“The women are every bit as good as the men”: a postfeminist critique of LPGA players’ quest for equity in golf

ABSTRACT

This study featured a survey of 32 LPGA athletes and follow-up interviews. We employed a postfeminist critique, highlighting the contradictions of modern feminism in a patriarchal, capitalist society . Findings reflected the athletes’ conflicting views on their place in the sports world. They noted the hegemonic masculinity that has always existed in sports and media coverage of sports, but some viewed this as a problem for individual women rather than for the LPGA collectively. Some respondents said the LPGA did not need to take action as a whole, when such action clearly would benefit them. Some accepted women’s bodies as a commodity to be traded in the sports marketplace. Some responses revealed ugly racism toward Asian players. Overall, the women’s words raised questions and reflections on how to respond to structural sexism in sports, why the women believe they are treated unequally to men, and how to improve media coverage of women’s golf by humanizing players. We also make recommendations on how an intersectional approach to the sport might improve its revenue, media treatment, and quell racist attitudes. We acknowledge that real change will require institutional responses to these problems.

KEYWORDS:

• LPGA
• golf
• sports media
• postfeminism
• intersectionality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Weiller-Abels

Karen Weiller-Abels is an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, University of North Texas. Her research centers on media representation of gender issues in sport. She is the author/co-author of numerous publications in this area in journals such as Sport and Society, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, and Women in Sport and Physical Activity.

Tracy Everbach

Tracy Everbach is a feminist scholar and professor of digital/print journalism at the Mayborn School of Journalism, University of North Texas. Her research focuses on gender and race in media, gender representations in sports, sexual harassment in media, and women in journalism. She is co-author of the 2018 book Mediating Misogyny: Gender, Technology and Harassment and the 2020 book Testing Tolerance: Addressing Controversy in the Journalism and Mass Communication Classroom.

Madison Hurd

Madison Hurd is an M.A. graduate of the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas.

Miranda Holland

Miranda Holland is an M.A. graduate of the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation, University of North Texas.