Much has been written about the vast disparity in media attention given to women athletes in comparison with their male counterparts (e.g., Adams and Tuggle 2004; Billings and Young 2015; Bruce 2013; Cooky et al. 2013). For example, in one study Cooky et al. (2015) found that all but 3.2% of stories on local network affiliate sportscasts and 2% of stories on ESPNâs SportsCenter were about men. Such findings are so prevalent that scholar Toni Bruce (2013) reports a colleague once said there was no need for additional content analyses comparing the discrepancies in the coverage of menâs and womenâs sports. However, Bruce rightly notes that such convincing evidence regarding the symbolic annihilation of women in sports media âis important because it identifies ideologies and practices thatâŠpoint to a critical marking of sport as male territoryâ (p. 128).
Further underlying the lack of coverage is the historic presumption that female athletes are lesbians, given that sports are perceived as masculine pursuits (Dann and Everbach 2016; Hardin et al. 2009). Researchers have found that the media response to the presence of lesbians in sports has been one of silence, or at best, only an occasional story (Hardin and Whiteside 2010; Kane and Lenskyj 1998).
However, there are signs that media coverage of sexuality issues in sports is improving (Lenskyj 2013). In recent years, several studies of the coming out announcements of gay male athletes have found coverage to be strongly favorable (e.g., Billings et al. 2015; Cassidy 2017b; Kian et al. 2015). And although âcoverage of lesbian athletes is colored by a different set of inequalities and prejudicesâ (Moscowitz et al. 2019, p. 252), such findings hint that perhaps some progress has been made in coverage of prominent women athletes who come out. Furthermore, there are other factors that suggest an improved landscape for media coverage of lesbian athletes, such as increasing public support of gay athletes, the decline of homophobia in society (Anderson 2011), and research showing support for lesbian athletes by their heterosexual teammates (Anderson and Bullingham 2015).
Therefore, to address the state of coverage, as well as assess any changes and developments, this book examines how journalists framed the coming out stories of three well-known women athletes: tennis champion and feminist icon Billie Jean King and basketball superstars Sheryl Swoopes and Brittney Griner. When King was outed in 1981, it marked perhaps the first-time journalists were forced to directly discuss lesbian athletes in sports. Swoopesâ coming out in 2005 was hailed as a historic moment because of her high profile in a major team sport and her status as one of the best womenâs basketball players in history (Voepel 2005; Zirin 2005). Griner came out shortly being selected the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft in 2013, during what many have called a more receptive environment for gay and lesbian athletes (Anderson 2015; Dann and Everbach 2016; Lenskyj 2013; Morris 2013; Stott 2019). By directly analyzing and comparing coverage of these three athletes, this research will provide an overview of how journalists have covered lesbian athletes in professional sports over the past 35+ years, and by focusing on the routines of journalistic work, it will provide additional insight into the depth and quality of coverage. Such information is especially important given the historic perception of sports journalism as a field lacking in standards compared to other forms of the profession and as one that often fails to address sociological, political, and economic issues connected to sports (Rowe 2007; Salwen and Garrison 1998), such as the increasing visibility of gay and lesbian athletes.
The remainder of this chapter offers a detailed account of the events surrounding the coming out announcements of King, Swoopes and Griner. Chapter 2 will discuss several streams of pertinent literature, such as the aforementioned lack of coverage for women athletes and the more receptive environment for gay and lesbian athletes. Chapter 3 will provide an outline of the theoretical (media sociology) and methodological (content analysis) frameworks employed here and report the findings of a pair of research studies conducted examining media coverage of each athleteâs coming out story. Chapter 4 will assess the results of the studies in terms of whether or not journalists took a more critical perspective in their stories about King, Swoopes and Griner and include comments from interviews with prominent gay and lesbian sports journalists. For additional context, the chapter will compare the findings to similar studies of former NBA player Jason Collins and former football All-American, Michael Sam, the two most prominent male athletes in major team sports to come out (Cassidy 2017a, b).
Billie Jean King
Few athletes in history have been as influential as tennis champion Billie Jean King, both in terms of her sporting accomplishments and societal impact. King, born in 1943, held the No. 1 ranking five times and won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 20 at Wimbledon (Frey 2006; Shuster 2013). In 1971, she became the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in a season, an occasion that prompted a congratulatory phone call from US President Richard Nixon (Buzinski 2011). Sports Illustrated named herâalong with legendary basketball coach John Woodenâits Sportsperson of the Year in 1972, making her the first woman to be so honored, and in 1987, she was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. As further testament to her legacy as one of the sportâs greatest champions, in 2006 the United States Tennis Association (USTA) decided to rename the National Tennis Center in New York, home of the US Open, in her honor. Reports said it was the most prominent sports facility named for a woman (Sandomir 2006). Observers hailed the significance of this honor in an age where stadium naming rights are often sold to the highest bidder (Sandomir 2006; Ware 2011). It was estimated that the USTA lost out on more than $4 million annually with this decision. âThink about it; I didnât have to pay $10 trillion for this,â King said (Sandomir, para. 17).
But, Kingâs reach has gone far beyond tennis. Indeed, officials of the USTA said that one of the reasons they named the tennis center after her was because of âthe impact Billie Jean has had on tennis and societyâ (Sandomir 2006, para. 20). King has long been a tireless advocate for equalityâfor everyone (Sweeney 2008). At age 12, she had an epiphany that âI was going to spend the rest of my life fighting for equal rights and equal opportunities for boys and girls, men and womenâ (Shuster 2013, para. 15). âI want to change things,â King said in the HBO documentary âBillie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer,â realizing that her talent could help with that goal. âI was very clear that unless I was No. 1, no one was going to listen to meâŠIf God gave me this gift, I was going to do everything in my power to make this world a better placeâ (Frey 2006, para. 3).
She began by advocating for change in tennis, serving as one of the prime catalysts in establishing the womenâs professional tour (Frey 2006). âWe wanted to make a womenâs tour. We wanted to make a living playing tennis. We wanted to take tennis to the people. Women athletes were still treated like freaks,â King said (Howard 2005, p. 35). According to Ware (2011), Kingâs desire to move womenâs tennis into the professional ranks was âaccompanied by a desire to wrest its control from the elite, country-club setâ (p. 30) noting that Kingâs interest in womenâs issues only came later. But, nonetheless that change had a wider impact than perhaps she could have imagined. Johnette Howard...