Grantland addresses the change in media coverage and marketing of women’s sports today given the success of so many female athletes this summer at the Olympics and beyond.
“Kournikova has long since exited the public eye, but those years during which all female athletes had to somehow answer to Anna’s hotness had a lasting effect on how the country discussed female athletes. It created the following paradox: If all talk about women’s sports — however obliquely or subliminally — is about Anna Kournikova and all talk about Anna Kournikova is not ever about women’s sports, how do you talk about women’s sports?
Somehow, in this summer of Missy Franklin, Serena Williams, and Gabby Douglas, we seem to have stumbled out of this Babel. Anna Kournikova’s long braid of associations has loosened its death grip. Before we ride off into a future of equal sponsorship deals and nationally broadcast WNBA All-Star games, it should be asked: Was this summer a series of great coincidences, or have we really changed the way we celebrate female athletes?”
One response
I found that article a bit optimistic.
The internet was still full of “hottest athletes” lists, and the Track athlete who got the most attention on the Woman’s side wasn’t the one that won three gold medals, it was the one who can’t stop talking about how she’s still a virgin.
Now add nude photo shoots and the like, and it’s still a case of sex and looks >>> talent, even if the overall picture is more complex now.
Click here to subscribe today and leave your comment.