Contested issues in research on the media coverage of female Paralympic athletes

Abstract

The Paralympic Games are considered to be the second biggest sporting event in the world, after the Summer Olympic Games, however, research on the media coverage of athletes with disabilities is in its infancy. More specifically, there is a lack of studies focusing on whether quantitative and qualitative differences exist in the manner in which the female and male Paralympic athletes are represented in the print media. In contrast, there is an extensive body of scholarly research on the differential media treatment of female and male Olympic athletes. This article includes three aspects: (1) a brief summary of the media coverage of non-disabled female athletes, with the aim of providing some research indicators that could be used in analogous studies of Paralympic sport; (2) the examination of the limited media literature on the portrayals of female and male Paralympic athletes; and (3) a discussion of possible future research in this relatively unexplored, area of media, gender and Paralympic sport.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 6th European Community framework Programme (Contract No 042104). The first author is at the University of Kent and a member of the SANTESIH research group; this paper came out of research conducted while he was with UFR-STAPS at the University of Montpellier 1, France. We would also like to thank the two anonymous referees and the editor of this special issue for their valuable comments.

Notes

¹ Schantz and Gilbert, ‘An Ideal Misconstrued’.

² Schell and Duncan, ‘A Content Analysis of CBS's Coverage’.

³ Schantz and Gilbert, ‘An Ideal Misconstrued’; Thomas and Smith, ‘Preoccupied with Able-bodiedness?’.

⁴ M. Rose, The Staff of Oedipus; Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare, Exploring Disability, 14.

⁵ Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare, Exploring Disability, 14.

⁶ Elliot, ‘Moral Responsibilities and the Power of Pictures’, 12.

⁷ Buysse and Embser-Herbert, ‘Constructions of Gender in Sport’.

⁸ See, for example, Duncan and Brummet, ‘The Mediation of Spectator Sport’; Crolley and Teso, ‘Gender Narratives in Spain’; Kane and Parks, ‘The Social Construction of Gender Difference’; Klein, ‘Women in the Discourse of Sports Reports’; Lee,'Media Portrayals of Male and Female Olympic Athletes'; Salwen and Woods, ‘Depictions of Female Athletes on Sports Illustrated Covers, 1957–89’; Shugart, ‘She Shoots, She Scores’; Marcellini et al., ‘D'une Minorité à l'autre?’

⁹ Duncan and Messner, ‘The Media Image of Sport and Gender’.

¹⁰ Buysse and Embser-Herbert, ‘Constructions of Gender in Sport’.

¹¹ Crossman, Vincent, and Speed, ‘The Times They are a-changin’. 29.

¹² Duncan, ‘Sports Photographs and Sexual Differences’.

¹³ Hardin, Lynn, and Walsdorf ‘Challenge and Conformity on “Contested Terrain”’.

¹⁴ Kane, ‘Media Coverage of the Female Athlete’.

¹⁵ Hardin, Lynn, and Walsdorf, ‘Challenge and Conformity on “Contested Terrain”’.

¹⁶ Messner, Duncan, and Cooky, ‘Silence, Sports Bras, and Wrestling Porn’.

¹⁷ Hardin, Lynn, and Walsdorf ‘Challenge and Conformity on “Contested Terrain”’, 105.

¹⁸ Hooper, ‘Fading Starlet. Lack of Success Tarnishes Kournikova's Marketability’. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2002/us_open/news/2002/08/27/kournikova_tennis/

¹⁹ Vincent et al., ‘Analysing the Print Media Coverage of Professional Tennis Players’.

²⁰ Duncan, ‘Sports Photographs and Sexual Differences’.

²¹ Fullerton, ‘Not Playing Fair’; R. Jones, Murrell, and Jackson, ‘Pretty versus Powerful’.

²² Messner, Duncan, and Jensen, ‘Separating the Men from the Girls’; Fullerton, ‘Not Playing Fair’.

²³ Pappous et al. , ‘La Visibilidad de la Deportista Paralímpica en la Prensa Española’.

²⁴ Thomas and Smith ‘Preoccupied with Able-bodiedness?’.

²⁵ Pekin 2008, http://paralimpicos.sportec.es

²⁶ See for example, Smith and Thomas, ‘The “Inclusion” of Elite Athletes with Disabilities’; D. Jones, ‘The Representation of Female Athletes’; Hardin et al., ‘Olympic Photo Coverage Fair to Female Athletes’; Shifflett and Revelle, ‘Gender Equity in Sports Media Coverage’; Malec, ‘Gender (In)equity in the NCAA News?’.

²⁷ D. Jones, ‘The Representation of Female Athletes’.

²⁸ D. Jones, ‘The Representation of Female Athletes’, 416.

²⁹ G. Rose, Visual Methodologies, 66.

³⁰ Schell and Rodriguez, ‘Subverting Bodies/Ambivalent Representations’, 128.

³¹ Scherrill, Adapted Physical Activity, 51.

³² Hargreaves, Heroines of sport.

³³ Schell and Rodriguez ‘Subverting Bodies/Ambivalent Representations’.

³⁴ Ferri and Gregg, ‘Woman with Disabilities’, 433.

³⁵ Schell and Rodriguez, ‘Subverting Bodies/Ambivalent Representations’, 132–133.

³⁶ Ferri and Gregg, ‘Woman with Disabilities’, 433.

³⁷ Meekosha and Dowse, ‘Distorting Images’.

³⁸ Schell and Duncan, ‘A Content Analysis of CBS's Coverage’.

³⁹ Crolley and Teso, ‘Gender Narratives in Spain’; Higgs, Weiller, and Martin, ‘Gender Bias in the 1996 Olympic Games’.

⁴⁰ Schell and Duncan, ‘A Content Analysis of CBS's Coverage’, 45.

⁴¹ de Léséleuc, Pappous, and Marcellini, ‘La Cobertura Mediática de las Mujeres con Discapacidad’.

⁴² de Léséleuc, Pappous, and Marcellini, ‘La Cobertura Mediática de las Mujeres con Discapacidad’

⁴³ Duncan and Messner, ‘The Media Image of Sport and Gender’, 176: ‘… the body parts that signaled female sexual difference: – thighs, breasts, buttocks, and crotches – were sometimes highlighted in photos of sportswomen, diverting attention from women as strong and competent athletes…’.

⁴⁴ de Léséleuc, Pappous and Marcellini, ‘La Cobertura Mediática de las Mujeres con Discapacidad’.

⁴⁵ Morris, Pride Against Prejudice, 93.

⁴⁶ Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare, Exploring Disability,196.

⁴⁷ In de Léséleuc et al. ‘La Cobertura Mediática de las Mujeres con Discapacidad’, it was observed that some newspapers reported stories on male and female disabled athletes focusing on non-sport-related aspects (stories about their professional occupation and their family situation, obstacles that they face in their everyday life) instead of giving sport related information. During the newspaper coverage of Sydney Paralympic Games, a British journalist of The Independent (October 28, 2000) referred to a Paralympic champion as ‘this young boy of 28 years old’. By mentioning the age of the athlete, the reader discovers that the article is not talking about a young boy, but about an adult. This lexical contradiction in the same sentence gives the impression that these athletes are not really perceived as adults, although they have more than passed the age of adolescence.