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“No wrong way to be a woman”: media coverage of Serena Williams as a mother

2023; Taylor & Francis; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14680777.2023.2263656

1471-5902

Carolina Velloso,

Gender Roles and Identity Studies

ABSTRACTThis study interrogates media representations of tennis player Serena Williams during the five-month period between her first official match and her first Grand Slam tournament after giving birth. Grounded in literature on coverage of Black athletes, athlete mothers, and Black mothers, a qualitative critical discourse analysis of news articles (n = 61) between December 17 and June 2018 shows that Williams received mostly positive media coverage upon her return to the professional tour. In contrast to previous representations of Williams as "Other" in tennis on account of her position as a Black woman, journalists afforded Williams some of the framing benefits usually exclusive to white athletes and mothers. This study advances academic literature on the intersections of race and gender in sport and (Black) athlete motherhood by demonstrating how motherhood has altered representations of Serena Williams's race and gender in media coverage, subverting traditional representations of her Black female body but emphasizing hegemonic ideals of (white) motherhood.KEYWORDS: Serena Williamsmotherhoodracegenderrepresentation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsCarolina VellosoCarolina Velloso is a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Minnesota. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She researches at the intersection of gender, race and identity in journalism, with particular interests in the professional experiences of women and minority journalists and the representation of women and minorities in news media. She has published scholarship in several leading journals and presented at conferences including those of the International Communication Association (ICA) and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). From the latter, she has won top paper awards in the History, Critical/Cultural Studies, Graduate Education, and Minorities and Communication Divisions; the History Division's Diversity in Journalism History Research Award; and the Media Ethics Division's Professional Relevance Award.