Sports fans tend to associate themselves with a successful team (BIRGing), while disassociating themselves with unsuccessful teams (CORFing). This premise was applied to social media commentary within England’s matches against Croatia and Colombia during the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup, uncovering that English fans tended to perform Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRG) when England was leading or victorious and tended to engage in Cutting Off Reflected Failure (CORF) when England was trailing or defeated. In Method 1, team identification, national identification with England, and sentiment were significantly higher when England was leading or victorious than when they were trailing or defeated. In Method 2, machine learning generated trending graphs to detect that English fans BIRGed when they scored against Colombia; they also BIRGed more frequently during the match with Croatia, peaking several times when they scored a goal, saved a goal, or took a free kick. However, even though CORFing (i.e., lower team identification, lower national identification, and lower sentiment) occurred when the opposing team scored, English fans still BIRGed when they were finally defeated by Croatia, likely a function of the stage the game took place (World Cup semifinal), indicating that England had nonetheless succeeded in the World Cup as a whole.
Communist beliefs on gender equality and Chinese female athletes’ consistent ability to win national glory have lead to female athletes in Chinese sports media being primarily portrayed as legitimate athletes akin to levels of male athletes. This study examines such assumptions within Chinese Central Television’s (CCTV) 2016 Olympic telecast of gymnastics, a sport in which Chinese female athletes failed to attain national expectations, exploring potential variations of gendered frames in Chinese sports culture. A full examination of 100% (over 14 hr) of CCTV’s broadcast coverage revealed that female athletes received less media attention in terms of clock time and name mentions. Regarding word-by-word commentary ascribed to the gymnasts, CCTV employees significantly devoted more descriptors related to personality and physicality to female athletes, indicating a noticeable deviation from the Chinese traditional gendered frame of depicting female athletes as tenacious fighters with their nonsport-related aspects rarely covered. Implications for the findings are offered.
In this study, we explored the perception of sports based on gender norms in China. Applying social cognitive theory, we surveyed 423 Chinese respondents about their gender perceptions of 16 sports. Results revealed four distinct categories—masculine, lifestyle, neutral, and feminine—and that men tended to rate sports as significantly more masculine than women. Overall, gender role beliefs, sports participation, and sports media consumption all significantly correlated with individual gender typing of sports. The findings of this study, which is based on findings from Hardin and Greer and is one of the first quantitative studies about gender perceptions of sports in China, shed light on the role that gender norms play in shaping the country’s sports landscape. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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