Strong Enough to be a Man, but Made a Woman: Discourses on Sport and Femininity in Sports Illustrated for Women

Abstract

Media discourses proclaiming “Girl Power” have exploded in recent years, Katherine Dieckmann (1996) arguing that, in response to this explosion, girls today have a variety of empowerment models from which to chose. Barbie, Mattel’s infamous toy designed for young girls, has recently become a professional basketball player, the president, a doctor and an astronaut. Several years ago the popularity of Spice Girls, the pop music group imported from England whose hit single “Wanna Be” became a girl culture phenomenon, gave girls various images of femininity they could aspire to, from “Sporty” to “Posh.” This empowerment for young girls, courtesy of the Spice Girls and others, has been manifested in the phrase “Girl Power” now a mantra (and marketing tool) in girl culture. Within the realm of sports, female athletes like Brandi Chastain, whose sports bra clad body was featured after the 1999 U.S. women’s soccer team won the World Cup on the cover of Newsweek along with the announcement that “Girls Rule!” are held up for girls and young women as models of this new female empowerment.KeywordsFemale AthleteSport IllustrateGender BodyFemale EmpowermentProfessional Sport LeagueThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.