Women Media and Sport

The book [is] . . . well researched. Chapters by contributing authors enhance the breadth of the content both from a cultural and media perspective. Individuals interested in the history of womens sports and particularly in gender issues as related to varying media will find this volume informative. . . . Upper-division undergraduate through professional. --Choice Chapters by different authors make a splendid reference work on the history of women in sports womens sports magazines examples of discrimination against women in sports and women sports reporters and of course the proverbial locker-room access controversies are reviewed here. --Editor & Publisher Pamela Creedon has hit a homerun that challenges assumptions about the relationship between women media and sports. This impressive collection of research helps redefine a playing field that until now had overwhelmingly male boundaries. This is a fabulous book! --Susan Henry California State University Northridge Women Media and Sport is a path-breaking book in mass media research. Not only does it provide a well-researched history of the women who report sports news and the media images of women in sports but it also skillfully applies critical feminist theories to examine the context of these media messages and effects. It opens new research subjects and models for integrating media effects and cultural/critical studies research. --Marion T. Marzolf The University of Michigan This is a fascinating book that uses as its starting point a definition of sport as a cultural institution rather than concentrating on the activities and games that make up the sports component. The book examines important sport metaphors and symbols placing women and the media on a contextual playing field. I was struck by the fact that all the chapters are written by women who are asking myriad questions about journalistic norms about media values and about news conventions in the world of sport. These questions have not been asked by mainstream male journalists or writers covering sports. This distinctive point of view makes Women Media and Sport a valuable addition to any womens studies media studies or cultural studies book list. This is a very thorough and comprehensive text covering history economics marketing and cultural paradigms for studying or critiquing womens sport. Best of all it offers a new model for womens sport that is both provocative and practical. This book will not change any opinions about favorite football teams or sports announcers but it does ask to examine attitudes toward women the media and the sport universe. --Sammye Johnson Trinity University The first book to link feminist sport and media theory together Women Media and Sport provides a broad cultural studies approach which also touches on race and class relations in sport. In addition to the theoretical analyses this volume provides a practical look at models of sport media effects and the construction of the sportswomen and womens sport. Designed as a text to fill the gap in this area the book is organized into three sections. The first provides an overview of women sport and the media and an example of the ways they intertwine. The extensive range of articles in the second section focuses on print and broadcast medias portrayal of womens sports and its journalistic process and examines such issues as the relationship between sports promotion and medias representations of womens sport and how sport reporting is taught to future journalists. The final section seeks to develop a new model for the future. A thorough and original text Women Media and Sport is essential for scholars students and professionals in media and mass communication studies sociology womens studies cultural studies popular culture ethnic studies and gender studies.