Are the times changing enough? Print media trends across four decades

Media analysis is an established area of sport sociology which has been documented by researchers systematically since the 1980s. Some trends have explored the differences between male and female athletes in the print media with significant evidence demonstrating that female athletes do not gain proportional representation and that many strategies employed by journalists traditionally seek to trivialise, sexualise and emphasise the female identity as ‘other’ rather than as athlete. This longitudinal study uniquely documents an analysis of a two week period in the British print media across four decades 1984-2014. This study, grounded in liberal feminism, presents both quantitative and qualitative data and the main quantitative results demonstrate that coverage for female athletes has decreased from 13% to 6.2%. Qualitative themes presented include: relationships, appearance, performance and nationality, the latter emerging as a new theme from the 2014 data set. The results demonstrate that there is little change in amount of representation afforded to female athletes but that there are reporting changes with a greater emphasis on performance and less reliance on appearance. The paper concludes with the position that although sports reporting, in general is on the increase, women athletes are being given less but potentially better coverage

‘Nothing to report’: a semi-longitudinal investigation of the print media coverage of sportswomen in British Sunday newspapers

The under-representation of female athletes by print media has been widely acknowledged by feminist media scholars. However, there have been a number of recent studies which suggest that things are changing in terms of progress towards gender equality. In light of such studies this article examines the representation of sportswomen in five British Sunday newspapers, three broadsheets (The Sunday Times, The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph), and two tabloids (the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express), over a 24-month period (January 2008–December 2009). The results suggest that sportswomen are still overwhelmingly under-represented in British print media

Women's motives to exercise

Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci &amp; Ryan, 1985) as an overarching theoretical framework, the main purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between women’s motives to exercise and their reported exercise behavior. Three hundred and thirty women (Age range = 20-61+) took part in the study. Participants were categorized into a ‘’no-exercise’ group, a ‘some exercise’ group (less than 2.5 hours of exercise per week) or a ‘recommended amount of exercise’ group (minimum 2.5 hours of exercise per week). Controlling for the influence of age, MANCOVA analyses showed that the exercise groups differed significantly on most self-determined and controlling exercise motives. The results partly support propositions of SDT, and suggest that women may internalize, exercise behavior as they become more physically active, however controlling motives are still pertinent. Exercise leaders and promotion specialists should look into ways of facilitating the internalization process in female exercise participants.</jats:p