A sociological analysis of tabloid print media representations of women tennis players.

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the portrayal of women tennis players within tabloid print media during the time period of the Wimbledon grand slam from the past five years. A grounded theory analysis was conducted of the tabloid newspapers, The Daily Mail and The Sun. A secondary data collection method was implemented which was a focus group discussion with 5 amateur tennis players to elicit their views on the representation of women tennis players in the print media. It is apparent from the findings of this dissertation that the print media in relation to tennis still portrays a predominantly negative perception of women's tennis do to the essentialist perceptions of femininity within society. The representations of women tennis player's is focused on the clothes they wear and how they look rather than their performance on court. Additionally, we will see that amateur tennis players are very aware of the negative depictions of women tennis players within print media.