Today, women in sports are working incredibly hard to gain recognition in their respective athletic endeavors. Taking away from these females’ accomplishments are the blatant objectification of female athletes by the media. Without fail, the media commits an overbearing amount of focus on the sex appeal of popular female athletes. While females can sometimes use the fact that “sex sells” to their advantage, sometimes the integrity of the sport is harmed.
It seems as though any young attractive female athlete that become competitive professionals are immediately marketed as sex symbols. Quite often, the front page of Maxim Magazine features a famous female athlete wearing a bikini. An example of this that comes to mind is Anna Kournikova. Anna Kournikova played professional tennis for seven years, never ranked in the top 15 female tennis players, yet was undoubtedly the most marketed player in the league. She has since left tennis, and focused on modeling.
Another example is Danica Patrick. Danica Patrick is a groundbreaking female Indy Car driver, and recently became the first woman driver to win an Indy Car race. Since then, she has been one of the most covered drivers in all of her races. She is now marketing her sex appeal by appearing in several magazines, including the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Maxim Magazine released an article about the “20 Hottest Female Athletes.” Many of the 20 females posed for a Maxim wearing bikinis or lingerie . I do not see such a thing occurring in male sports. I do not see male athletes ever sold for their sex appeal in such a way. It will be interesting to see, as women’s sports gain in popularity, to what extent this trend will occur.
It seems as though any young attractive female athlete that become competitive professionals are immediately marketed as sex symbols. Quite often, the front page of Maxim Magazine features a famous female athlete wearing a bikini. An example of this that comes to mind is Anna Kournikova. Anna Kournikova played professional tennis for seven years, never ranked in the top 15 female tennis players, yet was undoubtedly the most marketed player in the league. She has since left tennis, and focused on modeling.
Another example is Danica Patrick. Danica Patrick is a groundbreaking female Indy Car driver, and recently became the first woman driver to win an Indy Car race. Since then, she has been one of the most covered drivers in all of her races. She is now marketing her sex appeal by appearing in several magazines, including the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Maxim Magazine released an article about the “20 Hottest Female Athletes.” Many of the 20 females posed for a Maxim wearing bikinis or lingerie . I do not see such a thing occurring in male sports. I do not see male athletes ever sold for their sex appeal in such a way. It will be interesting to see, as women’s sports gain in popularity, to what extent this trend will occur.
2 comments:
This post is interesting because although male athletes such as Tom Brady and David Beckham do use their sex appeal to gain sponsorships and things like that, these are still the top athletes of the sport. For women though it seems you do not have to be the best necessarily at your sport to get money and recognition but instead you have to be the most attractive.
So true. I think what is so important to point out, like you did, is that Anna Kournikova, although a professional athlete, did not nearly have the ability and skill level as other tennis stars like Venus or Serena Williams, however, because of her appearance, she had such a fan base and stayed with tennis for probably longer than she should have. It just goes to show how objectifying women and emphasizing beauty is such a big part of our pop culture and plays a huge role in a lot of aspects in our lives.
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