tend to talk boys not basketball") sends a strong message
that female athletes are, indeed, heterosexual. In contrast, the sexuality of male athletes is rarely
discussed or questioned. By expending such effort to ‘prove’ that female athletes are heterosexual,
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
23
their athletic accomplishments are subsequently trivialized. As Griffin (1998) noted, the problem in
women’s sport is not homosexuality, the problem is homophobia.
While reasons for negative coverage of female athletes, such as ambivalence and homophobia,
are difficult to conclusively deconstruct, the functionality of the medium itself allows for much clearer
perspective. Sports Illustrated for Women is produced by the Time/Life corporation (as is SI) whose
overriding purpose is to make a profit. Without profitability, both magazines would cease to exist
within the corporate mega-structure of Time/Life. Hilliard (1984) long ago argued that feminization is
crucial in attracting sponsors and paying customers and that the female athletes themselves benefit
from this feminine image through greater endorsements. He suggests:
the athletes and journalists, as participants in an ongoing commercial athletic system,
may enter into an unspoken complicity to present an image that emphasizes
underlying femininity. Sponsors of the male events have no analogous concerns. The
players are already perceived as being consistent with the traditional masculine image
(Hilliard, 1984, p. 261).
As this research clearly demonstrated, coverage within both magazines has continued on an
uninterrupted course of male domination. Yet, Sports Illustrated for Women's marketing theme
purports to "give voice and vision to the stories of women in sports". This seemingly glaring division
can be reconciled under the rubric of profitability: by consciously creating a perception of equity for
female athletes that is more rhetoric than realism (Andrews, 1998; Eastman & Billings, 1999),
‘women’s sport magazines’ can claim their magazine to be an avenue toward equity, but still package
women's sport in an unoffensive, ‘status quo’ manner in order to satisfy advertisers and the general
sports readership. Following this ideological perspective, Sports Illustrated for Women would only
occasionally, if ever, challenge the latent ideologies that underlie sport and gender. That is, as long as
the powerful forces remain in the same white, conservative, male-dominated structures (such as
Time/Life), ideologies of female athletes as essentially different than male athletes will rarely be
challenged — even in arenas where the attention to women sports is stated as a principal goal.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
24
Possible Limitations & Future Research Recommendations
Many of the conclusions that have been discussed in this research are based on the assumption
that Sports Illustrated for Women purports to portray female athletes with some level of
representational parity. This assumption is not unfounded (their own marketing theme purports to
"give voice and vision to the stories of women in sports"), but is difficult to accurately substantiate.
What a magazine’s masthead suggests as their driving force may not actually be their true mission in a
landscape of constantly changing economic, political and social market circumstances. With
readership demands and financial advertising quotas, the veritable mission of a magazine may be
unclear to the readers (and, at times, to the publishers of the magazine). Yet, while the comparison of
content to a magazine’s stated mission may be tenuous, the pictorial and textual analysis of Sports
Illustrated for Women’s content within a broader, cultural sphere remains the same.
Another possible limitation of this research is the relatively short sample period. At the time of
the analysis, only nine issues of Sports Illustrated for Women had been produced. Future research
should continue to examine how femininity is constructed in both Sports Illustrated for Women and
Sports Illustrated over a more extended period of time. This would allow for a more comprehensive
understanding of shifts in representation or persistent trends over time.
The general conclusions drawn from this research could be examined further through
qualitative interviews with media representatives. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups,
future research could better determine the respective roles that ambivalence, homophobia and
profitability play in determining media content. This would, of course, require a high level of intimacy
and trust between the researcher and the subject, but, if achieved, could produce enlightening insight
into the cause of traditional female representations.
Future work should also examine Sports Illustrated for Women in relation to other magazines
within the genre of women’s sport (e.g., Real Sports, Sports Illustrated for Women, Oxygen, Jump).
This research could help determine how women are represented within the combined pages of female
sport magazines and not strictly in relation to male representation. Further, these representations could
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
25
be compared with traditional women’s magazines (e.g., Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Glamour,
McCall’s, O) to determine if the traditional female stereotype is found with much less frequency in
women’s sport magazines, or if stereotypical representations of women remain the same – only with a
sporty backdrop.
A Visual/Textual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
26
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Panel discussion at the Summit ‘97 (Women’s Sports Foundation national conference),
Bloomingdale, IL.
A Textual/Visual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
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Table 1
Photograph and Article Content of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women by Gender
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Photo Content Article Content
AA DPP NSS P PER V SR SC SS SV HP HS F
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Sports Illustrated (Total Photos = 958) (Total Articles = 817)
Males (862) 572 (66%) 84 (10%) 204 (23%) 2 (00%) Males (735) 46 (6%) 13 (2%) 636 (87%) 31 (4%) 4 (00%) 1 (00%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (00%)
Females (96) 33 (34%) 5 (5%) 53 (55%) 5 (5%) Females (82) 12 (14%) 2 (2%) 66 (80%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1%)
Sports Illustrated for Women (Total Photos = 787) (Total Articles = 288)
Females (717) 401 (56%) 134 (19%) 171 (24%) 11 (2%) Females (280) 46 (16%) 7 (3%) 119 (43%) 17 (6%) 16 (5%) 10 (4%) 19 (7%) 28 (10%) 18 (6%)
Males (70) 15 (21%) 9 (13%) 46 (66%) 0 (0%) Males (8) 2 (25%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 6 (75%)
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Note: AA = athletic action; DPP = dressed but poised and pretty; NSS = non-sport setting; P = pornographic; PER = personal; V = victim; SR = sport related; SC = sport
critique; SS = sport struggle; SV = sport victory; HP = health personal; HS = health sport; F = fashion.
A Textual/Visual Analysis of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women
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