The media creates age anxiety among female athletes

Objective: This study explores the impact of media representation on female athlete identity and self-perception. Methods and Materials: A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews to collect data. Twenty-four female athletes, aged 18 to 35, from various sports disciplines in Istanbul participated. The interviews, conducted in Turkish, lasted between 60 to 90 minutes and were transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo software, allowing for the identification of key themes and subthemes related to media representation, identity construction, self-perception, and coping mechanisms. The study continued data collection until theoretical saturation was achieved. Findings: Thematic analysis revealed four main themes: media representation, identity construction, self-perception, and coping mechanisms. Participants reported stereotypical portrayals emphasizing physical appearance and emotional attributes over athletic skills. Media visibility was significantly lower for female athletes compared to their male counterparts, impacting their professional identity and opportunities. The internalization of stereotypes and media-driven body ideals affected their self-esteem and body image, contributing to performance anxiety and mental health challenges. Participants employed various coping mechanisms, including resilience building, support networks, media literacy, advocacy, and personal strategies, to manage the negative impacts of media representation. Conclusion: Media representation profoundly influences female athletes' identity and self-perception, often reinforcing stereotypes and cultural biases. Equitable media coverage focusing on athletic achievements and personal stories is crucial for fostering positive self-identity among female athletes. Practical steps, including media training, advocacy, and promoting media literacy, are essential to create a more inclusive and supportive media environment.

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Recent surveys have suggested that sports media exposure may be linked to adolescents' body perceptions. This study tested this relationship from the perspective of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) by surveying and experimenting with 426 adolescent females aged 10–19. Sports magazine reading predicted greater body satisfaction among older adolescents, regardless of whether they participated in sports. Self-objectification in adolescents of all ages predicted mental health risks including body shame, disordered eating, and depression. Participants also viewed a video depicting men's sports, women's lean sports, or women's nonlean sports. For White participants, watching lean sports increased self-objectification, whereas for participants of color, watching nonlean sports had the same effect. Discussion focuses on self-objectification in adolescents and how cultural differences in the female body ideal are reflected in portrayals of female athletes.

This study compared college female athletes' exposure to two types of media—sport and entertainment--and looked for possible associations with social physique anxiety an affective trait that could be present in women who have eating disorder tendencies. Our survey of Division I female athletes yielded very inconsistent patterns with regard to the type of media that is more likely to be related to higher levels of physique anxiety Participants who were frequent consumers of general entertainment media scored higher on the social physique anxiety scale than those who spent less time with entertainment media. Results across sport were inconsistent, yet athletes across sport had fairly high degrees of physique anxiety regardless of the amount of time they spent competing or practicing their sport and exercising. These findings and others are explored.

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This study examined coverage of 42-year-old professional basketball player Diana Taurasi during her final WNBA season. Age remains an underexplored element of identity in sports media research. An analysis informed by intersectionality found that media discourse made age meaningful through gendered norms of athletic value, constructing Taurasi through narratives of both exceptionalism and decline. This was produced through portrayals of Taurasi as both past her prime and as resisting ageing through bodily discipline. It also observed how some coverage amplified social media discourse of intergenerational rivalry and logics of succession, casting Taurasi and older players as jealous and as taking opportunities from incoming star players. This paper situates this coverage within the context of a league where Black and/or LGBTQIA women have traditionally excelled but have also been marginalised by discourses shaped by racism, misogyny and homophobia. It also argues for further research that considers how some sports storytelling practices might contribute to online harm, in this case by perpetuating misogynistic and racist commentary that surged alongside increased WNBA viewership in 2024. The study’s findings also underscore the need for intersectional approaches that consider age in feminist sports media analysis.

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Elite-level women’s artistic gymnastics is (in)famous for the youth of its competitors. Yet if age representation constructs the limits and possibilities of sport, it is important to explore the effects of these representations. Here we examine media coverage of gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, who has competed internationally up to the age of 46. We conduct content analysis of 17 international competitions in which Chusovitina competed, from 2001 to 2018, exploring coverage of her and the younger gymnasts with whom she competed. As hegemonic masculinity structures a gender order in sport and beyond, we argue that gymnastics coverage constructs an age order in the sport by (1) emphasizing the exceptionality of older competitors; (2) focusing on athletes’ private lives; and (3) constructing the athlete-coach relationship as familial, where coaches are represented as surrogate parents. These techniques diminish the agency of young gymnasts and produce their youthfulness as hegemonic, treating athletes competing beyond their twenties as unworthy of serious attention. When older athletes like Chusovitina are categorized as outliers, the sports media is free to infantilize younger gymnasts, naturalizing their ostensible lack of agency, as well as the sport’s high burn-out and injury rate.

Despite the increasing participation of midlife women in sports, and biomedical and consumerist discourses encouraging physical activity, research on intersections of age, gender, and the body in sports is lacking or fragmentary. Based on in-depth interviews with Israeli women aged 40–60 years participating in marathons, ultramarathons, and triathlons, we explore how they experience their participation and how these experiences correspond with normative socio-temporal assumptions about midlife transitions, gender, and the body. Findings reveal that endurance sports enable midlife women to challenge dominant discourses on the “decaying” and “menopausal” body by undoing age and formulating gender narratives that include new identities and negotiations of temporal orders. The interplay between undoing age and redefining gender operates through two mechanisms: “embodied experiences” that introduce the body as a material reality and a source of critical knowledge, and the liminality of mid-age as a life-course transition characterized by the absence of institutional and symbolic anchors. We make a twofold contribution to the critical literature on gender and life course. First, we develop the concept of embodied experiences as a vantage point for understanding the intersections of age and gender. Second, we highlight the potential of participation in endurance sports for negotiating temporal orders and formulate new narratives of femininity and aging.

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Female athletes and non-athletes alike are affected by a variety of cultural factors and social comparisons that influence how they evaluate their own bodies. For female athletes, the self-evaluative process is distinctly complicated during and after their retirement transition. Grounded in social comparison theory, this study uses a phenomenological approach with semi-structured interviews. The sample consists of 20 post career NCAA female athletes. Questions focused on obtaining a more holistic understanding of their lived experiences, influences on their perceptions of body image, and how they cope and adapt in the post-retirement phase. Data were coded iteratively using thematic analysis. Findings reveal distinct challenges to this population of women from a variety of factors at the individual level (i.e., insecurities, learning through lived experience, performance empowerment, pregnancy and childbirth), institutional/community level (i.e., network outside of athletics, role of coaches, external validation), and socio-cultural level (i.e., marketed body ideals, evolution of marketing, social pressures). The data inform theoretical and practical implications to help proactively assist athletes in healthy transitions, especially in adult life stages. We argue those in positions of power have not only the potential, but also a moral obligation to cultivate supportive structures for athletes during and after their careers.

With the 2024 Olympic Games touted as reaching gender parity (i.e., same number of female and male athletes participating), media conversations are continuing about elite athlete mothers. Researchers interrogating media stories of Olympic athlete mothers have shown that their sporting journeys are not straightforward due to tensions linked to gender (in)equity. In this paper we use narrative inquiry as a theoretical lens to explore “comeback themes” synthesized from published media studies of Olympic athlete mothers, along with recent examples of media stories of Olympic athlete mothers. We discuss four comeback themes that include: (in)compatible identities, super mums, veteran status/age, and exposing discrimination, and some implications for gender equity. The first three comebacks perpetuate gender ideologies of heteronormative femininity, good motherhood, ageism, and exceptionalism, which downplay equitable support and change. These themes, along with the exposing discrimination theme, also highlight shifting media representations of motherhood and sport whereby stories expose struggles, realities, and/or structural deficits. We reflect on these themes as a “tangled and bumpy road” to gender equity led by athlete mothers’ voices resulting in changes in maternity rights. These comeback themes show gains in gender equity for sportswomen and highlight areas where more work is needed. Future research recommendations include studying mainstream and social media spaces with an intersectional lens to expand understanding of media stories as pedagogical resources to learn more about motherhood, sport, and gender (in)equity.

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