Pretty Versus Powerful in the Sports Pages

To examine how descriptions of the performance of female athletes are likely to reflect dominant beliefs about gender in society, 769 passages from the print media describing gold medal winning contests for four U.S. women’s teams in the 1996 Olympics (basketball, gymnastics, soccer, and softball) and the U.S. women’s hockey team in the 1998 Olympics were subjected to content analysis. The sports analyzed fall under the categories of Matteo’s study classifying the gender appropriateness of sport (masculine, feminine, and neutral). Two dimensions were examined for each passage: task relevance and use of gender stereotypes. Consistent with our expectations, female athletes in male sports were described by the print media using frequent male-to-female comparisons and comments that had little to do with sports or the athlete’s performance. Print media coverage of female athletes in female sports focused on performance while reinforcing female stereotypes. Implications of the images of female athletes portrayed by the print media are discussed.

[1]  Richard R. Lau,et al.  Attributions in the Sports Pages , 1980 .

[2]  S. Matteo The effect of sex and gender-schematic processing on sport participation , 1986 .

[3]  M. Kane The female athletic role as a status determinant within the social systems of high school adolescents. , 1988, Adolescence.

[4]  K. Schurr,et al.  Sport Stereotypes and Gender , 1988 .

[5]  Mary Jo Kane,et al.  Sport typing: the social 'containment' of women in sport. , 1989 .

[6]  S. Salminen Sex Role and Participation in Traditionally Inappropriate Sports , 1990 .

[7]  Differential Media Coverage of Men's and Women's Intercollegiate Basketball: Reflection of Gender Ideology , 1991 .

[8]  Nancy Theberge A content analysis of print media coverage of gender, women and physical activity , 1991 .

[9]  Karen H. Weiller,et al.  GENDER BIAS AND THE 1992 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES: AN ANALYSIS OF TELEVISION COVERAGE , 1994 .

[10]  Edward M. Curtis,et al.  CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS OF PERFORMANCE FOR BLACK AND WHITE QUARTERBACKS IN THE NFL: A LOOK AT THE SPORTS PAGES , 1994 .

[11]  N. Koivula Ratings of gender appropriateness of sports participation: Effects of gender-based schematic processing , 1995 .

[12]  M. Kane RESISTANCE/TRANSFORMATION OF THE OPPOSITIONAL BINARY: EXPOSING SPORT AS A CONTINUUM , 1995 .

[13]  J. Harry Sports ideology, attitudes toward women, and anti-homosexual attitudes , 1995 .

[14]  D. Wann,et al.  Author and subject gender in sports research. , 1995 .

[15]  Nancy Theberge,et al.  “IT'S PART OF THE GAME” , 1997 .

[16]  D. Rowe PLAY UP , 1998 .