Monday, October 14, 2013
Brett Bardwell: Sex Sells Sex, Not Women's Sports
I personally recall the cover of Sports Illustrated that featured Lindsay Vonn after the Olympics. I feel that it is unfortunate that her sexual prowess had to be the focus of the article. Why not put a picture of her in action during the downhill race instead? This would have been a great time to gain awareness for women's sports because she was the best at her respective sport and there was the underlying theme of patriotism. Not only was she a great women's sports figure, but she was a great American sports figure. I also agree with the article when it said that whether or not an athlete is attractive has nothing to do with the viewing of the sport. When I watch sports I watch them for entertainment not because of how people look. In the case of Lindsay Vonn, I enjoyed watching the Olympics because of how she represented our country. In skiing especially, the people competing in the event are not even viewable. They are fully clothed and are wearing helmets and goggles. I feel that tennis promotes the selling of sex on the women's side. Men are clothed in normal shorts and a t-shirt, whereas women are wearing extremely skimpy skirts. In the case of Serena Williams, she designs her own clothes for events. She has the full opportunity to wear things that would not generate talk about her appearance and therefore focus solely on her performance on the court. It may be fair to say that this is a major way that she can garner focus for herself and her brand, but I think that if everybody involved wore things that took focus away from sex that there would be a greater focus on the sport itself. While marketing and promotion deserves a big bulk of the blame, athletes consent to this and put themselves farther in the hole.
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Brett,
ReplyDeleteThe Sports Illustrated cover of Lindsey Vonn is a great example that you bring up. I completely forgot about that cover that she did after the Olympics, but you bring up a great point about Sports Illustrated missing the mark. They could have advertised the sport, but instead they chose to advertise Lindsey Vonn's sex appeal. Unfortunately, this is all to common with successful or up and coming female athletes; many of them are portrayed or noticed because of their looks, not their talent. I think at the end of the day, the blame for this issue does fall on the athletes or models. These businesses are trying to sell their product and they will keep using athletes and models if they agree to the photo shoots. Until the athletes or models choose to stop feeding into the sex appeal, it will not stop anytime soon.
- Brian Kochheiser
I think the thing we forget when we talk about how newspapers and magazines and the rest of the media world uses women athletes as sex symbols is that sports illustrated is in business for sports illustrated. We tend to think that magazines like sports illustrated are in business to assist the publicity of sports. Yes that is the image they are trying to portray however Sport Illustrated is in business to sell magazine copies. Whatever technique it takes to do so Sports Illustrated is ready to explore. So if using sexy athletes and portraying them and displaying them as sex symbols is what is going to make them we best believe that is what we will see. Because at the end of the day it is a business. A business whose entire purpose is to make money though the image of athletes. Which is why athletes are getting paid so much to be on the covers of magazines such as Sport Illustrated because both sides know how much they will profit from it. The morality of the situation I don't believe is taken into consideration when such decisions are made.
ReplyDeleteJude Adjei
Brett,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your statements on the view of sex in the media of sport. I think it is extremely unfair to any athlete that works hard day in and day out to achieve success that they are judged so hard on their looks. The best examples I can think of are people like Anthony Davis, Greg Oden, and Adam Morrison. All three were among the top basketball players in the nation but instead of talking about their talent, a lot of people wanted to talk about how ugly these players were instead. I think that people do this simply because they do not want to recognize how good a player is out of spite, so they come up with anything negative they can to talk about. This is one thing I wish would change about sports coverage.
-Travis Kash
Brett,
ReplyDeleteThe point that agree most that you stated in your response was one that you took from the article about whether or not an athlete is attractive has nothing to do with the sport. I was thinking along the same lines as you when I noticed this in the article as well. If sports were a beauty contest then I am sure that sports would not be as successful as they are in today’s society. People enjoy sports for competition and just the game in general. Personally, I have never watched a sports report or show that solely analyzes and breaks down someone is attractive or not and how well either he or she does in their respective sport. If people were truly interested in the sport itself, then promotions for sports would not need the urge to have to use sex to sell sex.
Billy Nowak
Brett,
ReplyDeleteQuite honestly, I am not entirely sure that Sports Illustrated was trying to portray Lindsay Vonn in a sexual way. Sure, her pose on the cover could be interpreted as being a little suggestive, but that I did not even consider it as being sexual at all until it was brought up in class. I think if SI wanted to use sex to attract readers to her article, they would have photographed her in a bikini or something while wearing goggles and holding some skis, but that’s just me. Also, that is just in relation to the cover. I never looked through the whole magazine, so maybe there are some other pictures inside that would make me reconsider things. I love watching American athletes, male and female, compete in the Olympics and represent our country, and I believe most guys feel the same way. However, if you ask a handful of guys what their favorite event during the summer Olympics is, I’m sure several would say beach volleyball with May-Treanor and Walsh. With that, I think sex does sell sex AND sport.
Evan Sechler.
I agree that the Sports Illustrated cover of Lindsey Vonn could’ve been done differently. They were definitely taking advantage of her physical attractiveness to sell magazines however it wasn’t just straight sex appeal. She was on the cover because of her athletic ability it wasn’t just because she’s considered an attractive female athlete. It differs from the Swimsuit issue Sports Illustrated puts out which essentially uses sex to sell more magazines. I think Sports Illustrated is at least using some form of meritocracy here to put Vonn on the cover however I don’t think they mind in the least that her physical attractiveness may sell additional magazines. Regardless of their intentions it is refreshing to see more female athletes on the cover with their athletic abilities being the main impetus.
ReplyDeleteMax Perry