Sports have always been a huge part of my life, whether it is playing them, or simply watching them.  Since I have always been surrounded by sports, I believe that that is why am I so interested in this research questions.  Growing up I have notice that on television and in the media male athletes and sports are more dominate than women's, while women lack coverage and are sometimes stereotyped as very feminine or "hot."  This research question affects me and my values because since I was a female athlete throughout my younger years and through high school, it has always been important to me that female athletes and women's sports have the same opportunities as male athletes and sports.  My personal experience regarding this is that back home, my town has its own newspaper, and within the paper there is a sports section where locals are able to read about high school, middle school, and youth sports.  Although they do a job covering women's sports, male sports still overpower the women.  What makes me qualified to write about this is that I have been a female athlete, and although my team would be having an amazing season, there would be little to no coverage of our success.  It is time that female athletes get recognized for their success and strength, and not their looks.

The first source, "Cheering on Women and Girls in Sports: Using Title IX to Fight Gender Role Oppression," by the Harvard Law Review, focuses on how sports shape society and how it provides concrete means to challenge gender role oppression.  The major evidence in this article is the marginalization, trivialization, and sexualization of women's and girls' sports (Harvard Law Review).  This article talks about the need for Title IX nullify the preservation of a traditional gender order and the media's priority to sexualize female athletes (Harvard Law Review).  One major value that is of interest in this article is the claim of self-sexualization of female athletes.  This claim is "motivated by the fear that women's intrusion into the masculine realm of sports is associated with lesbianism" (Harvard Law Review).  Many of these female athletes worry about their femininity due to the way the media reacts to a strong, "masculine" female athlete.  This concluded that fact that women struggle to be sexual and strong.  The Harvard Law Review has credibility due to the fact that the article was published by the Harvard Law Review.  With any article, there can be bias. 

The second source, "SportsCenter's Shameful Coverage of Women's Sports," by Kiley Kroh focuses on the unequal media coverage of women's sports on ESPN's flagship program, SportsCenter.  The major evidence in this article is that SportsCenter "dedicated just 2 percent of its airtime to women's sports in 2014" (Kroh).  Despite the overwhelming excitement and increased coverage during the Women's World Cup and the Olympics, when these major events come to an end, the media bounces back to its usual lack of women's sports.  One major value that is at stake in this article is that along with the lack of coverage, female athletes are still being upheld to the expectations of a woman.  The article mentions that female athletes are often referred to their role as a mother, which although is an improvement from the previous overt sexism, this expectation of a high-profile, successful athlete "reveals a gender asymmetry that subtly communicates ambivalence about women athletes" (Kroh).  This accusation diminished a female athlete's strength and ability on the court or field.  The author, Kiley Kroh, is a senior editor at ThinkProgress, and has been serving as a media consultant to political candidates and committee.  Kroh may not be as credible as some other writers, however she does include hard evidence in her article.  She can be bias due to the fact that she has worked with political candidates and committees.     

The third source, "The Media's Sexualization of Female Athletes: A Bad Call for the Modern Game," by Emily Liang, focuses more on the topic of the sexualization of female athletes and how this has effected them.  The major evidence in this article focuses on how gender role expectation and stereotypes have influences audiences into the view of a "woman first, athletes second" attitude that has challenged and overlooked an athlete's achievements and self-esteem (Liang).  A claim to this evidence is that we as the American public are not yet comfortable with the ways in which female athletes challenge traditional notions of femininity and masculinity according to the Harvard Law Review (Liang).  There are many major values and interests at stake in this article, one being the fact that this sexualization diminished an athlete's success and achievements due to this portrayal of femininity.  Not only this, but as said before, it reduces the athletes' self-esteem and identity.  This widespread sexualization of female athletes can cause these athletes to feel pressured to pose for such images, which can further cause a dissatisfaction with their body image, leading to various health issues (Liang).  The author, Emily Liang, graduated with a degree in human biology from Stanford University, however, this is the only credibility that Liang has, however, Liang does include hard evidence to support her claims.  She can be bias due to the fact that her credibility is questionable.   

This research question is arguable because one can state that the media negatively affects female athletes and women's sports through lack of coverage and sexualization, while on the other hand, one can argue that the media has positively impacted female athletes by the medias increase of coverage, allowing women to become empowered.  Some agreements in the sources that I found have been focused on lack of media coverage and the gender role expectations and stereotypes.  All of the articles put a focus on how gender role oppression has affected these athletes, as they have been sexualization and diminished of their abilities.  These different perspectives of the sources have affected my own in a sense that not only can sexualization affect an athlete's athletic ability, but it can also cause health issues which has been brought to my attention.  I might need to revise my research question by asking how athletes are affected by the media, instead of asking the question of how the media affects the athletes. 

