Discomfort with Gender Representation in Sports News Articles: Focusing on the Gender and Age Groups of Readers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify how readers perceive gender representation in daily news articles about sports in Japan, in relation to readers’ gender and age groups. In this study, 15 items that characterize gender representation in sports reporting, referring to the IOC guidelines, etc. were set, and examined the discomfort felt by readers when these items were applied to both male and female athletes. An online survey was conducted from March 24 to 28, 2022, on monitors owned by an Internet research company, and 1,000 monitors responded to question items.

Not a few respondents answered that they did not feel uncomfortable with gender representation of athletes, which means that there was a gap between the message of the IOC's guidelines and the way the readers felt. Respondents felt less uncomfortable with gender representations of male athletes than they did with those of female athletes. There were differencies, in general, in the perception of gender representation of athletes depending on the gender of the respondent, with male respondents more likely than female respondents to report feeling "no" discomfort. This may mean that both male athletes and male respondents have been left behind in the wave of change surrounding gender representation in sports reporting. In addition, younger respondents tended more likely than older respondents to report they did not feel any discomfort.