Abstract
Flipping the long-standing paradigm about negative media representations of sportswomen, this book celebrates their progress, especially relative to the Olympic Games. Inspired by 2012 London, it begins by reviewing theoretical approaches to the topic before introducing the author’s gendered critical discourse analysis (GCDA), along with the notion of sport mediatization, a review of the literature, and applications of sexism, racism, and ageism. Globally celebratory, it introduces both well-known and lesser-known female Olympians (and Paralympians) and outlines what to expect in next chapters in terms of their intersecting history, politics, economics, and sociocultural accomplishments.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Aaseng, Nathan. 2001. Women Olympic champions. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books.
Andrews, David L. 2006. Sport: Commerce—Culture. New York: Peter Lang.
Andronicos, Manolis. 2002. Olympia: The archaeological site and the museum. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon S. A.
Baxter, Judith. 2003. Positioning gender in discourse: A feminist methodology. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Berdahl, Jennifer, Eric Luis Uhlmann, and Feng Bai. 2015. Win-win: Female and h male athletes from more gender equal nations perform better in international sports competitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 56(January): 1–3.
Bernstein, Alina. 2002. Is it time for a victory lap? Changes in the media coverage of women in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 37(3–4): 415–428.
Bijkerk, Anthony Th. 2004. Fanny Blankers-Koen: A biography. Journal of Olympic History 12(May): 56–60.
Blue, Adrianne. 1988. Faster, higher, further: Women’s triumphs and disasters at the Olympics. London: Virago.
Brady, Martha. 2010. Unlikely settings, remarkable accomplishments: Insights and evidence from girls and sports programs in the developing world. Washington, DC: Interagency Youth Working Group.
Brennan, Christine. 2012b. Finally: It’s all about the women at the London Olympics. USA Today, July 27.
Bruce, Toni, Jorid Hovden, and Pirkko Markula, eds. 2010. Sportswomen at the Olympics: A global content analysis of newspaper coverage. Rotterdam and Boston, MA: Sense Publishers.
Brummet, Barry, eds. 2009. Sporting rhetoric: Performance, games, and politics. New York: Peter Lang.
Butterfield, Moira. 2012. The Olympics: Records. Mankato, MN: Sea-to-sea.
Cahn, Susan K. 1994. Coming on strong: Gender and sexuality in twentieth century women’s sport. New York: Free Press.
Cameron, Deborah. [1985] 1992. Feminism and linguistic theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Christopher, Matt. 1998. On the field with Mia Hamm. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Coates, Jennifer. 2004. Women, men, and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson ESL.
Coates, Jennifer, and Pia Pichler, eds. 2010. Language and gender. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Coleman, Isobel. 2012. London Olympics breaks new ground for women. CNN World, July 25. http://www.globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/25/london-olympics-breaks-new-ground-for-women/
Comaneci, Nadia. 2004. Letters to a young gymnast. New York: Basic Books.
Connell, Raewyn W. 1995/2005. Masculinities. 2nd ed. California: Polity Press.
Creedon, Pamela J., eds. 1994. Women, media and sport: Challenging gender values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Daddario, Gina. 1994. Chilly scenes of the 1992 Winter games: The mass media and the marginalization of female athletes. Sociology of Sport Journal 11(2): 275–288.
———. 1998. Women’s sport and spectacle: Gendered television coverage and the Olympic games. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Daddario, Gina, and Brian J. Wigley. 2007. Gender marking and racial stereotyping at the 2004 Athens Games. Journal of Sports Media, Volume 2: 29–51.
Daniels, Stephanie, and Anita Tedder. 2000. A proper spectacle: Women Olympians 1900–1936. Celebrating 100 years of women in the Olympics. Houghton Conquest, England: ZeNaNa Press.
Rowe, David, eds. 2004. Critical readings: Sport, culture and the media. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open UP.
Davis, Michael D. 1992. Black American women in Olympic track and field: A complete illustrated reference. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Donnelly, Peter, and Michele K. Donnelly. 2013a. The London 2012 Olympics: A gender equality audit. Centre for Sport Policy Studies Research Report. Toronto: CSCPS, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto.
Dublin, Anne. 2004. Bobbie Rosenfeld: The Olympian who could do everything. Toronto, ON: Second Story Press.
Duncan, Margaret C. 2006. Gender warriors in sport: Women and the media. In Handbook of sports and media, ed. Arthur A. Raney and Jennings Bryant, 231–252. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
Fabos, Bettina. 1999. From rags to riches: The story of class advancement in women’s figure skating coverage. In Mediated women: Representations in popular culture , ed. Marian Meyers, 133–149. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Fairclough, Norman. 2001. Language and power. 2nd ed. White Plains, NY: Pearson ESL.
———. 2006. Language and globalization. London and New York: Routledge.
———. 2010. Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson ESL.
Feder-Kane, Abigail M. 2000. “A radiant smile from the lovely lady”: Over-determined femininity in “ladies” figure skating. In Reading sport: Critical essays on power and representation, ed. Susan Birrell and Mary G. McDonald, 233–206. Boston, MA: Northeastern UP.
Bruni, Frank. 2012b, August 12. The soul of the Olympics. New York Times: SR3.
Fraser, Dawn. 1965. Gold medal girl: The confessions of an Olympic champion. London: Nicholas Kaye.
Fuller, Linda K. 2006b. Sport, rhetoric, and gender: Historical perspectives and media representations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fuller, Linda K. 2007. The spicy, gendered language of sport. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
———., eds. 2009a. Sexual sports rhetoric: Historical and media contexts of violence. New York: Peter Lang.
———., eds. 2009b. Sexual sports rhetoric: Global and universal contexts. New York: Peter Lang.
Fischer, Ali D. 2010. An analysis of gender coverage in U.S. print and electronic media during the 2010 winter Olympic games. Unpublished M.A. thesis, California Polytechnic State University.
Gee, James Paul. 2011. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.
Guttmann, Allen. [1992] 2002. The Olympics: A history of the modern games. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Hanson, Sharon Kinney. 2004. The life of Helen Stephens: The Fulton Flash. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP.
Hargreaves, Jennifer. 1984. Women and the Olympic phenomenon. In Five ring circus: Money, power, and politics at the Olympic games, ed. Alan Tomlinson and Garry Whannel, 53–70. London: Pluto Press.
———. 1994. Sporting females: Critical issues in the history and sociology of women’s sports. London and New York: Routledge.
———. 2001. Heroines of sport: The politics of difference and identify. London: Routledge.
———. 2007. Olympic women: A struggle for recognition. In Women and sport in the United States: A documentary reader, ed. Jean O’Reilly and Susan B. Cahn, 3–14. Northeastern UP: Lebanon, NH.
Harrington, Kate. 2008. Gender and language research methodologies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Higgs, Catriona T., Karen H. Weiller, and Scott B. Martin. 2003. Gender bias in the 1996 Olympic games: A comparative analysis. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 27(1): 52–64.
Hill, Courtney, Elizabeth Shaheen, Corrine M. Daprano, and Peter Titlebaum. 2009, March 11. Women’s access to sport in China and the United States. http://www.sports-media.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=31
Hodkiewicz, Lisa Gabrielle. 2008. Breaking the norms: Women and the modern Olympic games of Pierre de Coubertin. Unpublished thesis, History Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Houry, Cecile. 2011. American women and the modern summer Olympic games: A story of obstacles and struggles for participation and equality. Unpublished dissertation, University of Miami.
Jarvie, Grant. 2012. Sport, culture, and society: An introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Keenan, Sarah. 2012, August 8. Sexism, racism, and swimming at the London 2012 Olympics. Racialicious: The intersection of race and popular culture. http://www.racialicious.com/2012/08/08/sexism-racism-and-swimming-at-the-london-2012-olympics
Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. 2009. Sport, media and society . New York.Berg
Killion, Ann. 2012, August 12. Amid 40th anniversary of Title IX, women set new standard in London. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com
Kinnick, Katherine N. 1998. Gender bias in newspaper profiles of 1996 Olympic athletes: A content analysis of five major dailies. Women’s Studies in Communication 21: 212–237.
Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and women’s place. New York: Harper and Row.
Lazar, Michelle M., eds. 2008. Feminist critical discourse analysis: Studies in gender, power and ideology. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Leder, Jane. 1996. Grace and glory: A century of women in the Olympics. Washington, DC: Multi- Media Partners.
Leigh, Mary Henson. 1974. The evolution of women’s participation in the summer Olympic games 1900–1948. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University.
Lenskyj, Helen Jefferson. 2000. Inside the Olympic industry: Power, politics, and activism. Albany, NY: SUNY.
———. 2002. The best Olympics ever? Social impacts of Sydney 2000. Albany, NY: SUNY.
———. 2008. Olympic industry resistance: Challenging Olympic power and propaganda. Albany, NY: SUNY.
———. 2010. Women and the Olympics: Research, activism, and an alternative view. Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory 9(2): 1.
———. 2013. Gender politics and the Olympic industry. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Pivot.
Lundby, Knut. 2009. Introduction: ‘Mediatization’ as key. In Mediatization: Concept, changes, consequences, ed. Knut Lundby. New York: Peter Lang.
Maraniss, David. 2008. Rome 1960: The summer Olympics that stirred the world. Simon and Schuster.
Markula, Pirkko, eds. 2009. Olympic women and the media: International perspectives. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2011. Gender, sexuality, and meaning: Linguistic practice and politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mean, Lindsey J. 2010. Making masculinity and framing femininity: FIFA, soccer, and World Cup web sites. In Examining identity in sports media, ed. Heather L. Hundley and Andrew C. Billings, 65–86. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Messner, Michael A. 1995. Power at play: Sports and the problem of masculinity. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
———. 2002. Taking the field: Women, men, and sports. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
———. 2007. Out of play: Critical essays on gender and sport. Albany, NY: SUNY.
Migliaccio, Eric. 2005. Women in Olympic sports. Irvine, CA: Griffin Publishing.
Miragaya, Ana Maria. 2006. The process of inclusion of women in the Olympic games. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Universidade Gama Filho, Rio de Janerio, Brazil. http://doc.rero.ch/record/12700/files/MIRAGAYA_Ana_-_Tese_completa.pdf
Mohammad, Nadia S. 2012. Muslim women and the London Olympics: Series of historic firsts. Washington Post, July 7.
Perrottet, Tony. 2004. The naked Olympics: The true story of the Ancient games. New York: Random House.
Pieroth, Doris H. 1996. Their day in the sun: Women of the 1932 Olympics. Seattle: University of Washington.
Plowden, Martha. 1995. Olympic black women. Gretna: Pelican Publishing.
Remnick, David. 1996. Inside-out: The NBC strategy that makes the games a hit. The New Yorker, 26–28, August 5.
Robinson, Roger. 2010. Elana Meyer: Still pushing the pace. Runners World, September 14. http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/elana-meyer-still-pushing-pace?page=single
Rowe, David. 2012, November. Opening ceremonies and closing narratives: The embrace of media and the Olympics. Journalism Media and Cultural Studies 2: 1–13.
Shergold, Adam. 2012. The Muslim women who overcame the odds and the prejudice to make history today on the Olympic stage. Mail Online, August 3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183262/Olympics-2012-The-Muslim-women-overcame-odds-make-London.html
Simri, Uriel. 1977. A historical analysis of the role of women in the modern Olympics. Netanya, Israel: Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport.
———. 1979. Women at the modern Olympics. Netanya, Israel: Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport.
Solo, Hope. 2012. Solo: A memoir of hope. New York: Harper.
Tannen, Deborah. 1994. Gender and discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
Torres, Dara. 2010. Age is just a number: Achieve your dreams at any stage in your life. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Tuggle, C.A., Suzanne Huffman, and Dana Rosengard. 2007. A descriptive analysis of NBC’s coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Journal of Sports Media 2(1): 53–76.
van Dijk, Teun A. 1988. News as discourse. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum.
———. 2008. Discourse and power. Houndsmills: Palgrave.
Vincent, John. 2005. Equitable media coverage of female and male athletes: Is there a solution? Sports Media 34(April). http://www.sports-media.org/newpedimension8.htm
Welch, Paula, and D. Margaret Costa. 1994. A century of Olympic competition. In Women and sport: Interdisciplinary perspectives, ed. D. Margaret Costa and Sharon Ruth Guthrie, 123–138. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer, eds. 2009. Methods of critical discourse analysis. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
Woodward, Kath. 2012. Sex power and the games. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fuller, L.K. (2016). An Introduction to Female Olympians. In: Female Olympians. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58281-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58281-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59481-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58281-2
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)