For my Digital Story project, I would like to spread
awareness on the discrimination of female athletes in the media. Female athletes are not shown near the same
recognition in the media as men are as professional athletes, or even college
athletes. When tuning into the sports
section of the news or even on ESPN, it is very rarely that you see the stories
being covered involving women sports. It
is no secret that women sports are not shown equally on television, or in a
source of social media, although there seems to be no sense of change for the
issue anytime soon. 40% of
sport and physical activity participants are women, but on 6%-8% of total
media sports coverage is devoted to women sports. Also out of the
four major newspapers (USA today, Boston Globe, Orange County Register, and the
Dallas Morning News) only 3.5% of all sports stories are about only women. Another issue dealing with Female athletes
and social media is that female athletes do not have the luxury of being
primarily portrayed as performance athletes, as coverage of their beauty and
sex appeal usually over-shadow highlights of their on-field accomplishments. Although
these newspapers, and television channels are simply giving the viewers what
they want. The targeted viewers of these
channels and of sport sections in social media, are male and these men are
looking for strength and impressive talent in sports, which is best shown by
male athletes. The perception of the
role of women is perhaps largely to blame. Women are still seen more in the
role or spectators, cheerleaders, supportive wives and mothers than for any
athletic abilities they may possess. Commercial and advertisements tend to
emphasize this and dwell on physical attributes and other factors rather than
talent. Women are generally viewed as “women
first, and female second”, by their clothes and poses in magazines and commercials.
Media is not only degrading the athlete’s
accomplishments and self- esteem, but also alienate viewers and impede the
feminist movement. Media’s sexulization
does grant female athletes more publicity by concentrating on sex appeal
instead athleticism and skill. The media also generally tries to target male
viewers with their sexualization of female athletes, but through objectifying
women, the media ultimately fails to engage men in women’s sports. The American public has not deemed women’s
sports on par with men’s sports, and female athletes have had to embrace the
media’s sexualization to emphasize their femininity and gain publicity and
money. “Female athletes in the United States have historically faced
resistance, even outright hostility, for mot confining themselves to ‘feminine’
activities” was a statement made by The Harvard Law Review in 1997. The change of view on female athletes by the
American public, would be the next necessary step in order to gain recognition
and respect for female athletes in our country.
Sources:
mahidachintan.com/documents/Dec-2012/1201.pdf
