Research
Impact of professional women athletes' media representations on collegiate women athletes
Authors:
Jennifer Bhalla
Pacific University, US
About Jennifer
Kinesiology, Associate Professor
Abstract
There is a lack of representation of women athletes from professional to collegiate sports in U.S. media. For example, Fink (2015) studied the inequities between male and women athletes to understand the harmful nature of the implication of these inequities. Other social constructs arise with the objectification of women athletes. Harrison and Fredrickson (2013) found a connection between aging of adolescent girls to women and an increase of self-objectification. They explained their results using Objectification Theory, which teaches young women to “regard themselves in an objectified gaze” from adolescence. The purpose of this study was to examine women collegiate athletes’ thoughts and feelings about the ways their elite representatives are presented within sports media. Women collegiate athletes viewed images displaying four different types of identity portrayals, and were then interviewed about their perceptions of the images. Each participant asked to answer five questions, and that data was analyzed using open coding methods.
How to Cite:
Martinez, R. and Bhalla, J., 2020. Impact of professional women athletes' media representations on collegiate women athletes. International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities, 12(2), pp.1–16. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7710/2168-0620.0299
Published on
03 Sep 2020.
Peer Reviewed
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