December 2: Women's Body Image in Fitness Magazines (Yannick)

In “Beyond the Perfect Body: Women’s Body Image Distortion in Fitness Magazine Discourse,” author Pirkko Markula makes great points about the construction of femininity in relation to women’s body image as well as the perception and framing of women’s health in and through fitness magazines. First of all, Markula (2001) points out accurately that “obtaining the look of the perfect media models is beyond the reach of ordinary women” (p. 163). Most of the images of women (and men!) we are exposed to in our daily lives have been heavily altered through technology such as Photoshop. The following video titled “Dove: Evolution” perfectly shows how unrealistic the images of supposedly ideal bodies truly are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U . The woman shown in the final advertisement in this clip does not look like the model used for the shooting at all. This shows how much retouching is done to models; this, of course, is highly problematic, as it creates an ideal that is not obtainable for normal women.
 

Secondly, I really like Markula’s analysis of the contradictory nature of fitness magazines when it comes to the construction of women’s attitudes towards their bodies. Markula (2001) states that while the fitness magazines in her analysis appreciate women’s intellectual abilities and devalue the “emphasis on the perfect but unachievable body” (p. 165), the content of those magazines often contradicts this reader-friendly idea (p. 165). Rather, the fitness magazines’ content “equate a normal female body to a model’s body. In their world, any other type of body is nonexistent, or if shown, appears unappealing. [...] Thus, the normal woman was depicted not only as different, but as ugly, discontent, inadequate, unattractive, and dull” (Markula, 2001, p. 165).

Finally, I completely agree with Markula’s (2001) assessment -- based on her observations described above -- of gender as “harnessed to serve commercialism [in today’s culture]” (p. 167). Nowadays, companies and media institutions oftentimes try to sell their products and programs as artifacts that enhance or ensure a consumer’s femininity or masculinity. These products are strategically portrayed as a means to make their consumers more masculine or feminine. Oftentimes companies rely on the idea that if consumers are insecure about their femininity/masculinity, they will be more willing to buy and consume a product that will rid them (and, more importantly, others) of any doubts they may have about their feminine or masculine capital. I am very concerned about these messages that are being sent to the masses, especially to young audience who might not be as media-literate as we are.

Maddy Amon November 25 2014

Reading both of the previous articles about race (Cashman, 2008) and hip hop culture (Andrews, 1999) surrounding the NBA have been very interesting reads.  Campbell made a good point when stating that it is normal for Drake to host and can be seen on the sidelines at an NBA game and not at a NFL game. I had never thought of hip hop and basketball going hand in hand until we discussed it in class and I read the article. 

Cashman and his article about Tiger Woods was also very interesting. It shows the vast differences of how people portrayed him prior to the domestic violence incident and the cheating scandals.  I believe that Woods was trying to relate to America as a whole when he says he is an "American not African American".  As a popular icon in America he was seen almost in the same light as Michael Jordan.  These two men overcame racial barriers and became sport ideals in a very public stage.  While on this public stage they became very private.  Not trying to cause rifts in the media especially about race. 

In light of recent decisions in the Fergeson case race is a hot topic in the United States. The two articles show how sport and race are intertwined.  It is a sensitive barrier that needs to be addressed carefully.  I think a newer article surrounding race and sport would be very interesting.  Looking at Tiger now and how the public veiws him would be extremely interesting.  I wonder if, since his scandal, people would say worse things about him in a racial context.  I think a textual analysis surrounding Tiger, post scandal would be very beneficial.
  

November 25: Tiger Woods, Ferguson, and Racial Equality in the U.S. (Yannick)

I enjoyed reading Cashmore’s “Tiger Woods and the New Racial Order” this week. However, I think that Woods’ perception as a Black male celebrity has changed a lot since the publication of this article; and so has the racial order as well as the perception of racism in the United States. Cashmere (2008) states that Woods, soon after winning the Masters, “instantly and spectacularly transformed into a symbol of integrated America” (p. 621). Due to the athlete’s unique standing within the sport of golf and the broader societal context in general, Cashmere (2008) describes Woods as “both an exemplar of a new racial order and a reminder that the past is exactly that – the past” (p. 622).

I definitely think that the narratives surrounding Woods’ infidelity scandal of 2009 reveal the shortcomings of Cashmore’s argumentation here and show that this past is still very present today. Describing Woods as a “serial cheater” (a coin attributed to Woods by the New York Times) reinforced and perpetuated dominant stereotypes about African American men rather than promoting the new racial order identified by Cashmere. One of the underlying assumptions surrounding Black men in American culture has historically been that Black men are overly sexual and savage-like. In the infidelity scandal, high emphasis was put on Woods’ sexual conquests. The image of the African American man as sexual conqueror was herewith reinforced. This shows how dominant and persistent these century-long, highly problematic narratives surrounding Black men (and women!) truly are.

I think that especially the most recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, show that America is far from being a post-racial society. Yesterday (the day it was announced that the officer shooting Michael Brown will not be charged for his murder) was a tragic day for racial equality in this country. I think at the core of this problem is the inability of many (white) Americans to acknowledge their (white) privilege. I agree with Cashmore that American society is oftentimes colorblind. It does not see being white as a color – whiteness remains invisible, and it is oftentimes only minorities who recognize the enormous privilege that comes with being white. As people living in the U.S., we need to be intensely aware of white privilege and have to actively work to make whiteness (more) visible.

Finally, Cashmere (2008) argues that “Woods became a symbol of African American integration, not by defiantly leading marches, or stirring the masses with blistering oratory, but by consuming” (p. 628). I am having trouble with seeing consumption as a way to create racial equality. By heavily relying on Woods’ race in their marketing strategies, companies like Nike promote conspicuous consumption, rather than hard work and constant activism, as the key to racial equality and to achieving a post-racial society. The discourses surrounding Black athletes like Tiger Woods as well as the current events in Ferguson show that we need to do more than just buy products in order to make this country a safer place for all people alike.

November 25-Campbell Query #1

I spoke with Dr. Spencer on Friday about her comments on the NBA and the culture of hip-hop. She suggested that I share more with the class. My Uncle, who works for Spalding, goes to every NBA All-star weekend each year. I remember one specific weekend in particular that stuck out in my mind. He talked to the family about it and it was the All-star weekend in Las Vegas (2007).

This was the first NBA All-star game that I remember being interested in and probably why I remember what he said about his experience. I called him this weekend to see if he still had any memories from that weekend, the following is a combination of my memory and his words. Besides Las Vegas being Las Vegas he said that this was his first NBA weekend where he felt that the atmosphere was much different than it had been in the past. He remembered the crowds and the clothing people wore as much different. He described it as “thugy.” When I asked him what that meant he replied with a summary of the following. Everyone had a posse. Everywhere you looked it was large groups of people in flashy clothing. At the Las Vegas game he said he had never seen so many mouth grills, which would have been right around the time Nelly’s song Grillz was released. It came out in 2005, but became popular in 2006. It was not just fans coming to watch the NBA greats. It was people showing off their status and who they knew. I asked him if it seemed like it was a hip-hop culture and he said yes exactly. It was not hip-hop being a fan of the NBA it was the NBA being at a hip-hop event. My Uncle is a sales rep for the company; perks from the job are preferential treatment at events like the All-star weekend. He said that the number of hip-hop artists that he is normally surrounded by outweigh the number of fans that would pay that much money to have the luxuries they experience during a weekend event like this.

I found this conversation with my Uncle to be ironic after talking about it in class. He said that hip-hop and the NBA are like a pair, with one comes the other. I asked him to elaborate and he said they are just like peas and carrots (very deep). I think it is interesting that we see this in the NBA but not the NFL or MLB. I mean every once and a while the camera will pan to the boxes up top to show celebrities, but we never see Drake being a host on Monday Night Football. There must be something that attracts hip-hop to basketball, but I do not know what it is. If I had to guess why I would say that it is a longer season, with more airtime, shorter game-time, indoors, and you have the ability to show yourself off. I am not saying that people involved in hip-hop like to show off, but I think this is why we also see more celebrities at NBA games.

Whither the NBA, whither America?

Brandon Silva

The article by David Andrews entitled “Whither the NBA, whither America?” describes how the National Basketball Association (NBA) has been able to successfully expand its viewing market to other countries around the world (1999).  Andrews mentions some of the way the NBA has been successful in this endeavor including how the NBA has targeted its selling to the world’s youth by providing an image of opposition to the cultural mainstreams (1999).   Additionally, pre-season competitions are held in foreign countries and NBA regional offices are located in major cities around the world such as Paris, Mexico City and Hong Kong just to name a few (Andrews, 1999).  This article was written in 1999 and since then, it seems that the NBA has only expanded its global reach.

            After reading the article, I am left wondering why other “American” leagues do not seem to be as successful as the NBA in globalizing their brand.  Perhaps the most notable is the National Football League (NFL).  The NFL has tried to expand globally by playing regular season games in London but it seems that this has done little to increase the popularity of the league world-wide.  It makes me wonder, what makes the NBA different than the NFL in its ability to attract a global audience?  It could be that the NFL doesn’t seem produce the “caricatured heroes, epic struggles, and dramatic triumphs” of the NBA (Andrews, 1999, p. 506).  However, this seems a bit unlikely to me because as we know, the NFL is full of different stories on and off the field seemingly at all times.  Perhaps, as it was mentioned in class, NBA players are more readily recognizable than NFL players since football players’ uniforms don’t allow the viewer to see their face.  On a small playing surface, NBA player’s faces are constantly visible on TV whereas NFL players are buried under their helmets and pads for the majority of the game.  Perhaps the NFL carries a more pristine image than NBA with regards to a more adult-focused audience.  I think a great example of this was last year when players in the NBA were permitted to wear their nicknames on the back of their jerseys.  This youthful gesture plays to the opposition of cultural mainstreams that author mentioned whereas in the NFL this sort of practice seems highly unlikely.  A final thought deals with the affordability of the sport.  Football requires large areas of grass, pads, helmets, and goal-posts.  Around the world these may not be as readily accessible or affordable as they are in the United States.  On the other hand, basketball only requires a small playing surface, a hoop and a ball.  This allows the game of basketball to be played almost anywhere including cities of high populations such as Hong Kong or Tokyo.  Therefore it may easier for people from these areas to appreciate a sport more since they are able to play it themselves.

 

References

Andrews, D. L. (1999). Whither the NBA, whither America? Peace Review, 11(4), 505-

510.

November 18th-Campbell

In the Clark, Apostolopoulou, and Gladden (2009) article I found it very interesting that the results showed what I think most of America would assume to find if men and women were interviewed when it comes to sport marketing, gender, and preferred interests. I think I was a little shocked to read that what I expected from the survey actually occurred. I think I thought the reading was going to show that men and woman alike showed the same levels of interest in each category. However, we read that this is not the case.

If I had to make a few assumptions as to why these results showed this, I would say it is the construction of gender in our society. We have different expectations for each gender. When it comes to sports knowledge and the breakdown of strategy, there is not an expectation for women to understand this especially when it comes to football. When it comes to females in our society there is an expectation to be in the know of popular culture and what is happening in entertainment. Dietz-Uhler et al (2000) found that men are more likely to watch sports on television than women (pg. 168). I am sure that if there was a similar study conducted that looked at a women’s level of watching entertainment and popular culture television compared to males the results were be similar to the level of male v. female watching sporting events on television. There are just different expectations for men and women when it comes to what people’s interest should be. It is an entirely different topic when it comes to a person not fitting into gender roles and expectations, so I will not even begin to open that can of worms.

I think that this study could be replicated many more times, with several different populations. The majority of the population for this study was people between the ages of 25-44, with a majority of the males being between the ages of 18-24. Personally, I feel that if they surveyed more women between the ages of 18-25 the results would have been different. Since the majority of women were older, I feel that there is less of a chance that they would be interested in sports because of the socialization that has occurred in older persons societies. Title XI would have been introduced during their younger years and they could have still been greatly discouraged from being interested in sport. Whereas today, we hardly ever see young girls discouraged for playing sport at the youth level. I think that the population for these results is something that should be considered because I do not know how generalizable these results can really be.

November 18: Super Bowl Advertising and American Identity (Yannick)

I really enjoyed reading about the Super Bowl and its importance in the construction of (national and gender) American identity this past week. I have thought about doing my dissertation on the construction of American identity (gender, national, racial, and/or sexual identity) in and through the different aspects of the Super Bowl before, and reading these articles has definitely helped me to conceptualize this future project even further.

I really appreciated that Martin and Reeve (2001) point out that “the authority, permanence, and centrality of the Super Bowl’s championship spectacle has been undermined by an eclectic, ephemeral, and decentralized Super Bowl circus with multiple side shows” (p. 218). For many viewers today, the commercials or the half-time show (as such “side shows”) are much more important than the actual game itself. I particularly liked that Martin and Reeve elaborated on the importance as well as the cultural significance of commercials in the Super Bowl setting. I, too, think that these commercials are charged with significant cultural meaning, as they are viewed by more people than any other commercials in the United States (and beyond).

A brand that took advantage of the general enthusiasm about commercials (in a culture that normally deems commercials as “propaganda” or “mass deception”) in the context of the Super Bowl is the brand Old Spice. Old Spice launched their Smell like a Man, Man campaign two weeks before the broadcast of the Super Bowl in 2010 with this commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

This commercial titled “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” of the Smell like a Man, Man campaign (which was one of the campaigns I analyzed in my master’s thesis) quickly became the most frequently viewed commercial in the spring of 2010, and many fans of the Old Spice campaign thought that it aired during the Super Bowl broadcast due to its immense popularity. As such, the brand successfully took advantage of the Super Bowl hype without actually spending millions of dollars for showing the commercial during the event. This shows how important these “side shows” have become in what Martin and Reeve (2001) describe as the modern “Super Bowl circus” (p. 218).

The NFL and Domestic Violence

By Dr. Spencer

Earlier this week ESPN: Outside the Lines had a special program on "The NFL and Domestic Violence." CNN ran a similar program in September that includes an interview with the spouse of a former NFL player. The recent cases that have become headline news since the Ray Rice videotape emerged have cast a light upon what the NFL is doing to address issues of domestic violence (including the Adrian Peterson case).

Meanwhile, this Cover Girl ad calls out the NFL on domestic violence as reflected by this story.

One of the conundrums that the NFL must face in moving forward is how to 'market' to women (which is the subject of Tuesday's reading) while addressing the cases of abuse that have surfaced through the media. For example, how can we understand so many women wearing Ray Rice jerseys, even after seeing the video of Rice hitting his then fiance? On the other hand, charges were dropped against the 49ers Ray McDonald, leading some to say that it was important not to judge circumstances too quickly. When we discussed this issue in class, someone pointed out that by taking a stronger stand against abuse and/or domestic violence, this may actually dis-incentivize 'victims' (not only women) from coming forward since it could have career-ending implications for a player. There are a number of questions that could be raised in relationship to the NFL and domestic violence. You can address these and/or others with your comments.

1. What evidence is there to suggest that the NFL has shown a commitment to addressing domestic violence? On the other side, the NFLPA is pushing back against taking harsher measures. Does this potential move threaten to discredit the players union?

2. Roger Goodell admitted that he 'got it wrong' when giving a 2-game suspension for Ray Rice. One new option that has been added to deal with players who are alleged to be involved in cases of abuse is to place them on a temporarily suspended list. How effective is that solution? What other ways can the NFL deal with this issue?

3. It seems that the combined forces of the NFL and the NFLPA have brought the real issues of domestic violence to an impasse. How do you see these issues being resolved? How do you view the NFL now that these issues have surfaced?

Re-Post: Textual Analysis (Yannick)

Because textual analysis is one of the methods I have used the most frequently in my scholarly career so far, I really enjoyed reading Alan McKee’s “A Beginner’s Guide to Textual Analysis” this week. I have to admit that so far I have, like many Cultural Studies scholars, used a rather “intuitive form of textual analysis” (McKee, 2001, p. 144). I have done many textual analyses – from my master’s thesis on the construction of masculinity in Old Spice commercials to an analysis of the sexuality and promiscuity of the character Barney Stinson in the television sitcom How I Met Your Mother. The textual analysis that fits McKee’s guide on how to do a textual analysis the best, however, was a textual analysis I did of the marketing activities (and the actual stores) of the brand Abercrombie & Fitch in Germany. I would like to base my blog post this week on this analysis and put it into the context of McKee’s guide, in hope that it will help everyone to get a better understanding of the method of textual analysis.

McKee (2001) points out that textual analysis is an important method because “if we want to understand the world we live in, then we have to understand how people are making sense of that world” (p. 144). Further, McKee (2001) points out the immense importance of the context a text is put in for the textual analysis of that text; he states that “this context (that is, a series of intertexts, related texts) is what ties down the interpretations of a text” (p. 145). As such, the meaning of texts vary depending on the context they are being placed in (McKee, 2001, p. 145). My paper on Abercombie & Fitch (A&F), titled “‘Welcome to the Peer’: Americanization, the Abercrombie & Fitch Brand as Imagined Community, and National Identity in Re-Unified Germany,” is a good example of this. The brand – in this case the text to be examined – has a completely different meaning and offers completely different interpretations in Germany’s cultural climate (context 1) than it does in American culture (context 2), or even other European societies (context 3, and so on).

In my analysis, I found that A&F had more stores in Germany than in any other country in Europe, and I wanted to find out why that was the case. By analyzing some of the most popular German media platforms, I found that narratives are dominant in German media that focus on the lack of a inner unity of the German people. I concluded that A&F in Germany – which was framed as a brand that represents a cohesive community of individuals in the context of American culture – is so appealing to the German people because it creates a sense of community that the Germans, more than 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, still desperately long for and cannot find on a national (identity) level.

Many of the articles we have read in the past two weeks have shown how sport stars can be read as a text within a specific context. For instance, the construction of Micheal Jordan’s masculinity was grounded in the context of discourses about Black sexuality and the nuclear family at that time. I therefore agree with McKee (2001) that “you can do nothing with a text until you establish its context” (p. 146).

The Super Bowl and U.S. Solipsism - By Dr. Spencer

In February 2007, I was in New Zealand when Super Bowl XLI was played between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts. At the time, I assumed that people all around the world would be tuning in to see this most important of U.S. rituals. After all, I reasoned, the U.S. was arguably the most powerful nation in the world--who wouldn't be interested in seeing the highlights of our favorite past time?

Due to the time difference, it was about noon Monday in Raglan, NZ (the day after the Super Bowl was actually played in the U.S.), when I tuned in with my friends, Toni and Steve. We were grad students together at the University of Illinois during the 1990s. Toni was a native New Zealander (a Kiwi), while Steve hailed from Virginia. I assumed that he would be excited to see the game--and might even feel nostalgic about participating in the familiar ritual of watching the Super Bowl. I assumed wrong. Admittedly, it was more than a little distracting to try to watch football when the temperature outside was in the high 70s, and the view from where we sat was like the one below (this photo shows Raglan, NZ where I stayed in 2007 and 2010).

As compelling as the Super Bowl might have been if I had been at home (i.e., the game featured the first two African American coaches), it was difficult to watch a game that was played under such sloppy conditions. Even though Steve was from the U.S., he said he would rather be watching cricket or rugby.

Needless to say, when I came across this article by Martin and Reeves (2001), it did not come as a total shock that "the whole world wasn't watching" the Super Bowl (p. 213). Keep in mind that this article was published before 9/11, so the reference to "the worst act of terrorism" (p. 213) visiting U.S. soil was about Oklahoma City--not the World Trade towers. Even before 9/11, Martin and Reeves were talking about the declining U.S. political hegemony. [note: if you are not familiar with hegemony, it is a word that basically means "dominance," and is typically used to refer to political dominance amongst nations. We have used this term in different contexts throughout the semester - e.g., when speaking about dominant forms of masculinity, or hegemonic masculinity].

One of the most surprising things I learned from this article was how different the size of the viewing audience is for American football, in comparison to other global sports. I would have guessed that the World Cup of soccer had more viewers but to read that an "estimated cumulative audience of 37 billion people" watched some of the 64 games that made up the tournament in 1998 was astounding to me! The U.S. estimates of just over 100 million who watched previous Super Bowls obviously pales by comparison. If the contrast in numbers caught me by surprise, I was even more astonished to discover that the Cricket and Rugby World Cups each claimed somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-2.5 billion viewers worldwide.

Here are some questions for you to consider in relation to this article. You may write multiple comments to address the questions below.

Questions:

1. Were you surprised to read about the size of the viewing audiences for the Super Bowl in comparison to other global sporting events? Do these findings make you think differently about U.S. 'solipsism?' If so, explain.

2. How do Martin and Reeves (2001) differentiate between TV I and TV II? How do these terms relate to "Fordism" and/or "post-Fordism?"

3. In this article, the authors refer to the 60-sec ad produced in 1984 for Super Bowl XVIII, that literally "revolutionized the way advertisers would approach the game" (p. 219). What was that ad and why was it so transformative? How important are the ads to your Super Bowl viewing experience?

Campbell-November 4

While I do not know much about soccer, I have, in the past year gathered some research for classes on the topic of homophobia and racism in athletics and came to the realization that soccer is a sport that struggles, like many others, to accept people that are different from themselves. After reading this article it reminded me of something I read last year. I cannot find the article to post at the bottom, but there is some research on fans and their opinions about inclusivity in sport that is interesting. I will look for that article and post it, so that I can provide the citation.

The article in particular that I looked at tried to ask fans themselves why they use racial and homophobic slurs in the crowd and on sports blogs online. They found that fans in general were very open to having People of Color on their sports teams and openly gay men. Many fans stated that they did not care about race or orientation they only cared about winning. If it took a team of all gay men to win the championship then they would still support their team. The research also found that that fans only used racial and homophobic slurs towards opposing teams, not because it was out of hate, but rather it was because they knew it was offensive and they are phrases that have become the most offensive thing to say to someone in public. It was more of a tactic to help their team win. They did not see it as racist or homophobic because they were saying it to help their team. They did not actually mean it. So the question I would ask is not how do we make sport more inclusive but how do we change an entire culture?

I do not have an answer to that question. I have no idea how we as a society change how to approach the differences of each human. If sports fans do not care about race and orientation, but still know it is hurtful to say to an opposing player I do not know how to change that. Would it help to start with kicking fans out of games? Fining them? I have no idea, but this is more than just a sports problem, it is a society problem. I would argue that society is more inclusive than it has ever been, but sports are one area that moves slower than any other institution in our society.

Again, I will look for that file and post it for anyone that is interested in reading the article. It could be an interesting area for a project.