Brittney Griner, Race, and Media Coverage By: Tony Hamilton

When it comes to articles regarding Brittney Griner and how she is presented by the media and its consumers, race was a factor in how they presented her.  As David J. Leonard says in his “Eye Candy and Sex Objects” article, much like the Williams sisters, Brittney Griner and other African American female athletes are framed by the media in a way that construes their athletic bodies as masculine.  The consumers and customers of this media as well then play into this narrative, as the article goes on to describe how these consumers of this media perpetuate the notion of African American female athletes as masculine.  They look at YouTube comments from clips of Brittney Griner’s basketball career; the first is of her dunking, where comments like “that’s a big b*tch” and “when did the NCAA start letting dudes play on the girls teams” as well as other comments referencing her as masculine are written by the viewing audience.  
            They also look into YouTube comments made under a clip in which Brittney Griner punches an opponent, with quotes such as “and apparently fights like one (a man) too; that cold-cock on the Texas Tech gal was strictly a punk move”.  The article goes on to discuss how this, too, is a way of reaffirming dominant narratives in online media of African American female athletes being described with a “thug demeanor”.

            In another article on Gradient Lair, the author comments on a New York Times article on why Brittney Griner coming out did not get a lot of media attention.  In the New York Times article by Sam Borden, he discusses how the main reason Brittney Griner coming out was not a big deal in regards to media coverage was because she was a female, and if it was male it would have been a much bigger deal.  However, the Gradient Lair article references how the media constructs African American female athletes as masculine; it explains how the media and public in general took these negative stereotypes of African American female athletes and just assumed that she was probably a lesbian, causing the lack of media coverage as “everyone already knew” she was gay.

            While race was part of the narrative constructed by the media for Brittney Griner, it seemed based on the articles researched for this project that her gender roles and sexuality were the main components used to frame Griner’s “media persona”.

Sources:

1. Borden, Sam.  “Female Sports Star Comes Out As Gay and Sports World Shrugs”.  April 18, 2013.http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/sports/ncaabasketball/brittney-griner-comes-out-and-sports-world-shrugs.html?_r=1&

2. “Brittney Griner and Race, Gender, Sexuality and Sports”.  April 22^nd, 2013. http://www.gradientlair.com/post/48635271572/brittney-griner-rules-bow-down

3. Leonard, David J. “Eye Candy and Sex Objects”. p. 111-121.

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