EXAM 4 STUDY GUIDE Thursday November 14 Sports Media and Gender Framing Sexuality o Playing Unfair The Media Image of the Female Athlete MEF 2003 clip http www youtube com watch v luadmO7Cugc o Women athletes are hyper sexualized off the court o Media uproar surrounding female athletes Anna Kournikova Amanda Beard etc revelaing poses has been framed around the tensions between female empowerment as well as female objectification o Girl culture emerges o Hyper sexualized o Reflects strong cultural anxieties over changing definition of femininity and masculinity o This reality undermines the power of women as athletes especially as a challenge to the traditional notions of masculinity o Individual athletes may choose to buy into this for various reasons but still must consider effects on both women and men AAF study example Brandi Chastain s chest or more specifically her black sports bra Study Anna Kournikova tabloid stories featured her although she has never won a title Stevenson s study found that TV coverage made male fans worship her and did not focus on tennis but her desirability as a woman Infantilization o Treated like children o Often cited example Women athletes as America s Sweetheart like o Girls are referred to as girls as opposed to the men that are playing the US Gymnasts as boys o Makes women look submissive to men o Girls are referred to as by their first names not their last like men are When they are on the court like Serena Some are different like Kobe and Lebron Hierarchy of naming Reporters calling female athletes by their first name Reduces women to a subordinate status Emotionality o There is a general stereotype women cry and are more sensitive guys don t cry and aren t sensitive o A lot of this comes down to how the announcers present it o Guys are talked about using terms intensity driven to success fire in them burning passion propels them to succeed o Women morale boosters team oriented cooperative women came out of grief and that drives them usually you see stories like this o This different way of framing is very much in line with these everyday conceptions of how women and men operate o DE individualization of women o Women cooperate they don t necessarily compete Women s emotions made them moral people more cooperative and team or community minded Commentators focused on women s grief weak as what inspired their performance while they highlighted men s heart or fire strong Sexual orientation places in our lives o Non hetero normativity is somewhat a problem different from other o The threat of lesbianism which is felt by teams and leagues by these underlying assumptions that lesbianism is bad o No team or league has had to deal more with this than the WNBA o Guys If you play sports you better not be gay assumption o If girls play sports it is assumed that they are a lesbian these claims are associated w certain types of sports o The more physical the sport the greater the assumption of homosexuality 1999 Women s World Cup Soccer Championship researchers found that the explanation for the US women s team victory was based on their masculine qualities and women empowerment was stressed in news lines enhancing the national status of our democratic country They were seen as role models for young girls non competitive roles WNBA com vs NBA com o WNBA has more rules which makes it less exciting to watch for viewers o Tamika Catchings one of the greatest players to play at the WNBA Smaller print Something more than an athlete o Women sports always have to be marked with women or lady men s sports are understood Examples WNBA LPGA tour Lady Raiders Women s World Cup o Women are portrayed as athletes sometimes 2000 AAF Study minimal coverage given to female athletes Discursion of dating habits of female athletes and domestic tasks Rarely leadership roles Gender Marking o Women s sports are differentiated by men s sports by sticking Women s in it men s sports are understood marketing strategy o Term lady when playing violent sports o They do the same thing with fashion like Express Men because it is women dominated Shows the male sports have primacy and need no qualification Examples http www utsports com sports w baskbl tenn w baskbl body html Show the women s basketball team being with family eating food traveling They show the men s basketball team actually playing and practicing warming up training etc It shows men are more into the sport www goladyraiders com Michigan vs Texas Tech Talked about a short interview on how they will prep for the next game http www latechsports com sports w baskbl Brief interview discussing stats of LaTech o More examples FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2011 it was called the FIFA Women s world cup in Germany o Final Four Atlanta 2013 Women s Final Four in NOLA Tuesday November 19 21st Sports Media Masculinity Framing Three Basic Issues Wrestling with Manhood Boys Bullying and Battering clip Tremendous popularity of wrestling does not help WWE has the highest rated cable programs every week Men learn to scare intimidate other people and especially not back away from confrontation Women are stripped from power and basic humanity Their point is to ENTERTAIN 1 Sports as a venue for objectifying women o Examples used in class Bleacher Report SPORTS ILLUSTRATED o College football picks demonstrate the manly strength within football 2 Sports as a place for real men o Clip Tough Guise http www youtube com watch v 3exzMPT4nGI Defines what a real man is competitive athletic and strong Also discusses stereotypes Latino men are almost always If you get an insult it is to keep boys boxed in portrayed as criminals boxers etc Asian men are portrayed as violent criminals or martial artists for example o Men are not supposed to cry or show emotion o Men are not supposed to show hurt physical or mental effects o Real men are leaders and are deeply rooted o Someone who earns what he gets o Richie Incognito was accused of bullying his excuse was to make the team better Jonathan Martin felt bullied synopsis o What gets thrown out is that Jonathan Martin should have never left the team if he was a real man o Men learn all of this through the media 3 Sports as a bastion for homophobia BBC Documentary on Sports and Homophobia in 3 parts on YouTube view in this order http www youtube com watch v wjU2FeU 3qI feature c4 overview list UU0L2fpPRCaXatg7OyKBPMug http www youtube com watch v vDYOPXyXEaQ feature c4 overview list UU0L2fpPRCaXatg7OyKBPMug