Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Examining gender representation in Sports Illustrated

In 2013, there were 102 issues of Sports Illustrated published.  Of those 102 issues, 98 of them had one or more men on the cover.  Of the other 4 issues, 2 had covers with no people on it, 1 had a combination of both males and females and only one had a female on the cover. This goes to show that male sports dominate main stream media and society and that male sports are what most people are interested in. Sports Illustrated may also think that mostly men will be reading their magazine and in order for them to make it appealing and be able to sell copies they need to have male athletes on the cover.  This could also be due to the fact that many think males are superior athletes compared to women and deserve more recognition. For example, after Lebron James won his second NBA championship, he was on the cover of SI holding the trophy and had an multiple page story about it inside the magazine as well. Maya Moore however, just led her team to their second straight WNBA title, but she did not get placed on the cover. What is sad is that the one female who did make the covers in 2013 is not even an athlete, she is a model. This backs the belief that women shouldn't play sports because they are too "fragile" and they should just "show off their beauty" and that they are not made for sports. I think the unequal representation of females compared to males on Sports Illustrated covers supports academic research that says females are underrepresented in the media and they do not receive as much publicity as male athletes. I think one of the consequences of this is that it is just pushing female athletics deeper and deeper and it may, if it is not already become less important and less valued in American society.