Only for men? Representation of masculinity in sports fiction TV
Gender representation in sports fiction has been the topic addressed by researchers Anna Tous Rovirosa and Rogmary García at the 10th International Conference on Communication and Gender (GenderCom 24), held at the Faculty of Psychology and Speech Therapy of the University of Malaga, from October 30 to 31, 2024.
Despite the paradigm shift that seemed to be observed in 2018-2019, currently, the presence of male characters remains predominant in sports fiction, superior to female characters, especially when it comes to representations of sports action characters (players and coaches) and far from LGTBIQ+ representation, which is not at all significant. The representation of male characters is seen as less problematic than that of female characters.
These are the result of a quantitative investigation of 208 characters in 15 sports-themed television series from the main American platforms and European television channels broadcast in Spain.
Research was funded through the call for grants for pre-competitive projects (PPC23) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, directed by Dr. Anna Tous.