Why women watch the Olympics

Posted By News On July 6, 2012 - 11:30am

Washington, D.C. (July 2, 2012)– Forty years into the Title IX era, female athletes have risen to prominence and populate the sports landscape. Female viewership, however, has not witnessed the same rise. What sports are women watching (or not), and why? Of the many events in this summer's Olympics, which will be favored by women viewers?

A recent study conducted by Erin Whiteside (University of Tennessee) and Marie Hardin (Pennsylvania State University) explores these questions. The results, published in Communication, Culture & Critique, show that women prefer condensed sporting events like the Olympics to sports with longer seasons, and that in selecting which particular Olympic sport to watch, women often select events that are seen as traditionally "feminine," like gymnastics and figure skating.

"Our research provides some insight into why the Olympics remain popular with women," said Hardin. "It's not just about the types of sports that are featured, although that is certainly a big part of it. It's also about the way in which the Olympics is delivered: in bite-sized chunks that may require just a 10-minute commitment to see an exciting sporting event, during a time of day when women feel they can make that commitment."

The study looked at conversations from female focus groups to determine how women consume sports media. The findings show that female spectatorship is often tied to gender roles and related domestic work.

Nearly all women surveyed expressed preference for the Olympics, for patriotic reasons as well as for the fast pace. "Women preferred the condensed style of coverage, something they described as easy to follow," Whiteside explains. The frequency of events during the Olympics, as well as the omnipresent discussion around it —from television to radio to the news—made it preferable for women who otherwise did not identify as avid sports viewers or didn't regularly have the time to devote to watching sports.

Women in the study favored sports that were more traditionally feminine rather than masculine. Participants generally saw little value in following women's sports and were especially uninterested in watching or following women in sports such as basketball, which showcase athletic displays that challenge traditional gender roles. Rather, they expressed a passing interest in sports such as gymnastics, tennis, and figure skating."

The study included 19 women in 3 focus groups, with 90 minutes spent with each group. The average woman was married, had children, and was middle-class. They ranged in age from 26 to 43.

Wow, a study of just 19 women gets this set in concrete result! Good grief I could get the total opposite result by asking 19 women outside the local KFC.

There's probably something really unenlightened, which is to say completely true, to be said about the strange popularity of Curling with women...

Damn.
I like exactly the same sports women do. Except I love womens basket ball so hopefully I dont have to be worried about my y chromosome being defective do I?

Athletic long legged girls jumping about chasing a basketball. Why did it takes us so long to get that on TV?

I have a couple of friends in "exclusively-Olympic" sports, and their physical (and especially mental) training regimens are much more demanding than those of traditional team and ball games. There is no off-season. This study appears to be based on a very shallow understanding of what goes into success in athletic competition.

Now, is the lack of depth on the part of the subjects, or the investigators? Either way I'm the misogynist and you can therefore ignore me; however, good luck ignoring HOW DAMNED STUPID this looks, and, thank you.

I used to be real interested in the Olympics but nowadays not so much. The main reason is the upsurge over the past few Olympics of 'human interest' back stories of the athletes. It seems now that more air time is spent on them than actual sports competition. :P

And frankly, I don't give a rat's-@ss about their trials and tribulations. I just want to watch them compete.

P.S. Yes I'm a male.