Game, Set, Match: A Study of Sports Illustrated and Women in Sport following the “Battle of the Sexes"

Abstract

The “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match was one of the most viewed sports events of the 1970s. It featured Billie Jean King and Robert ‘Bobby’ Riggs, in a tennis match that was meant to determine if women could actually beat men in a sports match. The resulting win was a public declaration that women had in fact reached the highest level of sports. Reporting on women’s sports was at the time, focused less often on the skill of the athlete and more on the looks of the athletes. Commentary on an athlete’s body, clothing or significant other plagued many publications. With the events of the “Battle of the Sexes” one might hope that style of reporting could have died out.

This research delves into one of the most prolific sports publications of the time, Sports Illustrated, and focuses on whether or not reporting on women’s sports after the “Battle of the Sexes” changed in quality of language and quantity of stories published. Changes in language counted included referring to the athlete’s form using genderneutral language and excluding information about their social life and style at an event. Quantity was counted in number of articles where female athletes were the sole focus. This research found that there was a small improvement in the reporting of women’s sports following the “Battle of the Sexes”. This research focuses on the 1970s, helping to fill in gaps in research on women’s sports media that has focused on the twenty-first century.