Women, sport and the media: A complex terrain

Abstract

In this chapter I examine coverage of women’s sport, exposing the ways in which the sports media can simultaneously challenge and reinforce dominant assumptions that sport is primarily a male domain. I first summarize the extensive research that shows how the ‘everyday’ sporting activities of female athletes are trivialised and ignored by mediasport, before turning to a discussion of the times and places when female athletes visibly enter into public consciousness. Finally, I present examples from two case studies; one which disrupts and one which supports traditional ways of understanding gender.