The Impact of Media on Gender Stereotypes in Women's Sports

In today's world, the media is the most important means of conveying messages to the public via various ways. It has a significant contribution to the level of public awareness of various issues. Therefore, the present study deals with media's effect on gender stereotypes in women's sports. The method used to analyze the data is thematic analysis. The research population includes Iranian women athletes at professional level and researchers working in the field of women's sports studies. When analyzing the findings of the interviews, there are two main themes: the dysfunctions and functions of the media in the field of media influence on gender stereotypes are extracted, which indicates their dual and contradictory influence. It means that on the one hand, the consequences of covering the successes and activities of professional women athletes in the media undermine the prevailing patriarchal ideas in sports, while, on the other hand, the media reinforces gender stereotypes in society by inciting and emphasizing the femininity dimension of female athletes through inducing a gender perspective and believing that women's sports are not severe in the public mind.