Portrayals of Women Golfers in the 2008 Issues of Golf Digest
in Sociology of Sport JournalClick name to view affiliation
This research note examines Golf Digest’s depictions of gender through the publication’s portrayals of women in its 2008 issues. Through the use of intersectional theory and critical discourse analysis of the contents within Golf Digest, we found that despite its emerging use of women columnists and content concerning women in articles or advertisements, the magazine mainly reproduced dominant images about white, wealthy, heterosexual women athletes. In particular, we argue that the magazine often reinforces exclusionary attitudes toward women golfers by maintaining systems of privilege and oppression that benefit wealthy, white, heterosexual males. As such, we focus on gender as the most visible intersectional identity with white males, and discuss how including mainly white, wealthy, heterosexual women also conveys messages about other women’s involvement in golf.
The authors are with the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
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