1. Sexing Up Female Olympic Athletes: The Commentary and Camera Angles of 2004 Women's Beach Volleyball.
- Author
-
Holt, Andrea and Bissell, Kimberly
- Subjects
MASS media & sports ,WOMEN athletes ,TELEVISED sports ,VOLLEYBALL tournaments ,OLYMPIC Games (28th : 2004 : Athens, Greece) - Abstract
This project used content analysis to examine the commentary and camera angles of six beach volleyball games from the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. We predicted that a high level of sexualized talk and concentration on the body would occur in the coverage. Our findings did not support these specific predictions in the area of play-by-play commentary in that we found the commentary concentrated on the domination and athleticism of the female athletes. However, an analysis of the visual coverage of the games confirms that sex and sexuality were used to not only promote the athletes but to sell the sport to viewers around the world. For example, when the Walsh/May team beat Brazil in the final, they embraced one another and fell on top of one another in the sand. The win meant standing atop the gold medal podium; yet, the commentary and the specific video used (and rebroadcast) used of this specific moment deemphasized the athletic feat and focused on the sexual nature of the shot. Despite there being a great deal of video and digital images to choose from, all which would tell the story of the win, several media outlets chose to use the images that did not emphasize the athleteÂ’s strength, athleticism, or power, rather their ability to become a sexual object. Overall, we found audio coverage of the womenÂ’s beach volleyball games to contradict the visual representation of the female athletes and their games. These and other findings are discussed. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006