This is a common story for women in the world. From 2012 until 2016, she had only 10% of shows with women. sports illustrated and ESPN The Magazine According to a 2017 study conducted by Cynthia Frisby, a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri who studies bias in media reporting (aptly titled “Sacrificing Dignity for Propaganda”), this paper covers: When female athletes were in the spotlight, the images included “sexualized poses, seductive gazes, skimpy clothing, and sexy, alluring body poses,” Frisby found. Unsurprisingly, male athletes are “often seen in team uniforms and performing vigorous in-game athletic movements related to or related to their sport.”
The controversial Bong cover straddles the line between these two categories.it was meant to recreate The cover of the famous sports illustrator Beginning in 1992, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Famer AJ Kitt also appeared in downhill tackle with his spandex-clad bum in the air. The two images have many similarities. Same magazine, same sport, same downhill tackle. But there are also many subtle but powerful differences. Kit’s cover feels like an action shot of him, wearing a helmet and the focus is on the slopes. He is portrayed as a clear competitor, a faceless mountain master. Vong’s cover shows her clearly posing in the studio, rocking her smokey eyes and shiny blonde hair, staring straight at the viewer with her smile. The difference between them is significant. But so is this. We tend to see women as sex objects regardless of what they do, wear, or style their hair. “I didn’t think about it when I saw the image, but I’m a woman and somehow it felt sexual,” Vonn now says. “It was such an obscene thing. Suddenly everyone started talking about it. I thought, ‘Why would Bill O’Reilly comment on my downhill position?'” Why is it a conversation?
Female athletes cannot avoid talking about their bodies. Behaviors and poses that make men appear respectable, courageous, and capable often appear licentious, dramatic, and incompetent when done to women. According to sports economist David Berry, “Male athletes just need to be athletes and they can portray themselves the way they want to portray themselves.”Case in point: when Tom Brady made his own sports illustrated When he made his cover debut in 2002, posing shirtless and shy (it’s worth Googleing), no one ever got in the way of his sex appeal from talking about his abilities as an athlete. When discussing LeBron James’ achievements, no one thinks his “runway model looks” have anything to do with it. But for women, the male gaze is always strategic, and when it comes to whether or not a magazine cover is sexual, it’s not a question of the skill of the woman on the cover.
