Women Athletes and the Media: A Look at Unequal Coverage, Social Stereotypes, and Issues Facing Women Athletes

Presenter Information

Ashley Krohn, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 204

Start Date

5-4-2010 10:00 AM

End Date

5-4-2010 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Gender and Women's Studies

Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mentor's Name

Helen Crump

Mentor's Department

Gender and Women's Studies

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Second Mentor's Name

Amy Lauters

Second Mentor's Department

Mass Media

Second Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

This work took an in depth look at the media’s representations of men and women athletes. The main problem associated with the media’s representation of athletes is the idea that the media provides minimal portrayals of women athletes, often positioning them as sexual objects through poses, pictures and advertisements. Another problem uncovered within this work was that the amount of actual sports coverage given to female athletes and sports teams was significantly less than that of their male counterparts. Thus, using a Content Analysis of magazine and newspaper articles, it was found that while the actual amount of coverage women athletes and teams received was less than males, advertisements for both genders can be seen as highly sexualized, and the poses that women athletes portray often result in feelings of domination or vulnerability. In conclusion, women athletes and sports teams do not receive as much coverage of their actual sporting events, while the media portrayal of both male and female athletes are often sexualized, the female poses are more demeaning than those of their male counterparts found in the media recently.