Stereotypes In Sports

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

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?

Throughout the years, gender roles between men and women have evolved immensely. The women who were once seen as incapable of competing alongside men, are beginning to transform this stereotype and decrease the gap within genders in sports. In the past, men have had advantages over women within sports such as, more media exposure and a larger following, but female athletes are changing that. In a world led by mostly male figures, women have gained momentum in proving the feminine stereotypes wrong by calling for an even playing field for

According to my classmate Angelina, “young kids want to learn to learn to play the game.” According to my classmate Brianna, “ it's only boys on TV.” Without women’s sports less and less girls will be interested in sports. When it comes to sports women can beat the men. In a marathon the women’s times were five minutes faster. This proves that women’s sports on TV is another way to play the

Female athletes and sports leagues are viewed as less important than men’s professional athletics. This is because gender stereotypes are still evident in our society, which is shown in the way women are presented in sports media and that sports leadership roles are mainly male oriented in our society. There is a small percentage of female voicing at the higher levels of sports organizations, in Australian and Canadian leagues. This reflects why we need more women at the heads of these organization to make women’s sports more diverse in terms of both genders. Kids grow up watching male dominated leagues and most families don’t ever watch any female sporting leagues and don’t introduce their kids to those leagues. Young boys have all these male athletes to look up to and young girls don’t have that same opportunity as there is nowhere to watch female athletes. When female athletes are presented in media they are usually sexualized and only viewed for their physical features. This research essay will explore how women are viewed as second class athletes and why they are presented in media less than men.

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

Through the movies viewed in this course this semester, we saw women who were able to play against men and still keep their femininity. Nothing is lost when playing sports not traditionally meant for a particular race or gender. Society must become more understanding when it comes to the sports different types of people play and hinder from stereotyping anyone when they participate and perform well in that sport.

What is the first thing that pops up in your head, when you think of professional sports? Does soccer, basketball, softball, tennis, or baseball cross your mind? All these sports have one similar element, which is that all these sports are predominantly played by a single gender. Being a female athlete in middle school and high school, I can tell you that a lot of organizations do not look at male athletes and female athletes the same. In today’s world male sports have no competition when it comes to female sports. Many people in the media and society feel that woman athletes are not a source of talent in today’s sports. Which is not fair. Female athletes dream to become a professional player, just as well as male athletes. Just by my personal experience, statistics, sports channels and other information, you can see that women’s sports have very little importance.

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

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

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

Many male reporters for the ladies games, often indirectly make it seem less important compared to the men’s games. There is a difference in the way it is made, and the production of the

In the last one hundred years women have made tremendous inroads in many facets of life. Of that there can be little doubt. Women may now hold jobs, own property and participate in professional sports. Today women can compete in sports, once a vestige of male domination; there is now room for women in that arena. But even today women in sports are not portrayed in the same light as their male counterparts. To a large degree this is because of today's cultural ideal of women.

The media has always promoted male athletes in sports more than female athletes. Whether it be social, commercial, movie, or television media, you will always expect to see the male athlete as the main hero. As we run through the history of sports and media we can find that the men took up the majority of the spotlight. When women do finally enter the sporting world they find the transition is hard and media proves it. Looking at sports today the media still portrays female athletes as less up to par than the male athletes. We hope for a positive change in the future, one that involves equality in the sports media world.

Sport has become a pivotal role for developing the news and entertainment media worldwide over the last two centuries. Sport media are one of the most widespread and formidable institution that become the crucial vehicles in the transmission of the social heritage of our society from age to age, which included television, radio, newspapers, books, films and journals. Sports audiences usually experience sports through different sport media as it plays a significant mission for transmitting the dominant cultural values. According to Betterton (1987), “the media contribute to the ways in which we come to know and understand gender relations. At the same time, through its many forms, it also creates and emphasizes images of gender difference”. Sport media perpetuate both gender difference and gender hierarchy, and they are contributed to present the hegemony of man in the larger social structure, men have dominated the sports coverage in the media rather than the participation of women,