Gender stereotypes in the Olympic Games media? A cross-cultural panel study of online visuals from Brazil, Germany and the United States

Abstract

Research reveals a stereotypical media portrayal of Olympic athletes [Bissel and Holt, ‘Who's Got Game?’]. Using panel data from the 2004 and the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, this study aims at identifying potential trends in visual representation of athletes. The analysis of online visuals of three media powers, Brazil (Latin America), Germany (Europe) and the USA (North America) allows for the investigation of culture-specific vs. global trends and for the identification of convergence/divergence forces across time in media. Differences between male and female representation with respect to category of sport, dynamic, camera angle, number of people, emotion and level of body exposure are assessed with Mann–Whitney U-tests. The findings suggest that although the web media reinforces some of the gender stereotypes, across the investigated time, an improvement towards gender evenness as well as a cross cultural convergence of athletes' portrayal is present. While some gender disparities still exist, the Internet seems to establish worldwide gender equity.

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