The Ball Game Is for the Boys: The Visual Framing of Female Athletes on National Sports Networks' Instagram Accounts. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Romney, Miles; Johnson, Rich G.
• Is Part Of: Communication & sport. Volume 8:Number 6(2020)
• Page Start: 738
• Page End: 756
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: social media -- Instagram -- gender -- framing -- sports networks; Communication in sports -- Periodicals; Mass media and sports -- Periodicals; 306.48305
• DOI: 10.1177/2167479519836731
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2167-4795

Abstract

Despite the growth of female participation in sports, media coverage of female athletics remains stagnant. Scholarship regarding the treatment of female athletes in magazines, newspapers, and news and highlight programming has shown that sports journalism organizations demonstrate ambivalence with minimal coverage that reinforces gender stereotypes. This study examined 1, 587 Instagram images from the primary accounts of the four major American sports networks. The resulting data indicate that women's athletic coverage lags significantly behind men's athletics. Females are more likely to appear alongside a male and are more likely be shown in culturally "appropriate" sports and in nonathletic roles.