Twitter as a sports dissemination tool: the representation of female athletes

Abstract

Twitter has become a new communication channel in which a large amount of sports information is shared, especially among younger people.Younger generations form their gender identity through the messages they receive, therefore, it is of utmost importance to analyse how women are being represented within the Spanish sports mediaTwitter accounts. Do they reinforce stereotypes or do they communicate from an egalitarian perspective? Through a qualitative methodology, the images published about women during 6 months (March to August 2016), of four Spanish sports media accounts (@ElPaís_Deportes, @ABC_Deportes, @Marca and @MundoDeportivo) are analysed.The results show how stereotypes and objectification of women are moving from female athletes to non-athletes. Ultimately, inequality remains on Twitter, although in a more covert way, influencing society’s perception of gender roles in sport and the importance of female athletes in today’s society.