women in sports exam 3

• Hegemonic Femininity 

• Genderbread Person 4.0 components 

• Gender Stereotypes, definition 

• Ideological control of women in sports media 

• Structural trends of the mediation of women’s sports (Cooky et. Al, 2021) 

• Historical process/memory 

• Conventions of sport films 

Pat - in bounds, out of bounds, like babe?

Mike - in bounds, out of bounds, like babe?

collier - in bounds, out of bounds, like babe?

1. How does Pat immediately demonstrate that she is unlike other women, even if unintentionally?

Describe the relationships that exist between the men and women in the first half of the film. How are they similar or how do they deviate from traditional gender norms for this period (Post WWII US, 1950s)

How are athletes’ motivations or personalities depicted throughout Pat and Mike?

what are Mike’s three rules

what are the various ways that mike attempts to manage pat?

What are the typical tropes/ devices/ or themes of sport films? In other words, what do we typically expect to see in these types of films?

How does this film honor or deviate from the characteristics in #6? Is it a sports film? Is it something else?

How does this film honor or deviate from the characteristics in #6? Is it a sports film? Is it something else?

what is a trickster?

someone who bends/plays with rules of gender, sport, and identity

why was babe a trickster?

• played multiple roles (tomboy, glamorous woman, professional athlete)

• manipulated media expectations

• didn’t fit one identity

Why does the author study Babe through personal stories + interviews?

• The author uses mixed sources (media, interviews, archives) to reconstruct Babe’s life

• Bias matters because:

  • reporters were sexist

  • interviewees remember differently

  • Babe shaped her own image publicly

• How did her childhood shape her competitiveness?

• How did she stand out in early sports?

• Grew up in working-class Texas → valued toughness, independence

• Played multiple sports → basketball, track, etc.

• Already seen as “different” because she rejected traditional femininity (tomboy)

• How did media portray Babe?

• How did she respond?

• Media often called her:

  • “unfeminine”

  • “freakish” or “too strong”

• Babe:

  • gave dramatic interviews

  • exaggerated personality traits

  • built her own legend

• Why was amateur status important?

• Why were endorsements controversial?

• Amateur status = “pure sport”

• Losing it = loss of eligibility + reputation

• Sponsors = money but also criticism (“selling out femininity”)

• How did she use femininity?

• How did WWII affect women athletes?

• She sometimes emphasized glamour to balance “tough athlete” image

• WWII:

  • women in workforce → less strict gender expectations

  • allowed more athletic visibility

• Why was she so dominant?

• Why was she important to women’s golf?

• Stronger, more versatile technique than competitors

• Helped legitimize women’s professional golf

• Founding figure of LPGA

• Why were endorsements complicated?

• Why did women’s pro sports struggle?

• Money = seen as “unfeminine greed”

• Lack of stable funding + respect for women’s leagues

• Why was illness hidden?

• Why was her relationship complicated socially?

• Illness + vulnerability conflicted with her “strong woman” image

• Relationships were tightly controlled by public image expectations

• How did she act while ill?

• How was her legacy shaped after death?

• Continued competing and pushing herself

• After death:

  • husband/others shaped her public memory

  • softened controversial parts of her identity

1. Compare the media framing of Babe Didrikson Zaharias with that of a modern female athlete. How have the structural and ideological controls changed—or remained the same? 

2. Discuss how the concept of “the trickster” (Cayleff Introduction) relates to the ways women athletes navigate gender stereotypes and media expectations. 

3. In what ways do the challenges faced by Babe Didrikson Zaharias illustrate the ongoing “long eclipse” of women’s televised sports described by Cooky et al. (2021) or the ideological control of women described by Birrell and Theberge? 

4. In what ways did Babe Didrikson Zaharias challenge or conform to the standards of hegemonic femininity throughout the eras of her career?   

5. How did media coverage of Babe reflect broader societal expectations about femininity and athleticism for women in the 1930s–50s? (Draw on Cooky et al., 2021, and the knowledge entries about media framing.) 

6. Using the Genderbread Person 4.0 model, map out how Babe Didrikson’s gender identity, gender expression, and societal gender roles were perceived and discussed in sports media. How did these perceptions reinforce or challenge gender stereotypes? 

7. How do the concepts of gender identity and expression from the Genderbread Person 4.0 help us understand the criticism Babe faced for being “mannish” or not fitting the “All-American Girl” ideal? 

8. According to Cooky et al. (2021), what structural trends have limited the visibility and legitimacy of women’s sports in televised media? How do these trends compare to the historical treatment of Babe Didrikson Zaharias? 

9. How does the “limited visibility cycle” interact or amplify the problematic ideological tropes of women athletes, both in Babe’s time and today? 

10. How did race, class, and sexuality intersect with gender in shaping Babe Didrikson Zaharias’s experiences and media portrayal? How does this intersectionality relate to the broader patterns of representation discussed in the Genderbread Person 4.0? 

11. Reflect on the ways that your own biases and assumptions about gender and sports might influence your interpretation of Babe Didrikson Zaharias’s story.