Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Examining gender/race representation in Sports Illustrated

The mainstream type of media that I decided to conduct my study on was Sports Illustrated and how this magazine portrays race. I have decided to explore the number of cover photos since the beginning of 2013 that include a person of color on the cover page. The first thing that I noticed was that majority of the people on the cover of this magazine are male. However, in the November 11th issue there were three policemen on the front, and one was a Caucasian lady. The women seem to be on the covers only if they are standing with other men or posing with men, and they all seem to be Caucasian. I also noticed that a number of these male athletes being portrayed on the cover are African American, especially in the basketball issues.

On the other hand, when looking at baseball players or hockey players that made the cover, majority of them are Caucasian. I'm assuming, based on what we have discussed in class, that depending on which sport is featured, the race of the athlete or model then comes into play. Overall we see more African Americans playing football and basketball compared to the amount of Caucasians playing hockey or baseball. Although there is some diversity when it comes to all sports, we don't see as much of it as we do with "majorly" known sports. This is why about 3/4 of the football issues are covers with African American players.

As far as diversity amongst races is concerned, Sports Illustrated has done a good job in 2013 with varying the athletes they choose for their covers. The only race I didn't see much/any of was Asian. There may have been one or two people who appear to be Asian on the cover, but not by themselves. Lastly, the amount of women on the covers is very little. The only cover I found with a woman (Kate Upton) on the cover by herself was in February 12, 2013. She is Caucasian and isn't a professional athlete.

SOURCE:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/photos/1305/si-covers-2013/2/