“Elevator Eyes” in Sports Broadcasting: Visual Objectification of Male and Female Sports Reporters

Abstract

Despite considerable research exploring female objectification in sports, researchers have not explored differences in how they are actually watched by audiences in terms of distribution of visual attention. Such differences can provide objective evidence of objectification by demonstrating a gender bias in terms of visual attention to female reporters’ bodies. This experiment ( N = 66) employs eye tracking to measure how much attention viewers allocated to male and female reporters’ bodies versus their faces, as well as differences in perceived credibility as a function of reporter gender. Results revealed a greater ratio of time on female reporters’ bodies to their faces relative to male reporters. This effect was most evident among viewers with reduced interest in sports. Furthermore, visual attention to reporters’ bodies—a passive measure of objectification—was largely unrelated to perceived credibility. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to female objectification in sports and how this might inform program production personnel.

Equity Achieved? A Longitudinal Examination of Biological Sex Representation in the NBC Olympic Telecast (2000–2018)

“…The angles in which women’s sports specifically have been studied are myriad, ranging from the discovery of minimal clock-time exposure (Cooky, Messner, & Musto, 2015; J. S. Turner, 2014) to overt objectification (Cummins, Ortiz, & Rankine, 2018) and sexualization (Kane, LaVoi, & Fink, 2013) to heteronormativity (Lenskyj, 2013) to generalized differentiation (Romney & Johnson, 2019) and discrimination (Whiteside & Roessner, 2018). Highlighting the role media plays in the perception of female athletes, Hardin (2013) simply offered the assertion: “want changes in content?…”

From Taped Up to Mic’d Up: Experiences of Former Athletes and the Meaning of Athletic Identity in Sports Media Spaces

“…Former female athletes may be able to highlight their athletic status as a way to bypass questions about their credibility and find access to a field that has historically been exclusionary. Moreover, once they are in the field, the high value assigned to athletic experience may inoculate them to some degree from the overwhelming perceptions of inadequacy directed toward women in general highlighted in research by Cummins, Ortiz, and Rankine (2019), Genovese (2014), Hardin and Shain (2006), and many others.…”

“…Discourses about what McEnnis (2016, p. 968) calls the “professional ideology in sports media” and what makes effective members of the sports media create unique challenges for women in that those assumptions produce a shared understanding of what makes a knowledgeable sports reporter as synonymous with a male sports reporter, leading women in the industry to face skepticism and critique from the moment they begin their careers. Indeed, a survey by Sheffer and Schultz (2007) showed that sports directors rated male sports broadcasters as more knowledgeable about sports compared with female sports broadcasters, while surveys and experiments with fans have consistently shown that women are evaluated through a gendered lens and rated lower on measures of credibility (e.g., Cummins, Ortiz, & Rankine, 2019; Mudrick, Burton, & Lin, 2017). Moreover, these assessments manifest themselves in a space where women are often understood as interlopers in male terrain, a process that reinforces and justifies women’s exclusion (e.g., Autonovic & Whiteside, 2018; Genovese, 2014; Hardin & Shain, 2006; Harrison, 2018).…”

Sport for Development and Peace: Framing the Global Conversation

“…In addition to the lack of critical coverage about social and political topics, criticism persists regarding the objectification of female athletes (e.g., Weber & Carini, 2013) and sports reporters (e.g., Cummins, Ortiz, & Rankine, 2018) as well as the lack of diversity within newsrooms and the underrepresentation of women’s sports in the media (e.g., Bishop, 2003; Laucella, Hardin, Bien-Aimé, & Antunovic, 2017; Schmidt, 2018).…”