Danica Patrick: Hot or Not?

by Ethan Austin. 

Ethan Austin is a blogger for Play City, a website that encourages young people to use sports as a catalyst for positive social change

Danica Patrick is moving to NASCAR!   Woohoo!!!!  She'll be the first woman ever to compete in NASCAR, breaking down barriers and taking a huge step forward for women in sports.

No...wait a second...none of that is actually true.  As Farah Kaye recently reported in the Bleacher Report, Jennfier Jo Cobb, Chrissy Wallace and Janet Guthrie have all driven in NASCAR for some time, yet haven't received any of the same attention as Danica.

Danica Patrick Career Stats: 1 Win and about 80 Bajillion Photo downloads on Google.

So why all the attention?  Is it because Danica is so much better than the rest of these women drivers?  Far from it.  As Kaye points out, Danica only has one win in her entire career.  Just one!

So why does everyone care so much?  Well, I think we all know the answer.  It's because she's HOT!  Fair or unfair, the reality is that Danica receives so much attention because she's really, really good looking.  This is known in sports as the Kournakova effect.  (Tennis player and model Anna Kournakova won only two grand slams in her career and never reached higher than 8th in the world, but in 2000 was one of the highest searched terms on Google).

The "Kournakova effect" making teenage boys drool since 2001...

The bigger question is, given the fact that she receives most of her attention due to her looks, is this a good or a bad thing for women sports? 

I want to know your opinions. 

Do you think the media is helping to further gender equality in sports by making Danica a role model for young girls everywhere or is the media hindering gender equality by ignoring other racing women and only focusing on Danica because of her looks?

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• Filed Under:  
• Sexism

• Tags:
• danica patrick
• Danica NASCAR
• Danica Patrick gets attention because she is hot
• Danica gender equality

There are 3 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

soxfan24	Anna Kournakova won 2 Grand Slams? Anna Kournakova never won a tournament, the premise of your blog is valid but your facts are skewed
	Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 4:55pm EST

Ethan Austin	I should have clarified. Anna won the Australian Open in doubles with Martina Hingis in 1999 and 2002. You are right that she never won a singles tournament.
	Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 5:01pm EST

stephaniemp

Well first I want to point out that it is really unfortunate that no one has heard of the other women who were the first to do what they do! Secondly, I don't think that we can fault these "good looking" women for being attractive. I think it's a shame that that is what puts them ahead of everyone else, but thats the way humans work; people are attracted to beauty. It's interesting that there are several unattractive men who are in the spot light for simply being talented, while it (in certain situations) doesn't work the other way around.. I think these women should do things that show that they are more than just a pretty face but in no way hiding their femininity. Show that they have something to back up all the press that focuses on their physical features. For the most part these athletes do, however being conscious of the types of pictures they do for the press (who is driven by sex appeal) is important,do they play up their beauty or their craft?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 5:52pm EST