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“She’s the sort of Scandinavian blonde’

that makes you pine for the fiords.”

This is not a passage from a steamy romance novel set in an exotic Eu- ropean playground. It is a description of the skip of Norway’s Olympic woman’s curl- ing team that appeared on the sports pages of a Canadian daily news- paper. It’s the kind of women’s sports coverage that makes some people cringe. :

“It’s a blatant exam- ple of inappropriate cov- erage of male-female sport in (newspapers),” says Di- ana Palmason, the man- ager of the woman’s pro- gram of the federal Fit- ness and Amateur Sport.

Palmason was refer- ring to the male-written article whose headline implied it was describing the gold medal won in Calgary by the woman’s

regard of their athletic accomplishments infuri- ates women’s sports au- thorities. They say the media largely ignores fe- male sports at the am- ateur, varsity, and pro- fessional levels. When women’s sports are cov- ered, the articles are sex- ist and portray women as sexy objects who take

up sports as a diver- |

sion or an opportunity to

- writhe around in skimpy

outfits.

Women’s sports are ignored by daily news- papers because the ath- letes are -usually not professionals, says Gail Blake, Carleton’s assis- tant director of athletics (women).

Papers get most of their sports stories from American wire services, which report professional male sports like football, base-

ball, and hockey. The lo-_

eal daily English paper “leaves little room for lo- cal sports,” says Blake. “It’s the perception that sport is the last bas- tion of male supremacy... (and that) the only interest is in profes- sional sports and men’s sports,” Blake says.

“It’s hard to imagine Trine Trulsen look- ing better than she does today,” the news- paper article wrote of the skip. It also talked about her favorite hobby: knitting.

curling team skipped by Canadian Linda Moore. But Canada’s victory was buried in the twen- tieth paragraph, taking a backseat to the attrac- tiveness of the Norwe- gian skip who lost to Moore.

“It’s hard to imag- ine Trine Trulsen looking

better than she does to--

day,” the newspaper ar- ticle wrote of the skip. It also talked about her fa- vorite hobby: knitting. . The mainstream me- dia’s emphasis of female athlete’s attractiveness and .- dis-

The women’s athlet- ics director wrote a let- ter to the paper say- ing the sports depart- ment fails to report scores from Carleton fe- male teams even though results are phoned in.

“Female athletes train just as hard as male athletes and are just as

proud to- represent our. university,” Blake wrote | in the recently-published |

letter. “Not only are Car- leton’s female athletes

_ being treated as second-

class athletes, but they

are being ignored by

your sports staff,” she

wrote. It’s not just univer- sity women, but

“women’s sports in gen- eral is being ignored,” says Blake.

“If it’s a woman’s team, (the newspaper) only reports it if women are doing extremely well,” says the director. But articles about uni- versity men’s sports are so detailed they “seems

to say what size the

men’s shoes are.’

The Pics of women athletes goes beyond the media fail- ing to report scores from organized sports. Ath- letics encompasses phys- ical activity from jogging to aerobics, says Danette Steele, the managing di- rector of the Canadaian Association of Women and Sport.

Women on television aerobics shows are por- trayed as “people who

are obsessed with exer- _ cise for a body beauti-_

ful,” Steele says. “This is the image your are supposed to look like:

_ skinny, etc.”

“The media is a very

important agent for re-

producing stereotypical roles,” Steele says, such as the idea that women exercise to look good for men.

But women do physi- cal activity to feel good about themselves, she

says.

~ The media portrayal of | :

- women’s exercise stems

from “the male where women ; ticipating in fi get thin rather ¢| they can draw , strength.”

A PhD stu on the TV show Minute Workoy the program ; to promote exe women, but to, male audience, ; official from Fit Amateur Sport,

Palmason pictures “focug