Dit is ’n goedgedokumenteerde feit dat stereotipering van sportvroue allerlei skadelike gevolge vir hierdie vroue het: professioneel en fisiek sowel as geestelik en emosioneel. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die aard en intensiteit van gendersubjektiwiteit in die visuele afbeeldings van sportvroue in die tydskrif SA Sports Illustrated te beskryf, en om aan te toon dat ’n kritiese, visueel-grammatiese analise belangrike waarde het om dominante ideologieë uit te wys en te bestry. Kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe ondersoekmetodes is gebruik, te wete ʼn kritiese diskoersanalise deur gebruikmaking van elemente van Kress&Van Leeuwen (1996) se visuele grammatika, en ’n vraelysondersoek wat sportmans- en sportvroue se persepsies toets oor stereotipering in dieselfde datakorpus. ’n Model is in matriksformaat opgestel waarin die belangrikste dimensies of subkonstrukte van stereotipering geïdentifiseer is en gekoppel is aan visueel uitbeeldbare eienskappe van sportvroue (konstrukeieneskappe). Daarna is visueel-grammatiese elemente geïdentifiseer wat reëlmatig in sportfoto’s as tekens optree om die konstrukeienskappe te vergestalt. Die kritiese analise het behels dat die navorser ’n steekproef van 13 foto’s van sportvroue uitgebreid beskryf volgens die model. Vervolgens is ’n vraelys opgestel ten einde vas te stel in welke mate sportstudente se persepsies oor stereotipering ooreenstem met die bevindinge van die navorser op grond van haar kritiese analise. Die vraelysitems is geformuleer deur relevante konstrukeienskappe in die formaat van likertskale by elke foto te operasionaliseer. Die bevinding van die kritiese analise, gebaseer op die visuele grammatika (met gebruikmaking van hoofsaaklik vektor-analise) was dat vyf van die 13 foto’s (38.5%) sportvroue ‘positief stereotipeer’, dit wil sê as ATLETIES. In die oorblywende agt foto’s (61.5%) word die sportvrou deur middel van die foto negatief gestereotipeer, onderskeidelik as HOMOSEKSUEEL, MODEL, VERLOORDER en SEKSOBJEK. Die resultate van die vraelysondersoek ondersteun die kritiese analise tot ’n hoë mate, deurdat die respondente se oordeel in bykans 75% van die gevalle met dié van die navorser ooreenstem: in al die gevalle waarby die navorser se analise positiewe stereotipering uitgewys het, het die respondente se antwoorde ook op ’n uitbeelding as ATLETIES gedui, en by sewe uit die agt foto’s wat deur die navorser as negatief stereotiperend beskou is, het die response van die sportstudente ook negatiewe stereotipes gekonstrueer. Die respondente se oordeel oor negatiewe stereotipering het in gemiddeld 69% van die gevalle ooreengestem met die navorser se kategorisering. Die konstrukeienskap ‘liggaamsbou’ (77.4%) het die grootste bydrae gelewer tot respondente se identifisering van negatiewe stereotipering van die sportvrou, gevolg deur die uitbeelding van ‘kleredrag’ (75%). Die wyse waarop die sportvrouens se ‘liggaamshouding’ (61%) en ‘gesigsuitdrukking’ (60.5%) uitgebeeld is, het ook ’n beduidende invloed gehad op die negatiewe stereotipering. Die belangrikste gevolgtrekkings wat uit die studie gemaak kan word, is dat sportvroue oorwegend negatief gestereotipeer word in SA Sports Illustrated, en dat ’n visuele grammatika belangrike heuristiese waarde het om die eienskappe van visuele subjektiwiteit in visuele uitbeeldings van sportvroue in die media te identifiseer. Sodoende kan skadelike mediadiskoerse ontmasker word.
English: It is a well-documented fact that the stereotyping of sportswomen has various negative effects on these women, professionally and physically, as well as mentally and emotionally. The purpose of this study was to describe the nature and intensity of gender subjectivity in the visual portrayal of sportswomen in the SA Sports Illustrated-magazine, and to determine the value of a critical, visual-grammatical analysis in identifying and opposing dominant ideologies. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed, namely a critical discourse analysis drawing on elements from Kress&Van Leeuwen’s (1996) visual grammar, as well as a questionnaire survey testing how sportsmen and women themselves perceived the occurrence of stereotyping within the same body of data. The most important subconstructs of stereotyping (construct dimensions) were identified and linked to visually measurable qualities in sportswomen (construct qualities). Thereafter, visual-grammatical elements regularly occurring in sports photographs were identified as visual signs embodying these construct qualities. The critical analysis required the researcher to extensively describe a test sample of 13 photographs of sportswomen according to the visual-grammatical elements in question. A questionnaire was subsequently drafted with the purpose of establishing to what extent sport students’ perceptions of stereotyping agree with the researcher’s findings based on her critical analysis. The questionnaire items were formulated by operationalising the relevant construction elements in the form of likert scales accompanying every photograph. What the critical analysis found, based on the visual grammar (incorporating mainly vector analysis) was that five of the 13 photographs (38.5%) ‘positively stereotype’ sportswomen, that is, as ATHLETIC. In the remaining eight photographs (61.5%) the sportswoman, as depicted in the photograph, is negatively stereotyped, either as HOMOSEXUAL, MODEL, LOSER or SEX OBJECT. The results of the questionnaire survey to a high degree support the critical analysis, to the extent that the evaluations of the respondents agree with that of the researcher in almost 75% of the cases: in those cases where the researcher’s analysis pointed out examples of positive stereotyping, the respondents’ answers also evaluated the portrayals as ATHLETIC, and with seven of the eight photographs that the researcher categorised as examples of negative stereotyping, the respondents’ reactions constructed negative stereotypes as well. In an average of 69% of the cases, the respondents’ judgement on negative stereotyping agreed with the researcher’s categorisation. The construction element ‘build’ (77.4%) played the most significant role in respondents’ identification of negative stereotyping of the sportswoman, followed by the depiction of ‘dress’ (75%). The way in which sportswomen’s ‘body posture’ (61%) and ‘facial expression’ (60.5%) were portrayed, also had a significant influence on negative stereotyping. The most important conclusions that could be drawn from this study, were that sportswomen are predominantly stereotyped negatively in SA Sports Illustrated, and that a visual grammar has important heuristic value in identifying the qualities of visual subjectivity in visual portrayals of sportswomen in the media. In doing so, harmful media discourses can be exposed.
