Erotic capital, media visibility and global public attention: A study among male and female tennis players

Konjer, M., Mutz, M. & Meier, H.E.

Abstract in digital collection (conference)

Abstract

Sport has a long reputation for being a masculine sphere where women are derogated and sexually objectified. The paper argues that in a commercialised, mediatised, and sexualised sports culture, "erotic capital" (Hakim, 2010) has become a key resource for athletes to increase their media visibility and popularity. Given a predominantly male audience and well-reported gender bias in media coverage, it is hypothesized that physical attractiveness is more important for the popularity of female athletes than for males. The idea is examined by analysing media attention for and global popularity of tennis players. For media attention a rather classic form of gender discrimination is found: Female players are generally underrepresented in print media. However, physical attractiveness does not seem to matter. Concerning popularity, it is found that the names of female players are addressed in fewer search engine queries. Moreover, global internet searches of female players are significantly and positively associated with attractiveness. Hence, it is concluded that erotic capital is a key factor for popularity of female tennis players, but not of males. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Details zur Publikation

Release year: 2015
Language in which the publication is written: English