Vincent Response

Professor John Vincent’s study “Equitable Media Coverage of Female and Male Athletes: Is there a solution?” discusses the many inequalities in the representation of male and female athletics.

Vincent notes that many female athletes receive the coverage that they do because of socially constructed sex and gender role stereotypes. A prime example of this is Anna Kournikova and Danica Patrick. These two female athletes are often portrayed in the media because of the way they look as opposed to how good of an athlete they are.

Going along with the socially constructed roles, Vincent also notes that females that play in what are considered to be more “gender appropriate sports” receive more media coverage as opposed to girls that play sports that are considered to be more aggressive and masculine.

Vincent talks not only about sports, but also about the field of sports journalism. He discusses how there are very few female sports reporters, as well. I think that the field has also been socially constructed, specifically on television. Most female sports journalists are “sideline reporters” as opposed to broadcasters or commentators. Very few women have yet to bridge the gap and move from the sidelines up to the press box.

The problem facing women’s athletics is its lack of tradition in the history of sports in the United States. Male dominated sports have been around so much longer than female sports that it is difficult for women’s sports and female athletes to establish themselves in our extremely socially constructed society.

The problem is even when an extremely talented female athlete comes around, society still fails to market that person to the fullest extent. An example of this is Candace Parker. She is probably the best female basketball player of our time, yet I don’t see her very often in advertisements.

It’s not that I feel that females are lesser athletes than men, it’s that male sports are more popular to the masses and have more tradition. The media needs to show what the people want in order to be successful, continue to make money, and gain readership.