KNES 344 MIDTERM 2

what is the significance of Cheryl Cooky?

feminist theorizing on media representation of women athletes and womens sport (progress in womens sport is not linear, significant lack of media coverage of women sports and women athletes in the USA)

what did Cheryl Cooky explore?

how womens sport is represented in media on mass, historical trajectory on women and girls sports

how is the trajectory of women and girls sports characterized?

characterized by simultaneous progress but also continued discrimination and barriers to participation at the same time, at structural and cultural levels leading to persistent forms of inequality

what did a lot of literature about gender (in) equality in media about women and girls start with?

title XI (protection and increasing funding opportunities), see influx of participation in womens sport with title XI but progress isnt linear (not across all sports in all areas of countries, still issues of accessibility, resources, compensation, promotion, and media coverage)

what was the idea of the “year of the woman”?

due to accomplishments of female athletes, broadcast had the highest tv rating

what was the issue with saying “the year of the woman”?

sends message that womens sports are special and out of the ordinary (ex: dont hear year of mens sports), lets news media off the hook and gives the pass of engaging with a sustained and systematic view of womens sports

what are majority of media coverages and stories of sports focused on? What are the trends we see with coverage of womens sports?

decline in coverage of womens sports, spent less time covering womens sports in 2014 than 1900s, ESPN spent most of their stories talking about mens sport

how does college basketball show women and mens media coverage?

men and women in the same sport at the same time but still spend more time on mens tournaments than womens

are disparities in media coverage confined to big sporting events?

no, news media covered mens sport (basketball, football, and baseball) regardless of whether or not it was in season, it was never to early or late to talk about mens sports

are their just discrepancies of how much time is spent on media coverage for men and womens sports?

no its also about how

what is the difference between how men and womens sport is portrayed in sports? WHAT ADJECTIVES ARE USED TO DESCRIBE EACH

mens sport seen as battle, thriller, sensational or picture perfect, womens sport seen as bland (strategy by which sports media trivialized womens sport)

what are some social media campaigns in regards to media coverage for womens sports?

#covertheathlete, produced video asking what if sports journalists treated male athletes like they do female athletes, male sports would never be like this and men act astonished

how did serena william demonstrate the lack of media coverage for womens sport?

they thought a horse was more deserving of the sports person of the year award than her

how is the lack of media coverage for women seen in magazines?

35/716 magazine covers were female athletes and only 11 poses similar to male athletes, because of lack of coverage we are more likely to see women as sexualized than men in sports and as athletes

what did marian wright say to demonstrate the lack of media coverage for womens sport?

you cant be what you cant see, positive images of female athletes sends powerful message that we value womens sports in our society

How can sports media that includes women benefit them?

sports can help accelerate a womens leadership and career potential, media creates demand as much as they meet it

what research has been done to explore gender (in)equality in media?

large body of scholarship over the past 50+ years used diverse methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives (within and outside perspectives) to explore and document gender disparities in the quantity and quality of media coverage across media forms

what did research done to explore gender (in)equality in media find??

womens sport receiving less quantity, less respectful, and poorer quality coverage than mens sports

is the lack of media coverage for womens sport the same for all sports?

important variations across sports and competition type, signs that these are longstanding patterns that have existed and may be shifting a little in recent years but still uneven across domains we see in sport

Is the degree of gender inequality important in sports?

it matters because media is the primary way we consume sport, available images and storylines we see are influential to how we think as individuals about women in sports

what does womens invisibility in media support/maintain?

supports gendered hierarchy of power where men are dominant over women in sports spaces

how has the media landscape in regards to gender (in) equality evolved overtime?

power has shifted towards digital and social media (ex:Ilona maher), commercial growth in some womens sports has been accompanied by new broadcast deals which grant mainstream visibility (ex:NCAA TV rights)

what did the example of Ilona maher show us?

a lot of positivity with what she did but people commented on her body weight/shape and masculinity, questioned if she was a woman

what are the positives of social media for womens sports?

women athletes can use sport specific platforms as influencers and spokespeople to gain prominence and help with professionalization and commercial growth of womens sport spaces

what do women athletes usually need to do in order to be able to use social media and media to their benefit?

have to extend waiver and build online digital presence given their underrepresentation in their status as public figures and is accompanied by risk like harassment

how has the contract for TV rights different between men and women?

contract for TV rights for DV1 mens basketball was negotiated as a single property worth 1 billion dollars but DV1 womens basketball was bundled with 29 other NCAA championships and was only valued at 34 million per year even thought its valued at 104-112 million dollars

how did TV rights change for ESPN and NCAA in september 2024?

began 8 year 920 million dollar agreement covering 40 championships with 21 of them womens (basketball, softball, volleyball) but they’re still a part of the mens bundle with more focus on mens basketball and football

what is seen in terms of the amount of media coverage of women’s sport?

20% (2025) of all sports coverage, 15% (2022), 5.9% (2019), 5.1% (1993), 5% (1989) (USA), in Canada less than 10% of nations sport media coverage in 2022

when womens sport are discussed how are they portrayed?

they are in mundane ways as compared to exciting way that mens sport is described (ex: use of adjectives and descriptors), women athletes are often represented in sexualized or trivialized ways

what other factors impact how womens sports are discussed in media?

organizational and cultural factors like institutionalized media organization and assumptions of audience preference and dominance of mens roles in media companies, vineer of objectivity in gender and women in sport, and these contribute to taken for granted and common sense ideas

what is meant by saying women athletes are represented in sexualized and trivialized ways?

rooted in sexist ideas of womens bodies and capabilities and reinforcement of socially constructed ideas that boys and men are natural athletes and mens sport is more exciting, reinforces heteropatriarchal norms of sport and wider social context

How is the potrayal of women athletes in the olympics different now?

as soon as olympics started womens representation tripled compared to what we are able to watch, we’re talking about womens experiences in those sport spaces more

what is the portrayal of womens athletes and womens sport attribtued to?

gender marking, compulsory heterosexuality, emphasizing appropriate femininity, infantilization of women, non-sport related, comparisons with mens performances, photographic representations, attribution of error

what are historical trends of media portrayals of women in sports?

historically receive less attention from mass media and coverage shows second class status of women in sport spaces, sexually objectified and reduced to their role as mothers and women, general patterns preserve gender hierarchy

what is gender marking?

inequal references to gender within female athletes and female sport compared to mens (ex: NBA vs WNBA, NHL vs PWHL)

what is compulsory heterosexuality?

sport coverage that is based in assumption that male and female athletes are inherently heterosexual and portrays them as objects for heterosexual attraction and shows them in presumably heterosexual roles (ex: WAGS, wifes and girlfriends in sport)

what is meant by appropriate femininity?

sport coverage focusing on stereotypical feminine physical and emotional characteristics and behaviours (ex: Ilona mahers and her body shape and size, and whether it is feminine enough)

what is meant by infantilization of women?

inequal references to womens athletes as girls or use of only their first name where similar age male athletes are not referred to as boys and are referred to by their last name or whole (ex: lydia ko turns 21 and wins like a little girl)

what is meant by non-sport related media portrayal of women?

inequal sport coverage focusing on female athletes hobbies, interests, appearance, family relationships, personal life and personality (ex: ada hergerburg, host of event asked if she knows how to twerk)

what is meant by comparisons with mens performance when portraying women in sports media?

coverage of womens sport includes comparison to mens performance in sport and can be partonizing, talk about difference in styles of play, ex (rules of body checking in NCAA women and mens hockey), ex (when you search who scored the most goals its Christine sinclair but internet says christiano ronaldo)

what is meant by photographic representations when discussing the media portrayal of womens sports?

active portrayal of male athletes vs passive portrayal of female athletes and sexual portrayal of female athletes (low angle shot in womens tennis, figure skating, gymnastics and model coaches)

what is meant by attribution of error when discussing the media portrayal of womens sports?

inequal attribution of female error to emotional difficulty or psychological struggles or nervousness, whereas male errors are more attributed to injury or unfortunate circumstances

what is an example of attribution of error when discussing the media portrayal of womens sports?

panthers get losses and more injury for difficult playoff odds but double olympic champion for USA skiing talks about overcoming her fears (how it wasnt just a mental struggle there were things like travelling, covid, and passing of dads), emphasis on psychological weakness

What are the sexualized and trivialized views of women in media rooted in?

rooted in sexist ideas about womens bodies and capabilities and reinforce socially constructed idea that boys and men are natural athletes and mens sports are inherently more exciting, reflects and reinforces heteropatriarchal norms and beliefs in the broader social context

what is media literacy?

ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms (we don’t passively absorb media we are engaging with it, process we do critically and knowingly but also subconsciously)

what what is the purpose of media literacy?

helps us understand the role of media in society and how it informs our views of gender, sex, and sexuality, media does not influence all people in the same way, interpretations will vary, media consumption is a negotiated process, we do not digest media uncritically (sometimes we reject messaging, sometimes we internalize it)

what are some common things noticed about Jutta Leerdam and how she is portrayed in media?

mention as jake pauls fiance more than anything else (her identifier is being his fiance), heard turning fit (sexualize her), placement of how we’re talking about womens accomplishment in sport is important, pictures of her portray emotion differently, no title describes how she broke an olympic record while winning (minimize her accomplishment)

what is important about the emotional response of Jutta Leerdam and how she is portrayed in media?

show her celebration and emotions leading to idea that women are allowed to express these emotions as long as it is in a positive way but for example serena williams breaking her racket is negative even though males do it all the time

what is gatekeeping in communication and sports media?

process through which info is filtered for public consumption (consumers rely on media to present most relevant stories to public in ways that highlight important aspects of these stories)

what is the process of gatekeeping?

many different news items that media members are presented with in a day, media screens the stories and decides which ones to present to public, journalists are gatekeepers as they are the ones who choose which items will reach the audience

what do visual representations of media gatekeeping show? What is the process?

athletic department has three stories coming out, send it to media, and media only chooses one to pass through to public while others are rejected and dont reach audience (decision making is highly subjective and based on gate keepers set of experiences, attitudes and expectations)

through the process of gatekeeping what are media consumers exposed to?

only the stories the media decides (journalists, editors) should merit the space

what is an example of the visual representation of media gatekeeping?

ESPN sportscenter and college basketball (2022-2023, more than 350 NCAA DV 1 mens basketball so sport centre has to chose how many are shown based on performance of teams-ranking, following-fanbase, and if there was dramatic or remarkable events, DV2 and 2 and womens basketball lack coverage)

what is the process of the evolution of media gatekeeping?

How do we see this?

social media can be used to make space for athletes voices like women in media and increased use by athletes and teams created scenario where they can reach their audience directly instead of going through media decision makers

what is an example of the evolution of media gatekeeping?

instead of one story being told they can preview all three events on their social media, so audience can play gatekeeper role themselves and they control flow of info through shares, likes, retweets

what did catherine baker explore?

how influencers and algorithms are shaping perspectives on masculinity

what did catherine baker find?

algorithms are impactful in how youth consume social media content, exploratory research looking at the content that is recommended to young boys through algorithms on social media (all accounts no matter the interest recommended anti feminist/misogynistic content), biases can be amplified by social media algorithms or echo chambers, influencers use subtle forms of misogyny through self improvement advice, body image, how to be a man and rigid self discipline, create open spaces and dialogue about these topics (ongoing conversations)

how do influencers use subtle forms of misogyny through self improvement advice, body image, how to be a man and rigid self discipline?

old tropes of masculinity being repackaged by influencers, impact women and non binary people too through extreme ideas of body control and emotional stories that are attributed to masculinity and lead to harmful mental health outcomes

what is meant by creating open spaces and dialogue about topics when discussing influencers and algorithms?

create safe spaces for young people to be hear and make sure you’re equipped to empathize with their experiences but also challenge and be critical of the info they are coming across

what is the purpose of algorithms?

decides what to recommend based on it thinks you’re interested in (demographics, interests, interactions), becoming a more common practice on social media platforms

what was the process of exploratory research on content recommended to young boys?

bought phones and researcher created accounts to emulate young men and had one that was actively seeking feminist content, one gym content, one mental health, and one video game but all anti-feminist/misogynistic content

how does social media and influencers impact our worldview?

same view is reinforced over and over again through content being shown so young people who look at content like relationship advice and mental health advice, influencers are profiting off giving bad advice

how does the algorithm, social media and influencers relate to education and youth?

schools lack info on building relationships, sex ed and other things so we seek informal education through things like social media, we need to teach formally digital and critical literacy skills, have formalized education because we live in media saturated world (ex: how can our biases be shaped by eco chambers and how do we teach youth to critically engage with them)

what are the sport media/complexes?

sport, mass media, advertising (commercial and ideological interdependence of sport, mass media and advertising)

what is meant by mediated events under sports as a sport/media complex?

media events, sport casters help create listeners and views for experiences through camera angles, narratives and images revealed, can marginalize women in sport

How does TV coverage and commercials relate to mass media as a sport/media complex?

TV coverage and commercials for men provide seamless messaging of men and boys of men and boys of what it means to be a man (appropriateness of aggression in sport, violence, playing to win, negative connotation ad being seen as soft and idea that women are a prize for success in the athletic field)

what were the sport/media complex consequences?

marginalization of womens sports, televised sports manhood formula (centering around men)

what were some fears are womens progression in sports?

damage to reproductive organs, acquiring masculine characteristics, develop male sex characteristics (fear of overt sexuality, women being overtly sexual towards others), failed heterosexuality (lesbianism), post WW2 (the mannish lesbian athlete, bogeywoman of sport)

how does lesbianism link to female athleticism?

tried to use homophobia to discourage girls and women from playing in sports and express themselves in heteronormative feminine way was encourage (heterosexual and lesbian female athletes need to manage their presentation in sport in ultrafeminine ways like men have to do with hypermasculinity)

how does lesbian stigma justify lack of media coverage for women in sports?

emphasis of media devotion to mens sports which sends message to viewers about gender roles in sports (heteronormativity, masculine and feminine expectations, social roles like motherhood), sportcasters will emphasize the marital and maternal status of heterosexual female athletes while often remaining silent about the relationship status of non heterosexual athletes (similar for male athletes)

what does sport media traditionally focus on in terms of sexuality in sports media?

traditionally focuses on how we promote heterosexuality in these spaces, avoid explicitly discussion about homosexuality (similar for lesbian and gay athletes, experienced by both gender categories)

how have cultural attitudes changed in regards to sexuality in sports media?

significant cultural attitude shift towards sexual minorities over the past several decades (in the west have improved dramatically, lesbian gays and bisexual are more welcomed and celebrated)

what are some facts that demonstrate the shift in cultural attitudes towards sexual minorities over the past several decades?

medias treatment of sexual minority athletes issues in sport is problematic - sensationalizing, media fascination with outing athletes through gossip like speculation (when athletes are outed, has frequently been positioned as a confession and apology), athletes are often expected to be role models and behave in socially accepted ways

what is seen in terms of medias treatment of sexual minority athletes and whether people fit these standards?

because athletes are expected to be role models and behave in socially expected ways when they fall short of these expectations stories dominate on that failure to meeting those expectations, bring beyond sport media into mainstream media

how does heated rivalry portray hockey?

show hockey as having more space for gender diverse and sexually diverse people, brought a broader audience to professional hockey on mass

how does heated rivalry portray hypermasculine spaces?

see queer representations within these spaces but there are no out players in these leagues usually

how does heated rivalries portrayal of queer identities in spaces like hockey impact worldviews now?

when we see people in these spaces it opens up a realm of possibility of how you can express yourself, some players in. minor leagues have started coming out in response to show publicly creating this idea that hockey can be a safe space for everyone

in 2022 what did research find on sexual orientation in hockey?

report by hockey canada found 512 penalties for on ice harassment 61% involved sexual orientation, gender identity, race or disability as mode of harrassment

how have people used heated rivalry to their advantage?

people have used sensation of heated rivalry to promote their league without making meaningful change to support players in their league

how has heated rivalry related to people outside the realm of hockey?

women and especially straight women are connected with this show

how do media and sports change presentation of sexuality?

media and sport interact to shape and inform sexuality and are in turn shaped by sexuality

what does sport media play an important role in when discussing heterosexuality?

sport media plays important role in reinforcing heteronormativity, and masculinity in sport contributes to the marginalization of female and sexual minority athletes

what is the purpose of the associated press sports editors racial and gender report card?

measures changes in racial and gender hiring in media and sports organizations in USA (when thinking of gatekeeping and who makes the decisions most come from one demographic and experiences more power impacting who is shown)

what is seen in the latest reports of the associated press sports editors racial and gender report card?

2021, 16.7% of sports editors and 14.4% of reporters were women, 79.2% of sports editors and 77.1% of reporters were white (lack of diverse perspectives in decision making cause lack of diverse representations in media)

what does the sports/media complex suggest about how we represent men in media?

boys and men shown with narrow stereotypical message about race, gender, and violence in sports spaces

what is sex testing?

the process used to determine in which sex category an elite female athlete can compete in

what is sex control?

some scholars use this term to shift scrutiny around sex binaries away from the women made vulnerable by these policies to the policy makers in control of the regulations

what is gender verification?

assessment used to determine a woman’s eligibility to compete in the female category in sport

How is the term sex testing different from gender verification

sex testing and gender verification are used interchangbly but sex testing is more in media and verification is more in literature

what is the evolution of sex testing in sport?

external anatomy tests (1930s-1960s), barr body test (1967-1992), polymerase chain reaction test (1992-2006), testosterone hormone testing (2006-current)

what was the main idea behind external anatomy tests?

idea was to make sure all participants were female in these spheres, and ensure male athletes were not participating in female sport because during this time sport was used to show dominance over another country

how was sport used to show dominance during the times of external anatomy tests?

if athletes were competing better than others they were better as a country

how did external anatomy tests work?

manifested as a nude parade in front of a panel of doctors, external genitalia determined if they could or could not participate

how did things change or transition into times of barr body tests?

transition to more chromosomal and gene analysis, language of sex testing from sex verification to femininity testing in 1968 then in the 1970-1980 gender verification and sex testing was used

what are the limitations to barr body tests?

doesnt account for existence of genetic variability resulting in categorization that dont align with anatomical or psychosocial status (doesnt look at external genitalia and how we were raised as male, female, man, woman)

how did the barr body test work?

test the X and Y chromosome and their presence, take muccal smear to determine sex based on the presence of a barr cell within the sample (females have on barr body which is inactive X chromosome and males have no barr bodies present)

what was polymerase chain reaction testing?

testing for the SRY gene because it is associated with Y chromosome so if you have it you’re male, based on assumption that the DNA sequence that prints the SRY sequence is specific to males

what was the purpose of PCR tests?

looking at it to weed out sex imposters (males trying to participate in female sports to do better), granted authority to medical experts to arrange for this gender verification usually through a team

what are the limitations of the PCR test?

doesnt identify the presence of a full Y chromosome, doesnt account for all aspects of sexual development

what does testosterone hormone testing focus on?

focus on hyperendrogenism (high levels of testosterone), specifically levels that exist in the “male range”, deemed as biological component that creates unfair advantage between male and female