Jackie Robinson`s Legacy and Women “Cross-over Athletes”: A Comparison of The New York Times' Coverage

Abstract

This article compares coverage by The New York Times of Jackie Robinson's groundbreaking entry into Major League Baseball with the participation of four women athletes in male-only sporting spaces. This comparison and analysis reveals the role of this specific print media in naturalizing sex differences that justify sex segregation and gender injustice; in contrast to media discourse that correlates racial segregation with racial injustice. This contrast illuminates the role of sport as cultural theatre to model and support social hierarchy while drawing attention to the malleability of essentialist notions of identity.

Invisible Women in America’s National Pastime . . . or, “She’s Good. It’s History, Man.”

“…Sex segregation in sport is based on assumptions about male physical superiority just as race segregation was based on assumptions about White superiority (Travers, 2008(Travers, , 2009. Little League Baseball attempted to exclude girls with the argument that baseball is a contact sport.…”

Thinking the Unthinkable

“…Critical feminist sport scholars focus on the role of sport in contributing to gender inequality by reinforcing orthodox masculinity and perpetuating sexism (Cahn, 1994;Heywood & Dworkin, 2003;Kane, 1995;Lenskyj, 2003;Messner, 2007;Messner et al, 2000;Pronger, 1990Pronger, , 1999Theberge, 2000). Within this field of critical feminist sport studies is an emergent subset of research that views the sex segregation of amateur, elite and professional sport as deeply problematic (see, for example, Cohen, 2009;Dowling, 2000;Fausto-Sterling, 2000;Heywood & Dworkin, 2003;Kane, 1995;McDonagh & Pappano, 2008;Pronger, 1990;Rothblatt, 1995;Travers, 2008Travers, , 2009. McDonagh and Pappano (2008) identify "coercive" as opposed to "voluntary" sex segregation for girls and women as the cornerstone of sports' contribution to gender inequality.…”