Media Coverage & Female Athletes: Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport

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The Tucker Center has won a 2014 Upper Midwest Emmy Award in the Sports Documentary category for its video “Media Coverage and Female Athletes,” an evidence-based research project co-produced with tptMN.

Forty percent of all sports participants are female, yet women’s sports receive only 4% of all sport media coverage and female athletes are much more likely than male athletes to be portrayed in sexually provocative poses. To highlight why this matters and address these disparities, the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, in partnership with tptMN, have produced “Media Coverage and Female Athletes,” a groundbreaking documentary that uses research-based information to examine the amount and type of coverage given to female athletes. You won’t want to miss hearing from expert scholars and award winning coaches and athletes who discuss this timely issue from a variety of perspectives, as they help dispel the common—but untrue—myths that no one is interested in women’s sport and that "sex sells" women’s sport. Effective strategies are also discussed for increasing media coverage and creating images which reflect the reality of women’s sports participation and why this is so important.

"The Tucker Center leads the way in scholarship and advocacy for fair and equitable media coverage of women’s sports. As this documentary reveals, the need for both is as strong as ever. Media Coverage & Female Athletes is important because it explores the reasons why sportswomen remain sidelined and stereotyped in the media. Better yet, it shows what we can do to bring about changes that reflect the reality of women’s sports participation." — Marie Hardin, Professor & Associate Director, John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, Penn State University

The Media Coverage & Female Athletes video is making waves all over ...

We hope you watch our documentary free of charge at the link above, but if you would like a DVD copy for yourself or for educational purposes you can request a complimentary copy by sending email to [email protected] with your name and compete surface mail address.

Should you find our documentary compelling, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Tucker Center via our Support Us page.

Join the Tucker Center's #HERESPROOF Project! Post your pictures of female athletes & women's sports on your favorite social network and PROVE that many people are interested in women's sports!