Bill Simmons and the Hegemonic Institution Bent on Preserving the Power of Men Over Women

At the onset, I would like to preface that I have never read any material that has come from “The Sports Guy” Bill Simmons. With that being said, I was taken aback by Joey Eschrich’s They Run, They Sweat, We Write: ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Sports Journalism, and Intersectional Identities. We’ve discussed Simmons before in class, recently mentioning how he was the one to tweet the news that Randy Moss would be traded from the Patriots to the Vikings. However, I had no idea as to his persona and or writing style that he employs.

And although we will be discussing diversity in sports media, one thing that had me gasping to catch my breath was when Eschrich wrote this:

“The most remarkable element of Simmons’ style, whether he is writing or podcasting, is the vast length of his work. His columns generally run from 4-7000 words and take up to 45 minutes to read through. His podcasts frequently have to be split into two parts because of bandwidth limits. They have been up to an hour and 45 minutes long, but mainly cluster around an hour…Simmons’ large fan following is especially remarkable, then, in view of the time commitment necessary to participate fully in his universe.”

We as a class, even I, have been discussing how short society’s attention spans have grown over the last few decades with new developments in technology and other advents such as social media. Earlier in the semester, I can’t remember exactly what I had said, but I know it was something about not wanting to offend anyone however we as a society have become essentially dumb. And to see how lengthy Simmons’ columns run, and how long his podcasts are (especially being as he, according to Eschrich, will not bring in professional athletes or sports writers), it amazes me to see the fan base he has compiled over the years. However it could play in his favor that his writing is conversational and that he appeals to the “average sports guy” by approaching his work as a fan rather than from a traditionalist’s point of view.

And finally, something else that took me by surprise was when Eschrich said that “Simmons avoids locker rooms, press boxes, and interviews with coaches and players.” In doing so, as Eschrich says, “he strays away from the insider informant role assumed by traditional sports journalists.”

The reason this took me by surprise, and even offended me a bit, is that he is completely taking himself out of the traditional equation. Some may argue that if it works and is entertaining, why should he stop? And if Simmons himself admits to not really breaking news then it must be ok. However, a traditional journalist would be scrutinized or even fired for doing something as such. There have been countless reports of journalists, primarily out of the newsroom, that have had their integrity tainted after information came out that they were not actually at the events they were supposed to be covering.

Perhaps it is “acceptable” in this case because he admits to not adding anything substantial, however in my eyes it’s not acceptable.

 

Edward Kian’s Gender in Sports Writing by the Print Media: An Exploratory Examination of Writers’ Experiences and Attitudes, reiterates what many believe to occur in sports departments across the nation in newsrooms of various media entities. However his assumptions, most notably that sport is a hegemonic institution bent on preserving the power of men over women, are founded off a small sample size of interviews. He makes some good points, many of which we could all likely agree with. However, he makes many suggestions that seem to be unrealistic or exaggerated.

Kian reinforces his belief on sport being a hegemonic institution by saying:

“Elueze and Jones wrote mass media have reinforced the differences between the sexes by presenting a masculine sports hegemony. This has been accomplished in at least four different ways. First, media serve to perpetuate a male-dominated sports hegemony by simply refusing to cover, or very minimally providing coverage to female athletes and women’s sports.”

Considering that most of, it not the significant majority, of readers flipping to the sports section in a newspaper are middle-aged men, I don’t see how this is possible. To say that the media “perpetuate” the sport hegemon by refusing to cover female athletes and women’s sports is absurd, for the fact that the readers likely do not want to read about that subject. So forgive the media for giving its followers what they want in terms of content.

Something Kian mentions, to which I can agree with is when he says “many female sport journalists do not seek to cover women’s sports, in large part due to a lack of career enhancement opportunities and a perceived lack of interest in women’s sports from newspaper readers.” As stated previously, most individuals who are getting the newspaper solely for the sports section likely care little or not at all about any women’s sports. It’s unfortunate, but that is how many individuals are programmed. However I think if done right and with great ability, writers can receive career enhancement if they cover women’s sports. It just will likely take more time and more precision and accuracy on the part of the reporter.

An interesting piece to come from the report is when Kian mentions, “But when asked to specifically name their favorite sports to follow as fans or to report on, all six also named primarily men’s sports, supporting the notion of a masculine hegemonic sports world.”

For Kian to make the statement about this information supporting the notion of a masculine hegemonic sports world is ludicrous. If we were to poll thousands, beyond thousands, of people as to what their favorite sports to follow as a fan were it would likely be without female sports in the top-five. It’s unfortunate, but true. Most of the time it has to do with revenue, TV productions, and the fact that many individuals fail to find women’s sports appealing. The only sport that seems to attract consistent male audiences is female tennis. This too is unfortunate because it is primarily for reasons other than pure talent and ability. Most men, although will not admit it, watch female tennis for two reasons which are the attractiveness and lack of clothing as well as the grunting or rather moaning from the women.

Kian also quotes one of his veteran reporters given the name Shelly Smith as she says, “It may still have something to do with some in society being sexist and thinking that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, which is sad and horrible to even say those words, because I obviously don’t believe that.” This is perhaps true, however as mentioned before most men do not find women’s sports to be entertaining and exciting unless it involves the sexualization of the athletes. By sexualization I mean perhaps exploiting the women into which the attention is focused more on her looks and appeal rather than her talent and skill.

Two final notes I would like to make as asides while wrapping things up. First, Kian does this intermittently but mostly refers to the debate as sex rather than gender. We should clarify that although sexist is correct as well as sexual innuendos and jokes are, referring to the issue as a sex issue is incorrect. Sex is an activity, whereas gender describes topics referring to one as male and female. Another aside is to mention what is found in a sports section in a daily newspaper, at least with the Philadelphia Daily News. Of course there are the average columns, game summaries, statistics and standings, as well as feature pieces. However there are also many ads for either strip clubs and or phone sex lines or adult DVD stores. Take it for what you like, but perhaps this could be a way of sports attempting to preserve the so-called male dominance over women. Or it could be of coincidence where the paper is taking advantage of advertising revenue by appealing to their large male audience.

 

 

As for a topic to research for the paper, I was thinking of taking a look at the recent tsunami to hit Japan and their response through sports such as Japan’s Women’s National Team winning the World Cup as well as how baseball went about bringing strength back to Japan. However, I think this may be difficult when it comes to finding primary sources. Two reasons being that it is relatively recent and secondly I’m not so certain they will be in English.