Beyond Stereotyping: An Understanding of Sport Media As Sites of Struggle.

Commodification is one of the media mechanisms that shape and proliferate images of femininity which result in the disempowerment of women and of female athletes. The method of homology is used to analyze commodification, one of the formal structures or mechanisms of patriarchy. After a description of this mechanism, the discussion focuses on how the mechanism is enstructured in the medium of sports magazines and particularly, how it is exemplified in the March 1992 "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue. The focus of the discussion on the swimsuit issue is on the techniques, graphic and textual, used to present the female models as commodities. The women in this issue of the magazine are not shown as capable atheletes but as commodities that can be purchased and whose primary function is to give pleasure to male readers. Finally, commodification is examined within the historical and cultural contexts of the last 15 years to show how it is linked to political events in contemporary North American society, particularly to the advancement of women into the traditionally male-dominated world of sports. Commodification is considered as a technique or mechanism for reducing the threat of parity in the sporting arena. (IAH)