’s sport ( Delia & Katz, 2018 ). As the team identification literature has grown, so too has professional women’s sport. In addition to the creation of several women’s sport leagues across the globe, consumer interest has increased. For example, in the United States, television viewership of the 2019
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Annemarie Farrell, Janet S. Fink, and Sarah Fields
While women are increasingly becoming vested fans of men’s football, baseball, hockey, and basketball, the perceived barriers—sociological, psychological and practical—to watching women’s sports still appear formidable for many female fans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lack of female consumption of women’s sport through the voices and perspectives of female spectators of men’s sport. Based on interviews with female season ticket holders of men’s collegiate basketball who had not attended women’s basketball games for at least 5 years, the most robust theme to emerge was the profound male influence in the spectator lives of women. This influence was a lifelong phenomenon spanning generations, beginning with grandfathers and brothers and continuing through husbands and sons. Other factors combined with this strong influence to block participants’ consumption of women’s sport. These include a lack of awareness and access to women’s sport and the existence of socializing agents who empasized and prioritized male leisure interests.
Katie Lebel and Karen Danylchuk
The purpose of this study was to gain insight into Generation Y’s perceptions of women’s sport in the media. Twenty-four participants were recruited and organized into 4 gender-specific focus groups. Participants identified televised sport as a primary and preferred method of sport consumption. Women’s sports were linked with inaccessibility and perceived as inferior to men’s sport in terms of athletic skill and general atmosphere. An underrepresentation of women’s sport in the media was held responsible for the limited awareness surrounding women’s sport. Societal expectations instilled during early socialization processes and limited female opportunity in sport also emerged as critical barriers. Most participants regarded the inequality in women’s sport with indifference and were satisfied as sport enthusiasts with the opportunities for consumption available in men’s sport. This conservative approach to women’s sport suggests that Generation Y’s perceptions wield noteworthy influence on their sport consumption behaviors.
Megan C. Piché and Michael L. Naraine
( Mastromartino & Naraine, 2021 ). To date, scholars have conducted research on how SM platforms are engaged with, specifically in men’s professional sport (e.g., Naraine et al., 2019 ), but there is a deficiency in women’s sport and media ( Fink, 2015 ). The trends of sport participation and spectatorship have
Janet S. Fink, George B. Cunningham, and Linda Jean Kensicki
This study drew from the match-up hypothesis and associated learning theory to examine the effects of athlete attractiveness and athlete expertise on (a) endorser-event fit, (b) attitudes toward an event, and (c) intentions to purchase tickets to an event. Students (N = 173) from three universities participated in an experiment to test the study’s hypotheses. Results indicate that athlete attractiveness and athlete expertise were both positively related to endorser-event fit and the effects of expertise on fit were significantly stronger than those of attractiveness. Further, attitudes toward the event partially mediated the relationship between endorser-event fit and intentions to purchase tickets to the event, whereas identification moderated the relationship. Results are discussed relative to associative learning theory and the match-up hypothesis, as well as ramifications they present for marketers and promoters of women’s sport.
Chadron Hazelbaker and Matthew Martin
NCAA institutions were golf (64.7% increase), lacrosse (51% increase), and soccer (45.4% increase) ( Cheslock, 2007 ). Based on increasing costs in a culture of an athletic arms race between institutions, the main argument against adding a women’s sport is based on these costs. Amongst a general
Nancy E. Spencer
readers to see connections that may not be visible at first glance. For example, in the fourth chapter on “Women’s sport and questionable sex,” Schultz examines athletes who were “casualties of sex-testing policies” (p. 104). Schultz ( 2014 ) argues that the premise of sex testing stems “from the tensions
Akilah R. Carter-Francique, Yeomi Choi, DeAnne Davis Brooks, Katherine M. Jamieson, and Judy Liao
series. The guest review team for Engaging Conversation in Women’s Sport and Physical Activity: Traversing Generations sought to build upon the well-established community of scholarship facilitated by the Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal (WSPAJ) . Our goal was to illuminate the many cross
Nancy Theberge
This article offers an analysis of the social sources of biomedical interest in women’s sports injuries through a case study of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Although both men and women incur them, there is extensive research interest in women’s ACL injuries. Drawing on interviews with researchers who have contributed to this research, the investigation examines the social sources of this interest. Explanations lie largely in the evolution of the agenda in sport medicine to a concern with injury prevention, which coincides with a movement toward the inclusion of women in health research. The article concludes with a consideration of the political and ideological implications of the interaction of the prevention and inclusion agendas in research on women’s sport injuries.
Cet article propose une analyse des sources sociales de l’intérêt biomédical pour les blessures dans les sports féminins à travers l’étude du cas des blessures au ligament croisé antérieur (LCA). Bien que les hommes et les femmes en soient tous deux victimes, il y a énormément d’intérêt en recherche pour les blessures au LCA chez les femmes. S’appuyant sur des entrevues avec des chercheurs qui ont contribué à ce projet, l’étude examine les sources sociales de cet intérêt. Les explications reposent grandement sur l’évolution de l’agenda en médecine du sport vers un souci de prévention des blessures, ce qui coïncide avec un mouvement vers l’inclusion des femmes dans la recherche sur la santé. L’article conclut par une considération des implications politiques et idéologiques de l’interaction des agendas de prévention et d’inclusion en recherche sur les blessures sportives chez les femmes.
