Media Representations as a Form of Stacking: Male and Female Athletes Featured on Men’s Magazine Covers, 1980–2019

Abstract

This study analyzed 264 athlete images featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Among males, who accounted for 227 (81%) of the 264 athletes, African Americans and Latinos each represented 6 sports, most of which involved team competition, while White males represented 21 sports, many of which were individual. Analyses of position stacking in football showed White players in positions considered “central” to contest outcomes and Black athletes assigned to more “peripheral” roles. Among females, nearly all of whom were White, more than one in three participated in professional wrestling or sports entertainment. Other female athletes represented individual sports such as tennis and swimming. Overall, the study concludes that men’s magazines reproduced stacking patterns observed in earlier research.