‘Tits+Out+For+the+Boys+or+Should+I+Say+Endorsements’

Name: Caitlin Smith| Student Number: n7537972| Tutor: Katie Page



//‘The truth is that sports, and that includes men running against women, may well be the salvation of the male-female relationship, the answer to our marriage problems, the solution of the eternal discord between what is masculine and what is feminine.’// **//George A. Sheehan//** In 1996 American swimmer Amanda Beard made her first Olympic games at the tender age of 14. Since then she has attended the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games winning six Olympic medals. With eight United States titles she became the world champion and world record holder in the 200m breaststroke in 2003. With credentials such as Beard’s it is clear that she is a well decorated athlete and has proved herself in the sporting arena on both a national and international level. Despite these achievements Beard is well known by the public for her risqué photo shoots and toned figure. She has appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, on the cover of FHM magazine in the 2004’s ‘Sexy Olympic Special’ and again in 2006 (pictured above) where she was named the world’s sexiest athlete. Finally she has posed nude for the July 2007 issue of Playboy and in support of PETA. The picture above shows beard flashing her breasts and wearing skimpy white bikini bottoms. Her big hair and smoked eyes add to her ‘come get me’ look.

**Public Health Issue** Gender equality has been the driving force for women’s right advocates for many years. Although progress has been made, female athletes around the world are well below par in terms of media coverage, endorsement opportunities and community respect and support (Knight, 2004). Unlike male athletes a majority of professional female athletes still have to undertake full time jobs to support themselves or their families. This is due to female athletes not being consistent with society’s norms. This can result in a lack of funding and support from major sporting and media corporations (Yuracko, 2002). Gender equality in sport will, for many years, be a continuous battle faced by all female athletes.

**Literature Review** Bem’s (1985) gender schema theory argues that people are socialised into believing that gender differences are significant and worth maintaining. Helpern (1985) stated ‘stereotypes are generalised beliefs about groups of people that influence the constructed remembrance of and thinking about these groups’. When female athletes are presented in the media most commentary refers to the female’s attractiveness, femininity, emotionality and heterosexuality (Dworkin, 2002). Male athletes however are depicted by the media as being independent, dominating, powerful and valued. This representation by the media portrays females as women first and athletes second (Knight, 2004). This portrayal is due to society stereotypes and schemas that females shouldn’t participate in competitive sport making female athletes to be inconsistent with the prescribed role of society’s ideal female (Hudak, 1993). When people do violate these schemas, they are perceived negatively by people who are schema-consistent (Hudak, 1993). For some female athletes this negativity ends up with them missing out on vital sponsorship opportunities and media coverage despite their sporting ability. Men are readily portrayed in the media as athletes first because being an athlete is consistent with the traditional male role (Knight, 2001). However for women, being an athlete contradicts the conventional role of females and thus media coverage emphasises aspects such as attractiveness (Knight, 2001). This means that society is able to focus on the athletic accomplishments of male athletes, whereas the focus of female athletes is directed to their femininity, making them appear more consistent with the gender schemas. Statistics released in 2010 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that 3.0% of women, compared to males at 2.5%, are taking on roles which are often not related to the playing of the game and need minimal knowledge of the rules. Males can be seen to have higher percentages in jobs such as coaching (4.3% males, 3.1% females) or umpiring (2.3% males, 1.3% females). When applying Bem’s (1985) gender schema theory to these statistics there is ample evidence that supports the well-known idea that stereotypically masculine characteristics are valued more than feminine characteristics in this culture. This stereotype allows men to believe that they are more dominant and have more rights, especially in male dominated sporting events (Helpern, 1985). This dominance could also be the reason why in Hunt’s study in 2000 showed that out of 160 sports journalists only 14 were women. This dominant presence of males and the lack of exposure of female journalists, commentators and reporters send’s a false message to our society. It also means that how do we, as a society, know that we like listening to male commentators when a majority of us haven’t been exposed to a female ones? Wann & Fortner’s (1997) study showed that equity theory can be applied to athletes in terms of the attitudes held by potential customers of athletic events. Wann & Fortner’s (1997) study showed that there was a discrepancy between the ticket prices sold at male sports events and female sports events (Wann & Fortner, 1997). Their study also showed that over a 4 year period the price of tickets for male sporting events raised considerably compared to ticket prices for female sporting events. When applying the equity theory to the amount paid by customers to attend the different sporting events it can be concluded that there is a significant difference in the discrepancy of ticket prices for female sports events and their sporting achievements (Worsnop, 1997). This means that male sporting teams are receiving more money from ticket sales despite performing equally strenuous tasks as women. Women have always had to fight for their rights and dignity especially in the sporting arena. Sport is an influential and powerful way to transform lives as well as giving boys and girls all over the world the sense of greater personal achievement. In 2003 the United Nations recognised the global influence of sport and decided to incorporate the element into its Millennium Development Goals (Lyras, 2009). The third Millennium Development Goal focuses specifically on improving gender equality and women’s empowerment (Hudak, 1993). Most initiatives aim to achieve development and peace in sport. Sports programs implemented in Cyprus have used the goals guidelines to promote intergroup acceptance between Greek and Turkish Cypriot youths. It was found that the sports program that used the goals guidelines in conjuction with social psychology theories promoted intergroup interaction, acceptance and friendship (Ferguson, 2011). It was also found to have a positive effect on the gender groups and resulted in both boys and girls being accepted by each other (Ferguson, 2011). By providing sports programs based on these goals, sport organisations will be able to embrace diversity and inclusion and maximise the talents of both girls and boys. This would also encourage more girls to participate in sports, both at schools and within the community, because it would be more acceptable to participate.

**Cultural and Social Analysis** In 1900 women were allowed, for the first time, to compete at the Olympic Games. In 2007, after 123 years of unequal pay, men and women were paid an equal amount of prize money at Wimbledon. Women have had to fight for every bit of recognition on the sporting arena and many females despite their outstanding results have failed to get noticed because they have not meet society’s norms of the idealistic women. Men still continue to dominate world-wide sport coverage and are amongst some of the world’s highest earning celebrities due to endorsements with major corporations and astronomical team contracts (Rinehart, 2005). Despite improvements in women’s rights women and girls all over the world are continuing to be effected by this issue. This can be seen in the percentages taken by the ABS showed that in 2006 57.8% of girls between the ages of 5-14 years, compared to 68.9% of boys of the same age. Although the percentage of girls participating in organised sport has risen by 5.5% between 2000 and 2006, this shows that girls are not interested, not encouraged or unable to participate. This could be an indication that there are still more opportunities for boys to participate in sport. June 2007 saw Jacqui Oatley as the first female to host BBC’s Match of the Day broadcast. This change caused a massive uproar from British football fans, premiership managers and other media broadcasters. Lynne Truss, a former football columnist for the times, claimed “women cannot write about football simply because they do not play it. You must have an understanding of the game and the tactics and I think in order to do that you need to have played the game.” A skilled commentator is able to capture the viewers and bring meaning to the events that are unfolding on the screen (Claringbould, 2004). Males therefore believe that they enjoy listening to male commentators simply because of their use of tones and words while communicating (Desmarais, 2010). Despite a lack of exposure women shouldn’t have to work harder to get into the sports industry, nor should they have to face any sexist criticism. Women are often seen appearing on sports programs in stereotypical roles as sexy props cheering the men on (Knight, 2001). During wrestling shows it is common for women dressed in miniskirts or tight spandex to escort the male wrestlers to the ring while male announcers discuss each woman’s provocative physical appearances (Hunt, 2000). Hunt’s (2000) analysed 6 sports programs, watched most by boys, and found that in 23 hours of sports programming, viewers were exposed to 58 incidents of women being portrayed as sexy props or as sexual prizes for men. Viewers are being exposed to a narrow image of women being portrayed as heterosexualized commodities instead of a wider range of images, especially as athletes.

**Artefact Analysis and Learning Reflection** The chosen artefact clearly represents Bem’s (1985) gender schema theory as it depicts Amanda Beard not as the successful athlete that she is but instead as an attractive and feminie sex symbol. Her role in this photo meets the feminie norms set by society making her more attractive to media corporations as well as the big businesses who are offering endorsements. Due to Beard’s consistency with the gender schemas society and the male population are more interested in seeing her as a half-naked model rather than a successful professional athlete. There are a number of people fighting for an equal playing field. However despite this support women still have a long hard fight ahead of them. Society still has strong beliefs and stereotypes of women and even though they are slowly beginning to accept female athletes, society is still demanding that females are the idealistic women (Dworkin, 2002). Beard’s image and popularity is an ideal sign of how easy it is, compared to less attractive women, for ‘//glamazon//’ athletes to get noticed through the media. Amanda Beard’s photo is a consent reminder that some female athletes are willing to present themselves in a sexual way and although a minority of females feel empowered by this a majority are either note as marketable or not willing to get their kit off for attention. With this being said these women need community support so they are able to have other endorsement and media opportunities.

**Reference list**
 * Bem, S. L. (1985). Androgyny and gender schema theory: A conceptual and empirical integration. In T. B. Sondregger (Ed.), //Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Psychology and Gender, 1984//. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
 * Claringbould, I. (2004). Exclusionary practices in sport journalism. //Sex Roles, 51//(11), 709.
 * Desmarais, F. (2010). The Power of Stereotypes: Anchoring Images Through Language in Live Sports Broadcasts. //Journal of language and social psychology, 29//(3), 338.
 * Dworkin, S. L. (2002). Gender Relations in Sport. //Sociological Perspectives, 45//(4), 347.
 * Ferguson, L. (2011). Promoting gender equality and empowering women? Tourism and the third Millennium Development Goal. //Current Issues in Tourism, 14//(3), 235.
 * Halpern, D. F. (1985). The influence of sex-role stereotypes of American women. //Sex Roles, 12,// 363-375.
 * Hudak, M. A. (1993). Gender schema theory revisitied: men's steretypes of American women. //Sex Roles, 28//(5), 279.
 * Hunt, D. (2000). The Televised Sports Manhood Formula. //Journal of sport and social issues, 24//(4), 380
 * Knight, J. L. (2001). He's a Laker; She's a "Looker": The Consequences of Gender-Stereotypical Portrayals of Male and Female Athletes by the Print Media. //Sex Roles, 45//(3), 217.
 * Knight, J. L. (2004). Paying the Way: The Ticket to Gender Equality in Sports. //Sex Roles, 51//(3), 227.
 * Lyras, A. (2009). Sport and social change: the case for gender equality. //Journal of physical education, recreation & dance, 80//(1), 7.
 * Rinehart, R. (2005). 'Babes' & Boards. //Journal of sport and social issues, 29//(3), 232.
 * Wann, D.L., & Fortner, B. V. (1997). Application of the equity of motivation to sport settings: importance and effect of inequity of overpayment. //Perceptual and Motor Skills,85I,227-234.//
 * Worsnop, R. (1997). Gender equity in sports. //The CQ researcher, 7//(15), 337.
 * Yuracko, K. A. (2002). Title IX and the problem of gender equality in athletics. //Gender issues, 20//(2), 65.

**Comment One** **Page:** 'If you let me play sports, I'll learn what it means to be strong' **Comment Title:** Encouraging Artefact (posted Sunday 6.09pm) This is the first time I have ever seen this video and I love that it was created by a major corporation such as Nike! Professional female athletes need the sports of these major coporation to ensure that they continue to reach their goals. To have these companies so passionate about our younger female generations is a very encouraging sign of community support.

If we can fight as a society we will be able to slowly break down the barriers that are stopping girls from participating in sports meaning that each day girls all around the world will not only be allowed to play but will more importantly want to play sports!

Great Analysis! Your title and artefact really sum up females in todays society. Your title really tells it like it is! Female athletes could be olympic medalists or world champions but without looks they receive absolutely nothing! I really liked your statement about marion jones being the most successful athlete at the olympic games but was not however the most photographed!!
 * Comment Two** **Page:** Don't break a sweat girl, you'll bring attention to yourself! **Comment Title:** Where's the Support? (posted Sunday 8.04pm)

If our communities and businesses don't get behind all our successful athletes then there is no future for young girls who are just starting to participate in sporting events. Great article, well done!