By Dale N.
As a division one female athlete, I see a lot of things when it comes to body image, expectations, and eating disorders. Athletes at all levels and primarily female athletes are held to a high standard for the way our bodies look and perform. The pressure put on athletes to perform both athletically and maintain a certain look is high. This essay will show how feminist anthropology and economic anthropology are used to understand why certain body types and a more sexual image of women sells in sports.
A toned and fit body type sells. An economic anthropologist would say that pushing a certain body type on athletes and pressuring them to look pretty and lean sells athletic products. Sponsorships that involve featuring a athlete often is biased towards athletes that have a certain “look” rather than performances or results. People want to see the pretty tennis player on the front of a athletic magazine rather than the rugby player who doesn’t conform to a feminine appearance. An economic anthropologist would look at the objectification of women’s image in sport as being more based on their appearance rather than their actual abilities to perform. The demand for a feminine body type and appearance is being pushed on female athletes because that is what sells in today’s sports economy.
A feminist anthropologist would argue that female athletes are unequally paid and respected for their athletic ability. The only women who are actually getting paid in sports today are the ones who have agreed to pose for sexual ads and lose respect in sport. It’s difficult for women in sports to be respected as athletes while they are being objectified at the same time. [1] Men in sports can gain respect just through results alone, however, in women’s sports having good results and being pretty can put you bounds ahead of those who are only athletically gifted. Living in a patriarchal society where men primarily view sports and control the direction of sports sexualizes female athletes. A feminist anthropologist would argue that sports will not be truly equal until women are both paid the same and similarly valued for their athletic performance rather than just their looks.
A feminist and economic anthropologist could both analyze how female athletes are more sexualized in sports more than men. It is saddening to see that women have to resort to showing more skin to get attention for their results and athletic careers. Economics within the sport industry has pressured women to be sexualized to earn money through sponsorships and get the athletic recognition that they deserve from just their athletic ability. Being an elite level female athlete is already hard enough without having to spend time looking pretty.
[1] “Sex Sells In Women Sports” UMK Women’s Center March 10, 2010, https://info.umkc.edu/womenc/2010/03/14/sex-sells-in-womens-sports/
Anthropology 2100 
That was an awesome paper! It was very clear and contextualized being a woman athlete effectively with the frames we’ve talked about in class! Economic and feminist anthropology were also tie in together smoothly and are very applicable with your topic!
I really enjoyed your paper. It was a topic that I had not extensively thought about previously but after reading this paper I agree about your unequal view of female athletes. I think that the two theories you chose really allow us to understand the topic more. I am curious if this body image standard varies depending on the sport played?
Thank you for writing this essay so clearly and to the point. I had no idea about the extent of how unfairly women in sport were treated. I knew they were generally objectified, but it is truly sad to see that they’re put in a position where what should be a test of athleticism is forced to be a beauty pageant. I would like to see this phenomenon exposed more so that greater attention to the topic can hopefully lead to change.
So true how female athletes work hard enough as it is to be good at their sport, let alone feel the need to also look a certain way. I love though now there are some brands that are branching out and promoting a fuller array of body types in their models, like Nike and Aerie. It’s nice to see someone wearing clothes that you want to buy that actually looks like you.
I think this points out a lot of things that are true in our society today. I think we often don’t pay enough attention to how we contribute to sexualizing women in sports. I do agree that they probably feel an enormous amount of pressure to perform well and then on top of that having to worry about how they look is sad. I think this essay does an excellent job looking at this from multiple perspectives!
This is a great examination of yet another example of unequal treatment of men and women. I think everything you said hits the mark, and yet a lot of people don’t really pay attention to this phenomenon. All women, even elite athletes, are held to an unfair standard in which they must do more to stay in the game but simultaneously risk losing respect. I wonder if increased representation of all body types as a form of resistance to this hegemonic system might eventually turn the tide and allow sports to become less of a beauty pageant where only one type of woman is celebrated. In any case, I think we all need to call this type of thing out when we see it, so the women that deserve respect based on their achievements alone receive what they’re due.
You make some very valid arguments on the set standards evident throughout the sports industry. However, I will think it would be notable to include men in this objectivism as well. Arguably, men are sexualized in the same way females are. They are expected to appear large and handsome and have protruding, abnormal muscles. These industries are constantly pressuring athletes to not only perform their best in everything they do, but also to fit the standards of what a certain athlete “should” look like.
I love this essay. it really made me think about your topic. Inequality is always talked about but inequality in sports needs to be recognized as well. Awesome job!
I really enjoyed this essay mainly because you’ve lived through some of the experiences you’ve highlighted as a division one athlete. I really liked how you were able to analyse how people don’t want to see a woman on the cover that excels at their respected sport, but rather a woman that portrays the stereotypical ‘pretty woman’ while also being a professional; the beauty of the woman taking priority. Really well written essay!
I really enjoyed reading your essay! It is so easy to recognize this issue in the media. Women are consistently sexualized, even in sports and I can somewhat relate to some of the things you were saying about the pressures of looking “pretty” in sports because I used to play club basketball and volleyball. Overall, you wrote a very food essay, good job!
This is a really good analysis of the hierarchical differences between men and women. Women often have to work ten times harder to achieve the same positive reactions as men do; for example, being “pretty”, or earning respect, whether that be in the context of sports or just in general. This is also promoted in the media with various skin creams, “ideal” looking models (though these are aimed towards men, too), and a lot of women and young girls can be negatively affected by this. It’s crazy how unfair the sports industry is, and I appreciate how you outlined this in your paper.
Good job on this essay! This issue is very relevant in our society which consumes media on the daily. There is a huge stigma of women having to fit in to the “pretty and athletic” image. Historically, this is the way it has been from the beginning of advertising so it will be interesting to see how it shifts as America’s social norms are shifting. Not only is this issue detrimental for women but it creates an image of what men believe a women should be. Overall, this was a very well written essay with significant points and ideas!
Your essay brings up very valid and important points, great job. I agree with the two theories you used, and would also venture to say that female athletes can also be analyzed from a practice theory perspective. Many times, female athletes have more muscular body types, rather than thin and lean. Cultural scripts have made it so we see muscular as masculine and thin and tone as feminine, which is why women athletes with this body type “sell”. While, in practice, muscular women athletes are transcending hegemonic norms, they are often able to negotiate their status by emphasizing their feminity in other ways (which could be seen from a feminist anthropology lense). This is just a surface level analysis, but thank you so much for opening up this discussion through your essay!
I enjoyed your essay, I thought your choices of theories were smart! I agree with your feminist theory perspective and think that women are consistently overlooked on their athletic ability, with people preferring their appearance. Your economic perspective is interesting as well as I do think looks tend to play a large role into selling more product. However, I would argue that male athletes are typically viewed the same way. you don’t see many 400 pound lineman on the cover of magazines either. I think in general better looking people are used to sell things on a broader level than just athletes. Great job!
Overall, this was a very well written essay. Broadly speaking, I liked how the author tied in the anthropological theories of economic anthropology and feminist anthropology to female athletes and the pressures put on them to look and perform well. As a male, this opened my eyes a bit to the social pressures placed on female athletes and helped me better understand this issue from an anthropological standpoint. Furthermore, I also found it interesting how the author used both economic anthropology and feminist anthropology to reveal the hierarchical difference between men and women athletes.
This article hit so close to home. As a former D3 athlete forced to drop sports because of an Eating Disorder, the perception of body image for female athletes has followed me for years. This kind of analysis is important for those of us victimized by the very athletics that define a huge part of our identities– thank you for writing this.
As a woman who played sports at various levels throughout my life, I find this article to be very intriguing as women in sports are under a great spotlight by the industry. Woman athletes are constantly battling through comments that degrade them from men in athletics. I completely agree with your analysis of an economic anthropologist. A sweaty, 250-pound male NFL player is likely to be pictured on Sports Illustrated, while women are often presented dowsed in makeup, with perfectly straightened hair. This idea feeds off the idea that sponsorships are more focused on a “look” than the raw performance of woman athletes. As mentioned in your feminist anthropologist analysis, I agree that women are instantly looked at differently than men in sports. Not only is equal pay an issue, but it is also disappointing that women are judged based off their appearance. Women performing in individual competition, like tennis and skiing, make their money off of sponsorships and competition wins. Therefore, as you mentioned, woman struggle with acquiring sponsorships that hold their values rather than disrespecting their personal image within the sport.
I really enjoyed reading this piece because it shed light on the reality woman have to face in sports and I would argue this occurs pretty much everywhere. I used to run track before I blew out my knee and had to face the fact that while I was running people were looking at my body and not just my performance. I found it incredibly annoying because I wish only your performance mattered and not how objectively attractive you are. Overall, I found this essay to be very well written and interesting as it shed light on a very current issue.
I really enjoyed this essay. Sadly, it is not at all surprising that when it comes to women athletes physical appearance matters more that how athletic a woman is. In our society, women are constantly being sexualized, especially in advertisements, so its not shocking that this would also carry over into sports. For men, they get paid based on how well they perform but women, even if they are super athletic, need to have “the look”. I have also noticed that when people talk about female athletes they don’t only talk about their results and accomplishments but rather comment on her appearance and whether she “looks” like she should play that sport. Also, we could even talk about difference between men and women’s sport uniforms. Women’s uniforms often times try to sexualize her body whereas men’s uniforms are more about comfort.
This was a really interesting and fascinating essay to read. It’s crazy and saddening how much women are sexualized in the media and sports. It’s so easy to view the different views placed on men and women in sports and the media as “normal” when men and women should be paid the same amount as men for their performance, regardless of their looks.
This was a really interesting essay to read. I have never considered the challenged that female athletes may face outside of their respective sport. I was not aware of how severely sexualized women are, even when they are such elite athletes. It is incredibly unfair to these athletes that they should face different standards and stereotypes than their male counterparts.
I enjoyed reading this essay a lot, and it gave me a lot to think about that I had not considered prior with respect to the different type of scrutiny that athletes of different genders face in their daily lives and careers. I do think, however, that some points made are not always true on a very large scale and that some of this discredits a lot of the female athletes that are judged and paid sheerly for the athletic ability and do not want any of the pomp or frill of the industry.
I really liked this essay because of your take on the economic anthropologist perspective. I thought it was an interesting connection because we usually would look at this issue through a feminist perspective, like you mentioned. Instead, this view of it shows why there is stigma in the first place. The corporations, models, all show females in one perspective, and by prying on their insecurities they sell more product. Thanks for bringing awareness to this.
I relate a lot to this essay because I am also a D1 athlete here at CU. It’s really hard for women’s sports to gain recognition and the older we get, the more we realize just how unequal athletics are. It is so frustrating to me that as an athlete, how you look is still just as important as how you play. But I guess beauty sells right?
I really enjoyed this essay because it contextualizes women into being different their own ways whiles being on the same playing fields just because of their looks. I was not aware to how the sports industry objectifies womens pay and morals from the promotional value of publication. I now completely understand your proposal towards this topic, and think this is a great piece.
I think you did a great job with your essay! You really put the negatives of female sports into perspective for me. From an economic anthropology perspective it really showed the corruption of female sports from a financial standpoint. It’s sad that the public only wants to see a fit and beautiful athlete rather than a talented athlete. It’s also saddening from a feminist anthropology perspective that female athletes are not paid as well as male athletes. Males don’t need to expose themselves in a sexual way to earn money. They’re already respected for just being simply a male athlete. Hopefully this is something that will change in the future.
This was a super interesting and relatable essay. I find it so interesting the way you related the expected appearance of female athletes in respects to the wage gap between the two genders. It is sad that this expectation exists and is perpetuated in magazines, commercials, and other such things. It also has an effect on women as a whole when the fit and talented athletes are also the ones who fit the “ideal” appearance. Male athletes despite their appearance can gain recognition solely based on talent, this is not the case for women. I hope that as societal and cultural expectations for what women should do and look like changes, women begin to gain the same respect as men for the talent they have.
I really enjoyed reading your essay however I wanted to pose a couple questions. Aren’t almost all athletes, whether men or women, sexually objectified? David Beckham is one of the most sexually objectified people in the world. I think a large part of watching athletes perform is rooted in objectification. It places emphasis on the physical body of the individual more so than the individual as a whole. By placing economic value on the individual’s body and it’s performance we are actively promoting objectification. Serena Williams is arguably the greatest female athlete in the world and is objectified in a totally different way outside of sexually. Many media representations have been criticized for displaying her as aggressive and almost animal-like, similar to depictions of football players. This unfortunate depiction shows that professional athletes are going to be objectified sexually or otherwise across the board.
When thinking about sports and looks, the economic and financial side of things is often forgotten or overlooked. Before reading your essay, I hadn’t thought much about the way that athletes are subjected to selling their bodies. When someone says “selling your body” it’s easily connected with the thought of sex work. You made a very good point that athletes have to think about and consider a lot more than just how well they play the game when establishing a career as an athlete. Your feminist approach is also a very strong argument. As with many things, their is a lack of equality between men and women. Sports is a great example of the sexist divide experienced in today’s society.
You brought out very elaborate reasons for negative angles on looking at female sports players. This was not something I would have thought about before I read your essay, but now I have a good perception on this. I liked the way you used feminist and economic anthropology because these can be very hard to interpret in our world and put them in writing form. I also enjoy how you used two totally different angles; body image and unequal pay. These two things helped you craft a beautiful essay and I can now go on to see these problems/issues in our society involving female sports players.
I agree with your thoughts that women are over sexualized in the sports world today, having their bodies shown off more than in sports involving men. That being said female athletes are payed less simply because they have less of an audience and their sports bring in less money. While it is unfortunate that men get payed substantially more, the only way for the wage gap to be narrowed is to grow the audience for women’s athletics.
Very interesting read! As someone who has grown up playing sports and much of daily life being centered around them, the inequality represented throughout sports and physical appearance is one that truly gets me riled up. It’s frustrating to see the way the sports industry puts a lot of emphasis and focus on the athletes that conform to traditional beauty standards better than others regardless of the talent. It just feels like a negative message to be sending to young athletes.
This essay did get me thinking about the way that women present themselves in athletics. It has made me realize and question why many women athletes that I look up to wear makeup when they are competing. After reading this essay, I can’t help but think that this has something to do with the sponsorships that they are each involved in.
I think that this essay is extremely insightful and accurate. I completely agree that female athletes are treated unequally compared to male athletes. This could even be compared to women in general and how gender inequality is a real issue. Women are often sexualized in things such as advertising, cinema, and just in every day life. Women athletes have to deal with this just as much, and probably even more.
This was a really well written article. You were able to convey the message that female athletes are supposed to be more put together and “perfect” rather than how they want to look on the day to day basis. Women are seen as sexual objects who cannot show their less feminine side when they are playing their sport. By using the feminist and economic anthropologist view point, you were able to dissect the role of being a D1 athlete because you are one and that was really great.
Being an athlete as well I really enjoyed reading your article. I Love how you brought in the economic side along with the feminist side or cultural anthropology as well. In todays world, sexualizing women is a huge market in sports as well in social media and ads in general. I love how you brought up the point that this is mainly controlled through the lens of how sports are predominately marketed to men giving them and marketers the power to sexual women within sports rather than focusing on talent.
I really enjoyed reading this article. I thought you did a great job at using the economic and feminist anthropological perspectives. They really complemented each other really well. The way this article was written reminded me of a short video I watched recently. One of the other comments talked about the wage gap being due to the lack of an audience for women’s sports. In women’s hockey a big reason they don’t have the same audience as men is that there are two professional leagues, one in Canada and one in the US. Hilary Knight one of the best women’s hockey players is going about closing the wage gap for hockey by combining the leagues. Although she is a rare case I think her story is a very interesting one.
I wish that I could say that I’m surprised that women in sports that have a particular appearance tend to go further in their careers than women with greater athletic capabilities, but sadly not. Your take from an economic and feminist perspective paints an accurate portrayal of how the sports industry uses the appearance of women as part of their marketing strategy. I like how you made the comparison between both men and women in the sports industry and how men don’t have to live up to the same beauty standards as women to excel in their career. This evidence of inequality further illustrates how the patriarchy is embedded in many facets of society and even in women athletes. Overall great paper!
Although the author claims “The only women who are actually getting paid in sports today are the ones who have agreed to pose for sexual ads and lose respect in sport,” I would say that is a relatively sexist and unfair assumption as many accomplished women in sport earn incredible salaries and tournament winnings regardless of appearance outside of endorsements/sponsorships as the money is paid out based on ranking within the competition. Since payouts are based on winning, this is directly a result of women’s performance and athletic ability and not simply based on appearance as the author claims. While there are many real world situations where women are sexualized within sports such as sports media or even sponsorships, this example is not one of them.
This was a very refreshing and interesting essay to read. I would have never thought about the economy of the sports industry and the ways in which women make their money within professional sports. I think it is very refreshing, because professional female sports are all too often joked about and I enjoyed hearing someone take a serious tone about them, as everyone should. This essay made me think about female boxers, such as Ronda Rousey. In the past few years female boxing has been paid much closer attention and I’m curious if that has the capability to change female athlete body stereotype, potentially putting stronger, un-stereotypical female body types into the limelight.
This essay topic and the perspective on feminist anthropology made me think of Serena Williams. The way some people think of women will never change, and I have personally seen some nasty comments on her social media made by people who claim she is “not pretty” and make fun of the way she looks and even the color of her skin. It is sad and unfortunate that these individuals do not understand what hard work is and that is goes beyond just a pretty face and body. I would say feminist anthropology would also argue the effects that the magazines where women usually appear have a severe impact on young individuals and their ideas of beauty standards that sometimes result in eating disorders.
This essay of yours brought to mind so many powerful, inspirational female athletes and who they don’t allow the things they can’t control typically affect them mentally. Similar to what one of my classmates said, the way in which women are viewed, especially by men, media, and the trolls of social media will never change. Whether its weight, or other forms of appearance there will always be a target for negative critisism, mostly regarding things they are incappable of changing. I think that I can agree with a few other people, in saying that feminist anthropology would typically also argue the effects of magazines, social media or any form of platform that sees women having an immense amount of power in influencing the young people with their ideologies of appearance and beauty standards. However we all know that this sort of influence can have negative outcomes such as body shaming, eating disorders, and much more. Very good job!!
I really enjoyed your essay. It is well known in modern society that women are often objectified, but reading this helped me think about it in a context that I hadn’t before which allowed me further insight. I think feminist and economic anthropology were excellent choices for this topic.
Good job relating this to your own experiences. I think you did an excellent job taking body image and relating inequality with pay between male and female athletes. The demand for a feminine body type and appearance is being pushed on female athletes because that is what sells in today’s sports economy. I think that is so significant and so toxic to mental health. Good job, calling attention to it.
I thought this article was interesting. I have not paid attention to professional sports in a long time but I did not realize that they did not put women often kn the front of the magazines unless it was a model. I think women should get the recognition they deserve as athletes!
I agree with you that women’s sports are more sexualized than men. I would also say that both men and women’s bodies have a desired image, so to speak, about what an individual should look like in a given sport, not only females. For example, on a football team, no one would pick a short and fat wide receiver over a tall and fit individual. In regards to feminism, I still believe women need more recognition in their uphill obstacles in sports.
Not just in sports, but around the world the notion that ‘sex sells’ dominates world market places. You found a nice little niche in your argument that even as a male college athlete I can extend to my realm. While not to the extend of female sports, all sports fields, especially professional sports that are widely published follow around the players that people like to look at, and idolizes those athlete who work hard to maintain their greek statuesque physique. unfortunatley, the over sexualization of female sports in rampant amongst american culture and often time is to the detriment of the sport itself.
Really interesting essay! I know this topic has been one of much controversy over the years, especially in advertising. The idea that sex sells has been used in marketing for as long as marketing has been around. I feel like the idea of being “fit” is much associated with being thin and lean, when most of the time thats not true. Also, people associate health with being thin, which is also not always the case. I know so many men and woman who are skinny, but eat like it’s the end of the world. They fill their body with high fructose, sugar, carbs, calories, unhealthy fats, and so on, and somehow manage to stay thin. Although this may make them lucky, it doesn’t make them healthy, but the stereotypes surrounding fitness and health are so warped that people perceive them as strong and fit.
All the arguments that you’ve posted are so fascinating and terrifyingly accurate! It genuinely makes me sad that in such an “advanced” culture we still struggle to truly get past the idea of inequality between men and women. There are thousands of female athletes that are comparable if not better than their male counterparts and the idea that there still isn’t equal monetary or notoriety compensation is borderline unfathomable.
I’ve competed in college as well, and I agree with your points about how the female body is supposed to look, that too much muscle or appeared to masculine is a bad thing, when gender roles aren’t real in the first place. A body is a body; it’s not supposed to look any type of way except the way you want it to. I really enjoyed reading your section on feminist anthropology, because I can’t think of a better lens to relate this all through than that with getting at inequality and sexualization of the female body. Being an elite athlete is incredibly difficult, and respect should be automatic, as it is for the men’s teams.
Your blog post is both interesting and true. I agree that it is sad that women are sexualized for more attention in sports, when their main objective is to be recognized for their practice and athleticism. Sports viewers are both misogynistic and disrespectful. It is sad that our economy has forced this upon athletes. Hopefully as women are becoming ceo’s and economic leaders in the U.S. this concept will change.
This is a very interesting essay because it holds true to a lot of different situations in life. It also brings up flaws in our country regarding the sexualization of women for more attention in sports. There shouldn’t be any sort of sexual remarks, because women play sports for the same reason that men do: because they enjoy sports, and because they are good at them. I hope that we as a population can become more progressive regarding this certain issue.
As a woman who has been involved in sports such as lacrosse myself, I can definitely relate to the feeling of wanting to maintain my athletic frame but not to the point where I appear “manly/too muscular.” I appreciate that you decided to give a voice to this topic, and I think it would be super interesting if you dived deeper into not only female athletes in society but specifically female student athletes are handling this pressure. Overall you did a great job!