Olympic sexism study: Male athletes have skill and female athletes have luck
“An examination of past Olympic Games television coverage shows notable differences in the way sports commentators talk about athletes, depending upon the athletes’ races, gender and nationalities.” -Sciencedaily
“According to a new study on past television coverage of the Olympics, sports commentators talk about athletes in notably different ways depending on their gender. And by “notably different” I mean “pretty sexist.” The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Delaware, analyzed NBC’s primetime coverage of past games. The main findings:
- When female athletes succeed, commentators tend to focus on luck and less on physical ability.
- When female athletes fail, physical ability and commitment are noted.
- When male athletes succeed, commentators applaud their skill and commitment to the sport.
- When male athletes fail, it is not necessarily about their failure, but about how their competitors succeeded.” - Feministing
(via feminismfreedomfighters)
