The Image of Female Athletes
The Summer Olympics are a time where the top athletes compete for their countries on a world stage. Reporters capitalize on these events by making the Olympics their topic of coverage. One way in which the media has capitalized on the Olympics is by focusing on female athletes. However, much of the focus on female athletes undermines the athletes’ accomplishments by focusing on their sexuality and femininity instead of on their athleticism and achievements. In an article for The Huffington Post, Sarah J. Jackson Jackson criticizes the treatment of even the most successful female athletes, who are undervalued and belittled despite their accomplishments.
To support her claims, Jackson begins by citing many different examples of when certain female Olympic athletes have been needlessly scrutinized. Jackson starts to build her argument by citing, “have you seen any diva moments yet,” which was asked by an Olympic commentator (Jackson). This was asked during the gymnastic competition for gold between the United States and Russian team. It is as if the commentator …show more content…
Even though she chose to focus her article on the portrayal of women during the 2012 Summer Olympic games, this issue is prevalent throughout professional and amateur women’ sports. Jackson is not just trying to inform us on this issue; she wants us to change the way we view women’s sports and be different than the media. This raises the question, should media change the way it portrays female athletes? Can media change the way it portrays female athletes? This topic should also not just affect female athletes but rather females as a whole. People need to look at women for who they are and their accomplishments instead of their femininity and
The Summer Olympics are a time where the top athletes compete for their countries on a world stage. Reporters capitalize on these events by making the Olympics their topic of coverage. One way in which the media has capitalized on the Olympics is by focusing on female athletes. However, much of the focus on female athletes undermines the athletes’ accomplishments by focusing on their sexuality and femininity instead of on their athleticism and achievements. In an article for The Huffington Post, Sarah J. Jackson Jackson criticizes the treatment of even the most successful female athletes, who are undervalued and belittled despite their accomplishments.
To support her claims, Jackson begins by citing many different examples of when certain female Olympic athletes have been needlessly scrutinized. Jackson starts to build her argument by citing, “have you seen any diva moments yet,” which was asked by an Olympic commentator (Jackson). This was asked during the gymnastic competition for gold between the United States and Russian team. It is as if the commentator …show more content…
Even though she chose to focus her article on the portrayal of women during the 2012 Summer Olympic games, this issue is prevalent throughout professional and amateur women’ sports. Jackson is not just trying to inform us on this issue; she wants us to change the way we view women’s sports and be different than the media. This raises the question, should media change the way it portrays female athletes? Can media change the way it portrays female athletes? This topic should also not just affect female athletes but rather females as a whole. People need to look at women for who they are and their accomplishments instead of their femininity and