Gender Biases in media sports

Media reinforcing hegemonic masculinity in sports

Infantilizing female athletes

Male Commentators target women athletes

putting sexual visuals

making trivial jokes

express less excitement when covering female athletes

cultivation theory

negative portrayal of women in sport

mainstreaming notion

change culture in sports department

hire more female commentators

ESPN magazines

features mostly male athletes

looking heroic, dressed in athletic attire, words used are strong, powerful

to increase sales

featuring female athletes

feminized, not dressed in athletic attire and words use are hot, sexy

shows sports are less important for women athletes.

depreciate sportswomen's accomplishments

roles as mothers or girlfriends before athletes

socially suitable

fundamental roles for women

referred them as "Girls" or "young ladies"

symbolic oppression

Less media coverage to the female-dominated sports

Television Networks

target audience men

showing female models, nudes and weaker than men

SportsCenter only gave 2% of women sports coverage

feature sportswomen who are hotter than better

women as non-athletic and men as athletic

women's sports are relegated to secondary channels

self-feeding cycle

ESPN2

Rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, figure skating

results in less sponsorships

less money for the sport and athlete

celebrity status influenced

advertisement revenue

commit to consistent coverage

Subtopic

sexual objectifying

media focuses more on their physical attractiveness than their performance

Maria Sharapova, a tennis player

Survival of the prettiest

dress code differences

devoting less time to the coverage women's sports events

women's sports shown at the margins of the screen whereas main focus on men's sports

Gender Marking

"women's hockey" and "ladies golf"

CBS's coverage of NCAA used pink to denote women's matches

women sports are categorized as others

men's sports referred as just "hockey" and "golf"

CBS's used blue color to denote men matches

Men as powerful

women as weak

institutional oppression for women