TY - JOUR
T1 - Has she got sex appeal? Critical feminism and the Australian sports media
AU - Litchfield, Chelsea
AU - Redhead, Stephen
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: month (773h) = March; Journal title (773t) = International Journal Interdisciplinary Studies in Communication. ISSNs: 2324-7320;
PY - 2015/3
Y1 - 2015/3
N2 - Apart from a few exceptions, women's sports are omitted from both free to air television broadcasts and the sports pages in Australia. Such an absence is explained by one television network as the need for sports media to focus on "premium and significant sports." These "significant" sports in Australia are often described as Australian football (AFL), rugby league (NRL), soccer, and cricket, and all are known for their high profile competitions and male participants. Defining men's sports as significant results in sports journalists focusing their attention to commentate on and write about these sports, usually to the exclusion of women's sports. Therefore, this results in a plethora of sports media around men's sports, sporting competitions, and male athletes in Australia, and very little media attention awarded to female sports, sporting competitions, and female athletes. This sports media culture is also fueled by the opinions of many unqualified (predominantly male) ex-athletes working as "sports journalists." At present, most (if not all) of the cricket, AFL, and NRL commentators in the television broadcasts in Australia are ex-players. Ex-athletes reporting on sport further promotes a masculine culture in the sports media in Australia, whereby women are further disenfranchised from sporting coverage. Using a critical feminist lens, this culture is explored in the current manuscript.
AB - Apart from a few exceptions, women's sports are omitted from both free to air television broadcasts and the sports pages in Australia. Such an absence is explained by one television network as the need for sports media to focus on "premium and significant sports." These "significant" sports in Australia are often described as Australian football (AFL), rugby league (NRL), soccer, and cricket, and all are known for their high profile competitions and male participants. Defining men's sports as significant results in sports journalists focusing their attention to commentate on and write about these sports, usually to the exclusion of women's sports. Therefore, this results in a plethora of sports media around men's sports, sporting competitions, and male athletes in Australia, and very little media attention awarded to female sports, sporting competitions, and female athletes. This sports media culture is also fueled by the opinions of many unqualified (predominantly male) ex-athletes working as "sports journalists." At present, most (if not all) of the cricket, AFL, and NRL commentators in the television broadcasts in Australia are ex-players. Ex-athletes reporting on sport further promotes a masculine culture in the sports media in Australia, whereby women are further disenfranchised from sporting coverage. Using a critical feminist lens, this culture is explored in the current manuscript.
KW - Australia
KW - Sport Journalism
KW - Women
M3 - Article
SN - 2324-7320
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Communication
JF - International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Communication
IS - 2
ER -