Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

Mathew Lara
3310 Sociology of Gender
4/23/2015
Lamar University

Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

Companies package and market products toward different genders very differently. This is so
that they can increase their sales by expanding their sales by expanding the number of consumers, they
reach. However the way they choose to market things can lead to following stereotypes, that may or
may not be true. One clear example of this is Golf Digest magazine, the typical cover-page is of a man
middle aged in the middle of his golf swing. However, when Paulina Gretzky,the daughter of NHL
legend Wayne and engaged to PGA golfer Dustin Johnson, was on the cover she was photoed in skin
tight workout clothes using the golf to push her butt in the air. Or the cover of Lexi Thompson who is a
well respected woman LPGA golfer, was photographed bare chested with a towel covering her breast.
In fact the only reference to golf on her cover is that she is wearing a glove. The sexualization of
female athletes is a way for companies to be able to sell magazine's to men even though they might not
respect or feel their skill is a novelty. Sport first became a significant part of modern popular culture
late in the nineteenth century as regular leisure became a reality for people outside the upper classes.
But with few exceptions it has been constructed as a male zone of influence. Whenever women have
challenged their exclusion from the male-dominated sporting sphere, men have used a variety of
defenses to protect what they see as rightfully theirs. As the post-industrial era has progressed into the
information age, work that requires physical strength and endurance has declined dramatically. Along
with vanishing labor jobs have gone opportunities to demonstrate masculine body-subjectivity in the
workplace. Sport's role, its symbolic significance, in defining masculinity through displays of physical
prowess has become commensurately more important as work environments have 'softened'. In
developed countries sport is now arguably one of the main sites where men 'do gender'. Duncan and
Messner (1989) have gone so far as to suggest, '... besides making money, making gender may be
sport's chief function' (p. 342).
The Title Of Lexi Thompson cover also plays on stereotypes that play to the male ego. It reads
Lexi & the Women who out-drive You This is clearly directed at men not wanting to be seen as
weaker than women. Even though Lexi Thompson is a professional golfer, the idea that a man should
be able to out drive a woman because he is stronger diminishes the skill that is involved. Text
explaining how to have a perfect swing very based on gender. The author implies that due to woman
having weaker upper bodies they should focus on using their hips and shoulders, instead of their arms
to generate power. Maybe Jodi Robertson was overly optimistic in suggesting that '...women's golf has
moved from the girdles of the last century, past the gimmicks of the last decade and right into the guts
of mainstream sport' which reads, sport constructed as heterosexual and male (Robertson, 1997, p.
17). However, it seems as though 'femininity' and 'sexiness' are still key players in the game.
Golf has always been a sport that openly uses sexist ideology in their sports. On most golf
courses they have Womens teeing grounds where a player takes their first shot, from a shorter distance.
Golf on any level has always been seen as reclusive club that does not allow minorities to participate.
Nicolas Apostolis and Audrey R. Giles from the University of Ottawa explained how the magazine
targets the male audience and uses hyper masculinity. While Golf Digest does give minorities and
women the opportunity to been seen and contribute to the magazine. Annika Sorenstam, who became
the first woman to compete against men since 1945, had a instructional column in every issue in 2008.
She was able to discuss all aspect of her game putting (April 2008), irons (February 2008) and woods
(January 2008). Sorenstam is allowed access into this club as a a woman because she has played
against men , so she as seen a having a man's game. Even thought she won many awards as a
dominate golfer playing against it was not until she played against men that she became a legitimatized.
Golf Digest, reflects golf culture as a whole, professional woman athletes are used as objects of
men's desire, even though many of the women being objectified are often more talented or skilled than
the male consumer objectifying them. The women profiled in the magazine are seen as passive
observers of the game, reinforcing gender exclusion while appearing to be more gender inclusive. The

Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

women the magazine choose to profile must fall within a certain category, which means there is a
common person that the magazine chooses to objectify. According to Gill (2009), only young, white,
heterosexual and conventionally attractive women are sexualized. Since the articles and
advertisements in the magazine are carefully looked at and scrutinized to influence a certain part of the
population. By the magazine constructing women golfers as weak, well-to-do, white and hetero-sexual,
they are using a deliberate strategy to promote a very select group of women and dismissing the
possibility of diverse populations engaging in golf. By controlling the ways social groups are presented
in the media, powerful decision makers have the potential to influence readers intentions, plans,
knowledge, beliefs, opinions, and even actions (van Dijk, 1996). Diverse types of women continue to
be excluded and even the white, heterosexual, wealthy women remain somewhat as outsiders within
It is almost like you can be non-white, gay, or a female in golf but not all three. Golf accepts minorities
as long as you do not fall into multiple minorities categories. One category of people the magazine
focus is on is wealthy, white males. If the editors at the magazine intend the audience to be limited to
wealthy people, they would be connecting socioeconomic class with race and gender, as women of
visible minorities were noticeably absent. While the idea that golf is an elitist sport aimed at white,
wealthy men, we observed some attempts to include women in the magazine. Therefore, we show that
Golf Digests attempts to include women often act to reinforce dominant ideologies of gender,
sexuality, race, and class supported by the dominant position of heterosexual, upper-class, white men
(van Sterkenburg & Knoppers, 2004). It is evident that the editors of Golf Digest continue to construct
golf as a sanctuary for white, wealthy heterosexual masculinity, and that broadening the type of
consumer is still not a priority for golf magazine editor. Golf Digests advertisements and articles make
it quite clear that women really do not belong at the golf course, and the ladies who choose to tag
along with their husbands, must be part of a white, heterosexual and wealthy social group. The
magazine further supports the current ideas by silencing any other type of womens possible
participation in golf. As there are very few images of minority women, and no images of lesbians or
poor people, it is clear that these women do not belong in the world of golf according to the
publication. While Golf Digest has the power to alter institutional attitudes toward women golfers,
unfortunately, it promotes representations of golf as a wealthy, white males institution.
While males and females each had their own respective zones of influence, males and
masculine interests dominated the public sphere of the sports club itself. A clear and formalized gender
divide was established from the outset between men members and women 'associate' members. The
women, almost all of whom were related by blood or marriage to the men paid much lower fees, but
had significantly fewer rights on the course and in the club more generally. Because female
participation in the sport was controlled and channeled in the interests of hegemonic masculinity, the
area of womans control was confined to womans golf and related social activities. 'Associates' had
minimal social, financial or other status without reference to their male 'signifiers'. The Victorian Equal
Opportunity Board identified golf clubs in 1983 as amongst the worst offenders in discriminating
against women. One of the most pervasive, and effective, devices used to reinforce the idea of having a
male dominated club is what Marian Burton Nelson (1994, p. 208) called 'gender-marking', that is, a
constant, consistent, pervasive and linguistic distinction separating 'women's golf from 'golf, ie, men's
golf. People look at the wording and separate the two and are made out to be, quite different sports. As
in other sports, almost universal usage of 'gender marking' by golfers (male and female), the media and
general public, reinforces the secondary and lesser status accorded to women's golf. The manner in
which female participation is almost always qualified by 'gender-marking' which implies and assumes
that men's golf and golfing men constitute the benchmarks from and against which anything else is
measured. Consequently, women's golf, like other women's sports, frequently suffers from being
trivialized, marginalized and/or sexualized. The major difference is that gender discrimination is now,

Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

on the whole, rather more subtle than blatant.

Women golfers are rarely referred to as golfers, but first and foremost as women, usually and
sometimes as 'ladies', and then, 'golfers'. The problem here is, of course, that the term 'ladies' has class
connotations of leisured privilege, and of women who are not in the paid workforce, and therefore seen
as normally dependent on men. Since the sexist language is already established, and change is often
unpopular these sexist ideology remain today. A highly respected female member of one club was heard
to ask anxiously 'when we'd stopped being 'ladies', and started being 'women?' Like most other sports,
standards of golfing benchmarks, are based on men's performance or capabilities, that is, on power and
distance. Power is usually used as the principal measure of golfing prowess and excellence. Since
women hit the ball, on average around 75% of the distance of equivalent standard male players, means
very little in being a good golfer. The fact that on average 43% of the game is putting, and another 20%
short iron shots seems to count for little. A popular golf saying is 'drive for show, putt for dough'?
Which proves that the finesse is more important then pure power.
The exceptionally powerful use of language is used in a variety of ways to belittle women. For a
man to be told 'you play like a woman' is not a compliment. Language in the form of labelling can be
both divisive and pernicious. Sexual 'labels' are particularly divisive. Well-known tags used to
denigrate sportswomen include 'unfeminine', 'butch', 'lesbian', 'second-rate men' and so on. This
terminology is highly significant because, as Susan Cahn reminds us, the figure of the mannish lesbian
athlete has acted as a powerful but unarticulated 'bogey woman' of sport, forming a silent foil for more
positive, corrective images that attempt to rehabilitate the image of women athletes and resolve the
cultural contradiction between athletic prowess and femininity (1993, p. 343). In 1995 Ben Wright, a
particularly outspoken and chauvinistic CBS sports commentator, publicly announced that lesbianism
and 'butch' golf damaged both sponsorships and the broader appeal of the women's game. He also
claimed that women golfers were 'handicapped' by their 'boobs', and gratuitously insulted the amiable
and exceptionally talented Laura Davies whom he said was '... built like a tank' (Kahn, 1996, p. 306).
Beaumont own' Mildred ('Babe') Didrikson Zaharias who was one of the first marketable women
athletes. Was arguably this century's greatest all-round sportswoman. Babe was a top golfer and no
stranger to sexist remarks. Sixty years ago, as Mariah Burton Nelson ( 1994) noted early on, 'the media
ridiculed ... Didrikson as 'boyish', 'mannish', a 'girl-boy child', 'unfeminine', 'unpretty', 'not quite
female'. Because Zaharias did not follow the standard of beauty of the time she was seen as masculine
in order to justify her skill. She was not socially accepted as 'feminine' until she married wrestler
George Zaharias. Babe was, as usual, a notable exception, the mainstream press generally treated her
with due respect during her golfing career. Because she could match, and often beat, men on their own
terms, her game measured up to male values and was customarily measured by men's standards.' Yet,
with her 'femininity' credentials by then soundly established by being Mrs Zaharias. Later on in her
career the media usually focused on the power and length of her game. She was even said to be '... a
finer physical specimen than 75 per cent of male golfers.
Women athletes are trapped in a double bind. If female golfers, for example, play 'like women'
then their performance is, 'second-rate', because it rarely compares favorably with their male
equivalents in terms of power, speed, aggression or similar aspects of physical prowess. If, on the other
hand, women play, or behave, 'like men', that is, take their sport seriously, train hard, display physical
prowess and determination, then their sexuality is open to question and/or innuendo because these
characteristics are customarily constructed as masculine. Star professional golfer Helen Alfredsson
summed up this dilemma well: I think we need to get the message out to women that it's OK to be an
athlete. You can do other things too. But it's a tough balancing act out here. It's hard trying to be pretty,
trying to be feminine, trying to be skinny, trying to have your hair done nice, having long nails and
trying to hit the ball 300 frigging yards. 1 mean, put that equation together. It does not work.

Golf Digest- Sexist Ideology

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