Lit Review for Media in Womens Athletics Affecting Younger Generations
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The Media's Sexualization of Female Athletes: A Bad Call for the Modern Game
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2011, Vol. 3 No. x | pg. 1/two | »
Since the early on xxth century, the feminist movement has made enormous strides to improve the status of female person athletes. Prior to the movement'south achievements, female athletes had to play in much poorer facilities, under different rules, and with stricter wearing apparel codes than male person athletes. Society also largely ignored and discriminated against female athletes, portraying them equally masculine and homosexual and further deterring women from participating in sports. After noticing these bug, feminists attempted to contrary these trends and produce better opportunities for female person athletes. By advocating for equal rights equally well equally pushing for legislation, they enabled women to apply sports to improve their wellness, create new identities, and venture into male-dominated areas (Prakash 22-23). Title IX of the Instruction Amendments remains the law that has about impacted women'due south sports. Written by U.Due south. Representative Patsy Mink and passed by Congress in 1972, information technology alleged, "No person in the U.s.a. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under whatsoever education program or activity receiving Federal financial assist" (20 The statesC. §1681a). Considering of Title Ix, especially in the by few decades, a growing number of girls and women have become involved in high school and college sports, generating an unprecedented amount of publicity, back up, and media coverage.[one] Women's sports are written about and televised more than frequently, drawing millions of followers every year.[2]
The media'south sexualization of female athletes has been originated from practicality and, to a larger extent, sexist social norms. In his 1993 report, Michael Messner, a University of Southern California professor who focuses on gender and sociology in sports, taped basketball games and lawn tennis matches to compare the reporters' commentary nearly women to that near men. Messner and his colleagues constitute that, by constantly displaying pinkish on-screen logos and reminding viewers that they were watching women's games, the commentators "gender marked" competitions to maintain a "necessary sense of clarity for the viewers," especially when the men's and women's competitions took identify in the same arena (Messner, Duncan, Jensen 130). Thus, the sexualization of female athletes could be just a side issue of how the media must distinguish betwixt the two genders. While this caption could be right, deeper reasons are conspicuously at play in such a widespread aspect of the media. Societal influences also permeate the media's sexualization of female person athletes. Co-ordinate to the Harvard Law Review, despite the advancements of the feminist move, the American public still "has not still go comfortable with the ways in which female athletes claiming traditional notions of femininity and masculinity" (1629). Therefore, to accept a dandy influence in American society, the media accept used sexualization to reflect and cater to the opinions and desires of their audience. While the media may utilise sexualization practically as a distinction for viewers, the sexualization of female person athletes ultimately arises from the sexist traditionalism of American society.
Because the American public has not yet deemed women's sports on par with men's sports, female athletes accept had to encompass the media's sexualization to emphasize their femininity and gain publicity and coin. According to Susah K. Cahn, a professor at the University of Buffalo who researches the history of women in sports, since female athletes inherently express strength and independence, which are not traditionally feminine qualities, they are often categorized as masculine and lesbian (57). To counteract such claims, female athletes assert their femininity through the media. Since only a few actually earn large salaries from playing sports, many cover the media'south sexualization because they can show off their bodies while attaining exposure and endorsements.[4] For instance, Anna Kournikova does non actually make a lot of coin from playing tennis, and in fact, has never won a major tournament. Instead, she has become the world's most highly paid women'due south tennis player through endorsements that emphasize her sexual practice appeal over her athleticism (Carty 138). Even athletes from bourgeois communities, such as the Taiwanese runway and field runner and Olympic medalist Chi Cheng, accept thus taken advantage of the media'due south sexualization (Prakash 25). But female person athletes should non even search for such opportunities. Modernist feminist Virginia Woolf contends that women should earn only "enough to be independent of whatsoever other human being and to buy that modicum of health, leisure, cognition and so on that is needed for the total evolution of body and heed" (80). Co-ordinate to this idea, female athletes who pursue sexualized roles only limit their own spiritual growth. However, because they benefit financially from sexualization, balancing material comforts and feminist ideals is highly difficult. Consequently, the media's sexualization of female athletes has only grown increasingly pop despite efforts to resist it.
Even when female athletes attempt to abstain from the media's sexualization, they feel backlash from their viewers and even peers, farther establishing the priority of sex appeal in women's sports. In 1997 the Harvard Law Review found that "female athletes in the United States have historically faced resistance, even outright hostility, for not confining themselves to 'feminine' activities" (1629). Since they further diminish their femininity by refusing to participate in sexualized portrayals, these female athletes run into much criticism from social club, especially male person viewers, for being stubborn and aggressive. On top of this backlash, female athletes who do not feel the need for or oppose sexualization confront disapproval from fellow athletes.[5] Female athletes who encompass sexualization mostly respect the decision of those who oppose sexualization, simply some, such as Olympic champion swimmers Jenny Thompson and Ashley Tappin, have really criticized their peers for not showing off their bodies and following the popular tendency. According to Mark O'Keefe, a national correspondent for the Newshouse News Service, they contend that female person athletes should simply "lighten up" and seize the opportunity to glorify their bodies while raising awareness for women's sports, every bit having such opportunities should be a source of pride rather than shame (O'Keefe). Equally female athletes who oppose sexualization are confronted with criticism from society and their peers, they lose support, money, and camaraderie, seemingly leaving them no choice merely to comply with the media'due south actions. Because sex appeal holds such a substantial influence in today'southward society, female person athletes who challenge the media's sexualization only amerce themselves.
While the media'due south sexualization does grant female athletes more publicity, by concentrating on sex appeal instead of athleticism and skill, the media fail to adequately reflect the athletes' accomplishments. Jo Ann Buysse, the Director of Sport Studies at the Academy of Minnesota, and Melissa Embser-Herbert, a researcher on gender and sexuality in athletics at the Academy of New Brunswick, analyzed intercollegiate media comprehend photographs from 1989 to 1990 and 1996 to 1997. They found that although the media may be trying to emphasize the athletes' heterosexuality and femininity along with their athleticism, they only "farther altitude the prototype of women athletes from athletic competence" (Buysse and Embsert-Herbert 79). According to Modernist feminist Betty Friedan, whose The Feminine Mystique ignited the 2d-wave feminism of the 1960s and 70s, "for the adult female who lives according to the feminine mystique, there is no road to achievement, or status, or identity, except the sexual one" (Friedan 267). Living with the restrictive "feminine mystique," athletes who volunteer for sexualized poses consequently perpetuate their debasement and relinquish their able-bodied achievements in favor of their sexual activity entreatment, which begins to dominate their lives. In her 2004 ESPN article "Olympians Posing Nude, Poses Questions," Laura Boswell, a former higher athlete, claims that past beingness "sexy," these female athletes could also undermine the accomplishments of past and futurity athletes (Boswell). It may be argued that the media'south sexualization of female athletes tin can encourage people, especially men, to support women'southward sports, but increasing true back up would take much more than merely exploiting shallow sexuality (Harvard Constabulary Review 1633). Every bit the media's sexualized representations of female athletes take increasingly emphasized sex activity appeal over athleticism, they have essentially legitimized a lack of recognition for the athletes' accomplishments.
As well minimizing athletic accomplishments, the media's sexualization of female reduces the athletes' self-esteem and identity by dehumanizing and pressuring them into an unhealthy obsession with body prototype. In portraying female person sexuality as a commodity, the media degrade the athletes' confidence past expressing the idea that they are just second-class citizens, if not objects (Interviews with Betty Friedan 91-92). As the sexualization of female athletes becomes more widespread, the athletes will feel pressured to pose for such images and succumb to fifty-fifty more detrimental self-objectification. Elizabeth Daniels, a professor at the University of Oregon who researches well-existence and positive youth development, asserts that as female person athletes adhere to sexualized standards and strive for the perfect physique, they can feel "astringent dissatisfaction with their advent," which can cause "matted eating, negative body esteem, and negative effects on psychological well-beingness" (Daniels 401). Critics of this statement, such as Boswell, may claim that posing for sexualized pictures can increment an athlete'south self-esteem because she feels empowered and flattered, and as long equally she volunteers to pose in sexualized images, her self-esteem would not be greatly affected. Still, the fact that an athlete must cater her body to fit the demands of the media and public contradicts the claim that she is posing for her cocky-confidence. As long as she complies with the media'southward demands, she cannot be genuine to her own identity. Past emphasizing female athletes' sex appeal over athleticism and encouraging the athletes to do the same, the media's sexualization takes away self-esteem and individuality from women's sports.
In add-on to impacting athletes, the media's sexualization of female athletes affects viewers considering while it intends to engage them, it actually creates deep divisions between them and the media'southward messages. Revealing the pervasiveness of sex entreatment in everyday life, the media's sexualized images and commentary announced in national magazines, advertisements, and broadcasts so that virtually, if not all, of the American public tin see them (APA Task Force 9). According to Catherine MacKinnon, a Modernist feminist who specializes in pornography and sexual harassment, the media'southward actions essentially degrade female athletes into objects unrelatable to viewers since "as the homo becomes thing and the common becomes i-sided and the given becomes stolen and sold, objectification comes to define femininity" (26). As a effect, the American public cannot confer upon female person athletes the aforementioned respect as male athletes, and even bodily sports fans cannot be informed of the electric current trends in sports. Thus, the media effectively impede "the development of a base of operations of women's sports fans—a base of operations that could financially sustain professional sports opportunities for women" (Harvard Police force Review 1630). Co-ordinate to Modernist feminist ethics, the objectification of female athletes even endangers the inherent value of sex, which, instead of giving "infinite orgastic elation," can become a "strangely joyless national compulsion, if not a contemptuous mockery" (Friedan 261). While illustrating the value of sex appeal to concenter viewers, the popularity of the media's sexualization ultimately detracts from the media's more than meaningful messages.
Past publicizing glorified, seemingly unattainable standards of women, the media'due south sexualization of female athletes can really diminish the self-esteem of female viewers at large. The media's actions can exhibit a negative influence on all women, particularly younger athletes. In fact, high schoolhouse girls and college women exhibit more self-objectification and negativity towards their own physical appearances when they view images of sexualized athletes than when they view images of performance athletes (Daniels 417). This tendency results from the way that the media sustains an "antifeminist stereotype of Superwoman," which characterizes female person athletes as incomparable idols of beauty and sexual practice entreatment (Steinem 155). Female person viewers may not only succumb to low cocky-esteem, but may also view the athletes every bit sell-outs, taking away valuable support and popularity from women'due south sports. On the other hand, according to Allison Tracy and Sumru Erkut, professors at Wellesley Higher Centers for Women, the media'south images may non diminish the self-confidence of female viewers. After studying sports participation and self-esteem in teenagers, Tracy and Erkut discovered that despite the media'southward sexualized depictions, more and more than girls have joined sports and subsequently developed greater self-esteem (446). All the same, they also found that while the self-esteem of girls increased from sports, information technology was significantly less than that of boys who played sports (454). This tendency tin can exist explained by the fact that boys face less exposure to sexualized representations. Therefore, the media's sexualization can even limit the benefits of sports on young female viewers. Because of the emphasis on sex appeal and objectification of women, the media's actions tend to produce harmful cocky-objectification and breach in female viewers.
The media targets male viewers with their sexualization of female person athletes, but through objectifying women, the media ultimately fail to engage men in women's sports. In their commentaries and broadcasts, the media use sexualized phrases like "naked aggression" to reinforce "already-existing negative attitudes or ambivalences most women's sports and women athletes" (Messner, Duncan, and Jensen 129, 133). Thus, the media distract men from the existent essence of women'due south athletics, preventing the spread of farther sensation and support from the American public. In addition, by highlighting only female athletes' sex appeal and debasing their identities, the media effectively forbid the enjoyment of male viewers. For instance, co-ordinate to Friedan, considering pornographic images deny whatever part of women's identities as well their sexuality, they non only advise the idea that "women are supposed to serve men, sexually and otherwise," but they also exercise not let men to attain real sexual liberation, which cannot exist achieved when i side is rendered passive (Interviews with Betty Friedan 92). By extension of this Modernist feminist theory, if male viewers are not fifty-fifty sexually engaged in the media'due south phrases or images, they will feel awfully uninspired to nourish women's competitions. Fifty-fifty though the media gears its sexualization of female athletes toward men, they only reinforce harmful stereotypes and neglect to entice male viewers into condign true female person sports fans.Connected on Next Folio »
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