Dara Torres v. Tom Watson: One for the Ages
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posted by One Sport Voice Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi: This blog reflects my critical eye and voice on all things sport. I am a critical thinker, scholar, and researcher in girls & women in sport, youth sport, and coach & sport parent education. |
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With the near win of Tom Watson at this year’s British Open, much talk arose around his age (59!) and his potential to win his 6th title at Turnberry. It reminded me of similar age x performance dialogue around then 41 year-old Dara Torres in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Both athletes have accomplished much in their respective sports: Watson (8 major championships, 6th on the list of total major championship victories, and the oldest male golfer to almost win the British Open or any other major championship), Torres (first-ever 5 time US female Olympic swimmer, 10 medals- 4 gold, oldest female swimmer to make the Olympic Team after an 8-year hiatus). Both have accomplished feats when most opine them “too old”. Kudos!
But what I find interesting is how differently the media constructs the gender x age x performance narrative of Watson and Torres. Here are a few thoughts:
1. The media portrayed that fans WANTED Watson to win and were sad when he didn’t. For Torres the message was people would be surprised if Torres won, and could claim “I knew it” when she didn’t.
2. There was nary a mention that Watson was a father (he has two biological children, and three stepchildren) during the British Open, but we heard NON-STOP that Torres was a mother of one.
3. Also missing from Watson’s British Open run was talk of if he was “competing fairly” or on performance enhancing drugs (although we did hear this drum beat about Lance Armstrong in the past, not for the 2009 Tour de France…yet. Wait until/if he wins then we can discuss.). Torres had to endure (and still does) constant questions about this issue.
4. The media was all-over Watson’s fairy tale near-win, but barely covered Torres’ 50 Free win earlier in the month at the US Swimming National Championships. With that win Torres will compete with the U.S. World Championship Team in Rome in late July-early August.
5. I did not see one picture of Tom Watson posed “sexily” and showing off his AARP body, while we did see picture after picture of Dara Torres in sexy, glammed up poses. Just type ‘Dara Torres’ into Google and hit “images” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
The take-home messages for these common patterns in the media’s portrayals of female athletes….a near win for a man is valued more than a win for a woman; motherhood defines female athletes but fatherhood is seldom mentioned for male athletes; “old” competitive, winning female athletes are under suspicion as “cheaters” while when “old” men are in the hunt because they are hard working, talented and wily; the bodies of even “old” female athletes can be exploited and sexualized…and regardless, a male athlete’s performance will always be more media worthy than his female counterpart regardless of age. Come to think of it there are even gendered differences about how “old” is defined and constructed. “Old” for a male athlete is ~60 years while “old” for a female athlete is 40…
But don’t give up all hope…Dara Torres does have Tom Watson on one thing….she’s Got Milk?.
View Original Post at onesportvoice.wordpress.com
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- Filed Under:
- Golf, Swim, Sports, SportsPLUS, OpEd, Media/Marketing, Aquatic
There are 7 comments on this post. Join the discussion!
madiq
But how much of the disparate coverage hinged on the fact that Watson is a golfer, a sport that is largely viewed by the masses as marginally athletic, and far from manhood reinforcing?
Golf tends to be an outlier in traditional sports analysis, I think.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 11:30am EDT
Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi
Madiq, Good point! That is why this pattern is even more interesting is that both golf and swimming are "outliers" in sports that are highly valued, and yet we still same the same marginalizing patterns in media coverage of female athletes. -nml
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 11:47am EDT
madiq
Well, generally speaking I think that professional sports seek to affirm contemporary notions of gender, in order to be viewed as marketable to the mainstream. So even as women's athletic endeavors are lauded, in the eyes of television execs, they need to be couched in the warm, reassuring, blanket of traditional feminine roles -- either sexuality or maternity -- lest they undermine the existing order. Female empowerment through sport, then, is sold as an *enhancement to* or an *accessorizing of* femininity, rather than something that undercuts it.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 1:54pm EDT
madiq
Because athletic superiority is generally viewed as a means to express masculine superiority, where male athletes are concerned, their successes are viewed through the twin prisms of potency and virility. In a sport like golf, with its older demographics deeply concerned about the erosion of their potency and virility (Viagra and Enzyte ads abound!), Tom Watson's success is rooted for, because he symbolizes the Patronly Gentleman showing that he still has it in a young man's game.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 1:55pm EDT
madiq
Remember, when you're tracking stereotypes, consider the target audience, and the message that advertisers want to deliver to that audience, then consider the broadcast media as facilitators, "priming" that audience for those messages.
For what it's worth, I think that Olympic sports have been *particularly* tainted with the specter or PEDs, and golf has not, so it makes sense that an "older" athlete performing at a high level, regardless of sex, would be scruninized. However, the case of Dara Torres is one of using sexuality -- i.e., the "feminine look" -- to refute that notion, because of the stereotype that women who use steroids would look "manly." In the eyes of the media, "sexy = clean."
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 1:55pm EDT
madiq
(Sorry for the consecutive posts. For some reason, the board wasn't letting me post replies longer than a paragraph or two.)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 1:56pm EDT
Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi
Madiq, Thanks for all your thoughts! You have some great points. -nml
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 3:28pm EDT