Sexualization Of Women In Football Essay

Women in Football: Sexualization and Social Media

Abstract

The web of professional sports is one of the most important institutions in the world, with millions of people tuning in to watch pro athletes perform daily (Statista). In the modern day, sports have become economic and social staples of society, however, the vast popularity of athletics is largely only lucrative for male athletes (Forbes). In many of the most popular sporting events, women receive less money, and less viewers, than men. There has been extensive research into the wages and sponsorship money within sports, and the discrepancy between genders within the sports network. However, I feel that a major focus needs to be applied to the sexualization of female athletes, especially

This posed two major questions that we can attempt to answer using research from other parties. First, how does the objectification of these athletes affect perceptions

of women's football? Secondly, why do the media posts focused on Rapinoe differ so much from the posts on Putellas, Morgan, and

The sexualization of women in media is a well researched and thoroughly excavated topic that has consistently exhibited the negative consequences of sexually leading media. For example, it has been shown that sexually objectified pictures of women do not activate the same thoughts associated with humans, but rather the responses associated with objects. (Schooler, 2015). Research has also shown that when an individual is focused on a person's appearance while watching their work, they are more likely to see that person as less competent (Heflick, Goldenberg, Cooper, & Puvia, 2011). Therefore, applying the conclusions other scholars have reached when analyzing objectified women, I believe it is fair to claim that sexualizing female athletes has a significant impact on how their ability is perceived as a whole. This is corroborated by Kavanaugh who conducted a similar study analyzing the top five female tennis players at the time of writing. Kavanaugh found an enormous amount of social media content that was of a violent or threatening nature towards the highlighted athletes, and especially noted the degree of sexualization directed towards them (Kavanaugh, 2019). Akin to our studies on social media, a 2019 study in Body Image, done by Mackenzie Dafferner, exhibited that while coverage of female