Illustrated in the
previous blog, women who engage in sport have become sexualized. Their bodies
are constantly being viewed and inspected.
This past summer, Happy Madison Productions released a
science fiction/action comedy film about arcade games. Pixels, starred Adam Sandler and Kevin James and featured tennis
champion Serena Williams. In order to help stop the crime in the world and
destroy the video game characters, nemesis, Eddie Plant agrees to help the
government as long as he can have alone time and a date with Serena Williams and
if Martha Stewart makes him a sandwich. Finally after disputing their
agreement, Kevin James’s character agrees. Despite the film being a comedy,
Serena Williams was not highlighted in this film for her career. There was not
dialogue about tennis or her victories in tennis, instead there was discussion about
her body and appearance.
The film discredits everything about Serena’s career. The
film sexually defines and shapes Serena William’s body. Rather than being identified
for her gold medals, double and single titles, she is identified on her curvy
body.
The image above was taken from one of the scenes in the
film Pixels. As one can see Serena is
standing at a party with Eddie in a dress. The dress is formfitting on her body
to show her curves.
This film is not the only source of media that discredits
women for their athleticism and focuses on their specifically on their body. Every
year, Sports Illustrated is infamous
for their Swimsuit Editions. The front page of their cover is typically an athletic
women standing in a bikini.
When I went to google, I typed in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, these were the first two
images that appeared.
The first woman is fashion model Hannah Davis and the second
woman is Israeli model and television host Bar Refeali. Even though these two
women that first appeared in my google scholar are not althetes, they are still
affected by sports and the magazine Sports
Illustrated. Many female althetes have posed on the front cover of the
swimsuit edition. UFC fighter Rhonda Rousey was featured in the 2015 sports
magazine along with tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. Throughout the years
there have been numerous famous female sport athletes who have made an
appearance in the magazine.
Jessica Shaller conducted research and provided a content
analysis of Sports Illustrated on their print media of female athletes. Shaller
states, “Because of the sexualized manner in which female athletes are
portrayed, they suffer from inadequate description. Women in sports suffer from
insufficient media coverage, not only in their regards to their lack of
presence in major sports publications but also in the stereotypical depiction in
print journalism” (50). As seen in the two examples I provided of Serena
Williams in the film and the two models in Sports
Illustrated, females are portrayed to be sexual and they suffer because of
it.
Women’s sports are dictated by the public and what the male
population wants and would like to see. Shaller returns to her analysis of Sports Illustrated. She states that
media professionals argue they give the public what they want and “if men would
rather see a female athlete wear less clothing and posing like a model rather
than a sports figure, than that is what the media will produce.” Shaller
finishes her analysis by stating, “Framing of the media has led journalists
deciding what the public will be able to obtain from certain media outlets.
Because reporters and editors control what and how athletes are depicted on
magazine covers, they heavily influence the minds of readers” (55).
Throughout the semester we have discussed framing of the
media. The media can frame their stories and pictures to be whatever they want.
Whatever will bring in the most revenue, that is what media professionals will
produce regardless of the effects it has another society and culture.
After viewing the swimsuit edition covers and photos of
both female athletes and non-athletes, I wonder how can someone take a women seriously in
sports when she is posed almost naked on the front of a sports magazine. To me,
that just screams for society to take the magazine off of the shelf and once
again discredit women for their talent and credit them to their body and
appearance.
As seen throughout these blog posts, women’s sports are
dominated by men’s sports and what the men want. Even successful athletes such
as Serena Williams are guided and controlled by the male population.
As an advocate for female empowerment and equal
treatment, I do not agree with the way in which women are treated, especially
when it comes to the treatment of women in sports and sports magazines. This is
one of the many reasons why I will not read a Sports Illustrated magazine.
Work Cited:
Shaller,
Jessica. “Female Athletes in the Media: Under Representation and Inadequacy.”
Undergraduate Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. 50-55, 2006. Print.
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