PUB209+Assingment+3+Wiki+(David+Roberts)

Name: David Roberts Student Number: 07532466 Tutor: Colleen Niland

**Sex Sells!!! ** = = = =

**Cultural Artefact** How you feel about Kim Clijsters doing a split in a frilly orange skirt probably depends on your reaction to a well-oiled Caroline Wozniacki serving a tennis ball into a wind machine. Then again, these provocative scenarios, which form part of the Women's Tennis Association's new ‘Strong Is Beautiful’ advertising campaign, seem tame compared with the spot starring Belarusian tennis ace Victoria Azarenka. "I like to hit the ball hard. Crush it," the 2011 Wimbledon semi-finalist says in a voiceover, as the camera pans from her crotch to her chest then to her face. "If the ball comes back, then it's trying to tell me something. How about a little harder?" (Adams, 2011). = = = = = = **Public Health Issue** Some call them racy, while others call them inspiring,however controversy around using sex to sell women's sports isn't new, but each time a new icon emerges the questions and debates begin. Should the media push the sex-appeal of the top female athletes? Should women use their bodies to advance and become well-known in their chosen sport?

**Literature Review** Women's participation in sport reflects the issues women face more broadly in society. When we talk about women in sport, we often raise the same issues as when we talk about women in the workplace: pay equity; women in leadership positions; discrimination on the grounds of sex; the celebration of a male ideal and the marginalisation of women as the physically weaker and the caring sex (Broderick, 2010). Mr. John Mangos once stated on Channel 7, Sunrise in 2006, “There's no way to say this nicely without sounding sexist, but the fact of the matter is blokes hit the ball further, kick the ball harder, go in harder, it's better to watch, end of story”. This statement widely broadcasts the ideology that women’s sport will never be able to challenge men’s sport in brutal entertainment value. According to Elizabeth Broderick:Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, the coverage of women's sport accounts for just 2 per cent of total sports broadcasting on television, 1.4 per cent on radio and 10.7 per cent of total sports reporting in newspapers.

Could the sexualisation of women’s sport be a direct result of the lack of broadcasting and air-time that women’s sport receives in the media? Liz Ellis summed up women’s sport in today’s society when she stated, “The Australian Football League recently announced a 25 per cent pay increase, meaning each club next season can spend $6.2 million on player salaries, Ellis said, there was no professional path for the top athletes playing the leading female sport, netball”. Earlier this year, The AFL accepted a broadcast deal by the Seven Network, Foxtel and Telstra that will run over the next five years. The AFL profited $1.253 billion for the broadcast rights. “This money is to be used to help clubs pay their players and to promote grass roots football throughout Australia”, Andrew Demetriou stated. Obviously this ridiculous amount of money is not available in any women’s sport, thus making it increasingly difficult for professional sporting organisations to pay their contracted player’s enough money to live off.

According to Andrew Hughes (2011) a lecturer at Australian National University, the majority of research demonstrates that women make most household spending decisions, including the one to buy the family home. This makes female athletes ideally positioned to be used as celebrity endorsers in marketing campaigns. The world’s highest paid female athlete, Maria Sharapova, is proof of this. According to Forbes in 2010 her earnings were over $24.5 million, of which $23.5 million came from endorsements. Her endorsements match her with the target market she is most attractive to, Gen Y, perfectly: a lolly brand called Sugarpova, a web based TV show with Sony-Ericsson, clothing range with Nike that includes exclusive items for both on-court and off-court, and an accessories line with Cole Haan. Therefore these are just some of the deals that further build her brand appeal on and off the court.

In Australia many female athletes are also following the example set by Sharapova in marketing their brand and moving away from sex appeal. Hurdler and Olympic medallist Sally Pearson, cricketer and soccer player Ellyse Perry, basketballer Lauren Jackson and tennis player Samantha Stosur, are all great examples of athletes that market their brand as a complete package (Hughes, 2011).

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When female athletes are featured in advertisements, it tends to be in ways that hyper feminise them rather than highlight their athletic competence. "Yes, these women are beautiful, but we see lots of cleavage and legs, and its set to music that is reminiscent of soft-core porn," says Nicole LaVoi, Associate Director of the Tucker Centre for Research on Girls & Women in Sports at the University of Minnesota. But it isn't just organized sporting bodies that try to capitalize on notions of femininity. Mindful that they need to sustain their personal brands long after they retire, a number of female sports personalities portray themselves less as athletes and more as pinups. Timed with this month's Women's World Cup, five of Germany's professional soccer players posed in German Playboy in their underwear. "We want to disprove the cliché that all female footballers are butch," German midfielder Kristina Gessat told the magazine. "The message is: look, we are very normal and lovely girls!" ======

** Cultural and Social Analysis ** The current society and generation have seen it all, since the occurrence of the internet, everything is available for anyone to find. Pornography, extremely graphic violence, murder, abusive behavior and many more degrading and obscene images and videos are available for viewing by any individual with connection to the internet. Therefore today’s society don’t get shocked by these images but expect to see images and statements like this, whereas twenty years ago these images would have shocked the world.

Images and videos of sports stars in skimpy clothing is just part of today’s cultural identity and many of the women mentioned before, have realised this and have used sexuality to their advantage in promoting themselves and their brands. People who believe that these women should just play sport and not get involved in advertising are short sighted, as there is no money in women’s sport and they need these sponsors and advertisements to create money so that they can sustain their positions in the sporting world. As stated before, Maria Sharapova made $24.5 million, of which $23.5 million came from endorsements (Forbes, 2009). This shows where the real money is in women’s sport, particularly tennis and the prize money that players receive is only given to those who make the finals of the event and the other sixty-four players don’t receive any money for their efforts.

One of the reasons that many female athletes advertise themselves provocatively and sexually in the media and marketing arena is the salaries and prize money offered to elite female athletes (Rovell, 2009). An example of this is how Rugby League is set up in Queensland and Australia. There is the top level which is National Rugby League (NRL) competition, the next level below this is the Toyota Cup which is an under twenties competition and in Queensland there is the Queensland Cup which features twelve teams throughout Queensland.

Throughout these competitions the players receive salaries which are quite substantial and allow many of the players to play football and not worry about working to support themselves and their families. This culture is clearly evident in many more male sports throughout Australia, such as AFL, Cricket and Rugby Union. This availability of money as stated before comes from the governing body of the sport and their sponsorship deals and media marketing. As stated women’s sport has limited marketing and sponsorship deals and thus cannot support and pay many of the players who play below the elite level, let alone the elite players, as is the case with netball (Magnay, 2006). This lack of money forces many extremely talented young female athletes to work and train full time which is very taxing on these individuals and as a result many female athletes give up their dreams of becoming elite sportswomen as the cost of supporting themselves and their family becomes too great and becomes their main priority (Magnay, 2006).

An intervention must be created by the government or governing agencies of various sports to support more female athletes financially in the future, to ease the pressure and workload of many talented female athletes throughout Australia. How would the Australian public react if the next Susie O’niell or Layne Beachley gave up their chosen sport because they couldn’t support themselves?

**Learning Experiences** After undertaking this literature review and understanding more about the social and cultural changes over time, it has surprised me at how common the sexualisation of sport is within our society. The cultural artefact selected seems to represent where women’s sport has been heading and where it is heading in the future. Sport has been and is evolving even more into something that is extremely marketable, and it is all about who has the greatest business and can make the greatest amount of revenue. Personally I believe that women’s sport has a market in Australia and that the media should be made to make the playing field more equitable towards female athletes. Some sports governing bodies have already done this (tennis, swimming) as both males and females gain the same amount of prize money for many of the competitions and tournaments.

In the past I regret believing in the stereotype that girls/women who played soccer and ‘men’s sports’ were all ‘butch’ and ‘tomboys’. However as a result of maturing, researching and reading relevant literature I now have a completely different perception of female athletes and marvel at their tremendous attributes and skills. I believe that society and the media can create stereotypes against certain cultures and individuals, but people can overcome these and create their own destinies and their own perceptions of these cultures as they mature and become more socially and culturally aware of the world.

Reference List

Adams, L., (2011). //Game, Sex and Match: The Perils of Female Sports Advertising//. Retrieved October 22, 2011 from [].

Quinn, E., (2008). //Sex Sells – But Does It Sell Women’s Sport//. Retrieved October 22, 2011 from []

Rovell, D., (2009). //Sex Still Sells In Sports Marketing//. Retrieved October 22, 2011 from []

Magnay. J,. (2006). //Women deserve sporting chance: Ellis//. Retrieved 8 October, 2011 from [].

Mclaughlin. M,. (2011). //Fox Sports football host Mel McLaughlin previews round one of 2011-2012 Hyundai A-League season//. Retrieved 8 October, 2011 from [].

Broderick. E,. (2010). //Women in sport hit the grass ceiling//. Retrieved October 2, 2011 from [|http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/women-in-sport-hit-the-grass-ceiling-20100520-vnt7.html#ixzz1a43RMGw4].

The Age.com. (2011). //Poll: Female AFL Commentators//. Retrieved October 10, 2011 from [].

Witham. J., (2011). AFL’s $1.15 billion broadcast deal. Retrieved October 10, 2011 from []

= **Hughes, A., (2011). Playing the (wo)man: why women’s sport is still all about sex appeal. Retrieved October 21, 2011 from ** =

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= Comments =

Student Name: Lauren Hurst
The cultural artefact found by this student highlights the importance of sport and young people, particularly young girls. The research done is extensive and shows great statistics that are relevant to the artefact and show distinct differences between the participation of young boys and girls in relation to sport and physical activity. The student also touches on the well-being of the individuals and how important body image and personal perception are in today’s society. In all the piece is well presented and concise, I enjoyed reading it and gaining a new perception on women in sport.

Student Name: Alysha Cooper
The cultural artefact presented in this essay details the daily rituals many Australian’s in today’s society. The main element of this piece is technology and how Generation Y cannot live without computers and social media. During the literature review the student documents the problems that are directly attributed to spending the majority of every day in front of a computer screen. The main problems highlighted include cyber bullying, the obesity epidemic, change in social behaviour and the damage one can do to their physical and mental health. These elements are related well to the health issue stated and include many current statistics and literature to support the case. This is a well done piece that gets the audience thinking out the current generation and detrimental effects of a technology savvy generation.