Girls Gone Web

Abstract

The Internet was heralded as a medium that might expand coverage of women’s sports, yet some question whether the Internet has provided even more opportunities to perpetuate gender stereotypes. This research study examines the personal websites of professional and amateur female athletes to determine how women present themselves to the public. This qualitative analysis considers whether women practice “apologetic behavior,” in which they assure the public they are women first and athletes second, and whether women follow traditional gender scripts that characterize them as maternal, sexy, or childlike. The analysis shows that women promote their brawn, beauty, and brands. Women provide details about the rigors of training to be elite athletes but also provide details about their personal lives that reinforce gender stereotypes. The analysis concludes that women use websites to construct an apologetic identity, in which they emphasize that they have sacrificed time and energy for their sport, but have not abandoned traditional feminine roles of sex object, mother, or caretaker.