Talent alone does not suffice: erotic capital, media visibility and global popularity among professional male and female tennis players

Speaking Pictures, Silent Voices: Female Athletes and the Negotiation of Selfhood

“…The gendered double standard in advertisement and popular visual media is not unique. Recent feminist scholarship, however, has explored how female athletes prefer and choose to be visually represented in media (Smith and Sanderson 2015 ; Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018b ; Konjer et al 2019 ). For a comprehensive ‘serious engagement’ with the self – subjectification of women in the media, one ‘needs to address the extent to which the construction of active, desiring subjecthood within the verbal texts of such adverts may act as an alibi for visual representation’ (Gill 2008 : 438).…”

“…Second, as discussed above, female athletes are caught between self – presentations of traditional femininity and their athletic self. Extending on the literary movement of Dramatism, Goffman’s ( 1979 ) work is not necessarily concerned with the economical or ‘erotic capital’ aspects of mass media visual images, rather, his drive is to explore the differences between images for public and private viewing (Konjer et al 2019 ). In context of gender, he also emphasised the importance of capturing the differences between the impressions one intends to project deliberately, in comparison to impressions one projects unintentionally ; through non – verbal behaviour or body language.…”

“…Although post – feminist reflections on aforementioned issues are somewhat murky and ambivalent (Konjer et al 2019 ), considering the negative response lanced towards public figures advancing feminist agendas, such as Williams, this question is becoming increasingly important (Gill 2016 ; Tredway 2020 ; Locke and Lawthom 2018 ). In addition to her illustrious career, she occupies an intriguing space between hyper – visibility and invisibility (Douglas 2012 ).…”

Análisis de la cobertura informativa de la Copa Mundial de Baloncesto Femenino FIBA 2018 en 'Marca' y 'As'

“…En la prensa deportiva no solo aparecen mujeres deportistas, sino que también protagonizan la información mujeres ajenas al ámbito deportivo (famosas, celebridades, periodistas…) que son calificadas como "invitadas" y suponen más del 7% de las mujeres en la información deportiva (Sainz de Baranda, 2014c). Una tendencia que en Internet gana popularidad ya que los aficionados conceden más popularidad a las deportistas femeninas más atractivas reforzando los estereotipos de género (Konjer, Mutz & Meier, 2017).…”

Skills capital and inclusivity in men’s roller derby

“…This form of capital also differs from physical capital and bodily capital because it is not only about appearance and physical ability (Hutson, 2013; Schilling, 1993; Wacquant, 1995), but a whole raft of physical and mental competencies enabling successful performances of roller derby. It also differs from erotic capital, which is more readily available to women (Konjer et al, 2019; Parry, 2016) and represents power gained over the audience because individuals who have accumulated skills capital have more power to impact the ethos of the team , which in turn affects inclusivity when these powerful individuals encourage the adoption of practices which replicate mainstream sports.…”