Trolan Text

The impact of the media on gender inequality within sport

Eoin J.Trolan 2013 useful quotes to use 

according to Perderson (2002) the media is one of the most influential forms of socialisation in today’s society in generating gender values. 

Indeed, the mass media plays a significant role in the transmission of gender differences and inequality through daily visuals within print and television media. Individuals are inundated with magazines, and newspapers containing photographs and narratives of what it means to be a woman or man, and more specifically, the gender imbalance between men and women. These gender role differences are especially apparent in the world of sport. 

While, women have gained ground in the non-sporting realm, within the confines they are still viewed as women first and athletes second, while, their male counterparts have no such concerns.

sport has traditionally been regarded primarily as a male territory and there is still a fascination on the female body of an athlete

Messner (1988) argued that women are moving into a new era in which women athletes are no longer viewed as sex objects or

Research has shown that the underrepresentation and the sexualization of women athletes are still prominent.

Wenner (1998) men represent the norm and women represent the “other”

the media is an institution that preserves the power of men over women (Hargreaves, 1994)

Boutiler and San-Giovanni (1983), who analysed Sports Illustrated covers over a period of 34 years. The authors found that sportswomen represented less than 5 percent of all covers and that these women engaged in socially acceptable sports. These findings are still prevalent today in many sports magazines and the sport pages of newspapers. 

Sports that were generally specific for men were contact sports, such as football or rugby and these types of sports

While for women, it was sports which emphasised grace and aesthetic appeal that were considered acceptable for media coverage

Though women have always been physically active throughout the centuries they have constantly been restricted by society.

such as the strict Victorian age, women were seen as fragile, frail, and sickly, and being aggressive and athletic was not part of their ideology. Men viewed females as sexual objects:

young girls ride, skate, dance in moderation, but let them leave field sports to those for whom they were intended for - men.” (Mangan 1987, 158)

Athleticism, according to Koivula (2001), is often linked to, and interpreted, as muscularity, and therefore often squared with power and masculinity. 

if  you are a female athlete and you want to get attention, the way to do that is play the sex card, the problem with that strategy is whether it translates into success over time. (O’keefe, 2000)

print media focused on the physical appearance of women athletes much more than their athletic skills and abilities. These studies referenced hair, make-up, and body shape for the women but rarely if ever focused on the same things for men.

women who played sports were viewed as “manly” or lesbians. 

When women athletes were successful and athletic they were labeled as lesbians. Blinde (1991) stated that by labelling powerful women as lesbians, is an attempt to ostracise and dis-empower them.

Tuggle and Owen (1999) in their study of the Olympics found that television emphasized individual sports such as swimming and diving and paid no attention to physical contact sports. In fact, the authors found that almost twice the amount of airtime went to women’s non -contact individual sports compared to team sports. This finding was similar to those by Jones, Murrell, and Jackson (1999) whose results stated that women playing appropriate gender related sports had the highest coverage. 

The lack of coverage or acknowledgement of women’s sports and athletes leads the sport consumer to believe that women’s sports and athletes are not important and not worthy of being covered. 

underrepresentation of women athletes (Eastman & Billings, 2000; Vincent, Johnson, Imwold, & Massey, 2003). Kian (2007)

Olympics found that television emphasised individual sports such as swimming and diving and paid no attention to physical contact sports

excluded from coverage because of their failure to conform.

Tennis is given a higher media coverage because it remains true to the classification of what is socially acceptable. It is a non-contact sport where the athletes maintain strict standards of femininity, 

yet both print and television media trivialize the women athletes by suggesting they are not real athletes. Vincent (2004) examined coverage of the Wimbledon tennis championships and found that journalist trivialized women athlete’s both with their photographic poses and captions accompanying them. 

female athletes were continually called by their first names or as “girl” or “young lady” and these inferences suggest an infantilisation of the women athlete. This practice of calling men by their last names or “young men” shows a hierarchal of naming, where men are given the dominant role, and women are familiarised. 

Western culture is the embodiment of masculinity and that the feminine ideal body contrasts with the idea of what it means to be a female athlete. In particular, the authors stated that sportswomen live in two distinctly separate cultures, the sporting culture and their larger culture where they must deal with the continual clash between being an athlete and a woman.

From an early age men and women are socialised differently. Men are taught to play sports or watch sports by many different agents such as family, peers

sporting activities are only for men. 

underrepresentation, trivialisation, and sexualization of women athletes.

devalued the concept of women athletes by proclaiming women as inferior to men and it has only been within the last thirty to forty years that women have challenged this myth and made the idea of women athletes in sports a possible reality.

masculine sports and team sports are covered in less in both print media and television.

male athletes were recognised for having more physical skill,

knowledge, and strategy, while the women athletes were denied these elements

women made mistakes it was down to emotional difficulties, yet when men made mistakes it was down to unfortunate luck.

It is important to note that language plays a significant role within how the consumers interpret gender

Women athletes who are less glamorous get less attention from the media than those who are. The highlighting of the femininity of athlete focuses on the non-athletic achievement 

When the media emphasises women as attractive and feminine this shifts attention from their skills to their looks and minimises the threat these women pose to the male dominance of sport

 Ideologies such as women having softer and contact, and women who do participate in these sports are not “real” women. 

the idea of women having a biologically inferior body has been extensively used to justify the exclusion of females in certain sports and influence the idea that women who chose masculine sports are promoting lesbianism and other unfeminine traits. The female body continues to be identified as an object.

women were required to overcompensate for their masculinity as an athlete. Women athletes often find themselves in the double bind of maintaining traditional standards of femininity while their sport demands they overcome them or over emphasises them.

 heterosexually attractive. In his study of print media coverage of Wimbledon, the extensive coverage given to former tennis star Anna Kournikova highlighted this concept. With her scantily clad figure and Eurocentric features she was the most photographed athlete. Throughout the text accompanying the photographs there were numerous references to her family life, boyfriends, nightlife and not her skill or athletic ability.

 the media remains focused on her body and continues to refer to her using language such as beautiful young girl, soft skin and flowing locks of hair, all of which have nothing to do with her skills as an athlete. 

 perpetuated the fear associated with lesbians and lesbianism and reinforces the idea that women athletes should be feminine to succeed.

femininity, where dress codes and appearance are often imposed by coaches, sponsors or the media (Jex, 2000).

Women athletes do not get that much attention, that is until they use their body for attention. To illustrate this, before the 2007 Women’s football World Cup, members of the australian national team appeared in a men’s magazine naked. 

Four years later, just before the 2011 women’s soccer world cup, the German National team posed naked in Playboy and again they stated that they did this to promote the World Cup.

Sports have utilised shorter skirts, tighter tops,  encourage weight loss and grooming to sell women’s sports as sexually appealing to the general public.

When women are actually shown in active poses in newspapers, magazines, or the internet, usually the text would portray them as passive and decorative objects (Duncan and Hasbrook, 1988).