Swimsuit Issue and Sport

Laurel R. Davis is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Springfield College.

"The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is the cultural keystone of what is worst about male-dominated sport media. This book is the most systematic treatment of the SI swimsuit issue to date, and it reveals some of the ways that sexism, racism, heterosexism, and Western ethnocentrism have been woven into the cultural fabric of men's sports. But it is more than an analysis of SI. Davis unfurls cutting-edge critical analysis of media through this ostensible exercise in the study of a sport magazine issue. The book is a fine example of the explanatory power of feminist analysis that takes other multiple systems of domination into account; i.e., race, ethnicity, nationalism, and sexual orientation." — Don Sabo, coauthor of Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports: Rethinking Masculinity"The author does something that few others in media studies have done—to look at how producers, texts, and consumers all work together to construct the meanings of a text. Rarely are all three examined as systematically and coherently as they are in this book." — Margaret Carlisle Duncan, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee"Deconstructs an important social issue about sport that is necessarily shaped through the media." — Lawrence A. Wenner, author of Media, Sports, and Society: Foundations for the Communication of Sport and Editor, Journal of Sport and Social Issues

• Acknowledgments Chapter 1  Introduction Feminist Analysis with a TwistStudying the Mass MediaGetting at the Meaning of the Swimsuit IssueChapter 2  Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue: The Rise To Popularity And Profitability History of the Swimsuit IssuePopularity of the Swimsuit IssueProfitability of the Swimsuit IssueChapter 3  The Basic Content: "Ideally Beautiful And Sexy Women For Men" The Basic Content: Ideal Women's BodiesThe Ideal Readers: MenDenotative versus Connotative Level MeaningFactors That Encourage Denotative Level ConsensusRecognizing the Power of Producers and the TextChapter 4  The Struggle Over Public Sexuality Debating the Degree of Sexual MeaningDebating the Morality of Public Displays of SexualityChapter 5  A Vehicle For Public Declarations of Heterosexual Identity It's about HeterosexualitySecuring Heterosexual Status through ConsumptionUsing Heterosexual Status to Secure Masculine StatusChapter 6  Profiting From The Masculinity Crisis The Masculinity Crisis and Response to the CrisisFashioning Sports Illustrated as a Men's MagazineCritiques of the Sports Illustrated StrategyChapter 7  The Struggle Over Gender Men Who Identify with Hegemonic MasculinityWomen Who Identify with Hegemonic FemininityMen Who Do Not Identify with Hegemonic MasculinityFeminists Who Criticize Hegemonic Masculinity and FemininityBacklash against the Feminist ReadingsChapter 8  Hegemonic Masculinity Built On The Backs Of People Of Color Racism as a Central Component of Hegemonic FemininityRacism as a Central Component of Hegemonic MasculinityChapter 9  Hegemonic Masculinity Built On The Backs Of "The (Post)Colonialized Other" The Hegemonic Masculine Subject as Actual and Media Tourist"The (Post)Colonialized Other" as Exotic Spectacle for the Hegemonic Masculine SubjectThe Hegemonic Masculine Subject as Colonizer of "the (Post)Colonialized Other"Chapter 10  Conclusion Appendix A  Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issues (From 1964 To 1991 And 1996) Appendix B  Non-Academic Media Material Related To The Swimsuit Issues Appendix C  Interview Schedules For Producers, Consumers, And Librarians Appendix D  Recruitment Of, And Information About, The Interviewed Producers And Consumers Notes References Index