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Media Literacy Tyma

11/12/17

Literature Review

Feminist, organizational, and cultural perspectives are the three theoretical positions that

best analyze the findings from my journal. I am using these three methods to look at Title IX and

the effects of gender biased media coverage on mens and womens athletics.

Feminist Perspectives:

Stader (2014) explains that in part, no person shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded

from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any

academic, extracurricular, research, occupational training, or other education pro- gram or

activity operated by a recipient which receives Federal financial assistance. Stader is referring

to the 1972 passage of Title IX, which disallows discrimination based on sex in educational

institutions receiving federal funds, Phelan (2017).

As a female athlete at a Division I level Title IX plays a big role in my life and has made

it so I can do what I do today at a competitive level. Yes, it is true that female athletics have

improved by leaps and bounds since the implementation of Title IX, for example,

since passage in 1972 one of the most visible impacts of Title IX has been a significant

increase in female interscholastic athletic teams in secondary schools. The increased opportunity

has resulted in a corresponding increase in female participation in sports. In 19711972,

approximately 290,000 girls participated in high school athletics. In 20052006, over 2,900,000

girls (almost 41%) participated in high school athletics Stader (2014).

 This being said, there is still a lot that can be done on the road to equality between male

and female athletics. This is a topic that I chose to analyze based on the representation of both

sexes over sports media and the gender bias that comes with it.

Hardin (2005) conducted a survey of women in sports media careers and explored their

everyday work experiences and found issues that may discourage women from continuing on

with sports media jobs. This also extended into the feminist thought that the more women who

work in the sports media world, would then lead to improved coverage of female sports by

building upon the values and knowledge of female sports by females in the industry in control of

the coverage.

This expands into Ott and Mack where Coia and Taylor discuss in basic terms how

feminism and equality are learned concepts. Children learn at a young age about a lot of these

stereotypes and basically a lot of this responsibility to change some of the unequal social norms

falls upon educators, parents, coaches, etc. because they play the biggest part in shaping young

minds.

The first thing all of this makes me thing about is that #LikeAGirl campaign put on by

Always, a feminine hygiene products company. This campaign had a commercial that went viral.

The premise of this commercial showed older teenagers and young adults who were asked to do

actions like, throw like a girl or run like a girl and they all did the stereotypical movements

associated with those words. They then asked younger grade school aged girls to do the same

actions, and they all did them how they would naturally do them no hesitation. I think this

commercial does an excellent job portraying how young minds are influenced so much

especially at that young age.

 Hardin (2009) also looked into the understanding of how sports in this society are viewed

in light of gender norms. A survey of 340 college students found that even youth who grew up

with title IX still rate most sports as more masculine. Hardins study also evaluated the

relationship between media use, sports participation, and gender role socialization within sports

as being labeled as more masculine or feminine.

Organizational Perspectives:

Although all of three of these concepts go hand-in-hand and feed into each other, they

must be separated in contextual form. Organizational media is one of the biggest parts of the

media industry especially since most dont know all of the planning and organizational strategy

that goes into media planning in order to turn a profit and give the audience what they want.

One of the biggest hubs for inequalities between mens and womens athletics is in the

media and in the media on college campuses in particular. This also happens to be a big sector of

organizational media. Huffman (2004) conducted a study to evaluate whether Title IX translated

into equal coverage of sports represented by both genders by campus media. Based on the

findings, the answer was no. College newspapers were found to cover male athletes and events in

72.7% of their stories and collegiate television broadcasts gave 81.5% of their on-air sports time

to males. It was also found that the space given for comments or interviews from athletes

mirrored the previous findings in the discrepancy of stories devoted to male versus female

athletes.

The Federal district court in Michigan discovered that the Michigan High School Athletic

Association policy of scheduling girls basketball games in nontraditional seasons is in fact a

clear violation of Title IX, Stader (2014), because they dont have the same scheduling times as

their male counterpart sports teams. This is just another example of an instance where womens
sports get the shaft when it comes to scheduling and broadcast times because a mens event

might be considered more important.

Clearly men and women do not get equal coverage when it comes to sports. In all

honestly if a womens national championship was on at the same time as a mens national

championship, which do you think would get more views? Thats a no brainer. Obviously the

mens game would get higher views, higher ratings, and in the end make a bigger profit.

Vann (2014) adds that the popularity of social media in particular is becoming such a

huge platform for sports media coverage and in general womens sports tend to be more

sexualized to the media and this problem stems in part from the lack of traditional broadcast

coverage. Social media users want to share their information with the general public, Mills

(2017). This goes for media companies on social media as well. Marketing convergence in

todays media has been a powerful tool that has changed the way media companies output their

information and the way audiences receive and perceive this information, Potter (2016).

Noureddine (2016) discusses how Satellite TV and the Internet have been viewed as

instruments of social and political change - connecting communities, educating the youth, and

creating social networks previously unaccounted for, like virtual groups.

This is great if you live in a community or culture where all of these technological

advancements are easily accessible. Many places in the world and even in our country are not as

fortunate. According to Flynn (2012), a quarter of smartphone owners use their mobile devices

as their primary way to access the Internet. This includes checking email, social media, and

surfing the web. It is easy to tell how quickly this industry is growing. This sets the women and

girls in these countries even farther back as they do not have things like smartphones, Title IX,
and sports media to help see the advancements the rest of the world is making when it comes to

gender equality in sports and sports media.

Cultural Perspectives:

The depiction of sportswomen and female athletes as sex symbols before people or

athletes is one way that media institutions sexualize female athletes which takes away from their

overall talents and achievements when it comes to them being successful, female, athletic

professionals or student-athletes, Toffoletti (2016).

One example of this is a woman named Natalie Randolph, who served as head coach of

the varsity football team at H.D. Woodson High School in Washington D.C. Randolph had to

deal with talk that a woman could not actually command the respect of male players because

they would be too distracted by her feminism. The media looked for reasons to pick apart her

every step and misstep using taglines and headlines all centered on her being a woman. Yes, it is

groundbreaking that she is a female coaching a team full of male football players, but a lot of the

coverage was not positive, it was negative and judgmental even after she proved herself with a

winning record, Fry (2010).

This is a problem not only in the United States but also all over the world. It is probably a

bigger problem in some countries and cultures that tend to have stricter patriarchal values and

beliefs, Hall (2016).

In Conclusion:

The key to a change in mindset when it comes to social norms and gender stereotypes

surrounding women in sports is education. Nothing will change unless a new generation of

humans can see past male and female biases.

 References

Flynn, N. (2012) The Social Media Handbook: Policies and Best Practices to Effectively

Manage Your Organizations Social Media Presence, Posts, and Potential Risks.

Danvers, MA: Pfeiffer Books

Fry, J. (2010). In the Neutral Zone. Crisis (15591573)

Hall, R., & Oglesby, C. (2016). Stepping Through the Looking Glass: the Future for Women in

Sport. Sex Roles, 74(7-8), 271-274.

Hardin, M., & Greer, J. D. (2009). The Influence of Gender-role Socialization, Media Use and

Sports Participation on Perceptions of Gender-Appropriate Sports. Journal Of Sport

Behavior, 32(2), 207-226.

Hardin, M., & Shain, S. (2005). STRENGTH IN NUMBERS? THE EXPERIENCES AND

ATTITUDES OF WOMEN IN SPORTS MEDIA CAREERS. Journalism & Mass

Communication Quarterly, 82(4), 804-819.

Huffman, S., Tuggle, C. A., & Rosengard, D. S. (2004). How Campus Media Cover Sports: The

Gender--Equity Issue, One Generation Later. Mass Communication & Society, 7(4), 475-

489.

Mills, M. (2017) Sharing privately: the effect publication on social media has on expectations of

privacy. London, UK: Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Noureddine, M. (2016) Social Media and Social Change. Quatar: Wiley Blackwell

Phelan, C. (2017). Sports for All: The Impact of Title IX. Booklist, 114(3), 62.

Potter, J. (2016). Media Literacy Eighth Edition. Sage Publications.

Stader, D. L., & Surface, J. L. (2014). Not Second-Class: Title IX, Equity, and Girls High

School Sports. Clearing House, 87(3), 119-123.

Toffoletti, K. (2016). Analyzing Media Representations of Sportswomen-- Expanding the

Conceptual Boundaries Using a Postfeminist Sensibility. Sociology Of Sport Journal,

33(3), 199-207

Vann, P. (2014). Changing the Game: The Role of Social Media in Overcoming Old Media's

Attention Deficit Toward Women's Sport. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,

58(3), 438-455.