Serving Equality: Feminism, Media, and Women's Sports

262 Pages·2022·12.784 MB·English

by  Cheryl Cooky, Dunja Antunovic, Andrew C Billings (editor), Marie Hardin (editor), Lawrence A Wenner (editor)

Advance Praise for
Serving Equality: Feminism, Media, and
Women’s Sports
“Cooky and Antunovic offer an innovative theoretical and methodological demonstration of
how, and which, feminisms influence academic and media narratives of women’s sport. The
detailed analysis identifies the asymmetrical visibilities of different feminisms—the most
popular being ‘media-friendly’ versions that do not challenge existing structures—and a
significant narrative shift from ‘sex sells’ to ‘feminism sells’. The book is a valuable tool
for thinking differently and triggering new conversations for media, student and academic
audiences.”
—Toni Bruce, Professor of Sociology of Sport and Sports Media,
University of Auckland, New Zealand
“Serving Equality is a timely and engaging assessment of the inter-relationships among and
between women and sports media. Cooky and Antunovic balance empirical observations
with critical insights across a range of topics, including the impact of Title IX, inequities in
sports media industries, the role of women in athlete activism, and effects of the COVID-
19 pandemic on women in sports. At the heart of the book is the authors’ challenge to
the liberal feminist notions of equality and progress which, as they argue, are undermined
by good intentions that are unable to disrupt structural forms of discrimination. Cooky
and Antunovic especially direct their attention to the mediated stories told about women’s
experiences in sports and demonstrate why those stories fail to advance robust forms of
inclusion. Academically rigorous yet accessibly written, Serving Equality will be an essential
resource for anyone who seeks to understand the history of gender-based exclusions in sports,
contemporary struggles for equity, and the future prospects for an inclusive and safe culture
for women in sports media.”
—Michael L. Butterworth, Director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media,
The University of Texas at Austin

Serving Equality
Lawrence A. Wenner, Andrew C. Billings, and Marie C. Hardin
General Editors
Vol. 10
The Communication, Sport, and Society series is part
of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
Cheryl Cooky and Dunja Antunovic
Serving Equality
Feminism, Media, and Women’s Sports
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Control Number: 2021047191
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http:// dnb.d- nb.de/ .
ISSN 2166- 6466 (print)
ISSN 2166- 6474 (online)
ISBN 978- 1- 4331- 6383- 8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978- 1- 4331- 6384- 5 (paperback)
ISBN 978- 1- 4331- 6385- 2 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978- 1- 4331- 6386- 9 (epub)
DOI 10.3726/ b19108
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To those who are telling stories differently. You inspired us to tell a different
story about women’s sports.