Sex Sells Women's Sports

The media prioritizes information and decides how and for how long each story will be told. I completely agree that the media has a role in telling us what to think about, not necessary what to think. “Framing essentially involves selection and salience. To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman 52). “Frames highlight some bits of information about an item that is the subject of a communication, thereby elevating them in salience. The word salience […] means making a piece of information more noticeable, meaningful, or memorable to audiences” (Entman 53). Basically I feel that the media did not create stereotypes but they continue to reinforce them within society. They choose what to emphasize and what to minimize during an advertisement or any other form of media text. The ideal stereotypical "beautiful" woman exists within society and while the media might not have initially create this idea, small comments and images slowly reinforce this ideal within females.

Young girls do not have it easy in society right now. Every part of their body is picked apart and it is hard for them to find successful role models who aren’t stick thin celebrities. With the Olympics underway much coverage has been given to the Sports Illustrated issue featuring Lindsey Vonn, who is a gold medal favorite skier for the USA. Lindsey Vonn is an athlete at the top of her sport and yet the main purpose of her feature in Sports Illustrated was the pictures of her in bikinis. This article brings to light the issue that only 6-8 percent of sports coverage is dedicated to female sports. “Advertising using the sex appeal of women to attract the attention of men could inadvertently teach or reinforce social cues that could have inadvertent but serious consequences. Goffman showed how women in many ads are presented as less serious and more playful than men” (Baran & Davis 318). It is fair to say that the majority of Sports Illustrated covers feature men in serious and tough poses. The cover of Lindsey Vonn could be seen as “more playful" and while it might have increased popularity for both her and her sport, is it truly for the right reasons? It seems that every young successful female is made famous for her looks not her skills.

Young girls are given good role models to look up to through professional female athletes. Can female athletes be part of the media without using their sexuality? Some news outlets have commented on the sexualizing of female athletes. See an example of the news coverage in this article: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=841322&catid=396

Do you feel that female athletes have to use their sexuality to further their career in the media? “Frames call attention to some aspects of reality while obscuring other elements” (Entman 55). Does the media reinforce female stereotypes by “framing” their female sports coverage to highlight sexuality and downplay their actual talent?

To see more of Lindsey Vonn’s photos from Sports Illustrated visit: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010_swimsuit/winter/lindsey-vonn/10_lindsey-vonn_1.html