When Women Fail to “Hold Up More Than Half the Sky”

Abstract

Communist beliefs on gender equality and Chinese female athletes’ consistent ability to win national glory have lead to female athletes in Chinese sports media being primarily portrayed as legitimate athletes akin to levels of male athletes. This study examines such assumptions within Chinese Central Television’s (CCTV) 2016 Olympic telecast of gymnastics, a sport in which Chinese female athletes failed to attain national expectations, exploring potential variations of gendered frames in Chinese sports culture. A full examination of 100% (over 14 hr) of CCTV’s broadcast coverage revealed that female athletes received less media attention in terms of clock time and name mentions. Regarding word-by-word commentary ascribed to the gymnasts, CCTV employees significantly devoted more descriptors related to personality and physicality to female athletes, indicating a noticeable deviation from the Chinese traditional gendered frame of depicting female athletes as tenacious fighters with their nonsport-related aspects rarely covered. Implications for the findings are offered.

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