Abstract
In this chapter I focus on how Amaya Valdemoro, the captain of the Spanish basketball team, and the Spanish basketball team were represented in the Spanish newspaper El País during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The analysis of this representation is based on a poststructuralist sexual difference theory. This approach derives fundamentally from the Belgian philosopher, psychoanalyst and linguist Luce Irigaray’s theory of sexual difference as the original and primary human difference. Irigaray calls for a focus on the radical difference between the two sexes, and therefore aims to build a theory based on the uniqueness and irreducibility of femininity and female ways of being. In order to make sense of Irigaray’s theory, I shall use a narrative to examine the content and structure of the articles centred on Amaya Valdemoro and then discuss how Irigaray’s concepts can be used to analyse the Olympic media coverage.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bernstein, A. (2002). Is it time for a victory lap? International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 37(3), 415–28.
Birrell, S. (2000). Feminist theories for sport. In J. Coakley and E. Dunning (eds.), Handbook of Sport Studies (pp. 61–76). London: Sage.
Birrell, S. and Theberge, N. (1994). Ideological control of women in sport. In D. M. Costa and S. R. Guthrie (eds.), Women and Sport (pp. 341–59). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Braidotti, R. (2003). Becoming woman: Or sexual difference revisited. Theory, Culture and Society, 20(3), 43–64.
Bruce, T. (1998). Postmodernism and the possibilities for writing ‘vital’ sport texts. In Rail, G. (ed.), Sport and Postmodern times (pp. 3–19). Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Crolley, L. and Teso, E. (2007). Gendered narratives in Spain: The representation of female athletes in Marca and El Pais. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 42(2), 149–166.
De Lauretis, T. (1994). The essence of the triangle or, taking the risk of essential-ism seriously: Feminist theory in Italy, the U.S., and Britain. In N. Schor and E. Weed (eds.), The Essential Difference (pp. 1–39). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Denison, J. and Markula, P. (2003). Introduction: Moving writing. In J. Denison and P. Markula (eds.), Moving Writing (pp. 1–24). New York: Peter Lang.
Denzin, N. K. (1994). The art and politics of interpretation. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), The Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 500–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Denzin, N. (1997). Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of Grammatology. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Eastman, S. and Billings, A. C. (1999). Gender parity in the Olympics. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 23(2), 140–70.
Foucault, M. (1979). What is an author? In J. V. Harari (ed.), Textual Strategies (pp. 113–38). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Fuss, D. J. (1992). ‘Essentially speaking’: Luce Irigaray’s language of essence. In N. Frasser and S. Bartky (eds.), Revaluing French Feminism (pp. 94–112). Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.
Hall, A. (1996). Feminism and Sporting Bodies. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Hargreaves, J. (1994). Sporting Females. London: Routledge.
Hass, M. (2000). The style of the speaking subject: Irigaray’s empirical studies of language production. Hypatia, 15(1), 64–89.
Irigaray, L. (1985a). Speculum of the Other Woman. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Irigaray, L. (1985b), This Sex Which Is Not One. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Irigaray, L. (1993). Sexes and Genealogies. New York: Columbia University Press.
Irigaray, L. (2004). Beyond all judgment you are. In L. Irigaray (ed.), Key Writings (pp. 66–76). London: Continuum.
Higgs, C. T., Weiller, K. H. and Martin, S. B. (2003). Gender bias in the 1996 Olympic Games. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 27(1), 52–64.
Jones, R., Murrell, A. and Jackson, J. (1999). Pretty versus powerful in the sport pages. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 23(2), 183–92.
Ives, K. (1996). Cixous, Irigaray, Kristeva: The Jouissance of French Feminism. Kidderminster: Crescent Moon Publishing.
Krane, V. (2001). We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women’s sport. Quest, 53(1), 115–33.
Lechte, J. (1994). Fifty Key Contemporary Thinkers: From Structuralism to Postmodernity (pp. 66–70). London: Routledge.
MacNeill, M. (1994). Active women, media representations and ideology. In S. Birrell and C. L. Cole (eds.), Women, Sport and Culture (pp. 273–87). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Markula, P. (2003). Bodily dialogues: Writing the self. In J. Denison and P. Markula (eds.), Moving Writing (pp. 27–50). New York: Peter Lang.
Markula, P. and Denison, J. (2005). Sport and the personal narrative. In D. L. Andrews, D. S. Mason and M. L. Silk (eds.), Qualitative Methods in Sport Studies (pp. 165–84). Oxford: Berg.
Muraro, L. (1994). Female genealogies. In C. Burke, N. Schor and M. Whitford (eds.), Engaging with Irigaray. New York: Columbia University Press.
Richardson, L. (1994). Writing: A method of inquiry. In N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), The Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 516–29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Richardson, L. (1997). Field of Play, Constructing an Academic Life. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Richardson, L. (2000). New writing practices in qualitative research. Sociology of Sport Journal, 17(1), 5–20.
Theberge, N. (2000). Gender and sport. In J. Coakley and E. Dunning (eds.), Handbook of Sport Studies (pp. 322–33). London: Sage
Tsang, T. (2000). Let me tell you a story. Sociology of Sport Journal, 17(1), 44–59.
Ucendo, N. (2003) ‘La mujer deportista en los medios’, Comisión Mujer y Deporte. http://www.mujerydeporte.com/analisis/igualdad/LaMujerDeportistaenlosMedios.pdf. Accessed 6 September 2006.
Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory, 2nd edition. London: Blackwell.
Wensing, E. H. and Bruce, T. (2003). Bending the rules. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 38(4), 387–96.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Montserrat Martin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martin, M. (2009). An Analysis of Amaya Valdemoro’s Portrayal in a Spanish Newspaper during the Athens Olympics 2004. In: Markula, P. (eds) Olympic Women and the Media. Global Culture and Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230233942_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230233942_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30845-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-23394-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)