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Media literacy: (mis) shaping women's sports.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

The messages the media sends about women's sport have had a powerful influence on how women athletes and women's sports are accepted in this culture. This article describes a media literacy assignment developed to provide students with a dramatic example of the need for media literacy and the dangers of accepting, as truth, many of the messages and cultural production the media has developed about women's sports.

Introduction

Women's sport has come a long way since the pre Title IX days (Education Amendment Act of 1972). Title IX requires no person can be excluded from participation or denied benefits on the basis of sex from any educational program receiving federal funds. When applied to sports participation, Title IX standards can be met in three ways: proportionality (ratio of women students to women athletes), a record continuous improvement in women's sports, or meeting the needs and interest of the women students. There have been many legal challenges to Title IX, but all have resulted in support for Title IX.

Many argue that Title IX has accomplished its goal and should be revised or eliminated. They argue that Title IX has resulted in the elimination of men's sports. What is not acknowledged is that men's football and basketball have maintained their budgets resulting in cuts to budgets of other sports. It is difficult to argue that Title IX has met its goals given that less than thirty percent of universities are in compliance with Title IX and women athletes are awarded about thirty-six percent of the athletic scholarships (Women's Sport Foundation, 2005; Eitzen, 2006). Today, Title IX is still under attack (see Women's Sports Foundation, 2006; Carpenter & Acosta, 2005). What possible role has media played in the evolution of support for women's sports in the United States? Part of the explanation for the limited progress of women's sports has much to do with the media's presentation of the sports' world. The power of the media to create and define culture appears to be unlimited. Many advocates for women's athletes feel that the most important competition for women's sports is with the media.

The media literacy project that I used in my senior level course in sport sociology was developed with two primary goals: (a) Provide an accurate historical overview of the development of women's sports and (b) Provide students with the media literacy tools needed to uncover the power of the media in controlling the images, stories, and ultimately the growth potential for women's sports. We discussed the lack of success of women's sports in gaining media recognition and economic stability. The male argument went like this: "Who wants to watch or even support women athletes. They aren't as skilled as men, they are boring...

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