Media Representations as a Form of Stacking: Male and Female Athletes Featured on Men’s Magazine Covers,1980

Abstract

This study analyzed 264 athlete images featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Among males, who accounted for 227 (81%) of the 264 athletes, African Americans and Latinos each represented 6 sports, most of which involved team competition, while White males represented 21 sports, many of which were individual. Analyses of position stacking in football showed White players in positions considered “central” to contest outcomes and Black athletes assigned to more “peripheral” roles. Among females, nearly all of whom were White, more than one in three participated in professional wrestling or sports entertainment. Other female athletes represented individual sports such as tennis and swimming. Overall, the study concludes that men’s magazines reproduced stacking patterns observed in earlier research.

Keywords

content analysis gender magazines race sports communication stacking

In 1970, sport scholars John Loy and J. F. McElvogue published a seminal paper addressing athlete position assignments as a function of race and ethnicity. In the years since their study appeared, research on “stacking” has shown that coaches and managers tend to assign White athletes to positions considered “central” to game outcomes while assigning Black athletes to more “peripheral” positions (Edwards, 1973; Smith & Leonard, 1997). In professional baseball, for example, Black athletes often play in the outfield (Margolis & Piliavin, 1999; Sack et al., 2005), and in football, they tend to cluster at positions such as defensive back and wide receiver (Eitzen & Sanford, 1975; Pitts & Yost, 2013; Siler, 2019). In contrast, White baseball players have been more likely to pitch, catch, or play in the infield (Brown & Bear, 1999; Johnson & Johnson, 1995; Phillips, 1991; Smith & Seff, 1989), and in football, they have competed more frequently at the position of quarterback (QB) or kicker (Best, 1987; Schneider & Eitzen, 1986). In addition to baseball and football, scholars have observed stacking patterns in men’s and women’s college basketball (Berghorn et al., 1988; Leonard, 1987), women’s collegiate volleyball (Eitzen & Furst, 1989), soccer (Maguire, 1988), and cricket (Malcolm, 1997).

Stacking is not as prevalent as it was when scholars first examined “positional segregation” (Curtis & Loy, 1978), but to the extent it remains a part of sport—and to the extent media outlets reproduce stacking patterns—sport-related forms of occupational stratification should be studied empirically. As Sailes (2017) explained, an absence of minorities in leadership positions on the field begets an absence of minorities in leadership positions off of it. As an example, Robinson (2013) studied women’s college basketball and observed that individuals often became coaches based on experiences they had as athletes; player–coach mentorships stemming from team leadership roles proved especially important. If members of certain races do not occupy positions considered central to team performance, they may be overlooked for leadership positions. Scholars have documented an underrepresentation of minority coaches and administrators in sport (Fink & Pastore, 1999; Singer & Cunningham, 2018), and while stacking is not the sole determinant, it does stand to perpetuate the status quo (Chu & Segrave, 1983; Cunningham, 2010; Sack et al., 2005). Stacking limits athlete options, which, in turn, can limit their capacity to assume leadership positions in competition and, subsequently, in coaching and administration (Apoifis et al., 2018; Love et al., 2019).

While stacking research has traditionally focused on positions occupied by White and Black athletes, communication scholars have observed that media outlets engage in a form of stacking when they feature athletes in “race-appropriate sports” (Rowe, 2004, p. 48). Lumpkin and Williams (1991) examined more than three decades of feature articles in Sports Illustrated (1954–1987) and found that articles written about Black athletes focused on just five sports, with most athletes “stacked” as basketball players and track-and-field competitors. More recently, Denham (2019) studied male athlete representations in four men’s magazines, finding that more than 80% of 329 Black athletes competed in three sports: basketball, football, and boxing. Of 43 total sports observed, Black athletes competed in 14, compared to 35 among White athletes and 15 among Latinos.

This study examines the race and gender of, as well as the sports represented by, 264 athletes featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. While Denham (2019) focused on mediated sport stacking, this study analyzes the extent to which magazines stacked athletes by both sport and position (in baseball and football). The study focuses on covers, as opposed to magazine texts. It also follows Jamieson et al. (2002) in moving beyond the Black-and-White racial binary to include Latinos and athletes of Asian descent. Finally, consistent with the previous study by Denham, this research examines athlete portrayals on magazine covers in a nonsport genre.

Review of Literature

Stacking in Sport

Stacking research has its theoretical underpinnings in analyses of organizational structures (Blalock, 1962; Grusky, 1963), which conceptualized racial stratification in the workplace as a function of social interaction. Researchers observed that individuals who interacted the most in an organization appeared most central to its operations and frequently assumed leadership positions. Loy and McElvogue (1970) reasoned that in the sports of baseball and football, certain field positions could be considered central to game outcomes, while other positions appeared more peripheral. Consistent with expectations, their analyses of the two sports showed evidence of stacking patterns.

But since the point at which Loy and McElvogue (1970) published their study, scholars have offered differing explanations for positional segregation. Perhaps the most frequent explanation involves stereotypical assumptions about the “natural” athletic ability and physicality of Black athletes and the emotional maturity and decision-making skills of their White counterparts (Coakley, 2004; Sailes, 2017; Smith, 2014; Woodward, 2004). Black athletes tend to be recognized for possessing “God-given” speed and agility, with White athletes “overcoming the odds” through exceptional effort, intelligent decisions, and steady temperaments. According to this explanation, raced assumptions have resulted in White and Black athletes, respectively, occupying central and peripheral positions in competition. While changes have occurred, Bopp and Sagas (2014) noted that “racial stacking” has effectively become “racial tasking” in certain sports. In football, while the number of Black QBs has increased, Bopp and Sagas found that Black QBs also rushed the ball more frequently and delivered fewer pass attempts than White QBs. The patterns they observed reflected assumptions about innate athletic ability.

In addition to the “centrality hypothesis,” scholars have explained stacking patterns through economics. Medoff (1986) argued that the socioeconomic status of Black athletes (in general) made it comparably difficult to develop key skill sets in sport. Examining stacking in the sport of cricket, Malcolm (1997) posited that historical class relations offered a better explanation of stacking than did the centrality hypothesis. More recently, Kaiser et al. (2016) drew on cultural transmission theory, which, the authors wrote, suggests that

(C)hildren are taught within their cultural groups a collection of norms and ideas about behaviors and roles that are acceptable and expected, the groups with which it is acceptable to work and socialize, the differences that should be maintained between different social groups, and the roles different people can play in various contexts. (p. 1576; additional cites removed)

Along with assumptions about athleticism and economic arguments, cultural transmission relates to the current study in that media representations stand to influence cultural expectations. As an example, Harrison et al. (1999) found Black grade-school students to judge themselves as most competent in the sport of basketball, while White students considered themselves most competent in sports such as swimming, rowing, snow skiing, and hockey. The authors attributed student perceptions of competency to cultural factors as informed by media representations.

Media Representations of Athletes

This research is concerned with the race and gender of athletes appearing on magazine covers and the sports in which those athletes compete. Additionally, the study analyzes positions played by baseball and football players, assessing whether magazine covers reproduced stacking patterns. To date, studies of athletes featured on magazine covers have focused primarily on Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine (Fink & Kensicki, 2002; Frisby, 2017; Goss et al., 2010; Hull et al., 2015; Martin & McDonald, 2012; Primm et al., 2007; Salwen & Wood, 1994; Wasike, 2017; Weber & Carini, 2013), with additional analyses of Women’s Sports and Fitness (Leath & Lumpkin, 1992) and Shape (Hardin et al., 2005). Rarely have scholars examined athlete portrayals in other genres, especially in regard to mediated sport and position stacking. But magazines in other genres, and especially their covers, function as important cultural symbols (Cerulo, 1984) and contribute to reader perceptions of social issues (Abrahamson, 2007; Zillmann et al., 1999). Presently, more than 7,000 magazines appear in the U.S. marketplace, with an aggregate revenue of US$28 billion in 2017 (Watson, 2019).

Consistent with the centrality hypothesis, studies of racial descriptors in sports media have identified stereotypical representations of “naturally gifted” and “hard-working” Black and White athletes, respectively (Billings & Eastman, 2002; Eastman & Billings, 2001). Sharpe and Curry (1996) found that magazines with predominantly White audiences (such as those analyzed in the current study) portrayed African Americans, in general, in stereotypical roles. And in some studies, researchers identified no roles at all. Schug et al. (2017) studied intersections of race and gender in the magazines GQ, Vogue, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Maxim, and Cosmopolitan, observing few images of Black women and Asian men (see also, Bruening, 2005). Discussing their findings in light of intersectional invisibility, the authors attributed the absence of both to prototypical raced and gendered individuals, that is, Black men and Asian women tend to receive greater attention than Black women and Asian men.

Regarding athletic participation, African Americans tend to compete primarily, although not exclusively (see Demas, 2017; Djata, 2006), in major team sports (Coakley, 2004, pp. 301–302), and the current study expects to observe Black athletes featured primarily in the “Big 3” sports of baseball, basketball, and football. To the extent magazines reproduced position stacking, the study anticipates portrayals of African American athletes assigned to peripheral positions in baseball and football. The study also expects Latino athletes to appear in peripheral roles (Eagleman & Martin, 2013; Sabo et al., 1996), participating most frequently in the sports of baseball and soccer. Asian male athletes rarely appear in media outlets, as Park (2015) discussed in studying the frenzy surrounding the scoring streak of basketball player Jeremy Lin. The current study anticipates few representations of Asian males.

Relative to portrayals of racial minorities, the study expects to observe White male athletes representing individual sports more frequently on magazine covers. As Medoff (1986) argued, White sports participants often have greater opportunities for individual-sport instruction because their families often have greater financial resources (Goldsmith, 2003; Sellers et al., 2002). These resources may apply to tennis lessons in private clubs or equipment costs in golf or snow skiing. Yet White athletes also participate in team sports, especially baseball, basketball, and football. This study expects White male athletes to represent more sports, overall, than minority athletes.

Regarding female athletes, Hilliard (1984) observed that magazines reinforced the concept of professional sport as a male preserve, and in a study of Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women, Fink and Kensicki (2002) reported only marginal differences in gendered content. Wheaton (2003) also examined gender portrayals in a study of sports magazines, observing women portrayed as “heterosexualized commodities” (p. 217). Indeed, a significant body of scholarship has found female athletes to be portrayed in a sexualized manner or not at all (Duncan, 2006; Schug et al., 2017; Sherry et al., 2016). Carter-Francique and Richardson (2016) attributed absences in sports participation among female athletes of color to their general absence in mass media (see also, Leach & Lumpkin, 1992). This study expects White female athletes to constitute the majority of women featured on magazine covers. Concerning sport type, Koivula (2001) noted that individual sports such as figure skating and gymnastics facilitate depictions of grace and traditional conceptions of femininity. This study expects that pattern to be reproduced on covers of men’s magazines.

Finally, regarding the 40-year period of analysis, the study expects to observe an increase in the presence of women and racial minorities on the covers of men’s magazines, as such patterns would signal signs of social progress. Of course, there are also economic explanations for the selection of magazine cover models. Covers frequently feature superstars of a given time period, and to some extent, the race and gender of those superstars may dictate patterns of coverage. During the 1990s, for example, few athletes enjoyed greater popularity than Michael Jordan, whose universal appeal made him an ideal athlete to appear on the covers of men’s magazines (McDonald & Andrews, 2001). Based on existing research, this study advances the following hypotheses and research questions.

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Hypothesis 1 (H1): As magazine cover models, (H1a) African American male athletes and (H1b) Latino male athletes will be featured more frequently than White male athletes as participants in team sports.

Hypothesis 2 (H2): As magazine cover models, female athletes will be featured as competitors in individual sports more frequently than they will as participants in team sports.

Hypothesis 3 (H3): As magazine cover models, White male athletes will be more likely than (H3a) African American male athletes and (H3b) Latino male athletes to be shown at central positions in football.

Hypothesis 4 (H4): As magazine cover models, White male athletes will be more likely than (H4a) African American male athletes and (H4b) Latino male athletes to be shown at central positions in baseball.

Research Question 1 (RQ1): To what extent did patterns involving (a) athlete race and (b) athlete gender change across four decades of magazine coverage?

Research Question 2 (RQ2): To what extent did patterns involving (a) athlete race and (b) athlete gender differ across magazines?

Research Question 3 (RQ3): To what extent did patterns involving the respective sports differ across magazines?

Method

Sample

This study analyzed photos of 264 athletes featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Publications included the seven most widely circulated men’s magazines in the United States: Men’s Health, Maxim, GQ, Playboy, Men’s Journal, Esquire, and Men’s Fitness (Cision, 2016). Additional publications included Details and FHM. The study included these magazines because each featured competitive athletes on their covers and each had been examined in previous content analyses (e.g., Benwell, 2004; Frederick et al., 2005; Krassas et al., 2003; Law & Labre, 2002; Reichert & Zhou, 2007; Ricciardelli et al., 2010). Details, FHM, and Maxim are (or were) geared to younger males, while Esquire, GQ, Men’s Journal, and Playboy publish content of interest to slightly older readers. Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health focus more directly on health and fitness among young and middle-aged men.

To be included in the study, a cover athlete had to participate, or have participated, in a recognized competitive sport. An athlete may have been active or retired at the time of publication. In rare instances, more than one athlete appeared on a single cover, and in such cases, the study included each athlete shown. In all, 264 athletes appeared on 257 covers. The study did not include fitness models who did not participate in competitive sports and therefore did not inform the current research.

Procedure

Based on magazines examined in previous studies involving race and gender, this study examined men’s magazine covers featuring competitive athletes. The study used online cover databases to locate covers across the 40-year period of analysis. While some magazines had archives containing all covers, other publications did not. In such cases, cover images were obtained through a blend of magazine archives and searches of Google, Pinterest, and additional sites containing covers. While the study sought to obtain as many athlete images as possible, it is likely that some covers in the 1980s were not included. Of course, not all of the magazines dated back to the 1980s, and some of the publications (Details and FHM) folded before 2019. Nevertheless, the study regards the 264 athlete images gathered as representative of all images featured on covers of men’s magazines from 1980 to 2019.

A coding form contained measures of date, athlete gender (male or female), race (Asian, Black, Latino, or White), and sport played. Sports included baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, tennis, golf, track and field, gymnastics, pentathlon, boxing, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), swimming, wrestling, bodybuilding, volleyball, cycling, ice skating, diving, decathlon, surfing, skiing, skateboarding, mountaineering, cheerleading, and auto racing. The study recognizes that professional wrestling is generally regarded as sports entertainment, but its inclusion informed gender portrayals, helping to create an overall portrait of how female athletes were represented in men’s magazines.

In terms of position stacking in football, the study followed research by Loy and McElvogue (1970), Eitzen and Yetman (1977), and Siler (2019). They characterized the following positions as “central” or stereotypically “White”: QB, kicker/punter, offensive lineman, tight end, and linebacker. “Noncentral” or “peripheral” positions included running back, wide receiver, defensive back, and defensive lineman. For position stacking in baseball, the study drew on Gonzalez (1996), Sack et al. (2005), Smith and Leonard (1997), and Margolis and Piliavin (1999). They considered the positions of pitcher, catcher, and infielder central to outcomes and outfielders as peripheral. Individual player positions were confirmed using the official websites of the National Football League (nfl.com/players) and Major League Baseball (mlb.com/mlb/players/).

Although content variables in this research were objective measures, the study nevertheless examined intercoder reliability (Holsti, 1969) for month, day, year, magazine, athlete race, athlete gender, and sport played. Two coders examined approximately 10% of the sample (i.e., 27 magazine covers) and coded them for all variables. Reliability was sound, as anticipated, with near-perfect agreement on all measures. Any inconsistencies involving athletes were resolved using their official player biographies. Frequencies, cross-tabulations, and χ² analyses were used to test hypotheses and provide responses to research questions.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Of 264 athlete images, 227 (86%) were male, and among those 227, 124 (54.6%) were White, 85 (37.4%) were Black, 17 (7.5%) were Latino, and 1 (0.4%) was Asian. Figure 1A identifies the magazines on whose covers male athletes appeared the most and the least frequently. As shown in the chart, male athletes appeared on the cover of GQ in 36% of instances, on the cover of Men’s Fitness in 23%, and on the cover of Men’s Journal in 18%. No male athletes appeared on the covers of FHM, Maxim, or Playboy.

Figure 1.

(A) Magazine percentage frequencies for male athletes. (B) Magazine percentage frequencies for female athletes.

Of 37 female athletes, 34 (91.9%) were White, 2 (5.4%) Latino, and 1 (2.7%) Black. Figure 1B identifies magazines on whose covers female athletes appeared most and least frequently. Opposite patterns observed for males, females appeared on the cover of Playboy in 43% of cases, Maxim in 19%, and FHM in 13%. No female athletes appeared on the covers of Details and Men’s Health.

Figure 2A shows the most popular sports among male athletes. As one may have anticipated, athletes on baseball, basketball, and football teams were the most frequent cover models, accounting for 11.5%, 18.5%, and 26%, respectively (software rounds to whole numbers). Athletes from bodybuilding, boxing, swimming, tennis, and wrestling were also among the most frequently observed, with 23% of male athlete representations in other sports.

Figure 2.

(A) Sport percentage frequencies for males. (B) Sport percentage frequencies for females.

Figure 2B shows the most popular sports among female athletes. These sports included swimming, tennis, volleyball, and wrestling, accounting for 10.8%, 27%, 8.1%, and 35.1%, respectively. Athletes from other sports accounted for 19% of female athlete images. With females involved in wrestling accounting for 35% of images, more than one in three photos pertained not to competitive sports, but to sports entertainment.

Hypotheses and Research Questions

H1 predicted that, as magazine cover models, (H1a) African American male athletes and (H1b) Latino male athletes would be featured more frequently than White male athletes as participants in team sports. Overall, with one Asian athlete eliminated from the analysis, 141 (62.4%) of 226 males represented a team sport, and 85 (37.6%) represented an individual sport. A cross-tabulation comparing Black and White athletes showed that while 71 (83.5%) of 85 Black male athletes represented a team sport, just 58 (46.8%) of 124 White males did the same. This difference was statistically significant, χ²(1, 209) = 28.837, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .371, and therefore, H1a was supported. Among male Latino athletes, 12 (70.6%) of 17 played team sports compared to 58 (46.8%) among Whites. This difference was not statistically significant, χ²(1, 141) = 3.392, p = .066, Cramer’s V = .155, and therefore, H1b was not supported. It did approach significance, however, with a 23 percentage-point difference in team sport participation. The total of 17 Latino athletes may have influenced the significance level.

Two figures provide additional insight into the statistics cited in the previous paragraph. Figure 3 shows athlete distributions by race in the Big 3 sports of baseball, basketball, and football. Beginning with Black athletes, 62 (73%) of 85 males competed in basketball or football, with an additional 9 (10.6%) in baseball. Just 14 (16.5%) competed in other sports, and those sports included boxing, track and field, and golf. Black athletes represented 6 (27.3%) of 22 sports observed among males. Among 17 Latino athletes, 8 (47.1%) represented baseball and 1 (5.9%) competed in football. Nearly, one in two Latino athletes competed in four other sports: boxing, soccer, tennis, and UFC. In all, Latino athletes represented 6 (27.3%) of 22 sports identified among males. Finally, among White athletes, 35 (28.2%) of 124 competed in football, with smaller numbers competing in baseball and basketball. Approximately 3 in 5 (62.9%) White male athletes competed in other sports. Of 22 total sports observed, White males competed in 21 (95.5%). Basketball player Jeremy Lin accounted for the only Asian athlete in the study.

Figure 3.

Percentage participation in “Big 3” sports within each race (males).

Figure 4 displays the racial composition of the most popular sports among male athletes. As shown in the figure, Black, Latino, and White athletes were evenly distributed in baseball, but Black athletes accounted for nearly all (92.9%) basketball players. White athletes accounted for the largest number of football players (59.3%), along with the highest percentages of tennis (80%), soccer (66.7%), and UFC athletes (88.9%). Black athletes accounted for the preponderance of boxers (72.7%).

Figure 4.

Percentage sports participation across each race (males).

H2 predicted that, as magazine cover models, female athletes would be featured as competitors in individual sports more frequently than they would as participants in team sports. Of 37 female athletes, 34 (92%) competed in individual sports. The one team sport represented was volleyball in three instances. The second hypothesis, then, is supported by frequency analysis (χ² could not be calculated given empty cells). It should also be noted that of 37 female athletes, 34 (92%) were White. Tennis player Serena Williams accounted for the one Black female athlete shown on a cover, with two Latino athletes competing in boxing and cheerleading, respectively.

H3 predicted that, as magazine cover models, White male athletes would be more likely than (H3a) African American male athletes and (H3b) Latino male athletes to be shown at central positions in football. Table 1 contains the names of White and Black athletes, as there were almost no Latino football players. In this table, 29 (81%) of 36 White football players were QBs, compared to 4 (17.4%) of 23 Black athletes. Overall, 30 (83.3%) of 36 White athletes played central positions, compared to 6 (26.1%) of 23 Black players. To test H3, a 2 × 2 cross-tabulation of Race × Position type, χ²(1, 59) = 19.335, p < .001, ϕ = .572, showed statistical significance, thus supporting H3a. A general absence of Latino football players precluded a test of H3b.

Table 1.

Positions Played by White and Black Football Players Featured on Magazine Covers.

White Players	Position	Covers	Black Players	Position	Covers
Troy Aikman	QB	1	Marcus Allen	RB	1
Drew Brees	QB	2	Tiki Barber	RB	1
Tom Brady	QB	10	Odell Beckham, Jr.	WR	1
Jim Everett	QB	1	Antonio Brown	WR	1
Brett Favre	QB	3	Reggie Bush	RB	1
Gary Fencik	S	1	Terry Crews	LB	2
Frank Gifford	RB	1	Terrell Davis	RB	1
Rob Gronkowski	TE	1	Larry Fitzgerald	WR	1
Matt Leinhart (1)	QB	1	Bo Jackson	RB	1
Howie Long	DE	1	Colin Kaepernick	QB	1
Andrew Luck (1)	QB	1	Cam Newton	QB	1
Peyton Manning (1)	QB	1	Terrell Owens	WR	1
Dan Marino (2)	QB	2	OJ Simpson	RB	3
Joe Montana (1)	QB	1	Michael Strahan	DE	4
Joe Namath (1)	QB	1	L. Tomlinson	RB	1
Ben Roethlisberger (1)	QB	1	Russell Wilson	QB	2
Jason Sehern	CB	1
Tim Tebow (2)	QB	2
Joe Theisman (1)	QB	1
JJ Watt	DE	2
Steve Young (1)	QB	1

Note. QB = quarterback; S = safety; RB = running back; TE = tight end; CB = cornerback; DE = defensive end; LB = Linebacker; WR = wide receiver.

H4 predicted that, as magazine cover models, White male athletes would be more likely than (H4a) African American male athletes and (H4b) Latino male athletes to be shown at central positions in baseball. Table 2 contains the names of White, Black, and Latino baseball players. Here, 8 (88.9%) of 9 White athletes played a central position, compared to 5 (55.6%) of 9 Black athletes. Fisher’s Exact test for small samples did not show a significant association between race and position (p = .147), however. Among Latinos, 6 (75%) of 8 baseball players competed in central positions, and a second Fisher’s Exact test again showed no differences between White and Latino athletes (p = .453). Descriptively, White baseball players showed the highest percentage of players considered central, but significant differences did not appear; H4a and H4b are rejected.

Table 2.

Positions Played by White, Black, and Latino Baseball Players Featured on Magazine Covers.

White	Position	Black	Position	Latino	Position
Josh Beckett	Pitcher	Barry Bonds	Outfield	Jose Canseco	Outfield
Ron Darling	Pitcher	Ken Griffey, Jr.	Outfield	Johnny Damon	Outfield
Bryce Harper	Outfield	Derek Jeter (4)	Shortstop	Nomar Garciaparra	Shortstop
Orel Hershiser	Pitcher	Willie Mays	Outfield	Keith Hernandez	First base
Tim McCarver	Catcher	Ozzie Smith	Shortstop	Albert Pujols	First base
Cal Ripken, Jr. (2)	Shortstop	G. Stanton	Outfield	Alex Rodriguez (3)	Third base
Mike Schmidt	Third base
David Wright	Third base

Note. Each player appeared on one cover unless otherwise noted.

RQ1 asked about the extent to which patterns involving (RQ1a) athlete race and (RQ1b) athlete gender changed across four decades of magazine coverage. Figure 5 displays the percentages of male athlete covers by race in each of four decades. With one Asian male athlete removed, a cross-tabulation of race by magazine covers approached statistical significance, χ²(6, 226) = 12.420, p = .053, Cramer’s V = .117, but cell percentages did not suggest linear patterns. In the 1980s, White athletes accounted for nearly 7 in 10 magazine covers, but in the 1990s, Black athletes accounted for more than 5 of 10. From 2000 to 2009, White athletes again accounted for 60% of cover photos, with the 2010–2019 period showing greater parity between the two races. Latino athletes accounted for their largest number of covers in the 2000–2009 period. Among females, none appeared in the 1980s. Of 6 athletes on covers in the 1990s, 5 (83.3%) were White and 1 (16.7%) was Latino. Of 26 female athletes in the 2000s, 25 (96.2%) were White and 1 Latino (3.8%). Of 5 females in the 2010s, 4 (80%) were White and 1 (20%) was Black.

Figure 5.

Percentage of male athletes in each race appearing on covers across four decades.

RQ2 asked about the extent to which patterns involving (RQ2a) athlete race and (RQ2b) athlete gender differed in magazines examined in this research. Overall, 6 (66.6%) of 9 magazines in the study included males on their covers; FHM, Maxim, and Playboy did not. Among 85 Black males, 48 (56.5%) appeared on the cover of GQ, with Black males also accounting for 48 (59.3%) of 81 GQ cover athletes. Black males accounted for 8 (40%) of 20 athletes featured in Esquire. Among 17 Latino males, 6 (35.3%) appeared on the cover of GQ, and 5 (29.4%) appeared on the cover of Men’s Fitness. Overall, Latinos accounted for just 7.5% of 226 male athletes in the study. Among 124 White males, 33 (26.6%) appeared on the cover of Men’s Journal, and 33 (26.6%) also appeared on the cover of Men’s Fitness. White male athletes accounted for 33 (80.5%) of 41 images in Men’s Journal, 33 (63.5%) of 52 athletes in Men’s Fitness, and 17 (63%) of 27 athletes in Men’s Health. While the overall cross-tabulation of magazine by race showed significance, χ²(10, 226) = 34.120, p < .001, Cramer’s V = .275, some cells contained just one observation. Female athletes of color were almost entirely absent in this study. GQ did feature a Black female athlete on one cover, and both Playboy and Men’s Health featured a Latino female. Of 34 White females, 15 (44.1%) appeared on the cover of Playboy, and 7 (20.6%) appeared on the cover of Maxim. Five (14.7%) appeared on the cover of FHM. A cross-tabulation of magazine by race contained an excessive number of empty cells.

RQ3 asked about the extent to which the respective sports differed in magazines. Some of the periodicals examined in this study focused on the Big 3, while others included a broader number of different sports. In GQ, 66 (80.5%) of 82 male athletes played baseball, basketball, or football. In Esquire, 12 (60%) of 20 played one of the Big 3, and in Men’s Health, 16 (59.2%) of 27 did so. While Men’s Journal and Men’s Fitness featured a comparable number of football players, baseball and basketball players were largely absent. Overall, Details featured athletes in 5 sports, while Esquire featured 9, GQ 11, Men’s Journal 17, Men’s Fitness 14, and Men’s Health 11. Notably, in spite of featuring just half as many athletes overall, Men’s Journal accounted for six more sports than GQ. The study now discusses its quantitative results.

Discussion

This study examined photos of 264 athletes featured on the covers of nine men’s magazines across a 40-year period, 1980–2019. Based on the images analyzed, it appears that men’s magazines stacked athletes in “race-appropriate” sports and, in the case of football, at expected central and peripheral positions. Additionally, magazine covers featured female athletes who competed primarily at individual sports, and publications also showed an appreciable number of sexualized women from professional wrestling or sports entertainment. Almost no women of color appeared on the covers of the men’s magazines analyzed in this study.

Among males, Black and Latino athletes represented team sports more frequently on magazine covers than did White athletes. More than 8 in 10 Black athletes represented a team sport, compared to 7 in 10 Latinos and fewer than 5 in 10 Whites. To some extent, these statistics reflected actual participation rates, especially among Black athletes. Still, African American males represented just 6 sports in all, compared to 21 among White males. Black athletes dominated basketball cover photos and also accounted for a substantial number of football and baseball photos; however, Black individual-sports participants accounted for just 14 of 85 total exposures, representing boxing, track and field, and golf. While male Latino athletes appeared in just 17 photos, they represented the same number of sports Black males did. As anticipated, male athletes of Asian descent were almost entirely absent.

Analyses of position stacking in football yielded some of the most interesting findings in the study. Patterns supported the expectation that White athletes would appear most frequently in positions central to game outcomes, with athletes of color featured most frequently in peripheral positions. But the study did not anticipate the overwhelming number of White QBs, in particular; across time these athletes accounted for more than 80% of White football players. Although professional football teams increasingly field offenses led by Black QBs, fewer than one in five images of Black football players showed an athlete at that position. Overall, significant differences between White and Black football players showed a reproduction of stacking patterns observed in earlier research. Analyses of baseball positions showed patterns suggestive of stacking, but an insufficient number of observations prevented more definitive conclusions from being drawn.

An important implication of mediated sport and position stacking is the reproduction of assumptions that lead some athletes to join the coaching and administrative ranks of sport and others to discontinue involvement in competitive athletics. As Robinson (2013) discussed, athletes central to contest outcomes often develop a closer relationship with coaches, who become mentors for future leadership positions. “Field generals” and “coaches on the floor” appear destined for coaching positions, especially when media commentators suggest as much. Studies have identified a limited number of coaches and administrators among members of racial minorities (Fink & Pastore, 1999; Singer & Cunningham, 2018), and stacking likely contributes to the ongoing pattern.

In this study, 37 female athletes appeared on the covers of the nine magazines, and 34 of those athletes were White. Interestingly, the period 2000– 2009 contained more cover photos of female athletes than the other three periods combined, largely because Playboy contained multiple pictorials of wrestling personalities such as Chyna and Sable and also because tennis player Anna Kournikova appeared bikini-clad on multiple covers of Maxim and other magazines. On its September 2002 cover, FHM declared the tennis player “Officially the sexiest woman in the world.” Celebrating the return of Kournikova to the cover of Maxim in September 2008, the magazine boasted of her “hottest shoot ever.” Additional female athletes elected to pose for Playboy. As examples, the December 1998 issue featured figure skater Katarina Witt on its cover, and boxer Mia St. John followed in November 1999. Volleyball player Gabrielle Reece appeared on the January 2001 cover, followed by U.S. high jumper Amy Acuff, representing “Women of the Olympics,” in September 2004. Swimmer Amanda Beard appeared on the July 2007 cover, and tennis player Ashley Harkleroad followed in August 2008. In all cases, Playboy emphasized their nude appearances, raising an important point about sports performance versus sports appearance.

In general, male athletes featured on the covers of the nine men’s magazines had achieved prominence through performance. Many had become famous for exceptional athletic accomplishments. That did not appear the case among the limited number of female athletes shown on magazine covers. While some had become famous for their achievements in sports such as volleyball and figure skating, others appeared on covers largely for their physical appeal. Kournikova appears to have welcomed her role as sexual provocateur, but her popularity on magazine covers appeared somewhat disproportionate to her rankings in professional tennis, that is, she received more coverage than did competitors with stronger records. The appearance criterion also applied to some of the female Olympians who appeared in Playboy; while they had reached the Olympics, their athletic physiques and their willingness to appear in the nude appeared more important than name recognition.

In one instance, when a magazine recognized a minority female for success in sport, the recognition appeared fraught with controversy. In 2018, GQ recognized Serena Williams as its Woman of the Year, showing the term “woman” in quote marks. The magazine intimated that Williams was hardly a woman and that female competitors stood little chance when facing her. Schultz (2005) had earlier contrasted portrayals of Williams and Kournikova, observing how the latter—“the embodiment of preferred femininity in U.S. culture” (p. 346) —became the most highly sponsored female athlete in the world despite never winning a professional singles tournament. In contrast, the highly successful Williams has received criticism for appearing too muscular and too masculine (Litchfield et al., 2018). Stereotypes about Black women, in general, likely contributed to their general absence on men’s magazine covers.

As with minority males, females of all races occupy few coaching and administrative positions in men’s sports (Burton, 2015; Sibson, 2010). Biased and sexualized representations of female athletes likely contribute to that pattern, regardless of whether an athlete chooses to pose in the nude, or a magazine editor decides to feature a certain athlete on multiple covers. In the case of female athletes, the absence of minority competitors in media outlets also stands to affect perceptions and levels of interest among younger generations. Indeed, media portrayals of athletes are one source of influence on the choices adolescents make about sports participation (Hardin & Greer, 2009; Harrison et al., 1999). An absence of media imagery perpetuates nonparticipation, which Carter-Francique and Richardson (2016) observed in regard to Black females. Star basketball players such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James appear on magazine covers and life-size posters as well as in televised games and broadcast advertisements. Their likenesses appear on billboards and their names on jerseys sold to basketball fans. That is not the case with female athletes.

Future research might examine athletes featured on the covers of major women’s magazines, comparing and contrasting findings with patterns observed in the current study. Scholars have compared Sports Illustrated with Sports Illustrated for Women (Fink & Kensicki, 2002), and it might be interesting to examine how magazines designed for women depict female athletes. Similar investigations might examine magazines published for minority audiences, focusing on how they have characterized Black and Latino athletes. The nearly categorical absence of minority females in this study is consistent with previous research, but representations might change across genres. Ultimately, analyzing magazine covers for depictions of race and gender helps to identify where society stands at certain points in time. At present, minority athletes tend to represent team sports, while representations among female athletes focus largely on their sexual appeal.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Bryan E. Denham

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Media Representations as a Form of Stacking: Male and Female Athletes Featured on Men’s Magazine Covers,1980–2019

Abstract

Keywords

Review of Literature

Stacking in Sport

Media Representations of Athletes

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Method

Sample

Procedure

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Discussion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

References