Impact of professional women athletes' media representations on collegiate women athletes

Rae Martinez,Jennifer Bhalla

doi:10.7710/2168-0620.0299

Abstract

There is a lack of representation of women athletes from professional to collegiate sports in U.S. media. For example, Fink (2015) studied the inequities between male and women athletes to understand the harmful nature of the implication of these inequities. Other social constructs arise with the objectification of women athletes. Harrison and Fredrickson (2013) found a connection between aging of adolescent girls to women and an increase of self-objectification. They explained their results using Objectification Theory, which teaches young women to “regard themselves in an objectified gaze” from adolescence. The purpose of this study was to examine women collegiate athletes’ thoughts and feelings about the ways their elite representatives are presented within sports media. Women collegiate athletes viewed images displaying four different types of identity portrayals, and were then interviewed about their perceptions of the images. Each participant asked to answer five questions, and that data was analyzed using open coding methods.

Highlights

Certain qualifications were required of participants before they could be considered: they had to be a current collegiate women athlete at Pacific University (PU), over the age of eighteen, and participate on one of six pre-determined program types: three team sports (Volleyball, Soccer, Softball), and three individual sports (Tennis, Swimming, Track & Field)
Three successful interviews were completed with women athletes representing Soccer, Volleyball, and Track & Field
As the project required current collegiate women athletes at PU, most interview sessions were held on campus in an office that maintained some privacy for the interview

Summary

Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about your experiences, thoughts and feelings about women athletes and their representation in the media. We are interested in understanding how the media representation of women athletes impacts collegiate a hle e. S ecificall , eeiee ed i h gh , i i , a d feelings about how you feel this impacts you; as a collegiate women athlete. I am interested in all feelings and issues you have about this topic. There are no right or wrong answers in this interview. We are interested only in what you think and feel about your experiences. Please be as descriptive as possible with your answers so I understand your experiences

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion