Women+in+Sport-+Gender+inequality+alive+and+well+on+the+sporting+field!


 * Name: Tahni Streeter**  **n8291489**   **Tutor: Colleen Niland**

media type="youtube" key="HD-QbGTGFko" height="315" width="560" align="center"

**L.F.L- Lingerie Football League**

Artefact analysis.
This YouTube video was created as a marketing strategy for the American National Lingerie Football League, or LFL. The video shows women playing American football, or gridiron, wearing lingerie and minimal safety items. Lingerie football began in 2009 as the halftime entertainment for the superbowl, since then the lingerie league has become widely popular within the media and currently has broadcasted games. Each team consists of 7 players dressed in their underwear with shoulder, elbow and knee pads as well as helmets. The LFL games are the only women’s gridiron games televised as America has no traditional women’s football league. The lingerie league has also now been adapted to basketball with games being played in the halftime breaks of NBA games.

Public Health Issue.
The LFL video represents the sexualisation of women in sports today as well as the relative media attention given to female sports. This essay will discuss the media and their role in the sexualisation and misrepresentation of female sporting stars. A critical analysis of this issue will conducted, analysing the air time given to women’s sports in comparison to men’s sports and the way in which the media uses women to advertise sports. The focus will be on the underrepresentation of women in sport and the sexualisation of female athletes in the media. The opinions and knowledge of theorists and researchers will be considered as the application of social theory applied in an attempt to understand the issue. The social theory applied to this issue could be many, but the obvious choice, and the one analysed in this essay is feminism.

Literature Review.
“Research shows that sportswomen significantly are underrepresented in the sports pages and on television.” (Lopiano, 1996). In a report published by the Australian Womensport and Recreation Association Inc (AWRA) in 2006, a senate enquiry into the reporting of sports news found that women’s sport is approximately 1% of televised sports coverage with the majority of this coverage shown on ABC. The larger, more mainstream channels such as seven or ten are free to cover the bigger sporting events, those events that involve men’s sport. According to the Australian Sports Commission in 2010, women in sport was just 9% of the total sports coverage in Australia on radio, television, magazines and newspapers. The report issued by the Sports Commissioner at the time, Kate Ellis, also stated that women in sport news stories had the lowest duration of all the sports news covered. (Australian Sports Commission, 2010). Although the Australian women compete at extremely high levels, there is still very little coverage of them in the media unless it is the Olympic or Commonwealth games where the women dominate in the medal tally. (AWRA, 2006).

The research shows that the media fails to provide equal coverage of women in sport and that the small percentage of coverage women’s sport does receive is usually more about the sexualisation of women instead of the accomplishments they achieve. It is far more common to see women playing sports where the focus is on the skimpy clothing, breasts and buttocks rather than the skills and actual athletic ability. (Lopiano, 1996). The achievements of males are used as a measurement of ability while the abilities of females are seen as negative and inferior often used to mock with expressions such as “you throw like a girl!” Thus undermining the achievements of women. (Lenskij, 1998). The media would rather portray the assumed greater physical ability of men in sport and the sexualisation of women in sport rather than reporting on the athletic ability and sporting achievements of women. According to Lenskij in 1998, sports sociologists have found that male athletes are presented in ways showing their strength and power while women are presented to show their heterosexual attractiveness. “Men are portrayed in action while women tend to be shown in submissive, sexualised poses, with camera angles that focus on the breasts or crotch.”(Lenskij, 1998). This is not to say that male sporting stars aren’t sexualised to a certain extent for promotion and advertising but this is occurs far less frequently than female sexualisation and male athletes are not sexualised in their sports. When males are competing, the focus is on their abilities not their bodies. The media uses the sexualisation of women to draw crowds, viewers and ultimately make money.

Women who go against the gender norms by becoming overly muscular and great athletes tend to be ridiculed for not being women and called names such as butch or homosexual. (Speer, 2001). Women’s sports are not often portrayed in the media as they are seen as “less attractive” when they are at the physical condition required for their high level of competition. Therefore, a certain extent of cultural stereotyping is used in the media to limit the coverage of these types of athletes. Women are often segregated into sports specifically targeted towards them. (Women 2000 and Beyond, 2007). The women’s sports broadcasted include sports such as: Netball: the “ladies” version of basketball, tennis (initially created as a ladies game), golf, and swimming.

American football, or gridiron, because of the intensity of the game has a massive focus on safety. The men who play this sport where whole chest and shoulder pads, helmets, elbow guards, knee guards and mouth guards. However, this doesn’t always prevent injury. In the case of the LFL, as stated before, the women wear a bare minimum of both clothing and safety gear. This lack of clothing and covering up is for the sex appeal intended for the sport but leaves the women with a severe risk of injury. The desire for rating and sex appeal seems to supersede the concern for the health and safety of these women. If putting their safety at risk is the only women can see they get acknowledged for their sporting achievements then many girls will opt out of sports at a young age. This negative image of women and the increased risk of injury associated with getting attention in the sporting world will affect the health of all women, as women drop out of sport they are an increased risk of diseases such as obesity and coronary heart disease. By just portraying women in negative ways, the media could influence women so much so that the morbidity rate for women could increase dramatically.

Cultural and Social Analysis.
For avid feminists, great concern has always been placed on the media and how they reflect and convert feminist issues. (Rhode, 1995). It is the media coverage of sport that is one of the biggest feminist issues of our time. Proving masculinity with activities such as sports can only be done by excluding women from the same activities. (Tomlinson, 1998). Throughout history, sport was seen as a show of masculinity and dominance, so was only participated in by men, as women were seen as inferior and weak in comparison to men. This is a public health issue for all women in society, although this particular sexualisation of women (as seen in the artefact) is currently only in America, it could be spread to our country at anytime as indicated by the level of media our female sporting stars currently attract. All through history women have fought for equal rights and with this issue it is evident that, even in the twenty first century women are still not being treated as equals to men. Men prefer to see women in scantily clad clothing such as the one on the video artefact rather than as strong and muscular. Strong, muscular women are often called ‘butch’ or ‘manly’ suggesting that this sort of woman could rival any man, this is seen as a negative balance in society and these women are mocked. However, it is now culturally accepted for women to play sports and in some competitions compete with men, it is here we have grown the most. When the Olympics was first created, it was punishable by death for a women to compete or even be on the same ground as the males who were competing. (Boxill, 2006). According to Boxill in 2006, sports are a way for men to show their emotional side, to create bonds with other men and show their feminine side. When women enter this world and more importantly when they dominate in this world, men claim to be emasculated and undermined, their world that they were safely allowed to show emotion in disappears and they feel threatened. This is why, traditionally, women have been excluded from sports, women are not seen as equals and men feel they must be tougher and act tougher in front of women. This Neanderthal-like view is what prevents women to be seen as equals in sport and to be taken seriously in sport. Until society as a whole takes the view that women and men are equal in all respects, women will not be taken seriously in the sporting area nor will they receive the media attention their male counterparts do and the media attention they deserve.

Analysis of the Artefact and Learning Reflections.
The video used for my artefact represents the extent of sexualisation of women is sports in the media. Having the only games of football played by women, done in their lingerie promotes a negative view of the women, the focus is not on the skill of these women or the tactics shown in the game but rather their bodies and clothing. The fact that this seems to be the only way women’s sport is awarded any media attention is appalling to me as it reverses any progress made by feminist groups in the treatment of women as equals as not as objects. The men that play NFL are protected with numerous pads and heavy duty helmets but the women in the LFL have the least protective equipment possible and no concern seems to be for their safety, just as long as they look ‘good’. After analysing several literature resources and social/culture theories i have learnt just how much of a male dominated area sports is in our society. It was a great movement of feminists in getting society to even allow women to play sports, however their accomplishments are still unrecognised. This issue seems to be improving very slowly over the years but there is still a very long way to go until women will finally be equal to men on the sports field and in the sports pages. This assessment has made me look at the media in a very different way. I have even more respect for female sports stars knowing how hard they work for such little recognition, if I ever find myself needing a role model to look up to i will steer clear of the typical male sports stars as greater strength would be found in an unsung hero of the female sports world.

Reference List.
Australian Government, Australian Sports Commission. (2011). //Participating in sport: media.// Retrieved from: []

Australian Womensport and Recreation Association Inc. 2006. Senate enquiry into the reporting of sports news and the emergence of digital media. Retrieved from: []

Boxill, J. (2006). Football and feminism. //Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 33//, 115-124. Retrieved from: []

Lenskij, H. (1998). ‘Inside sport’ or ‘on the margins’?- Australian women and the sport media. //International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 33// (19). doi: 10.1177/101269098033001002

Lopiano, D. (1996). Women athletes deserve respect from the media. //USA Today, 124//(2610), 74-76. Retrieved from: []

Rhode,D. (1995). Media images, feminist issues. //Signs, 20//(3), 685-710. Retrieved from: []

Speer, S. (2001). Sports media and gender inequality. //Body and Society, 7//(109). doi: 10.1177/1357034X01007001006

Tomlinson, A. (1998). Power: domination, negotiation, and resistance in sports cultures. //Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 22//(235). doi: 10.1177/019372398022003001 United Nations, United Nation Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (2007). //Women, gender equality and sport.// Retrieved from []

(2010). //Lfl. lingerie football league.// [Web Video]. Retrieved from: []

Reflective Comments
[] I was very interested to read this wiki as I have written mine on the same topic and was interested to see another views and the research others found on the topic. It was a great read and even after extensive research on the same topic, I still learnt more from this wiki. I strongly agree with the paragraph written about women having to explain their participation in sport and define their identity within sport. During my research I found many articles and comments stating young women choose not to participate in male dominated sports where they would need to ‘bulk up’ as this would make them seem ‘butch’ and they would be mocked and called homosexual. Using Marxist theory, a theory typically used in politics, as the cultural and social analysis was very clever, explained really well and not only did it teach me more about women in sport but also taught me about Marxism.

[] Great wiki, really enjoyed reading it and definitely learnt a lot from it. Interesting choice of artefact, i think it suits the topic well and would have been an effective ad for the importance of safe sex and prevention of HIV/AIDS. I had never really thought about cultural sensitivity in sex education until now, your wiki states the importance of this in a lot of detail, it was well done. Sex education is important for everyone to know, no matter of their culture but we must be careful in respecting each cultures beliefs in doing this. From your literature review it seems like a lot of cultures are being upset over this issue but not a lot is being done to rectify this and provide education appropriate for each person. Great work in applying Max Webber to this issue, the way you explained it made it fit really well together.