A Traditional Research Paper
I found some difficulty in the course learning how to evaluate online work. When a discussion occurs, the very informal nature of the conversation influences the perception of the grader. In most cases, the student were engaged in comparable work, so evaluating performance was more a question of determining a baseline for outstanding and poor performance and then measuring each student's work against that. In the case of the research papers, however, when I had to measure traditional papers like this one against a hypertext presentation, the task became a much more complicated one. A number of the edited collections reference in the bibliography address the question of evaluating hypertext, which I don't explore here simply because this was such a small part of this course. Nevertheless, it is useful to present the two papers for comparison.
Even the question of the research resources the students chose to use
figured into the renegotiation required for evaluating student work in
the class. Students on the regional campuses had a more difficult
time locating resources; while interlibrary loan is available to all USC
students, our libraries are small, and at the beginning of their academic
careers, students often don't make use of ILL (or they do so too late).
Students on the Columbia campus had a much larger library right at hand.
An awareness of the different resources available to writers became important
early, when students were researching the distinctions between the terms
"gender" and "sex," and their access remained an issue throughout the course.
Marcy Keown
14 December 2000
WOST J111
Research Paper
After many decades of denial and invisibility in our society, women are finally being recognized. Athletic women have made substantial progress with their presence in the media. The 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games were a major turning point for female athletes. They were finally given coverage by the media and appeared in magazines and on television nationwide. Many photographs were taken of Florence Griffith Joyner (FloJo) running down the track in her fashionable and flashy outfit during the 1988 Olympics. Likewise, enormous media coverage if female athletes in the 1992 Olympics focused on gymnasts. Exposure of the female athlete had arrived! Or had it? Was this coverage focusing on the athlete or the female? Had the female athlete really gained considerable ground in society? The presence of women in the media appears to have changed women’s social status. However, upon closer look, the feminized images still exhibit stereotypical ideas of women and femininity.
The media has played a significant role in the manner that women are represented in society. It has had the power to show advancements that women have made in athletics, yet at the same time reinforcing stereotypical gender roles. The images of FloJo in the media during the 1988 Olympic Games explain how female athletes are represented overall. Is she remembered as a talented athlete who won 3 Olympic medals or as “a fashion model/designer who performed in long tresses, lavish makeup, and racy one-legged running suits that emphasize sexual difference?” (Duncan, 1990, p.23). FloJo was portrayed as a woman and therefore “socially constructed” (Greendorfer, 1990). At the same time, she was depicted differently than the male track runners. Her fashion, body, and feminine character were emphasized rather than her athletic ability.
Track and field is not the only sport where female athletes are not portrayed as “athletes”. The media emphasized gender roles when Chris Evert, the famous and accomplished tennis player, retired in 1989. Evert’s retirement was so significant that Sports Illustrated put her picture on the cover of the August 28, 1989 issue. What might appear to be a major accomplishment was devalued when the caption to her picture read, “I’m Going to Be a Full Time Wife” (Sports Illustrated, 1989). The caption could have easily acknowledged one of her many achievements. Instead, the socially accepted gender role stereotypes were emphasized on the cover of a sports related magazine. Figure skater Katarina Witt’s femininity was stressed in a Sports Illustrated magazine when the article was describing a major Figure Skating that occurred before the 1994 Olympics. The controversy was about allowing professional figure skaters to return to amateur skating so that they can compete in the Olympics. Conversely, the article showed Katarina Witt as a sexy female who appeared in a “peek-a-boo photo posing in veritable buffet of semi-naughty attire” rather than her desire to return back to the competition level (Swift, 1993, p.23). She had worked many hours in preparation for the Olympics in hope that she would again be allowed to compete. Her attractiveness and femininity appealed more to the predominantly male viewer rather than her athleticism.
The media has formed female athletes as “bastardized, perhaps even counterfeit version of the ‘real’ (men’s) sport” (Kane and Snyder, 1989, p. 92). The media reinforcing the female athlete as feminine and sexual individuals undermines their athletic accomplishments. Female athletes appear belittled and less important than their athletic male counterparts.
Margaret Duncan and Cynthia Hasbrook in the Sociology of Sport Journal argue, “sports perpetuate male superiority and female inferiority more than any other social institution” (1988, p.18). Athletic sports are about physical competition that emphasizes male fitness, muscularity, and superiority. Images of males are shown to represent power, strength, and dominance, whereas female images exhibit submissiveness and weakness. Alan Clarke and John Clarke in Sport, Culture, and Ideology state that being superior physically is related to being superior socially: “sport reproduces the ideology of male supremacy because it acts as a constant and glorified reminder that males are biologically, and thus inherently superior to females. Ultimately, this physical, biological, 'natural' supremacy of males in sport becomes translated into the 'natural' supremacy of males in the large social order” (p.77).
Social definitions have historically excluded women from participating in sports. In the early 1970’s, Title IX began a difference in women and sports. One emphasis in Title IX enforced collegiate athletics to have an equal number of men and women’s sports teams. For example, 2 million high school students participate in school spots compared with 300,000 students participating before Title IX was passed (Becker, 1988, 1C). In 1992, 158,000 women competed in college sports contrasted to the 31,00 who participated in 1971 (National College Athletic Association, 1992). Since Title IX, women athletes can no longer be excluded from participating in sports without the athletic association possibly facing legal action. Still, the media has the ability to show female athletes to the public and at the same time draw attention to their gender roles. FloJo appeared on the covers of two highly read magazines: Sports Illustrated and Time. Duncan states, “It was no coincidence that Joyner’s rapier-like intricately painted fingernails were often visibly represented in those photographs…Joyner’s nails are an external adornment that shouts femininity- and other ness” (1990, p.28). The important point that Duncan notes is how her portrayal shows adjustion and resistance have occurred concurrently. Her images on the covers acknowledges “the social change that has taken place, yet the specific type of images indicate a opposition to fundamental social change because it is primarily linked to her “appropriate” role as female, not athlete” (Greendorfer, 1990). Jackie Joyner Kersee during the same Olympic Games won gold medals in the heptathlon, but did not receive the same exposure as FloJo did. This is due to the fact that FloJo is considered feminine and Kersey is stereotyped as masculine and “butchy”. If a highly read magazine has put Kersee on the cover, the stereotypical gender roles would not have been displayed.
“Ambivalence” is the term used by Duncan and Hasbrook to explain how media portrayals of female athletes contain “mixed or contradictory messages” (1988, p.18). They have found that the images of women are usually combined with sexy photographs with negative suggestions that challenge their athletic ability. One example they noted was the television commentators describing a basketball game. The athletes were illustrated as skillful and courageous as well as vulnerable, cute and anxious (1988, p.20). However, as Duncan and Hasbrook point out, there are still more subtle forms of ambivalence that occurs in the media other than contradictory descriptions. There can also be “narrative and visual incongruity” (1988, p.20). Narrative and visual incongruity happens when the visual images focus on the female athlete and the narrative description focuses on male athletics at the same time. In a New York City Marathon, the television camera focused on Greta Waitz as she ran across the finish line and finished in first place. At that exact same moment, the commentator of the race was stating the finishing order in the men’s marathon race. Ambivalence in media coverage was only given to female athletes. Duncan and Hasbrook stated, “Not once could this narrative/visual incongruity be identified within the coverage of a men’s marathon” (1988, p.16).
Female athletes are subjected to conflicting messages about their physical abilities as athletes. Media portrayal has denied women positive exposure that highlights their talents. Their deserving coverage is undermined by the way that they are portrayed in the media. The media is showing how social change that has occurred by putting women in their coverage. On the other hand, the media is also showing opposition to the changing stereotypical gender roles by characterizing the athletes as being wives, mothers, submissive, etc…
There is no longer a debate about women participating in sports as there has once been. There is a continual increase in the number of females engaging in different sports at all different levels. The passage of Title IX began a revolution for women athletes; or has it really? The increased interest and coverage in women’s sports only represents a superficial social change. There still has yet to be a change in the way that women are portrayed in society. The mass media has the power to “dictate” the way that women will be acknowledged. Female athletes are generally recognized when their stereotypical roles and body are being used in pleasing ways (Greendorfer, 1990). There is a greater acceptance from the public when women participate in feminine sports such as field hockey, gymnastics, and figure skating (Kane, 1988, p.93). Women who participate in “masculine” sports such as basketball, soccer, and rugby do not receive the same public acceptance.
The media portrays women in sports that have reinforced their gender role stereotypes. By doing so, a female athletes true potential is often undermined and not taken seriously. If the coverage actually does note their accomplishment, the subject is quickly changed to what they are wearing, their family life, or emphasize their appearance. If the media has the capacity to reinforce the gender role stereotypes, they have the same power to weaken the stereotypes. Society needs to present a challenge to the media to reflect the reality of a woman athlete and not as her “supposed” gender role. If women can be seen as equals in the “sports world”, they will also then be seen as equals in every aspect of society.
Works Cited
Becker, Debbie. “Courts Kick The Teeth out of Title IX. USA Today, (1988, September 16): 1C-2C.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle. “Sports Photographs and Sexual Difference: Images of Women and Men in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.” Sociology of Sport Journal 7 (1990): 22-43.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle and Hasbrook, Cynthia A. “Denial of Power In Televised Women’s Sports.” Sociology of Sport Journal 5 (1988): 1-21.
Greendorfer, Susan L. “Media Reinforcement of Stereotypic Ideology of Women in Sport.” Paper presented at the Institute for International Sport Seminar, Kingston, RI: (1990).
Kane, Mary Jo. “Media Coverage of the Female Athlete Before, During, and After Title IX.” Journal of Sport Management, 2 (1988): 87-99.
Kane, Mary Jo and Snyder, Eldon E. “Sport Typing: The Social “Containment” of Women in Sport.” Arena Review 13 (1989): 77-96.
National College Athletic Association. Gender Equity Study. Overland Park, KS: (1992).
Sports Illustrated. New York: Time Inc., (1989, August 28).
Swift, E.M. “Teen Ice Queen.” Sports Illustrated. (1993, March
4): 22-23.