tence and the good feelings that go with rather than trying to look like anorexic models in fashion magazines. Furthermore, many transnational corporations, such as Nike and Reebok, recently have bandwagon to the fitness and sport bandwagon. Even though their ads are designed to sell clothes, shoes, and even sweat-proof makeup, they present strong messages intended to appeal to womens enthusiasm for sports as a symbol of female liberation and power. As well sport participation has been encouraged in the process.Even though womens sports are not covered as often or in the same detail as mens sports, girls and women can see and read about the achievements of women athletes in a wider range of sports than ever before. The wide range of sports could be seen through such athletes as the United States soccer superstar Mia Hamm, who could be seen below in Picture 1, or Florence Griffith Joyner, an amazing track superstar, seen in Picture 2 below, or lastly Manon Rheume in Picture 3, was the first female to play in the National Hockey League. Seeing women athletes on television and reading about them in newspapers and magazines encourages girls and women to be active as athletes themselves. When growing up seeing female athletes on the television like the Canadian Olympic rower Silken Laumann, it would motivate and make myself realize that if she could go to the Olympics so can I, she was a role model. As girls grow up, they often want to see what is possible before they experiment with and develop their own athletic skills. This is the case because many of them still receive mixed messages about becoming serious athletes; their vision of the athletic woman gets clouded by swimsuit models in Sports Illustrated and other powerful images emphasizing the need to be thin and sexually appealing to men. Under these cultural conditions, the media coverage of everything from professional womens basketball to synchronized swimming helps girls a...
