This book examines how women athletes were represented in international media coverage during the 2004 Olympic Games. Through feminist theorizing and qualitative textual analysis, the contributors discuss sexualization, nationalism, success, failure and the [in]visibility of women athletes in newspaper reporting in Asia, Europe and the USA.

"Do the global sports media continue to ignore and downplay female sporting success—or is this invisibility changing? Does the world’s largest media event, the Olympic Games, which places sport at the centre of world attention, also represent a media showcase for the achievements of female athletes? This is the main focus of this book.

The book [is] . . . well researched. Chapters by contributing authors enhance the breadth of the content both from a cultural and media perspective. Individuals interested in the history of women′s sports and particularly in gender issues as related to varying media will find this volume informative. . . . Upper-division undergraduate through professional. --Choice "Chapters by different authors make a splendid reference work on the history of women in sports, women′s sports magazines, examples of discrimination against women in sports and women sports reporters, and, of course, the proverbial locker-room access controversies are reviewed here." --Editor & Publisher "Pamela Creedon has hit a homerun that challenges assumptions about the relationship between women, media, and sports. This impressive collection of research helps redefine a playing field that until now had overwhelmingly male boundaries. This is a fabulous book!" --Susan Henry, California State University, Northridge "Women, Media, and Sport is a path-breaking book in mass media research. Not only does it provide a well-researched history of the women who report sports news and the media images of women in sports, but it also skillfully applies critical feminist theories to examine the context of these media messages and effects. It opens new research subjects and models for integrating media effects and cultural/critical studies research." --Marion T. Marzolf, The University of Michigan "This is a fascinating book that uses as its starting point a definition of sport as a cultural institution, rather than concentrating on the activities and games that make up the sports component. The book examines important ′sport′ metaphors and symbols, placing women and the media on a contextual playing field. I was struck by the fact that all the chapters are written by women who are asking myriad questions about journalistic norms, about media values, and about news conventions in the world of sport. These questions have not been asked by mainstream male journalists or writers covering sports. This distinctive point of view makes Women, Media, and Sport a valuable addition to any women′s studies, media studies, or cultural studies book list. This is a very thorough and comprehensive text, covering history, economics, marketing, and cultural paradigms for studying or critiquing women′s sport. Best of all, it offers a new model for women′s sport that is both provocative and practical. This book will not change any opinions about favorite football teams or sports announcers, but it does ask to examine attitudes toward women, the media, and the sport universe." --Sammye Johnson, Trinity University The first book to link feminist, sport, and media theory together, Women, Media, and Sport provides a broad cultural studies approach, which also touches on race and class relations in sport. In addition to the theoretical analyses, this volume provides a practical look at models of sport, media effects, and the construction of the sportswomen and women′s sport. Designed as a text to fill the gap in this area, the book is organized into three sections. The first provides an overview of women, sport, and the media and an example of the ways they intertwine. The extensive range of articles in the second section focuses on print and broadcast media′s portrayal of women′s sports and its journalistic process and examines such issues as the relationship between sports promotion and media′s representations of women′s sport and how sport reporting is taught to future journalists. The final section seeks to develop a new model for the future. A thorough and original text, Women, Media, and Sport is essential for scholars, students, and professionals in media and mass communication studies, sociology, women′s studies, cultural studies, popular culture, ethnic studies, and gender studies.

The only anthology available documenting 100 years of women in American sports

Historically, the mass media have marginalized women's sports by devoting more coverage to men's sports and trying to appeal to a male audience. This volume analyzes the mass media's portrayal of women's sports. The Olympic Games are highlighted because they provide one of the few sports arenas where women's participation is heavily covered, promoted, and celebrated. The author suggests the media are recognizing the significance of female spectatorship and are attempting to respond to this growing audience by adopting some of the rhetorical and textual characteristics of soap opera and melodrama.

Despite the position that sport occupies at the centre of public attention, and despite the billions of consumers and immense coverage which it attracts from around the globe, it seems that the media prioritise coverage of only a very small fraction of sporting events, and a few prominent athletes. It goes without saying that sport in the media is dominated by men – they are a large majority among athletes, consumers, journalists, and producers. This book will shed new light on the long discussed question of gendered sporting coverage, in an era when the Olympics can be dubbed the ‘women’s games’. Some of the contributions present new perspectives such as: the relationship between media and sport in Poland; media presentations of men and women in gender ‘adequate’ and ‘inadequate’ sports; competition between women and men participating in the same events; the presentation of celebrities; and the framing of doping within the context of gender relations. Furthermore, the book focuses not only on athletes, sports and events, but also on consumers, such as hooligans and their brand of masculinity, and on journalists, such as Mike Penner, who attempted to transgress gender boundaries. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Britain has a long and distinguished history as an Olympic nation. However, most Olympic histories have focused on men’s sport. This is the first book to tell the story of Britain’s Olympic women, how they changed Olympic spectacle and how, in turn, they have reinterpreted the Games. Exploring the key themes of gender and nationalism, and presenting a wealth of new empirical, archival evidence, the book explores the sporting culture produced by British women who aspired to become Olympians, from the early years of the modern Olympic movement. It shines new light on the frameworks imposed on female athletes, individually and as a group, by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the various affiliated sporting international federations. Using oral history and family history sources, the book tells of the social processes through which British Olympic women have become both heroes and anti-heroes in the public consciousness. Exploring the hidden narratives around women such as Charlotte Cooper, Lottie Dod, Audrey Brown and Pat Smythe, and bringing the story into the modern era of London 2012, Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the book helps us to better understand the complicated relationship between sport, gender, media and wider society. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport history, Olympic history, women’s history, British history or gender studies.