Analysis from a gender perspective of the Olympic Games on Twitter Articles uri icon

authors

  • ADA LAMEIRAS, ALBA
  • RODRIGUEZ CASTRO, YOLANDA

publication date

  • April 2021

start page

  • 683

end page

  • 699

issue

  • 3

volume

  • 23

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1618-4742

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1746-031X

abstract

  • Research question: Audiences have adopted and integrated the consumption of mega-sports events, such as the Olympic Games, through social platforms like Twitter. It is the objective of this research to identify, 'what' is being said (text) and 'how' female athletes are presented (image) on Twitter during Rio2016 Olympic Games.

    Research methods: Qualitative methodology was used to analyze the official Twitter accounts of four Spanish media accounts -two sport-specific accounts: @Marca and @MundoDeportivo, and two generalist media accounts: @ElPais_Deportes and @ABC_Deportes- which are the media with the highest number of followers/readers and the largest circulation in Spain.

    Results and findings: The sample consisted of 6,856 tweets, of which 1,343 were about women posted on the Twitter to positive information (47.46%), such as the achievements of the athletes, although one third of the tweets allude to negative content that highlights the female athletes' failures. As for the photographs analyzed, it was found that 9% of the images of female athletes still revealed a clear sexual connotation, reinforcing gender stereotypes.

    Implications: The emergence of new technologies, such as Twitter, free from time and space constraints that are used to justify the low coverage of women's sport in traditional media (TV, radio, and press), do not allow the reversal of the marginal presence of female athletes in the media coverage during sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games.

subjects

  • Sociology
  • Sports

keywords

  • women; sport; media; twitter; olympic games