A Critical Study Of Media Representation Of Women In Sports : Construction Of Narratives Around Sexuality, Male Gaze And Sexism.

Abstract

Sports and male masculinity have an innate bond with each other. The advent of sports as recreational activity and the manliness that goes with sports have an imbalance from the time memorial which has existed to this day. Sports and games to determine masculinity and judge a fine body has been a practice of sorts from ancient times. The swayamvara(in ancient India, a practice of choosing a husband, from among a list of suitors, by a girl of marriageable age. Swayam in Sanskrit means self and vara means groom in this context) stated in epics where sports competition would be the most appropriate way to judge or select a prospective groom or the medieval tourneys,based on similar lines where sports were played by a gender to win another gender is something common across cultures. When women entered sports first as distant spectators and much later as active participants, issues deeply engraved in the patriarchal mindset of sports have time again emerged as serious fault lines of sorts. There have been problems and issues with female participation in sports , the codes and rules governing them and also the media representation of women in sports over the years. The paper aims to discuss some of the critical issues with regards to female representation in sports by media. The representation has been based on some preconceived notions about the very existence of sports. Hyper masculinity associated with sports and numerous stereotypes with regards to gender and gender roles