The Over-Exposure of Danica Patrick
It has been quite a year for Danica Patrick. She became the first woman to win an Indy Car race, coming in first at the Indy Japan 300 on April 20. She also became the first race care driver to pose for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
The good people at SI never thought to give us Richard Petty in a speedo, but Danica, bent over in a white ruffle bikini, must for some reason have seemed like a winner. In accomplishing this dubious double play, Patrick has revived a debate as old as Sonia Henie skating figure eights at the 1926 Olympics: Does sex sell -- or perhaps more aptly phrased, does sexism sell -- women's sports? Does objectifying women athletes, highlighting their bodies over their skill, putting them in swimsuits or on the covers of yuppie porn like FHM or Stuff, actually increase the interest and fanbase of women's sports? The debate has always had Faustian overtones: Is it worth turning proud women athletes into frat house cheesecake if it's for the greater good, the greater exposure, of the games themselves?
Thanks to Dr. Mary Kane, this is no longer a moral question. The sports sociologist from the University of Minnesota has produced a far-reaching study that shows sex certainly does sell, but alas, it sells only magazines, not sports. Kane and her research team showed a series of images of women athletes putting their bodies on display for a wide-ranging focus group of men and women and found out a very basic truth:
"It alienates the core of the fan base that's already there. Women both aged 18-34, and 35-55, are put off by these images. And older males, fathers with daughters, taking their daughters to sporting events to see their favorite female athletes, are deeply offended by these images."
As for the young men excited to see Danica in leather, spread out on a car: "They want to buy the magazines but they didn't want to consume the sports," Kane said to me. In the end, she feels the research is unequivocal: "Does it increase the interest in women's sports? At least for the seventy-plus people we spoke to, the answer is a resounding no. It does not."
This should be an earth-rattling revelation for every executive in the Women's Tennis Association, the WNBA, and the LPGA tour, who have for decades thought that a little leg goes a long way. Without their leadership, Maxim and company would have to be content with whatever half-wit from the Hills strolled into their studios half-naked that week. But the leadership of women's sports, as Kane argues pervasively, will need more than logic to move away from the abyss of abject objectification.
"This is deeper. This is also about what runs in the bone marrow of women's sports, namely 'homophobia.' They are very well meaning but they also want to distance themselves from the 'lesbian label,' " she says. "How do you do that? You reassure the viewing audiences, the corporate sponsors, the TV networks and the female athletes themselves, that 'no, no, no, sports won't make your daughter gay.' Women's sports will be more acceptable if you believe, even though it is stereotypical and inaccurate, that if you are pretty and feminine in a traditional sense then you are not gay."
In other words, it's not Danica and her half-clothed athletic sisters that drive this machine. It's driven by corporate sponsors and homophobia.
But what about the women who say that provocative poses are about celebrating their bodies, and celebration of the body beautiful has been a part of sports since ancient Greece?
Kane answers, "What muscle group do bare breasts belong to? You can show off your body without being naked in a passive, sexually provocative pose."
The message to Danica Patrick couldn't be clearer: By using sex and skin, you're not selling your sport. You're only selling out.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
"alienates the core of the fan base..."
What a joke. It's racing. The core of the fan base dreams of fast cars and fast women. And what the hell is wrong with that? Only in America would someone offer up such a prudish critique like this one.
Personally, I hope Danica takes up the offer to race in Formula 1. I like the idea of a woman, especially one that looks great in a bikini, kicking butt on the international racing circuit.
"The sports sociologist from the University of Minnesota has produced a far-reaching study..." of the sports sociologist and her 70+ homophobic friends? This isn't a "study", it's maybe a question or random observance of the people in a certain social circle or maybe a question posed to the sociologist's friends through email and then sent to their friends. This is no "far-reaching" study, unless Dr. Mary Kane has teeny tiny itty bitty arms and can only reach as far as the end of her street.
What is also bothering me is we don't know what the pictures she used that are "putting their bodies on display". She is talking about naked, bare breasts - which is a far cry from a bikini.
Women find male sports figures sexy, this is not "sexist", just normal. I still melt when I see sexy pictures of Jerry Rice, so don't tell me this is a one way street. And no, these guys aren't in speedos but for the most part women hate speedos - but they sure celebrated Obama in his swimming suit.
There are *some* women in charge of women's sports who want to androngynize it. It won't work and shouldn't work. Yah, it isn’t “fair” that beautiful women might make more money from endorsements, but I am sure a lot of male athletes also dislike that inequity within their own sports.
Lets not forget Danica could not get all this attention if she wasn't first a great driver. I love the fact that she is doing well, and I am sure her success is going to encourage more women to get into the sport.
Now excuse me as I watch NASCAR today and will be watching tons of commercials of women fawning over Kasey Kahne.....
Pseudo-scientific bullsh*t. The author states in paragraph 3 "a far-reaching study", then quotes the sports sociologist in paragraph 5 "At least for the seventy-plus people we spoke to". Seventy people do not constitute a far-reaching study; at most they might make for a non-scientific survey. And how about a link to this study? Where was it published? Was it even peer reviewed?
There is no moral difference between posing for SI pictures and putting on a helmut that has your sponser's label on it. Also, doesn't the author get it that this woman isn't just promoting the sport, she's also promoting herself?
I have zero interest in racing, but I have seen it before, and unless I am mistaken, aren't all the cars and the driving gear covered in corporate logos? so which is worse, a slew of product placements or someone in a bathing suit (especially someone who made that choice themselves?)
This is something that kills me about some of my fellow lefties: what a bunch of uptight prudes and secret puritans many of them are. In a funny way, just like the Brent Bozells and James Dobsons of the world, they think that a woman's body should be kept perpetually covered in the name of some screwed up social or religious agenda. A burka, whether ideological or physical, is still a burka.
Let's live in the real world, shall we? Formula One racing hasn't been on anyone's radar since A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti retired (basically). Danica you can all F1's Anna Kounikova if you want, but she has brought tens of millions in free publicity to the sport it otherwise wouldn't have received.
The lesbian thing is just a sign of where our society is. Most of the people who run companies are rightwingers and aren't comfortable with social change. Commercial endorsements power Formula One, tennis golf, and NASCAR. So that tennis, for example, played up Kournikova and now Maria Sharapova to attract heterosexual attention to a sport that is about dead in this country should astound nobody. The WNBA hasn't done this and neither has the LPGA, and they are far on the backburner as a result, consigned to a largely lesbian following.
a slight correction robin: danica doesn't race in formula 1. formula 1 is european racing: renault, bmw-sauber, red bull, denso toyota, ferarri, and mercedes-maclaren are main players.
danica races in the indy racing league on various american oval tracks- one of these races is the indianaplis 500, another is the milwaukee mile. in california they race at fontana. they race infinity power. penske, ganassi, and newman-hass have been involved. paul newman and david letterman have supported teams in this series. mikala duno is another attractive participant in this series.
see you at pacific raceway (I5 south to kent, halfway to tacoma) july 18-20 for the checkers-s
greatest heartfelt sympathies to those saddened by the death of scott kalitta, killed yesterday in his toyota DHL nitro funny. he will be missed. last pass for 2-time top fuel champ scott kalitta. RIP
if you check out the female spectators at the NHRA winternationals ( pomona, february)- i assure you magazine pictures of female drivers are the last thing you'll be thinking about. female racing drivers cannot possibly compete with female racing fans.
Bottom line: No one should be telling Dana what or what not to pose for.
I saw a show on a woman who made a fortune selling pictures of herself in calenders. It was her company and she was laughing about the controversy while she was making millions.
I think many men feel very comfortable with sexism as long as the woman doesn't have the upper hand. When women are making a mint off of men's libido suddenly all kinds of people come protesting out of the woodwork - including women.
Dana is in a combined sport, she is competing directly with men. All of her sponsorship comes from how big her fan base is and how much media exposure she has. She proves her abilities on the racetrack and there is no reason why she shouldn't make more money because she is also a woman and men will run to get the latest swimsuit issue.
As a woman, I do not respect her less because she looks good in a suit. As a woman I also understand that she has a shorter time to make money off of her fame, as men will not care about her as she gets older, as they do about great older male drivers.
Dana - go for it, and laugh all the way to the bank.
Sorry - was thinking Danica and typing Dana.
I probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting for the equivalent column telling Tom Brady to quit posing provacatively in all those magazines because he's only selling out.
Who's Tom Brady?
Selling out is a pejorative term used only by those who do not have the opportunity to do so. That is the nature of the free market. Taking it off is no different than putting on a corporate logo.
gee, I don't know. maybe if there were some pictures..
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
