Abstract
The American transnational sports footwear and apparel giant, Nike, garners millions of views through its online ‘Nike Women’ advertising campaigns directed to female-identifying consumers. In this article, I draw on three such advertisements, namely, Dream Crazier, What are girls made of? and The Toughest Athletes, to understand how capitalist mainstream media represents, and shapes common perceptions about, female-identified sportspersons and their bodies. The aforementioned advertisements have been hailed for breaking gender stereotypes, representing sportswomen from various marginalized social categories, challenging normative beauty standards, and “empowering” sportswomen. I, however, argue that a closer examination suggests otherwise. The language of meritocracy and agency used not only encourages sportswomen to embody capitalistic, masculine ideals but also blatantly overlooks the structural inequalities pertaining to race, sexuality, gender, religion, age, and disability that plague their lived experiences. Nike’s portrayal of the female body (through its emphasis on extraordinariness, perseverance, and hyper-focus) merely replaces conventional feminine beauty standards with those of muscular and fit bodies that necessitate acute self-disciplining. Its portrayal of pregnant athletes’ bodies in particular perpetuates toxic discourses that encourage women to perform “fit” and “healthy” pregnancies. My contention, therefore, is that contrary to popular belief, Nike merely typifies and reinforces a post-feminist sensibility that afflicts the contemporary popular imagination and reproduces normative gender binaries.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
FEMALE ATHLETES, FEMALE BODY, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, NIKE, POPULAR CULTURE, POST-FEMINISM
