Sports Illustrated Bias
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Sports Illustrated is one of the main displays of the inequality that female athletes face. Sports Illustrated is all about sports, facts, and statistics, who the rising stars are, who the top players are, the top games, etc. however they mostly report only on male sports and male athletes. Researchers at the University of Louisville "looked at every Sports Illustrated cover published from 2000 through 2011. Out of the 716 issues only 35 of them featured a female athlete" (Marcie). The study excluded the swimsuit issue because that issue is exclusively women. So a magazine that is based around sports has only 35 female athletes and 52 female models that have been on the covers. That does not make sense. Yes, there have been males on the covers that have not been athletes however the magazine relates these males to sports in some way, unlike the women who are models in bikinis. The majority of the magazines 716 issues are all male athletes with a few non-athletes. How is it fair that male athletes are on almost every cover of Sports Illustrated when there are so many female athletes that deserve to be on the cover? Those women that do get to be on the cover are in posed, modeling pictures while the men get to be shown in action shots. This only helps magnify the thought that female athletes are just all models and that they cannot truly play their sport.
From the Sports Illustrated site, you can see almost every cover they have produced, from that you can see these two pictures from the 2015 edition. Ronda Rousey is a world class athlete in the MMA world, a woman that dominates the sport, being able to hold her own against any man or woman, however on her cover photo of Sports Illustrated she is just another pretty face. They do not show her actually fighting, they show her with makeup on, her hair done and just posing. Meanwhile a player from the Oregon Ducks, a college football team is shown in action playing his sport. Not only is the male athlete being shown in action but he also is able to showcase his ability. Why wasn't Ronda Rousey pictured doing an arm bar, in the middle of punching another fighter, or in the octagon about to fight with her hair braided back, face sweaty, like an athlete? Instead, let's showcase her ability to stand and be a gorgeous model.
Sports Illustrated sometimes features non-athletes onto their covers. However, the only time a female non-athlete is showcased on the cover is when a model is clothed in a skimpy bikini. The magazine makes no connection or contribution to sports yet she still graces the cover as a sexual object. This photo has no business being put on a sports magazine when there is nothing athletic involved. Meanwhile, males who are not athletes are shown in proper poses, with the cover stating how this individual contributed to sports in some way. These photos are just two of the many covers that are on the Sports Illustrated website.
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From the Sports Illustrated site, you can see almost every cover they have produced, from that you can see these two pictures. Sports Illustrated uses group shots however female athletes are shown holding a male in their arms, showing that he is higher up then they are. It also forgets to show that these women are champions and just won a huge title. Yet, on the other hand the male group shot shows the athletes in mid-celebration, embracing each other and in complete joy. The male athletes are shown in all the glory of being victors, however, the women are shown without excitement or much emotion, without the display of actually winning.
Sports Illustrated is the leading magazine for sports fans. That is why it is such a large contributor to the image female athletes have. Sports Illustrated has released mores issues with women in swimsuits than in an athletic uniform. With such an influential magazine that is all about the up to date sports and rising stars, it is hard for women to even be taken seriously as an athlete when all the readers see is non-elite female athletes on the cover of the magazine in bikinis. There is no issue of Sports Illustrated that showcases all male models dressed in skimpy speedos or tight swim trunks so why does there need to be a swimsuit issue with only females? For a magazine who is focused on sports, there should not be an issue focused on women in bikinis. Not only does it not involve sports at all but it also segregates the female athletes from being taken seriously. Why not show female athletes kicking butt in their sport? It is magazines like Sports Illustrated that make it hard to take female athletes seriously, they are under represented and when they are shown it is in a polished unathletic manner. Female athletes are never shown in pictures where they are actually playing their sport, compared to the male athletes that are in photos that highlight their amazing athletic ability females are disquised as weak inferior athletes.