PERSPECTIVES 1998
Female Athletes in the Media?
Bridget E. Driscoll
California State University, Fullerton
This paper will briefly overview the male sport model and examine the role played by the media in shaping our beliefs and values regarding women and girls in physical activity and sports. Therefore this investigation will examine the extent the media plays in the representation of the female athlete.
A number of authors have argued that perhaps more than any other social institute sport perpetuates male superiority and female inferiority (Birrell & Cole, 1990; Donnelly, 1987; Duncan, 1990; Duncan & Hasbrook, 1988; Duquin, 1982; Greendorfer, 1990; Kane & Parks, 1992). Creedon (1994) stated, "Essentially this argument is based on the notion that sport represents a potent medium through which biological or physical differences interface with social and cultural interpretations of gender role expectations (p. 159). " Western culture instills these notions from early childhood and by the time a child enters school a preconceived idea is formed that male's can run faster, jump higher and throw farther than females. Males are viewed as powerful, dominant and in control of their bodies and females as weak, submissive, lacking in control and in need of male protection. These characteristics of the male sport model have succeeded in preserving for generations this domain as male. Sport was and still is a vehicle that confirms male virility, masculinity and power. However, the male sport model does not apply to the female athlete.
Prior to World War I the emergence of the athletic girl appeared. "To many early twentieth-century observers, the female athlete represented the bold and energetic modern woman, breaking free from Victorian constraints, and tossing aside old fashioned ideas about spheres of men and women (Cahn, 1994, p. 7)." Cahn explains the welcome replacement of the old soggy matron with the hardy sun tanned girl who spent summers playing outdoor games. The acceptance of the athletic girl was mainly due to their small numbers. When female athletes began breaking world records there welcome soon turned to a threat. For example in 1924, Sybil Bauer broke the World Record (priorly held by men) in back stroke. In 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the sixth person to swim the English channel and she accomplished this task two hours faster than the males who preceded her. As female athletes began to grow in number and disregard traditional gender roles, men realized that control and power over the sporting domain could be jeopardized. The academics, medical profession and media quickly intervened. Sport was now seen as manly, and women who participated in competitive activity would damage their reproductive organs, promote promiscuity and have masculinizing effects.
Historically throughout Western
culture the media is, for some, the only source of information to the events in
the outside world. This affords the luxury for the masses of people to keep
abreast of worldly events. However, the bias that is evident within the media
needs to be taken into consideration. Boutilier & SanGiovanni, (1993)
stated "Regardless of what is actually happening, it is the media's interpretation
of that event that shapes our attitudes, values and perceptions about the world
and about our culture (p. 184)." This quote is representative of the
magnitude of power possessed by the media. It is evident that the media is
responsible for playing an important role in the annihilation of female
athletes. The media was an avenue to perpetuate the beliefs that competitive
sports were detrimental to females. The media in the 1950's was quick to attack
female track and field athletes, labeling these athletes as muscle molls,
hermaphrodites, amazons, freaks and butch lesbians. After all, the media,
including newspapers and TV influences all of us, while, the professional
fields that did not want women participating could only effect their realm.
The media was and is today successful to a point. In the first three fourths of
this century upper class white women were safe to compete vigorously in tennis
and swimming within the walls of their country club far from the scrutiny of
the media. Many middle class women were driven from their love of sport due to
the relentless ridicule by the media. Minorities, especially African American
women participating in track and field, were being classified as less womanly
than white female athletes. The media also placed dehumanizing labels that
describe the African American athletes as, for example, animalistic. The
hardships and perseverance of these female athletes, who prevailed despite the
media's efforts, succeeded in paving the road for today's female athletic participants.
The gratitude shown for our early pioneers is scarce. Female athletes, and to
an extreme minority athletes, are underrepresented and their achievements are
trivialized.
Even within the past decade the underrepresentation of minorities is quite blatant in the sport reporting press. For minorities underrepresentation is too generous a word. Leath and Lumpkin (1989)* investigated the front covers and feature articles of Women's Sport and Fitness magazine. They found that out of 151 covers only 12 featured African American women. Out of the 290 feature articles only 25 highlighted achievements of African American female athletes.
Women's Sport and Fitness Magazine
|
|
151 Covers |
|
|
Ethnicity |
|
Frequency |
|
African American |
|
12 |
|
Caucasian |
|
139 |
|
|
290 Feature Articles |
|
|
Ethnicity |
|
Frequency |
|
African American |
|
25 |
|
Caucasian |
|
265 |
*Leath & Lumpkin, 1989
Lumpkin and William (1991)*, researched 3,723 Sport Illustrated articles (1954-1987) and found males were featured in 3,178 articles (90.8%), females were featured in 280 articles (8.0%) while 40 articles featured both genders (1.1%). Out of the 280 articles that featured females only 16 focused on African American females.
Sport Illustrated Articles by Gender of Person Featured (1954-1987)
|
Gender |
Frequency |
Percent |
|
Females |
280 |
8.0% |
|
Males |
3178 |
90.8% |
|
Both |
40 |
1.1% |
*Lumpkin & William, 1991
These findings along with several others inspired the question, where are female athletes in today's media? Three recent sporting events should provide insight into answering this question, the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the inaugural season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The reason for identifying these games was due to the significant increase of female athletes in the 1996 Olympics compared to any other games. The WNBA season was chosen because of the popularity of basketball and the inaugural season was significant. The amount of print allocated to these events should reflect the media attitude towards female athletes. It was of interest to determine just how the print media handled these three events for women.
Analysis was limited to feature articles on the front page and front page of the sport section of the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) newspaper, alpha-numerically defined as A-1 and C-1. Feature articles were operationally defined as, any article addressing athletes participating in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Highlight columns were excluded. In addition the Orange County Register was analyzed for the WNBA data following the guidelines stated above.
The time frames chosen for this study were the duration of the games. This study focused on the number of articles reported regarding female and male athletes, the space given to photos as determined by inches, if the athletes were depicted as individuals or part of a team, whether the reporter was female or male, and the location of the article or photo. Location of article or photo plays a crucial part in the marketing strategy of newspapers. It is a fact in the media world that whatever is depicted on the front page top half portion of the newspaper will play an important role in sales of that newspaper.
All data were retrieved from the California State University, Fullerton library with the use of microfilm. A W. T. Rogers geometric ruler was used to measure all articles and photos.
Descriptive statistics were generated for photo coverage, length of articles, gender of athletes and reporters, number of persons in picture, action or non-action shots, and if the athlete was depicted as an individual or as part of a team.
In the 1992 Olympic games males received more than three times the amount of article coverage, they were depicted as individuals, more than half of their articles were on the top half of the newspaper and male reporters did most of the reporting.
Twice as many photos of males were recorded compared to females. The size of
photos was 122.22 x 111. inches for males and 35.75 x 29.5 inches for females.
Males were depicted in action shots as opposed to non- action, and the majority
male photos were on the top half of the newspaper.
The 1996 Olympic games was deemed Year of the Woman. A record number of women
competed in the 1996 Olympic games. Close to 1,000 more than in any previous
games - 3,684 women (34%) and 7,059 men (66%). Only the sport of boxing, modern
pentathlon, weightlifting, and wrestling, remain solely male. The number of
women participants doubled from 1984 to 1996 (Women's Sport Foundation, 1996).
Another significant aspect of the 1996 Olympic games was that the American
female athletes received an all time high in the medal count. "As the
Olympic events progressed American women not only won more gold medals (310)
than ever before, but achieved acceptance and respect among the American people
(Webster, 1996)." Webster found that for the first time in our history
American female athletes won gold medals in team events, gymnastics, softball,
basketball, and soccer.
Due to the record breaking year for female athletes this research expected to find significant media coverage. However, minimal coverage was found when investigating the 1996 Olympic games. This fact prompted further investigation. The LA Times is laid out alpha-numerically, the front page is A-1, the front sport page is C-1. However, the 1996 Olympic games for the "Year of the Woman" was covered in the S-1 section of the newspaper. S-1 was a special pull-out addition implemented for the first time during the 1996 Olympic games. Women were featured in 22 articles and men in 20. This reflected the success women were experiencing. However the week following the games the S-1 section was dropped and women were again invisible in the print media.
Ten days prior to the beginning of the WNBA season the LA Times front page (A-1) had no article or photo coverage of female athletes. Male athletes were seen in two articles and three photos. The Orange County Register had one article and one photo of female athletes and four articles and five photos of male athletes.
During the 64 days of the WNBA season the LA Times featured three articles and three photos of female athletes and ten articles and ten photos of male athletes. During the same period the Orange County Register featured four articles and three photos of female athletes and nineteen articles and eighteen photos of male athletes.
It was expected that with the popularity of the WNBA and the focus on the professional opportunities for women to continue with a career in sport and impact would be seen in the media. During the ten days following the end of the WNBA season, female athletes were not featured in any articles or photos while male athletes were featured in one article and one photo (LA Times). In the Orange County Register there were no articles or photos of female athletes and four articles and three photos of male athletes.
In addition to looking at the front page of the paper it was of interest to
determine the WNBA influence on the sports section. Ten days prior to the
beginning of the WNBA season the LA Times sport section front page (C-1)
featured female athletes in one article and one photo and male athletes in 21
articles and 18 photos. The Orange County Register sport section front page
featured female athletes in three articles and included four photos, while male
athletes were featured in 25 articles with 20 photos.
In the 64 days of the WNBA season the LA Times sports section front page featured 30 articles and 25 photos of female athletes and 220 articles and 169 photos of male athletes. The sports section front page of the Orange County Register featured 33 articles and 35 photos of female athletes and 195 articles and 169 photos of male athletes.
Ten days after the WNBA season ended female athletes were seen in one article and zero photos while male athletes were seen in 27 articles and 20 photos (LA Times). In the Orange County Register there were two articles and two photos of female athletes and 20 articles and 19 photos of male athletes.
It is clear from these data that there was an impact by the WNBA on the print media but it was specific to basketball. It appears that in general, when coverage is given to female athletes tennis, swimming, ice skating and gymnastics are the most prevalent because these sports have been deemed sex appropriate for women in our culture. For example, Chris Evert was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated when she retired in 1989. The caption read "I'm going to be a full time wife". There is nothing wrong with being a full-time wife, but stated this way was a blatant trivialization of her tennis career achievements. Kane and Greendorfer (1994) criticized the Evert retirement caption, as well as the representation of Katarina Witt, a 1988 gold medal winner figure skater who was portrayed as sexy instead of a committed athlete who possessed the discipline and desire for excellence.
It is interesting to see how the media viewed Florence Griffith Joyner (FloJo). She was given a considerable amount of coverage by the media because she was not a threat to the traditional gender role. FloJo's attire was designed to attract attention and could not be missed blazing down the track. Her designer apparel, hair, make-up and nails were trade marks of her self-identified femininity. FloJo received endorsements and sponsorships because the media felt comfortable capitalizing on her characteristics of femininity. While at the same time she was receiving coverage it trivialized her athletic achievements. FloJo was given coverage but not for her athletic accomplishments. Katarina Witt, Chris Evert, Florence Griffith Joyner exemplify the medias portrayal of femininity and sexuality, but generally, not athleticism. "Creedon argues that by portraying female athletes as feminized and sexualized others, the media trivialize and therefore undermine their athletic achievements. This type of media portrayal results in constructions of female athleticism as less important than male athleticism."
Little media coverage has been given to athletes such as Jackie-Joyner Kersee (recognized as one of the worlds best athletes), who received a gold medal in the Heptathalon (8 Olympic events), because this athlete does not posses the traditional gender role characteristics that the media chooses to perpetuate. Kane and Greendorfer, 1994 stated:
"The important point about this portrayal is to note how accommodation and resistance have occurred simultaneously. Joyner's presence on the covers acknowledges that social change has taken place; yet the specific type of portrayal indicates a resistance to fundamental social change because she is primarily linked to her "appropriate" role as female, not athlete. Our point is highlighted in the coverage (or lack thereof) given to another outstanding female Olympian, Jackie Joyner Kersee. Kersee won gold medals in the heptathalon (all around athlete) in both the 1988 and 1992 Olympics; yet she has never received the type of media exposure that her more stereotypically feminine counterpart has. The comparison between Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner Kersee illustrates how the mass media contribute to the maintenance of male dominance in sport (p. 33)."
Conclusion
It has become clear that the greatest understatement one can make, is where are female athletes in today's media? "The Olympics and Title IX have done much to increase participation rates and the acceptability of female athletes, but women's athletics is still influenced by more traditional notions of 'appropriate' sports and 'ladylike' behavior (Kane & Parks, 1990, p. 139)." "In this way sport typing, through the media presentation of socially acceptable sport, limits and contains many females (Kane & Parks, 1992, p. 79)."
In addition to the stereotype
barriers that are to be endured by female athletes, media coverage has been
found to strongly support the male athlete while underrepresenting and
trivializing the female athlete. This research has supported Lee's findings. "First,
women are given less coverage in the media and are, therefore, accorded
secondary status to men. Second, while women have made significant strides in
athletics at all levels of competition since the turn of the century, the
increased rates of participation are not accurately reflected in media
representations of female sport performances and achievements. Third, when
women's sports are included in the media reports, they are often trivialized
(Lee, 1992,
p. 219). The third finding is exemplified best when comparing photos of
athletes from the 1992 Olympics in action and/or non action shots. Keeping in
mind the fact "that a picture is worth a thousand words." A photo of
an athlete in motion signifies excellence, dedication, and power. This research
found males were depicted solely in action shots, females received only 20% of
the action shots and 100% of the non-action shots.
Media coverage plays a crucial role in the acceptance of female athletes, and has the power to shape attitudes, values and perceptions in our culture. Female athletes need to be depicted as the committed and dedicated athletes that they are.
Anita L. DeFrantz said "Sport belongs to all human beings. It is unique to the human species. It allows a person to take on a personal challenge and to succeed (DeFrantz, 1993, p.185)." The comparison between the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games resulted in major changes for female athletes. In 1896 they were forbidden to participate in the Olympic games. One hundred years later the U.S. women came home with more medals than their male counterparts proving that they "excell", if given a chance.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bridget E. Driscoll is completing her Master's degree in Kinesiology at California State University, Fullerton