There has always been a certain connection between masculinity and sports. In an article written by Nick Trujillo, he states that sport plays a crucial role in symbolizing masculinity in our culture. Trujillo believes there are five forms of hegemonic masculinity that are widely accepted in our society. Those five forms listed in Trujillo’s article are “(1) physical force and control, (2) occupational achievement, (3) familial patriarchy, (4) frontiersmanship, and (5) heterosexuality”. Can you think of any ways in which these forms can be applied to sports? Trujillo states that “Perhaps no single institution in American culture has influenced our sense of masculinity more than sport”. Sports are a way for masculinity to be displayed through on-field competition, violence, fan passion, and advertisements. Can you think of any advertisements shown during sporting events that display masculinity? Or can you think of any ways in which sports fans display their masculinity? Sports are also a great way for the media to impose masculinity on the public, according to Trujillo. What are some ways you can think of where the media imposes masculinity on the public through sports?
In Trujillo’s article, he states that “Media representations of sport reaffirm and reproduce the features of hegemonic masculinity”. Masculinity and sports come hand and hand; one is connected with the other. Why is this so? And why is sport associated with masculinity more so than anything else in our culture? Also, Trujillo lists heterosexuality as one of his five features of hegemonic masculinity. While this does not just apply specifically to sports, what role does sexuality play in sports? What would the impact of an athlete openly acknowledging that he is gay be?
Trujillo also mentions that in sports, the media “has placed far more emphasis on marginalizing women as cheerleaders, spectators, and advertising women”. I would take this a step further and say that sports actually marginalize female athletes. In 2007, the University of Colorado’s football coach was suspended for comments made about walk-on kicker Katie Hnida, a female who was playing on the men’s team. One day after Hnida accused a fellow teammate of raping her, Coach Barnett told reporters that Hnida was “an ‘awful’ player and said she couldn’t ‘kick the ball through the uprights’.” (www.cbsnews.com) Barnett was completely insensitive to the rape accusation, and actually took that opportunity to blast Hnida’s on-field performance. Instead of standing up and defending her, Barnett chose to scold her. Barnett was not fired for the comments that he made. What does this say about the treatment of women in the sports culture? Can you think of any other ways where women are marginalized through sports in our culture?
According to Van Zoonen, gender does not determine our identity; there are other factors that determine our identity. While I agree with Van Zoonen to a certain extent, I also feel that gender definitely influences our identity. Take the Colorado football incident as an example. If that kicker was a male, do you think that his coach would have come to his defense? But because the kicker was a female the coach undermined her story. Also, the five forms of hegemonic masculinity listed by Trujillo identify some of the basic characteristics that a male in our society should have. If a male does not fit these five forms, they are seen as deviant and are part of the minority. One could make the argument that society and the media play a large role in shaping one’s identity. So with this being said, do you think gender is the main factor in determining one’s identity? Or is one’s identity determined by other factors such as the media?
Trujillo, Nick. "Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture." Cultural Studies in Mass Communication, 1991.
Van Zoonen, Liesbet. “A ‘New’ Paradigm?” Chapter 3. Ed. Denis McQuail. McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage, 2002
"Coach Suspended For Rape Remark." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 05 Dec. 2007. Web. 08 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-601302.html>.
Times are undoubtedly changed, and still changing. The sports culture is one that needs to be more reflective of society because right now it hardly represents women as well respected athletes. Rather the industry and the advertising that coincides depict women fans and athletes (for the most part) as marginalized and inferior to male fans and male athletes. As a woman myself I do want to add in that there are MANY women who are not into sports and pick a team because of the color of their uniform (which drives me insane), but its unfair for people like me to get lumped into the category.
ReplyDeleteWith so much to tackle in very little space, I want to focus on the media representing masculinity through sports and advertisements, and go a bit in to the underrepresentation in these areas as well (as briefly as possible for these purposes). After reading both of the assigned articles, in tandem with this blog post, I am outraged at the way that women are represented and more importantly, how men are idealized. I am in no way, shape or form a feminist, but do speak for myself as an individual who absolutely loves sports and plays just about all of them.
ReplyDeleteTrujillo writes, “Perhaps no single institution in American culture has influenced our sense of masculinity more than sport.” This goes for the sport alone, its outreach through the media, and the advertisements that fans see both at home and at the stadium. Trujillo goes on to say that “The corporatization of sports also as provided far more opportunities for male participants than for female participants and has placed far more emphasis on the marginalization of women as cheerleaders, spectators, and advertising images (292). Almost immediately Danica Patrick came to mind for her association with GoDaddy.com first, and then that she is a racecar driver as well. Even though GoDaddy.com is a business for those developing websites, using Patrick as an advertising image in subjective in that it is targeting men and honing in on this idea of masculinity. These commercials played during the Super Bowl and continue to play during sporting events now. The second advertisement to come to mind was any Budweiser ad. I feel that these commercials are predominantly associated with men drinking and a sporting event of some kind.
Fans display masculinity in doing ridiculous things at games such as painting words/letters on their chests and faces, dressing in some costume form, crushing beer cans, and fighting with fans supporting the opposition. Things of this nature are all still heavily associated with male behavior regardless of the numerous women who participate as well. This coincides with what Linda Lazier-Smith is quoted in saying by Van Zoonen that the advertising industry is behind the times… “Although the demographies (the math) has changed dramatically, the attitude (mentality) has not… We seem to be suffering from a cultural lag – our culture’s beliefs and attitudes and opinions on women are lagging behind the reality about women” (McQuail 48). This goes for the advertising industry as well as the media industry in general.
In terms of sports, women are extremely underrepresented as athletes and as fans. Most everything we see is centered on men playing whatever game, and men drinking this type of beer and driving this type of car, etc. As Steve noted Trujillo as stating, “Media representations of sport reaffirm and reproduce the features of hegemonic masculinity.” This masculinity, though displayed in some light by many women, will not get the attention it rightfully deserves. The media and advertisers choose to keep the world of sports as “a man’s world” more or less. Like Van Zoonen said, there is a definite “cultural lag.” Women are no longer solely in the kitchen getting the food together for the men to watch the game. More and more there are females, like myself, watching the game, eating wings, and drinking beer, just like men do. On an even higher level, there are so many women playing sports at a professional level not getting so much as half of the attention that professional male athletes are. This is because the industry has been biased for as long as it has existed
Masculinity in sports is something that we see a lot and especially in the media and more so on certain channels. Sports are an area of media that is very popular and with that said it needs to be refined even more. Male sports in the media are very popular which is kind of interesting and has raised a lot of controversy. When I turn on the TV and go to an ESPN, ESPN2, NBC Sports, or any other sporting channel its mainly male based or showing male sports highlights. Now gender in sports is something that we have seen many feuded start up over. The most recent one I can think of is that the CEO of IBM who is a woman now tried to join Augusta National Golf Club which is where the master’s tournament is held. She was denied because in the rules of the club no female is allowed to join as a member. It is something that raised some thoughts and was thought to be very unfair. In Van Zoonen’s article it states “The identity that emerges is therefore fragmented and dynamic; gender does not determine or exhaust identity.”(51). Looks how many female athletes we have out in the professional world today, we have a lot but they are overshadowed most of the times because of the male athletes being bigger, stronger, more skilled. That is why they get more media attention because they become more of celebrities then athletes. A classic example of this would be LeBron James’s TV special when he was deciding whether to stay in Cleveland or move to a different team. Due to his masculinity and skills as a player he used that to propel himself towards being a media figure or celebrity figure getting him more TV coverage. A majority of the times in sports we also see the most coverage given to those athletes who are heterosexual. A large controversy has risen where players who come out stating they are homosexual they get scrutinized. In T article it states “Finally, masculinity is hegemonic when heterosexually define. Rubin (1985) refers to the “sex hierarchy” and predictably, the type of sexuality that rules is ‘good’, ‘normal’, and ‘natural’”. (292). There have been many professional sports teams, coaches, and players who have gotten behind the movement that would end the bias of having to be heterosexual to play sports professionally. The movement is aiming towards allowing the players who are as masculine or might be homosexual to speak out and accept them for who they are and how they play rather than their sexual preferences. Part of this struggle is because they fear how they will be perceived by the media. There are a lot of areas in sports that might be very ethic and the media certainly doesn’t do a good job of trying to help in fixing it whether it be gender or sexual preferences. If these areas were ever to be fixed and accepted it is going to start with the media and fall on their shoulders as trying to do a better job to spread the word.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I utilized Nick Trujillo’s article an ample amount for the Theory to Practice assignment and I was asking myself similar questions that you are. In the article, as you said, one of the hegemonic masculine features is heterosexuality. I began to wonder what would happen if there was a new talented athlete who was a homosexual? Would the media shy away from his athletic performances and focus more time on other individuals? Or would it have the opposite effect, and attract a great amount of media attention and fan admiration? Sports media has a tendency to become obsessive with athletes who have characteristics that separate them from the average player in their sport. Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow are the first athletes that come to my mind.
ReplyDeleteYou also ask if anyone has seen commercials illustrating masculine hegemony, I have seen many. Alot of Under Armor, Adidas, Gatorade, and protein powder advertisements almost always use an athlete falling into this ideology. The production team usually uses close-up shots on bulging biceps, dripping sweat, and popping veins to portray a strong and athletic human. As Trujillo projects, “Sport provides the commonest contemporary source of male imagery (Trujillo, 301).” To be realistic, a good number of successful athletes are strong and have a muscular build. Advertisers overdramatize this athletic figure with the different camera angles, background music, and inspiring quotes to lure others try and achieve this hegemonic ideal using their product.
As a spectator who has a tremendous amount of respect for all sorts of sports, I strongly feel the misrepresentation of both genders in sports media is a huge problem. I believe that major sports networks need to place a greater emphasis on women’s games. Right now the only time women’s sports get airtime on news stations or sports networks is when there are playoff matchups or a controversial story everyone will gravitate toward. Considering sports journalists, anchors, and media professionals have substantial experience understanding a wide variety of sports, there should be a greater responsibility on them to reach out to those who lack the knowledge. One starting point would be to inquire more female producers in the sports media industry to create a more balanced media product (Zoonen, 47). By having more women on production teams, there is a much greater familiarity with women’s sports, which permeates into the minds of opinion leaders. If the production team knows the great aspects of female sports, and knows how to transmit those aspects in a way the common person can appreciate, there will be an increase in fan base.
Ali brings up two great points. There are female sports fans that may solely root for a team based on the uniform appearance and there are others who are the most loyal fans on the planet. I bring her statements up because it shows the male dominant ideology is absolutely not overlooked over by everyone. Other unfair ideologies may be subtle but there is a group who disagrees with how women are depicted as sports fans and athletes. This is a significant enough reason to implement change.
Part I
ReplyDeleteI believe that women as athletes and women as sports fans are under and misrepresented by the media. Ali and Steve both use a quote from Trujillo in which he states women are “marginalized as cheerleaders and spectators,” among other things. The female sports fan is seen often represented as just a cheerleader. Generally speaking, women are depicted as only enjoying sports because of some male influence, whether it is their father, a brother, a male friend, or a boyfriend. In addition, women are stereotyped as only watching the games because they think the athletes are attractive, and there is no interest beyond that. It is often conveyed by the media that a woman can not enjoy sports or understand sports on her own; she needs that male influence sitting on the couch next to her to really understand the game. While there is some truth to this stereotype, as there is with all stereotypes, there are many exceptions. As a female sports fan, who often understands some sports better than my male friends, I take offense to this stereotype of a female fan. I have, as I am sure other women have, took it upon myself to understand certain sports more, without simply going to a male fan, and watch the sporting events for the sport themselves, not just to watch attractive men compete.
The underrepresentation of women and male dominance in sports can be seen through the amount of media attention that female athletes and games receive. You watch ESPN on any given day and the amount of airtime given to any female athletes is minimal, if any at all. The American women’s professional soccer league had to cancel their entire season because of a severe lack of attendance at events and coverage by the media. When it comes down to it, unless it is Olympics time or tennis, women’s sports are ignored.
The superstars in sports are generally highly masculine males. When I try to think of a female athlete that does gain a significant amount of media attention one that comes to mind is Serena Williams. She is a very successful athlete, winning a number of tournaments, but also she is in the media because she embodies the stereotypical athlete. Trujillo states “The male body comes to represent power, and power itself is masculinized as physical strength, force, speed, control, toughness, and domination” (Trujillo 291). When describing William’s body and the way she plays tennis those same words can be used to describe her, so consequently she would be described as masculine. These masculine qualities are what make Williams such a great athlete and result in the media attention she gets. She is praised for these qualities that are inherently masculine, further perpetuating the desire for masculine dominance in sports.
Part II
ReplyDeleteIt is just not the female athletes and fans that are misrepresented in sports media, it is also the female sports anchors that fall victim. I remember a conversation I had with a few of my male friends in which they were all complaining that they don’t want to hear or watch a woman talking about sports on television on radio. They went to further comment that the female sports anchors seemed looked like bimbos with big hair and no real knowledge of sports. I was bother by the fact that they still had the backwards thinking that women did not belong in the sports media realm, but when I thought about the women I see on ESPN or any other type of sports coverage they do seem to fall into this sexist stereotype.
In “A New Paradigm” Van Zoonen states quotes Ross Muir who states, “If a film or a television company is a mini sexist society, with women congregated in the lower paid service and support jobs, how can we expect the image of women that they produce to be anything but sexist?” (Van Zoonen). She further comments, “According to such views, an increase in the number of female media producers would be instrumental to creating a more balanced media product” (Van Zoonen). The reason why women who get on air for sports analyzing or reporting have the same general look and report sense of no real understanding is because the producing is still a male dominate arena. With that, the men often want to keep the strong sense of masculinity in sports, so females are given a certain image they have to fill in order to find success within this media. If women were taken more seriously as sports reporters, analysts and producers the misrepresentation and stereotypes of women in sports media may be able to change.
Trujillo, Nick. "Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture." Cultural Studies in Mass Communication, 1991.
Van Zoonen, Liesbet. “A ‘New’ Paradigm?” Chapter 3. Ed. Denis McQuail. McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage, 2002
The forms listed by Nick Trujillo,” physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality”, have roots in western traditions from hundreds of years ago. These objectives, traditionally championed by males, were associated with strength and honor, attributes that reigned more powerful than academics in past societies, or roles played by woman during those times. Violent wars, duels, and other tests of physical strength were the means in which honor was tested, and strength on the battlefield meant strength in society. The competition to be the best, by means of bloodshed, carried over into other aspects of the daily life of these people, where the objective was not to kill, but to compete for honor. Thus sports were developed with the same qualities as battle, an alternative reinforcement to masculinity. Today, we have the idea that high contact sports such as football and hockey are more masculine than others like golf or tennis. There are reasons for this other than traditional ideals of strength and power that influence this view. Advertisments shown during sporting events champion masculine behavior, and influence the viewer to associate with such acts on two levels. The first level is the advertisements for sporting products, where the champion in the commercial pushes harder than ever and can accomplish the toughest feats of physical strength due to the power of the product. This will influence the consumer to invest in the product to also associate with these traditional images of masculinity by running faster or laying a big hit against an opponent. The next level is the advertisements for the fans who may not participate in the sporting event themselves, but are avid fans and want to participate in the masculine behavior by observing the sport. These ads are mostly beer commercials, where woman are objectified, and men are gathered in team like groups yelling and cheering in front of the television watching a high impact sport. These advertisements influence masculinity as much or possibly more by objectifying woman, than the participation in the sports themselves.
ReplyDeletePart 2
ReplyDeleteSports is associated with masculinity more so than anything else in our culture today because unlike past civilizations, war is not at the center of our daily lives, and thus men can better show their power through competition. The tradition of strength and power being masculine is very much still present and championed in our society. Heterosexuality is listed as one of the five features of hegemonic masculinity, which also plays a role in sports. Many people who view sports would be upset if they knew their star quarterback was homosexual. While this doesn’t affect physical play, many deem it to be against masculinity, which traditionally goes hand in hand with sports. If an athlete openly acknowledges that he is gay, this may not affect him on the playing field at all, but in the eyes of the spectators, this could greatly change their view on the player in a negative way. This lack of masculinity is another reason why the main sports broadcasted are men’s sports, and why there is little to none women coverage. Women’s basketball for example takes some brutal shots from the media and the opinions of male sports viewers. People would rather watch the male equivalent in many cases, because there is more power and strength associated with it and represented by the media. Woman traditionally, in the advertisements especially, associates themselves with being attracted to the star male athletes, which reinforces a separation of genders and objectifies women in many cases. If the advertisements themselves aren’t doing that while someone is viewing a sports game, then surely the women dressed as cheerleaders on the sides of the field are. By watching these events from a young age, or at any age in general, we are gaining knowledge on our gender roles, which can influence our identities. Van Zoonen states gender does not determine our identity, which I believe is inaccurate to state on such a broad level. “Defined as such, gender is an intrinsic part of culture – loosely defined as the production of meaning – and is subject to continuous discursive struggle and negotiation.”(Van Zoonen 51) Our gender role portrayed to us through the media definitely has an influence on our identities, whether we choose to reinforce those portrayals or not is up to the individual.
Trujillo, Nick. "Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture." Cultural Studies in Mass Communication, 1991.
Van Zoonen, Liesbet. “A ‘New’ Paradigm?” Chapter 3. Ed. Denis McQuail. McQuail’s Reader in Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage, 2002
I do agree with Nick Trujillo when he says “perhaps no single institution in American culture has influenced our sense of masculinity more than sport.” An advertisement I feel expressed sports masculinity was an early 1990s Nike “I Not A Role Model” Charles Barkley stared in the commercial to show he is a basketball player, and his actions off the court should not reflect how people view his game. He states, “I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreck havoc on the court…Just because I dunk a basketball, doesn’t mean I should raise your kids” (“Nike Air Commercial Charles Barkley). I love that commercial and I respect Barkley for doing it, but I believe it is extremely masculine because no one can imagine a female athlete staring in this commercial nowadays, much less the early 1990s.
ReplyDeleteAdvertisements and merchandise are huge ways sports corporations impose masculinity on the public. Companies such as Nike, Reebok and Gatorade cast mostly male athletes in their commercials. Sports conglomerates such as the Yankees sell merchandise with the promise “you will be just like a Yankee.” There aren’t many female sports where women are brought forward as sports idols. The few exceptions I can think of are the 1996 US Women’s World Cup champions, Venus and Serena Williams and any medalist in the Olympics. It’s an unbalanced beam of gender equality in the sports world.
Sports are viewed masculine because men are raised to think sports are the ultimate past time. If a male can’t play sports, he at least should know about sports. Athletes are strong, able-bodied, looked to as leaders, which are all attributes society places on men. When a women comes in and throws the beam off balances, that is when the eyebrows are raised and criticism comes in, more often than not, where criticism is not deserved.
One movie that has gender discourse as a main theme is Love and Basketball. The two main characters, one male and one female, play basketball their entire lives and they both make the USC teams. The male has a spectacular freshmen year and immediately gets drafted to the NBA, while the female has a break through mid-year freshmen year and she ends up being on of the top USC players by the time she graduates. The male is completely phased away in the NBA, and he eventually has a career ending injury. He is still looked upon as “someone who made it to the NBA” even though he barely even played. The female however, had to play ball in Europe because there were no options for female athletes after college. I’m happy to see the WNBA has been founded, but it is aggravating to think that women who dedicated years of hard work still get the short end of the stick to male athletes who presume everything is handed to them. Women still have a long way to go, but they have definitely made a dent in the world of sports.
Trujillo, Nick. "Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture." Cultural Studies in Mass Communication, 1991.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMzdAZ3TjCA
There is definitely a problem with how women are seen in sports.
ReplyDeleteThere are obvious signs, such as the cheerleaders on the sideline. It’s not the presence of the cheerleaders that is an issue (although some may argue about that) – it’s what the cheerleaders are asked to do later that might be, such as posing provocatively for special calendars (that people use for the dates like people read Playboy for the articles) or posing as the sexier representatives of sports franchises (I think Maxim magazine has a feature which takes cheerleaders of each team and then dresses them in next to nothing for an issue).
Trujillo makes an off-handed remark in his article, in parentheses, that sportswriters “often comment on the attractiveness of many female athletes” (Trujillo 302), which I think is an innate method of giving less credibility to them. While Serena and Venus Williams, who were some of the most dominant tennis players of recent times, were applauded for their athletic prowess, they were also constantly glamorized – whether it was endlessly discussing elegant, sexy dresses they wore to a major media event (I believe it was the MTV VMA’s but I can’t be sure) or even the “dresses” they wore on the court. Tennis player Anna Kournikava was less celebrated as a talented prodigy, more for being attractive. Still keeping with tennis, Maria Sharapova may be a talented player, and is always a contender for any major title, but she’s more famous for being the pretty face of Nike and Canon cameras, and I even remember reading an article or blurb exclusively about her preference for wearing gold everywhere – as earrings, as necklaces, as rings, even tied into her shoes. What that had to do with tennis, I still have no idea.
Even when women “infiltrate” the realm of sportswriting or broadcasting, they aren’t immune to being objectified. Erin Andrews, a sideline reporter and host of several shows on SportsCenter, isn’t celebrated as much for her reporting prowess as she is for being a Dancing With the Stars contestant (which also allowed her to become tabloid fodder when they suggested a possible romance between her and the dancer Maksim, if my memory is accurate) and a face for Reebok’s Zigtech line of shoes (as opposed to being the voice for CINTAS on the radio). Maggie Hendricks wrote for Yahoo! Sports last September (http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/daily-take/201109/when-will-disgusting-treatment-women-sportswriters-stop) that women are often attacked after making critical comments about athletes or teams “not for their ideas but for their sex” – with sites like Twitter making it really easy to hassle female sportswriters and bark at them to go back to their kitchen where they belong because being a woman obviously meant they know nothing about sports.
(I personally find that really weird because I learned about the American sports of basketball and baseball through a female cousin, learned more about cricket through another female cousin, and some of the bigger soccer fans I’ve seen are girls and that has little to do with how Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo looks.)
DeleteI feel that there is a marginalization and idealization of women in the sports realm that goes completely uncontested. Even when we should be discussing the skills and talent of the players, there is a strong urge to objectify them. Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition magazines occasionally feature athletes – in either skimpy bikinis or nothing but body-paint. ESPN personalities on-air and on the radio often refer to the good looks of female athletes (I remember one radio host who was in love with Serena Williams and Hope Solo, the US soccer team goalkeeper) while their magazine’s Bodies We Want issue feature a slew of athletes (both male and female, admittedly) in different stages of concealed nudity (and oiled muscles). Playboy is infamous for bringing athletes out of their uniforms or leotards and into the nude – magazines like Maxim and GQ at least let them keep some clothing on while giving an interview runs on the side touching briefly on sporting successes, how they came to play the sport… and what kind of men approach them or ask them out. I never recall football players being asked about if women come up to them – I think because it’s just assumed they do (another marginalization aspect). And that doesn’t even begin to touch upon the types of women usually seen during commercials of major sporting events (always slim, always pretty, sometimes wearing oversized jerseys – which has its own sexual connotations, apparently) or the lack of women sporting events promoted by media outlets, professional leagues or academic institutions. You might be lucky enough to catch a women’s college basketball game on ESPN because the coaches and programs have star power – good luck finding a channel that plays WNBA games. And if you’ve ever been to a women’s volleyball game, you will realize few sporting events are as exciting – but they are hardly marketed by anyone, let alone the school.
It’s a sad state of affairs when I can keep listing off issues from the top of my head, without needing to resort to notes, and I still overran the word count limit without going deep into anything.