Heterosexy!!!!!!!

The culture today, in every aspect not only women in sports, has made huge strides of progress. Some may debate that the progress made, has knocked our culture back a couple few steps on "ethical" stand-point. Today in the media it is all about what sells, a producer or owner of a media company is not going to televise, publish, or report on a subject matter that does not have substantial revenue potential. Despite the advances that women have made in society and especially sports in the last 100 years, the patriarchal system that we live in, still has tremendous power in determining "what sells". The media is no exception to this. Before women were just struggling with getting any media exposure, and now we have created a problem of hyper-exposure. For any women athlete to make the same splash of "celebrity status" that a male athlete has, they not only have to stand above the rest on there talents, but also simultaneously obtain their sex appeal. Still, women's athletic achievements are second to there physical attributes. Most may ask why why this is? Well the answer is simple "sex" sells. Both women and men athlete, more women than men, have to over expose their bodies in a heightened sexual manner to get any attention. Attention from the media equates to how profitable you are, which determines how successful/ wealthy an athlete may become.
As a marketing major, and from a marketers stand-point, you only produce what your demographic wants This idea and practice maximize firms profits. So in relation to women and sports the market wants to see women that are talented athletically but only the ones that are classified in our society as glamorous. This has put pressure on women athletes to feel that they have to ramp up their sexuality and become objects for acceptance from the consumers. Ethically this idea is wrong, but it is what makes the world go round. The next question is why we should care? Well we should care, not only because we are making women sexual object, but for our daughter and sons to come. We need to change "what sells". This is only going to happen by changing what is acceptable in our society today. If we educate not only ourselves but the next generation on the effects of "sexual exploiting" women and men athletes, we just might have a fighting chance to change our nations views on the acceptance of women athletics, as just athletes.

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/Content/Articles/Issues/Media-and-Publicity/D/DisEmpowering-Images--Media-Representations-of-Women-in-Sport.aspx