Sports: Women and the Gender Order

In the process of searching for a commercial advertisement featuring and or representing the roles and identities that athletes withhold around the world, I was shocked at the gendered identities that were given to women athletes. In my observations, I realized that Nike’s promotional advertisements were seemingly the least bias and most diverse ads. I chose to dissect and interpret the messages in the “Voices” commercial, which features elite women athletes, because it portrays an idea of what society should categorize women as and it gives us a sense of how far women athletics have come in terms of sports in the U.S. This commercial gives women a sense of relief in that sports and women’s inherited false identities as athletes may be on their way to equality.

In class, we’ve gone into detail about the negative connotations in which women have been categorized as athletes in today’s society. The role of solely participating as an athlete does not suffice for women. They must be both sexy and athletic to fulfill their roles as successful athletes. Media serves as an external promotion for products and people in society. It  dictates our minds and has the ability to give women false identities. It is through media that women athletes are objectified and portrayed more as sex symbols than as athletes. Magazines, commercials and advertisements adhere to society and it’s bias against women athletes by representing women as sex symbols and men as strong, successful athletes. Why is it acceptable for male athletes to be photographed in normal clothing and women athletes in obscure clothing? “Try Googling the words "women" and "sport" and you quickly come across the item "No athlete would mind being interviewed by one of these sideline hotties" from the US's Men's Fitness online magazine. You can also have a look at the sexiest female athletes of 2013. Try it with men and sport and, sorry ladies, not a six-pack in sight” (Stanistreet, 2013). Stanistreet’s observation of the correlation between women and sport in inevitable. Women athletes will not be featured in the media unless they are being objectified. 

References:

Stanistreet, M. (2013) Medis need to stop portraying women simply as 'touchline totty'. Media Blog. DOI: http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2013/sep/19/media-portraying-women-sports-sexism

Voices Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1ighxU1vYw