More on Today's Athlete: This time a YouTube analysis!
The difference in public perceptions of male and female athletes couldn't be more evident after viewing a selection of YouTube clips. I looked at clips about the media bias of female athletes. I saw "user-generated-content" in the form of a montage of the ESPN awards show about male (and some female) athletes: the ESPYs. And I also analyzed a clip of one of the most famous female athletes at that same awards show.
In this first clip, college professors discuss the media's bias of the female athlete. It's called "Playing Unfair: The Media Image of the Female Athlete." This video was created by "MEF: Challenging Media"...whatever that means.
A UMN professor starts the analysis, and other professors chime in. Clips of female athletes in sport are intermingled throughout this segment. The video also shows pictures of sexualized images of female athletes. This 5-minute segment seems like a "cut-and-paste" from a larger documentary on this subject or else maybe this segment was put together for a specific web site. I thought the video was a little "too academic" for the standard YouTube viewer.
It was also illuminating to read the posts of the YouTube viewers listed below this video. One person said that "If women are so good at sports, why don't they play men? It's proven that men are stronger than women." Another person posting said that "athletes have bodies that are sexy...they probably show more skin in clubs or on the beach...get over it." Another person writes that "it is interesting that no female athletes were interviewed for this segment...this video only shows one side of the issue." I agree that only one side of the issue is shown in this video, but I think it's naive to think that female athletes are okay with how they are represented as sexual objects. I think female athletes who come out against these media representations are viewed as "prudish" or ignored by the media entirely.
I found a second video that clearly illustrates the biased representations of female athletes compared to male athletes. It's a "user-generated" montage of the 2007 ESPYs created by a 28-year-old with the screen name "lynacruz".
In this video, winners from ESPN's awards shows, the ESPYs, are shown in still frames. Male athletes are most often shown in pictures from the sporting event they play in. For example, Tiger Woods is shown in a picture from the golf course. Roger Federer is shown on the tennis court. Tony Dungy is shown on the football field. In contrast, the two female athletes in this segment, Tarnye Mowatt and Maria Sharapova, are shown in their evening gowns. This is a clear example of female athletes being shown for their looks and not for their performance in sports.
On the side of this second clip's YouTube page, I saw a link to a montage of Maria Sharapova at this ESPY awards show. This third video segment, posted by the user "tabientennis", is a selection of edited clips of Sharapova at the ESPYs.
This video is seriously disturbing in my opinion. First of all, the scenes are pieced together in a way that does not make any "creative" sense...it seems like this video was solely created for men to view Sharapova in different poses in her evening gown. I also find it disturbing how the ESPN "red carpet reporter" seems more concerned about what outfit that Sharapova will wear to this year's US Open than anything else. That's the tennis US Open, but by the sheer neglect of any mention of Sharapova's sport, a viewer of this video would be hard-pressed to discover what sport she actually plays. And you only need to look at the discussion board posts to see that most YouTube viewers are more interested in Sharapova's looks, as opposed to her tennis playing ability.
I wonder if this is the media's (including YouTube's) fault for this portrayal of the female athlete. Maybe the media is just showing the public what they want to see. Maybe the public doesn't want to see serious portrayals of female athletes. If you read the discussion board postings beneath the "Playing Unfair" video, one would think that the Youtube viewer / general American is uninterested in female athletes for their skills. But a more critical analysis of this problem makes me disagree.
I think people posting their comments on YouTube do not reflect the general public. These are usually the outspoken Internet users...people who often have very polarizing viewpoints that do not reflect the majority of American opinions. And often these arguments posted are not well thought out. They often take the form of childish, surface-level criticisms.
I do think the media influences how we view the female athlete. I think women's athletics viewed in a more amateur (high school / college) setting are taken more seriously, and these are events often not covered by the national media. I think if there is a more concerted effort (maybe a federal government-led effort) that these stereotypes can be more properly addressed, and gradually, gradually, the public perceptions of the female athlete will change to something more positive and appropriate.