The WNBA's new marketing strategy

By: Sara Gwin

Posted: 5/12/08

I saw a story last week that absolutely shocked me.

It left me sad, angered and frustrated with the status of women in this country.

On May 3, the Chicago Tribune's Shannon Ryan reported that the Women's National Basketball Association began to offer rookies lessons in makeup and fashion as another attempt to increase viewership.

It is a sad reality that men can be flat out accepted for their athletic ability whereas women have always been judged by their physical appearance.

There is a history of female athletes marketing their sexuality for popularity: Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, Amanda Beard, Jennie Finch and Danica Patrick. But now we are starting to see the WNBA pander to the interests of men.

Susan Ziegler, a professor of sports psychology at Cleveland State points out, "Once you begin to worry about how the person looks as opposed to how she plays, you've crossed the line into dangerous play … we're not really focused on marketing them as athletes but as feminine objects."

The timing of all of this is quite interesting.

Candace Parker, a versatile forward out of University of Tennessee, was the top pick in the draft. I've been following her career since 2004; when at age 17, she became the first female to win the slam dunk contest at the McDonald's High School All-American game. She beat out five male competitors to win, two of which went on to participate in the National Basketball Association's version with one taking the crown.

She is also the only two-time winner for USA Today's Player of the Year.

In her time at Tennessee, she was the Southeastern Conference Rookie of the Year in 2006, SEC Tournament MVP and was a Kodak All-American - a rare feat for a freshman.

After the season, Parker went on to be the only college player selected for the 2006 USA squad in the International Basketball Federation World Championship. She became the first woman to dunk in a college game and tournament game.

In 2007, she won the SEC Player of the Year title after leading her team to a National Championship and winning the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.

This past year, she carried her team to another national championship and won another Most Outstanding Player award.

Parker is one of the most jaw-dropping, amazing players - gender aside - on the basketball scene today. Her outstanding talent has led many to believe she would revolutionize women's basketball by drawing in that much-needed audience.

Adidas' head of global public relations for basketball, Travis Gonzalez says she is, "probably the best female player ever," but then goes on to say, "On the other side, she's an attractive girl. She's a beautiful young lady and she has a savvy sense of fashion."

We are talking about Candace Parker - whose numerous awards, accolades and unprecedented talent apparently isn't enough to just sell her as an athlete - the fact that she is a beautiful woman is still important for marketing her.

But let's get back to the WNBA.

In defense of this new marketing direction, the vice president of player personnel, Renee Brown, stated:

"You're a woman first. You just happen to play sports. They enjoy dressing up and trying on outfits, where back in the day, everyone just wore sweats. Call it what you want. We're just celebrating their womanhood."

So what is her definition of "womanhood?" It sounds a lot like she is suggesting true womanhood is the adherence to traditional gender roles. So these women will break their role as woman to become athletic like men, but then return to their natural "womanhood," which consists of makeup and fashion?

And for the women in the league who aren't that into wearing makeup or being fashionistas - on top of their extensive training - they will have to step it up in the feminine department to better the image of the WNBA.

What they are getting at here is that "womanhood" is their sexual availability to men.

As Ziegler points out, "Number one is, of course, the need for the image of WNBA players to be seen as real women. That comes from the lesbian homophobia that surrounds women in sports in general."

Athletic ability is something that is considered a masculine trait, and with the stereotypical understanding of what it means to be homosexual, masculine women are assumed to be lesbian just like feminine men who are assumed to be gay. Coming out, or even being perceived as gay, can kill any professional sports career.

Billie Jean King lost everything when she came out and showed lesbians and women athletes in general that they were on dangerous ground.

For women in sports, there seems to be a line drawn that they shouldn't cross. They have semi-recently been allowed the leeway to enter into some parts of the hyper-masculine world of sports, but they better prove that they can be feminine (and at least seemingly heterosexual) outside of that to be accepted.

Women's sports are still devalued despite the work of the feminist movement and the passage of Title IX, which significantly opened doors for women in sports (among other things). The rules and regulations are in place, but society is lagging behind.

The WNBA is still struggling for a following. The athletes are paid substantially less than any man in the NBA. They also often spend much of the offseason in various leagues overseas which has shown to be costly on some athletes' bodies - like Lauren Jackson of the Seattle Storm (but that is a topic that could fill its own column).

They are seen as a failure in comparison to the successful NBA, yet as my dad always tells me, the NBA took much longer to find a following and NBA teams shouldn't be so quick to drop their WNBA counterparts (like Portland did).

It is depressing that the WNBA has resorted to this kind of marketing strategy, but what is more depressing is the social construction and perception of what it means to be female and male in activities that break the fictitious gender binary. Until women are seen as equals and can be respected whether they bake or play ball, women's sports will always be seen in a different light than men's.

I will be watching the WNBA this season because I love basketball, and I cannot wait to see what Parker will bring to this league.

Perhaps with extraordinary players like Parker, Jackson, Diana Taurasi, Lisa Leslie, Tamika Catchings and others, it may not matter what you tune in for; their talent can captivate an audience.

Sara Gwin is a junior in psychology and women studies. The opinions expressed in her columns do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Barometer staff. Gwin can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.