Olympic Coverage

Media Coverage of 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Olympic Media coverage was said by many to be sexist for a couple of reasons. Although it is a step forward for women participation wise (having more women than men for the first time ever) it is the coverage of women that is still lacking progress. A study of NBC's coverage shows that there is more likely to be coverage of women in sports like volleyball, gymnastics (essentially "feminine" sports) as apposed to the more "masculine" sports like weightlifting, boxing, or track and field. In the winter Olympics men receive about 23 hours of coverage compared to about 13 for women. While the coverage in Summer Olympics is about even it shows that the women's coverage leaned heavily toward sports "appropriate for women". This seems to be an attempt to gain male viewership rather than depicting women in a healthy way for young girls around the country. People are more focused on showing women in events where they look attractive or have to wear bikinis rather than any sport where the women and men dress the same. 

"[N]early three-quarters of the women’s coverage was devoted to gymnastics, swimming, diving and beach volleyball.

[…]

Track and field, where the clothing is almost as minimal, made up another 13 percent of the women’s prime-time coverage. “The remaining sports represented—rowing, cycling, and fencing—are not, by traditional standards, ‘socially acceptable’ sports for women, and make up approximately 2 percent of coverage,” the researchers write."

“Women who take part in sports that involve either power or hard-body contact are particularly unlikely to receive media coverage. When women engage in stereotypical feminine events, or look pretty or graceful, they will receive coverage, but they risk being shunned if they venture from that space.”

Success = Popularity?

The United States men's national soccer team has competed in many more Olympics than the women's has and yet have no where near the same amount of success. Below is a list of the men's Olympic medals compared to the women's Olympic medals in a much shorter span of time.

Men's medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Hungary (HUN)	3	1	1	5
2	Great Britain (GBR)	3	0	0	3
3	Argentina (ARG)	2	2	0	4
4	Soviet Union (URS)	2	0	3	5
5	Uruguay (URU)	2	0	0	2
21	United States (USA)	0	1	1	2

[edit]Women's medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	4	1	0	5
2	Norway (NOR)	1	0	1	2
3	Brazil (BRA)	0	2	0	2
4	China (CHN)	0	1	0	1
4	Japan (JPN)	0	1	0	1
6	Germany (GER)	0	0	3	3
7	Canada (CAN)	0	0	1	1

Yet despite all the success by the Women's National Soccer team the US Soccer website still predominantly shows coverage of the Men's team. This graph shows us that even though the women's national soccer team has had much more success than the men's team it has not translated into more coverage.
US Soccer Website

Sexism Even From Commentators

Sara J. Jackson, in an article "What's Wrong with Media Coverage of Women Olympians", writes about how the commentators were often the cause of sexism in the Olympics.

"Have you seen any diva moments yet?" one Olympic commentator asked of the Russian women's gymnastics team as they competed against the United States for gold on Tuesday night. It wasn't intended as a compliment"

"During the women's road race on Sunday, commentators continually referred to the competitors as "girls," despite the fact that the top finishers for the U.S. were Shelley Olds, 32, Evelyn Stevens, 28 (a former Lehaman Brothers associate) and Kristin Armstrong, 39 -- competing in her third Olympics. That adult women, at the top of their craft, with full lives and countless accomplishments continue to be referred to as "girls" in sports coverage is minimizing, to say the least." - Sara J. Jackson

'Diva moments' and grown women being referred to as girls are just two of the many issues Sara J. Jackson had with the Olympic commentators. She also talks about the fact that a main issue leading into the 2012 Olympics was whether or not the women's beach volleyball Olympians would be able to wear bikinis or not.

Future of Transgender People in the Olympics

Donna Rose (above) becomes the first transgender woman to compete in the ASICS U.S. Open Wrestling Championship. This is a step in the right direction for transgender athletes.

http://www.transgenderlaw.org/resources/MSNBCChuck.pdf

Despite the problems transgender people in the Olympics have faced they have reason to be optimistic. People like danish golfer Mianne Bagger and Kristen Worley have made strides for anyone who is transgender by fighting for the right to compete in the Olympics. Also helping their cause is the fact that many studies are coming out that show that people who are transgender have no unfair advantage in competition at all which is the fear and common argument of many regarding this subject. People like Bagger and Worley are still facing issues such as often being interviewed about the fact that they are transgender rather than their performance and there are still steps that need to be taken to have true equal participation but it certainly seems as though we are headed in the right direction. Many have compared this situation to the fight to that of gay and lesbian athletes.

Gendered Sports 

Olympics Still Not Gender Equal

                           

The London Games are a celebration of equality. For the first time, women will compete in all 26 sports, including boxing. It's not total equality — women still compete in 30 fewer events than men — but it's part of a larger trend towards gender equity on sports' global stage. 

So what happens if you're a male athlete that feels discriminated against, based on gender?

According to Belinda Goldsmith of Reuters, there are two sports in which men are shut out of competition in which women compete for medals:

"Men have called for action after being ruled out from competing at two events at the Summer Olympics, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics, even though there are growing numbers of men participating in both sports.

A lobby group of male synchronized swimmers wrote to the IOC and swimming's governing body FINA in June to argue that men should no longer be excluded from this event at the Olympics." - Belinda Goldsmith

The idea that sports are gendered is perpetuated in many of the IOC's decisions. Many sports are still considered to be either "guy's" sports or "women's" sports. This needs to change to truly move forward. Men and women should be allowed to compete in all the same events.

Appearances at the Olympics

Discrimination at the 1912 Games

Women competed in swimming events for the first time at the Olympics in 1912, but none of them were American. Female U.S. swimmers were forbidden to take part in the 1912 Games in Stockholm due to immodest swimming attire. However, men began to wear increasing smaller swimwear. This hypocritical attitude clearly exemplifies the rather arbitrary nature of the socially construed concepts of what is acceptable for men and women. In The Question of Difference Chris Weedon explains that “gender difference…is not naturally given but it is an effect of relations of knowledge and power which permeate all areas of life.” It is astonishing that gender difference not only has the ability to impact something as trivial as what is deemed as acceptable attire, but is also so powerful to bar an athletic team from competing in competition.

2012 Olympic Women's Volleyball Uniforms

 Bikini Bottoms Prime QR Code Real Estate

"London, England is gearing up for the 2012 Summer Olympics which get under way in July and in anticipation of things to come, the women's British beach volleyball team is pulling out all the stops, including attraction to their bottoms which feature a convenient QR Code."

The controversy over the use of bikini bottoms as a space for advertisement is an interesting one. From one point of view it, illustrates the objectification of women present in our society and the long standing view that women's volleyball is valued more for the nearly-nude women than the action of the game.  Conversely, the British duo sporting these scanty ads are in actuality renting out this space, and making a large amount of money by doing so.  This embrace of sexuality in order for financial gain seems to parallel sentiments discussed within Hip Hop Feminism.

U.S. Figure Skating Clothing Regulations

FROM THE 2013 OFFICIAL U.S. FIGURE SKATING RULEBOOK
5030 Clothing and Equipment – Pairs
5031 The clothing of the competitors must be modest, dignified and appropriate for athletic competition, not garish or theatrical in design. Clothing may, however, reflect the character of the music.
A. The skating clothing worn in actual competition may not bear any form of advertising. However, warm-up suits may bear the name of a sponsor when a team is on the ice. The sponsor’s name must not exceed 4.65 square inches (30 square centimeters).
5032  Clothing must not give the effect of excessive nudity inappropriate for athletic sport. Accessories and props are not permitted.
5033 Men must wear trousers; no tights for men are permitted. Ladies may wear skirts, trousers and tights (including unitards).

The 2013 Official Figure Skating Rulebook clearly stipulates what both men and women are mandated to wear in competition, including the Olympics.  However, what the handbook fails to do is to clearly state a definition of "man" and "woman."  This raises questions as to how someone living in a biologically male body who identifies as a female would abide by the guidelines.  Furthermore, those born with even more biologically ambiguous sexes may face further confusion.  While the International Olympic Committee did formulate rules for some transsexuals to compete in the 2004 Summer Games, individual sporting committees have failed to make accommodations and clarify language allowing for a greater ease of diversity among their competitors.  It will be interesting to see what changes will be made in the future, as the LGBTQ community begins to garner more attention.  

 

 Controversy Over Athlete's Hair

Gabby Douglas Takes Two Olympic Golds—And Hair Criticism

by Allison Samuels

Douglas’s unique and inspiring story—she’s one of the few African-American gymnasts ever to compete in the Olympic Games and the first black woman to take the all-around individual title—has helped her capture the covers of Time and Sports Illustrated. Even President Obama called her to congratulate her on her gold medals. But on social-media outlets such as Twitter and several black blogs, it’s her ponytail, and not her dominance at the London Games, that seems to have become the focal point.

“I love how she’s doing her thing and winning,’’ says 22-year-old Latisha Jenkins of Detroit told The Daily Beast. “But I just hate the way her hair looks with all those pins and gel. I wish someone could have helped her make it look better since she’s being seen all over the world. She representing for black women everywhere.’’

The 4-foot-11 Douglas appears to have chemically relaxed natural hair, to which she has added a human-hair ponytail for height. She apparently then slicks her hair back with a heavy layer of gel to encourage it to stay in place during her high-energy performances.

Hair is always a sore spot for black women culturally, but it has often reached a fever pitch when it involves women of color engaging in sports and other demanding physical activities. Gold-medal-winning track star Wilma Rudolph rocked a frizzy short perm during the 1960 Rome Olympics, while Flo Jo began her Olympic journey with a cropped cut layered perm on the track. By the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, the iconic late track star progressed to a flowing mane of hair extensions and even longer fingernails that became her trademark. Venus and Serena Williams have worn beaded braids on the tennis courts for years and faced critical commentary about their looks as a result.

It is quite disappointing that such enormous accomplishments can be overshadowed by something as trivial as one's hairstyle.  More shocking is the realization that if Gabby Douglas were a young Caucasian women, few would have much of an opinion regarding her appearance.  While the 2012 Games gained a reputation as forum for female empowerment,  this is clearly nothing more than an idealization.  While Caucasian women competing in the Olympics may have only had to overcome the physical hardships presented by their individual sports, and intersectional examination suggests that African American women are placed in a much more difficult position in which they are deemed responsible for representing both their race and gender concurrently.

Religious Complications

In many ways the 2012 Games was a groundbreaking event for women across the globe.  Unfortunately, an intersectional approach to the examination of Muslim women at the Games shows that many complications still exist.  Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, the first Saudi woman to compete at the Olympics, faced incredible hardships before competition even began.  Due to her religion and cultural customs, Shahrkhani wears a traditional scarf called a hijab which covers the hair and neck.  However, though other women have competed in major judo competitions wearing hijabs, the Olympic Committee would not allow it.  Ultimately, Shahrkhani was allowed to wear a tight-fitting skull cap which bears little resemblance to her traditional garb. Shahrkhani overcame seemingly overwhelming odds simply by attending the Olympics as a Saudi woman, however, the controversy regarding her appearance shows that as a Muslim woman she is bound to face further challenges in the future.  One can only speculate how the International Olympic Committee will take into account such issues, and exactly how long is will take for Muslim women to feel that they have attained equality in the Games.