The research of Jo Ann Buysse, Ph.D., sport management undergraduate coordinator and lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, was recently mentioned in an article in The Atlantic titled, “People Talk About Brittney Griner Like She’s a Basketball Player, Because She Is.” The article highlights the longitudinal work of Buysse (and colleague Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert of Hamline) on the photographic portrayals of college athletes in print media guides.
The article uses Buysse and Embser-Herbert’s research as a reminder that, just a few years ago, “universities were still putting a disturbing amount of effort into ‘feminizing’ their women athletes and portraying them as ‘ladies.’ One media guide they evaluated even put its women’s basketball team on the cover in formal gowns with heavy makeup and styled hair.”