Why I Want To Avoid Female Athletes?

In the 21st century, despite many years of progress, gender inequity still exists in sports, with male athletes dominating their female counterparts in aspects such as pay, endorsements, media coverage and participation. Indeed, of the 100 highest paid athletes in the world in 2015, the top 20 were all males, and none were from any of the so called ‘female’ sports [1]. Consequently— in an effort to lessen this disparity— ‘the commercial exploitation of sex, sexual attraction and sexually explicit materials of female athletes in sport [2],’ or sexualisation, has become increasingly commonplace, with netball now under fire.

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

Gender inequality in professional tennis is a real and alarming issue, from the pay gap between mens' and womens' tennis players to the low media coverage of women's professional tennis. This issue even goes as far as how differently tennis commentators discuss and analyze mens tennis as opposed to how they discuss and analyze womens tennis. When commentators discuss men's tennis they solely focus on the skill of the players, but when they discuss women's tennis they place more importance on the appearance of the female players, rather than their skill. This instance of gender inequality in professional tennis is further exacerbated by the differences in advertisements for male tennis players and female tennis players. The advertisements involving male tennis players display their athleticism and tennis abilities, whereas the advertisements including female tennis players are appearance-focused, with the females often wearing little clothing. This is corroborated by the popular belief that focusing on the physical appearance of female athletes is the only way in which generating money from women's professional sports is distinctly possible (Fink, 2015, p. 338). Female professional tennis players train just as hard as the men do, thus the gender inequality that exists in the sport is not necessarily a result of how women perform on the court. It is rather a result of how society perceives women playing in professional sports overall, which the mass media is partially to blame

American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias earned more medals, broke more records, and swept more tournaments in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. Within recent years, women have made huge strides in the world of sports and athletics but are still not getting proper recognition for the time, effort, and talent these women have put into their sport. Gender equality is a major problem in athletics, Title XI, sports media, and the sexualisation of females involved in athletics shows the clear divide in gender equality amongst men’s and women’s sports.

As I looked at the image of Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece, surfing and volley ball, I viewed this source as disempowerment for physically active women. The reason I viewed this image as disempowerment because in the picture Laird Hamilton is standing over Gabby Reece as if she isn’t in power. If they were both to stand back to back showing off their sport, the image would then show how she is empowered. When it pertains to men posing semi-nude for publication, I don’t really look at it as a big deal. One reason I say this is because its good publicity for them and it also brings more attention to whatever sport they are playing. I look at body issue as being a part of corporeal economy because they are just promoting the athletes semi-nude

Within these recent years, women sports have taking a huge turn around even if the stats and numbers say otherwise. The fast uprising, influence and value of women sports fans has been one of the most distinctive changes in the sports marketing landscape in the last 40 years thanks to the Education Amendments and Title IX. We can see the impact of the second generation of young women growing up with much interest in sports, and female sporting celebrities who are closing the gap with their male counterparts. Many give the credit to this thanks to the US national soccer team. When they won the World Cup in 1991 the nation had no idea it had happened. In 1999 the team got to the final again and that game got millions of fans supporting there

In order to portray female athlete as a commodity, the media decreases the athletes’ confidence. They give an idea that the athletes are merely “second-class citizens, if not objects” (Liang, Inquiries 2011, vol.3). An athlete must use her body to the demands of the media and public which means that she is not true to her identity. The media’s sexualisation of female athletes takes away their self-esteem and individuality from sports.

In sports there is huge gender inequality in the media with women athletes often only receiving attention for having good looks or the best body, rather than their athletic abilities. Men, however, don’t receive this attention and people only focus on their athletic prowess. This report will review and analyse two examples of how the media portrays different genders in accordance with the following question: “How does the media portray men and women in sport?

When companies what to endorse a player usually they have to meet certain requirements that the company uses to judge the player on how much money they can make with him/her. Kate Fagan, a former inquirer of the Philadelphia 76ers explain this in her article Sex Sells? “Usually a company wants to work with a male athlete if he can check at least one of the following boxes: seems trustworthy, possesses expertise, and looks attractive. The more boxes, the higher his worth. But with women, there is typically only one box that marketers care about. What we seem to do with female athletes is focus on their attractiveness”. It's the only thing they want to sell about them. So if you look at some female athletes the majority of the time the highest

This world is a flawed one at best and individuals or groups are always being devalued, as some people or groups feel superior to others. Misogyny is a world-wide issue that has existed for years and is still currently going on. Women who do not fit the social standards placed by media in society are scrutinized for not complying with the physique placed for women. Women have been a devalued group in society for quite some time now and it’s difficult to determine when it’ll end due to the degree of society depreciating women’s body types. In the article, “Tennis’s Top Women Balance Body Image with Ambition” Ben Rothenberg discusses how female athletes are scrutinized for their body image because it does not fit into the image society has placed

The pressure on women in sport society has risen over the years, now days if women wish to get sponsorship they have to be considered “pretty” or would have to get into revealing clothing. Sports is a microcosm of society, this means that sport is a small part of society but it is a whole only on a smaller level. Women sexploitation has increased over the years and is still going. Many of the women that are being caught in this trap are in need of sponsorship or are using it for brand awareness. Sexploitation means the manipulation of a women’s sexual appeal for one’s advantage.

One large argument made by Sherry was that the representation of women in the media doesn’t really paint an accurate picture of how it is to train and reach the status of professional athlete (299). Sherry also mentions that a lot of the advertisement early on and now is made by men who target other men instead of women writers targeting young women athletes, “Women’s sport continues to be viewed through the prism of male hegemony in various ways. For example, sport management and administration structures, policies and behaviours that underpin the treatment of women’s sport and maintain the status quo” (300). Throughout doing my research in class with our sports illustrated covers one thing that I noticed, and made aware that there was only one issue with a woman in the cover. Furthermore, the women wore very revealing two-piece bathing suit and appeared to be wet and playing in the water. The cover was published in January 27th, 1975 and was the only women for that entire year. From that example I can see Sherry’s perspective of lack of representation for women in sports and what the media shows is not an accurate portrayal of women in

A female athlete couldn’t just be talented, she also had to be a “beauty queen” (p. 346) so that men could find some inkling of pleasure. This idea ensured that the women did not lose the sexual nature of their bodies by training too hard and looking too “mannish.” Sports games became half sport and half beauty pageant, which forced all athletes to shed any stereotypically homosexual appearances in order to put on a show and gain public acceptance. The idea of the “athlete as a beauty queen” (p. 346) is still present today in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Although many of the models are not athletes, all of them are featured in revealing swimsuits showing off their fit, toned bodies. According to the magazine and its readers, that athletic-while-still-presenting-starchly-feminine look is what men are looking for in a

In the newspaper article -written in 2004 during the Athens Olympics- Sex Sells, and Many Athletes Are Cashing In by Thomas Huang, Huang discusses female athletes’ use of their sex appeal. Huang writes, “Advocates for women’s sports don’t blame the athletes for taking advantage of the

Lack of coverage and exposure on female sports has declined and is a reason there needs to be social change. Connection between academia and sport media can help to reform the female sports industry become more respected.