WNBA Comparison- Gene Csakany

To start, I was on a plane last Tuesday, heading back home to New Jersey.  Instead of just looking at the slides to see what we discussed and having an opinion about it, when I was not there seemed kind of foolish, so instead I would like to talk about the final presentation.  My group had a very interesting theme that we followed and that was the WNBA vs. NBA.  We compared basically everything there is to compare with the two leagues.  The differences among them are far from comprehendible.  There simply is not one statistical figure that is anywhere near each other in regards to the two league, yet many people think it is unfair that the WNBA is not televised or earning more money.  The games were found to be less exciting in our research, the salaries were know where near  each other, and the attendance was so far off as well.  When looking specifically at the salaries, most would say that it is typical women make less than men for doing the same thing, but that is not the case here.  Although both basketball, the WNBA and NBA are two completely different professional leagues and the game is played in two totally different ways.  Also the WNBA has such a significantly lower net worth that some NBA teams could nearly buy out the entire WNBA league.  It is expected that when attendance is so low, players should be paid less.  When attendance averages more than double in the NBA, why wouldn’t those players get paid more?  Granted some of their pay is outrageous to the common person like you or I, but plain and simple the sports are way too different in nearly every aspect to be compared fairly.

The End of Gary Bettman

This blog has nothing to do with transgender athletes or any gender issue at all.  This blog is about the ongoing lockout that the National Hockey League is going through, and what has been a way to common occurrence under the commissioner Gary Bettman.  Bettman has overseen three lockouts now since he took over as commissioner in 1993 after he left the NBA; as he served under David Stern, who is a questionable commissioner himself.  Bettman has supposedly taken the NHL to new heights in regards to revenue, but that is a bunch of crap.  He has single handedly saturated the league with unnecessary expansion teams, not to mention the labor disputes that he has helped use to bully small market teams time and time again.  He has put NHL teams in markets like Columbus, Nashville, Carolina, Florida (Miami and Tampa), Phoenix, and created a team based off of a Disney movie (the Mighty Ducks) who have no place to succeed financially.  Bettman has put teams in cities such as these to create a fallback during labor disputes to pad his pockets because the owners of these teams cannot oppose what the majority of owners say because their teams have very little pull due to being small players in a large financial game.  Phoenix is owned by the NHL and cannot draw fans to their games even though they are somewhat successful; a team does not belong in the southwestern portion of America; let alone the Grand Canyon.  Put that team in Canada Bettman; where it belongs.  Fire Bettman, and this is the end of my rant.

Go Rangers! And lets play some hockey.

Derek Zyski

Kye Allums

In class last week we talked about transgender athletes and among them mentioned was Kye Allums. He is a transgendered male who currently plays on George Washington University woman’s basketball team. Allums is considered a transgendered male because he has female parts but feels as if he should have been born male with male parts. He is 21 years old and he is totally public about his sexuality. He is dedicated to winning and helping out the team win as much as possible. In his pursuit of this he hopes to inspire other transgendered people to come out and not be afraid to be who they really are. Kye feels like a man does, both emotionally and mentally. He is attracted to other females, which for most teams that might cause some tension but since the other players have been playing with her since the beginning they are alright with it. His plan once his eligibility at GW is up is to have testosterone treatments and surgery to have male parts. Allums original plan was to open up after the eligibility was up but due to remarks from others that were calling him “her” and a “girl” was too much for Kye to take anymore. He felt like he was living a lie so he had to come clean and tell everyone how he really felt. Since coming out his coach has embraced him and treated him no different than he did before.

The question of conflict here is whether or not he should be allowed to play on the woman’s team if he is a male? If he was born a male then there would be no question on if he could play on the woman’s team, it would obviously be no. Let’s say there was a male, born with male parts, but was transgendered female so he felt like he should be a female. Would he be allowed to play on a woman’s team or should he have to play on the men’s team? What are your thoughts? Should Kye Allums be playing on the woman’s basketball team?

 

 

BY: RJ Hefflinger

Richard Raskind to Renee Richards

In Tuesday's class we talked about transsexuality in sports. The main athlete we discussed was Renee Richards, formerly known as Richard Raskind. Richards was an optometrist who also became very active in Women's tennis after her sex reassignment surgery. There was controversy over whether or not Richards should be allowed to compete against other women, as she was genetically born a male. Even though Richards was born a male, after the surgery, she was physically a female, having gone through all the surgical procedures and even undergoing hormonal therapy. The question, Should she have been allowed to play in Women's Tennis was brought up in class. I think that she should be allowed. She underwent the hard process of becoming a female and she was physically female. Many critics believed having previous been a male gave her a strength advantage, as her muscle build was primarily male. I think what made the difference was the hormone treatment. Richards even stated that she had experienced a loss of strength from her hormone treatment in her defense. I believe that the authorities made the right decision in allowing her to play. She was a physically a woman and this was the body she was comfortable in. Granted, there might have been a slight advantage strength wise, but I do not think this should have prevented her from being able to play in the women's league.
In class we also watched a Youtube clip of Renee being interviewed by ESPN right before the airing of her 30 for 30 television special. In the interview she stated how she loved tennis, but it is not what she wanted to be remembered for. She did so many other things in her life successfully like optometry and golf that almost no one bothered to pay attention to. She also talked about how she wishes she hadn't even entered the tennis world, as the scrutiny and fight to play were not worth it to her. I feel bad that this is how Renee looks back on her tennis career. She was a good tennis player, but some people just could not get passed the fact that she was transsexual. Renee put up a good fight for herself, and she was successful. Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where they ruled her biologically a female, allowing her to play in the women's league. It is just sad that Renee Richards has this outlook on her career, and that not many people know the extent of her abilities past tennis since this got the most publicity.

Jennifer Zoellick

Homosexual Support/Religious Scrutiny

Over the course of this class, we have been talking about very controversial things. Topics such as homosexuality, race, and etc. are conversations that have been very popular recently, but something that has not been touched is religion. Revealing your religion in sports is almost as dangerous as revealing your sexuality. Once you reveal your religion you are placed under constant scrutiny from the media, and immediately held to a higher standard.

Let's take a look at my favorite professional athlete, Tim Tebow. Tim has been very strong in his faith throughout his career, and also has been very vocal about it as well. Because of this he not only has been scrutinized he also has been forced to live his life under a microscope. This is not only unfair, but it also shows how pathetic our society is today. We talk about supporting gay rights and other very controversial issues like this in society, but when something like this happens it is frowned upon. It is not only sad, but it is almost pathetic! Our media keeps discussing issues such as we need someone to come out in athletics that is gay to give younger generations someone to look up to. Well in my opinion, this is a backwards situation. Tim Tebow is a man that I would be proud to have my kids look up to and lives his life in a way that each of us should respect. I don't understand how he gets torn apart in the media and is the but of almost every joke because he is a strong religious leader, and people who live their life in "sin" are being supported to come out. I just wanted to show what a backwards society we live in, and point out a controversial issue that has been brushed under the rug so many times in todays society.

Supported Vs. Scrutiny

                 

Fear of the Gay Athlete- Gene Csakany

During most of last week we spoke about gay athletes, more specifically, gay professional athletes, or lack thereof.  This is even more evident in male sports, and that’s what’s most interesting because in female athletics today, it is not that big of a deal if a female comes out, but if a male comes out, all hell breaks loose.  This is mostly because of the degree of masculinity associated with male sports.  People want to be referred to as a, “beast”, “animal” or “warrior”, but no male in sports wants to be affiliated with the negative connotation associated with being gay.  Being gay in sports has been associated basically with a disease.  As terrible as that sounds, it is one hundred percent true, especially in the locker room setting.  All men who have been involved with athletics knows what is said and talked about in the male locker room, and to throw someone who is gay into that situation just would not work out.  This is why many athletes that are gay, come out after their playing careers.  They will be isolated to themselves, or quarantined as if gay was truly a disease.  Many popular athletes have said that they do not think it would be a big deal and they would not treat them differently if they came out.  That is what you are “suppose” to say, not many people really know exactly what they would do because it honestly has not happen, and if it has it has been covered up very well.  It goes to show that while race and gender in sports may be breaching the gap between being separated or causing a problem; but being gay still has not been understood and accepted in athletics, more specifically male athletics. 

Fear of the Gay Athlete- Gene Csakany

The Announcement- Jeff Hardin

On November 7th, 1991 the sports world would forever be changed by a future NBA legend, a press conference, and three words: HIV. Magic Johnson was the point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and beloved by so many people around the country, he was a very popular figure in sports at the time and one of the top players in the NBA. He won five NBA titles, NBA Finals MVP three times, and league MVP three times. Magic Johnson had a successful career up until the 7th of November when his career would forever be changed, on the November 7th, 1991 Magic Johnson held a press conference and made an announcement that shocked many people, Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive and that he would be retiring from the NBA immediately. Many people were shocked and heart broken at the fact that one of the most popular athletes in the world had a disease that he would probably die from; a lot of people wanted to know where and how did he get it and later on after the press conference he said that he had slept with a lot of different women while on the road for basketball games and that he never used any protection. At the time HIV/AIDS was looked at as the gay man's disease that only gay people could get it, or people who shared needles could get it but people were wrong. Magic explained to many people that anybody can get this disease that it doesn't matter if you are gay or straight or whatever, there aren't any exceptions to this disease. Magic Johnson begin to promote aids awareness and speak to people about the disease and discuss ways to prevent you from catching the disease; Magic Johnson would not let this disease hold him back. During the time of NBA All-Star game Magic Johnson came back to play in which would be regarded as one of his greatest games and led the western conference to a victory and was the game's MVP. Soon afterwards he would become apart of which many consider to be the greatest basketball team in the history of the sport the "Dream Team" this Olympic basketball team consisted of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and Clyde Drexler. With the unbelievable team they would dominate every team in the Olympics that year and take home gold medals. Magic Johnson came back to the NBA and played one last season and would retire for good in 1996. Magic Johnson had an amazing career filled with triumphs and tribulations and he was able to overcome the backlash he got from his announcement that he was HIV positive and have an amazing career and accomplish so much during his time in the NBA. He was one of the greatest players to ever play in the NBA but more importantly he was a role model to so many that showed that no matter what happens in your life or obstacles you may face you can overcome them and live your dreams just like he did his.

The Ideal Fighter

By: Ryan Hetrick

In the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, to those who don't know, is an extremely physical and obviously combative sport. The interesting thing to me when talking about the UFC is the greatest fighters of all time and even champions in the UFC currently. The statement can be made for the UFC as being a "soft-muscled" sport. Although many fighters are in prime physical condition, it is not needed to be considered a great fighter. In the first picture below is Fedor Emelianenko. He is considered by most websites, fans, and even President of the UFC, Dana White, to be the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. With a record of 34-4, going undefeated over the cross of ten years, a case can be made for Fedor as the greatest fighter to ever live. For most of his career he was in good physical condition, but he is obviously not an apparent muscular guy. 

In the next picture below is current Middleweight champion of the world, Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva is considered by most to be the greatest fighter in UFC history and many people would go farther than that and dub him as the greatest fighter ever to live. He does have some more tone than Fedor, but if you saw him at a beach, one would not think of him as one of the greatest fighters ever. 

Now below, is Brock Lesnar whom most people know from his pro wrestling career. He had a brief stint in the UFC but was cut down by injuries and his inabilities to recover from a punch. He is in the same weightclass as Fedor, but is not consider to be even a top five heavyweight ever.

Rousimar Palhares is my muscular example from the middleweight division. While he is known for his physical strength and bone crushing submissions, he has never been able to enter the top ten rankings of fighters in his weightclass. 

As you can as see, in the UFC, the muscular build of a fighter does not determine skill level. The UFC in my opinion, can very easily be considered as a soft muscled sport because of the lack of physically intimidating champions/legends of the sport. 

Group Review: Advertisements in Men vs. Women's fitness magazines

Terrance, Tim, Turea, Sparkle & Stephanie

In comparing muscle to fitness magazines, there were some similarities but a large amount of differences between the advertising in men's and women's magazines. With separate target markets, ads appeal to their associated male or female user, specifically with categorized schemes.

In the Men's Fitness magazine we found that most advertisements were aimed at meeting the needs of body technologies, and only a few found adornments of the body advertised. Within the Shape, women's magazine the number of ads in total were much higher to the men's magazine and conversely targeted adornment of the body and also other marketing ploys not found in men's magazine advertising.

Multiple specific schemes found in the Men's Fitness magazine included a campaign placing the reader as inferior, marketing a supplement for success. The camera angles up towards the model, making the reader see him as an authority figure. With a look of intensity on his face he exudes aggression and dominance (relative to the use of the marketed product). An opposing marketing strategy was typical of the women's magazine by placing the reader on a more even camera angle as the models, yet still somewhat inferior and with more of a promise toward "sexy" transformation. Seeking a desired look, and finding it through programs, products, or lifestyles was an eager advertising ploy in the women's magazine.

One aspect that was found in the men's magazine and not seen at all in the women's was the ideal of hegemonic masculinity. This works with a different type of marketing tool, by emphasizing masculinity and dominance. The ad we found showed a product that is a "must use" to look good, be fit, and attract the opposite sex. The man displayed in the ad stood with confidence and his physique lead consumers to believe the product increased his social stature as well.

We also noted that some ads in the women's magazines had little or no merit when it came to fitness or health. Such as travel destinations, car ads, or even advertised airlines. These lend us belief that feminine and masculine traditional roles are still seen in advertisement, even when it doesn't necessarily relate to the context of the overall magazine.

Comparing Two Teams - Wes Gates

Last week in class we talked about the difference between men's and women's ice hockey and events that went along with each sport.  First off let me say that the Summit Series of 1978 was more important to hockey than the USA winning a gold medal in 1980.  The summit series featured the Soviet national team against team Canada.  This was important because the two countries both claimed to have the best hockey in the world and essentially the series settled it.  Though there was a lot of controversy involved, team Canada won and probably shaped hockey into how it is today.

The discussion was also brought up about the Canadian women's national team winning a gold medal and being shunned for celebrating on the ice in an empty arena.  I personally believe this is mostly about gender and not the events that occurred.  In 2011 Russia won the World Junior Championship, arguably one of the biggest hockey events annually.  The event took place in the United States and Russia emerged victorious over Canada.  Scheduled to depart for home the next day, the entire team was booted from their airplane for unruly behavior.  The team had been out all night prior celebrating and were still under the influence.  The following link goes into more detail about the events occured.  Players had to be carried into the airport, honking the bus horn, struggling to get out of the bus, among other things.  The coaches and trainers went onto the ice an hour and a half after the game to drink crown royal and pose for pictures.  The team went to a local bar after the game and was also drinking there.  It is pretty crazy they also decided to wear their jerseys.  Someone at the bar snapped some footage.

The kicker about this incident is that no player on the team was over the age of 20.  It sounds errily similar to the Canadian women's national team celebrating but the Russian story barely hit the news.  If this instance isn't an example of gender playing a major role in today's society, I don't know what is.  I strongly suggest you check out the article as it is entertaining and even jaw-dropping at times.  The event was so similar to what we discussed in class but chances are many of you haven't heard about it.  Do you think gender played a role in this story being less popular than the Canadian women's?

Maintaining Feminity For Female Athletes -Gene Csakany

I thought our discussions in last Tuesday and Thursday’s classes were very interesting.  We briefly started to talk about hockey and the “Lebron James” of the NHL, in Sidney Crosby.  We touched on the fact that like Lebron, Crosby is regarded as the best player in his sport, but many people do not like him and attach many negative characteristics with him personally as well as his playing ability.  But this still was not the most interesting part of the discussion when we talked about hockey.  The Canadian Women’s hockey team won gold at the 2010 Olympics and celebrated in a very interesting way.  They proceeded to drink beer and smoke cigars on the ice, and it was said it was a big deal only because of the fact that supposedly an underage team member was seen drinking alcohol.  That clearly was not the problem.  In our society women are basically required to maintain a certain level of femininity to be seen as a female athlete.  If the men’s team won gold and celebrated like this, it most likely would not be a big deal because men are typically stereotyped with drinking beer and smoking cigars.  Women are “suppose” to be classy and not partake in that type of celebration even though their team victory was clearly something to celebrate.  We then went into further detail on Thursday’s class and while in groups we concluded that many females feel the need to wear “skimpy” clothing in magazines or show more skin in general in order to maintain that feminine persona and not be given a negative connotation for being a female athlete.  Unless it is illegal, not many people give male athletes the same negative connotations for anything they do on or off the playing field.  Men are supposed to play sports in our society and be “manly” and tough.  But it is interesting that when women play, they have to fight obstacles of femininity just because of outsider perception.  

Maintaining Femininity in Female Sports

During class on Thursday, we discussed how women have to uphold a feminine image in sports and try to present themselves as women first and athletes second. After hearing this it made me do a lot of thinking on the truthfulness of this fact, so I began to do a little research in regards to this with BGSU Athletics. I figured Bowling Green may be a small portion of the sporting world by being a mid-major Division 1 school, but something that can verify this suggestion.

So as I was sitting in the office the other day, I began to look around and view the team photos for the men and women's teams here at Bowling Green State University. By seeing these I was able to compare and see the feminine image being upheld first hand.

In the men's team photo, the men have a look of intensity on their face. This shows a competitive nature and something that men's athletics thrives on! This look of competition can be intimidating and is used to intimidate the competition of the team and viewers. Some believe smiling in a team photo shows weakness! Even if you look at the coaches and staff in the back, only the women are smiling! This is also showing that even women coaches have to be feminine in their image towards the team.

Now comparing the men's image to the women's is what was surprising to me. As you take a look at the image, you will notice all of the girls have their hair and makeup done. I don't know about you, but I think it would be kinda hard to play a sport like basketball with your hair straightened and make up done. Another thing to take a look at is, everyone of the players is smiling. This is showing a welcoming nature and a sense of warmth. This does not give a look of competition, but instead a look of warmth. The last topic I am gonna bring up is the coaches facial features in the background. In the men's image, the coaches were stern and intense, but in this image the coaches are smiling just as much as the players. This again, makes the viewer feel more welcome and also gives a sense of fun and not so much competition.

It was crazy for me to see so much of a difference in something as small as a team picture. These team pictures are for the same sport as well, I can't even imagine comparing a sport like cheerleading with a sport like football. The differences would most likely be overwhelming and be even more influential on the topic. I am interested to see what everyone else has to say about this topic, and look forward to seeing the comments about this discussion.

By Nathan Riley

Magazine Group Activity- Jeff, Lori, Nate, Junho

For our group activity we were told to look at different ads that were placed in fitness magazines and for each of those ads we had to figure out which category that each ad represented and also look at the similarities between male and female fitness magazines. The magazine we chose to examine was the fitness magazine Shape which was the August 2008 issue and for the first category Dietary supplements we were able to find that shape magazine had about 14% of ads that had to do with dietary or ads that had dietary in them. We also found that shape magazine had some food ads in it as well, we found about 27% of food ads in that magazine which we found kind off odd because in a fitness magazine you don't think that they would have any food ads in them just ads about fitness or ads helping to maintain a certain body image that people think they need. We also found two ads that had dealt with body equipment we found that very odd as well because you would think they would have more body equipment ads in the magazine as well. We found 6% of clothing ads in the magazine and the highest percentage of ads we found in the magazine which was cosmetics which came to 28%; I don't think they should really put cosmetics into a fitness magazine because it doesn't fit with the purpose of the magazine at all. I don't see how any type of cosmetics will help you stay fit, it will help you with facial features but I don't see how it will help you in fitness. Also some of the themes in the magazines where odd too which were directed towards the women, many of the ads encouraged women to prevent or fight wrinkles or signs of aging. Also they promote eating healthy for women which is a popular ad in women's magazines. In conclusion we were able to find that in women's magazines they bring light on women on their physical appearance and focus on their facial appearance more so than trying to help them stay fit.

Magazine Group Activity

I have never really looked through any magazines like we did in class so I was surprised to see the amount of ads in them. In the male magazine, 82.3% of the ads were of dietary supplements which are a crazy amount of them. If I was on a advertising team for one of these supplements I would put my add in all the men’s magazines I could. Coming in second place in the ad count with 11.4% was knowledge systems which makes sense. It is always good to know different workouts or methods to try to work out differently that way the gym does not get boring. The men’s magazine also had some equipment and food advertisements but only accounted for a little over 6% of the magazine. In most of the ads in this magazine they used the theme of positioning the reader as inferior.

In the women’s magazine there was a big difference in the amount of ads placed in it. Dietary supplements only contributed 1.9% of the ads and knowledge systems had 13.2% of the total ads. The majority of the ads were places under the categories of adornment and display of the body. Cosmetics were the main portion of this having 30.2% of the ads and clothes were at 16%. I can definitely see why these advertisements would be put in the magazine, but I am surprised that one of those categories weren’t the highest of them. The other category was the highest with 37% of the ads. The ads included in this category were vehicles and food mainly. Our group found a common theme in a lot of these and we titled it beauty.

There are huge differences in what each magazine is trying to get across to the readers. In the women’s magazine all the girls were smiling and acting like they were having the time of their lives wearing the shoes, make-up, shirts, shampoo and anything the ad was trying sell. This is more of a fun loving and cute way of getting across the ads to the readers. In the men’s magazine the guys are all jacked and intimidating; trying to convey the message, hey if you use this supplement you will look like me and have this inferior look as well to people. These are 2 totally different methods to take when advertising however they both are effective. It just goes to show the differences in mind set between male and females.

The ideal image of a person’s body is definitely evident in these magazines, and they are on different ends of the spectrum. The male body portrayed in the magazine is super muscular, tipping the point of extreme. It is the idea of you cannot get big enough, as long it is with muscle, so that they appear dominant to other males. Some males look fake because of the extreme muscle mass of their bodies. On the other hand the female body that was so repetitive in the ads was very small and skinny. They were tone but no muscles were popping out or none of them were trying to flex to show off what they had. Most of the ads were just trying to catch the models having fun with their item of advertisement, not really showing off their body, but their smile.

By: RJ Hefflinger

Magazine comparison

By: Kevin  Meyers, Mason VM, Josiah Blevins, Marlin Pickens, and Ollie Goss

Our group examined the men's and women's fitness magazines "Flex" for men and "Muscle and Fitness for Her". While White and Gillett's (1994) original study discovered that 83.4% of men's magazines had advertisements for technologies of the body, our magazine consisted of 99% technologies of the body and very, very little adornment and display of the body.
Our female magazine was similar, but had it's own differences. 76% of our women's magazine was technologies of the body with 64% dietary supplements and 12% bodybuilding equipment. Adornment and display of the body was more evident at 24% consisting of 24% cosmetics advertisements.
The three main themes we found in the Men's magazine were positioning reader as inferior, promise of transformation, and hegemonic masculinity. Examples that were found positioning the reader as inferior had advertisements of extremely large men flexing and appear to be looking down at the reader, as well as, men lifting weights and screaming. Promise of transformation advertisements were exemplified with before and after pictures for dietary supplements. Hegemonic masculinity were evident with an advertisement that was "The guide to the ultimate body" and showed a picture of a man carrying a woman on his back.
The themes we found in Women's magazine were positioning the reader as inferior and were illustrated as the woman in the ad looked down intensely at the reader. Promise of transformation that was evident in the women's magazine also had before and after pictures from using dietary supplements.
In conclusion, we determined that both magazines were dominated by the amount of dietary supplement advertisements showing in the Men's to build muscles and get "jacked", while the women's magazine showed dietary supplements that lost weight to get toned. As expected the women's magazine showed more cosmetics advertisements than the male magazine. In conclusion, our group determined that the female magazine aimed for the perfect female body to be more toned and fit and the male magazine dictated the perfect body to have gigantic muscles that bulged out of their shirts.

Advertisements in Female Magazines, 11/6/13

During class this past week, our group looked at the advertisements in a magazine directed at females entitled, "Muscle and Fitness Hers," that came out in March/April of 2008.  The article featured 1 protein advertisement, 11 ads for dietary supplements, 3 for bodybuilding equipment, 1 for the Marines, 6 for knowledge systems (such as workout DVD's or 'how-to become a personal trainer' books), 1 for clothes, and 1 for cosmetics.

We classified these ads into 3 separate themes; Sexy and Fit, Strength, and Sexiness.  'Sexy and Fit' themed advertisements featured very toned women showing off their muscles while at the same time, smiling for the camera while in a "sexy" stretching or exercise position.  She could also be in a sexy pose while in her workout clothes and while stretching that accentuates those female parts that most stereotypical males are attracted to (i.e the "ghetto booty.")  The second theme that we divided the advertisements into was "Strength."  In these ads, females were featured that weren't necessarily showing off their sexy features but were rather in non-revealing clothing and were solely showing off their toned muscles.  Our third and final theme was "Sexiness."  This theme didn't seem to feature strength at all and nor were female models were working out to place them them in the "Sexiness and Fitness" category.  This theme feature very attractive women in very attractive poses with "sexy" attire on.  In one of these ads for example, a woman was glaring at the camera in a sexy pose and she was also wearing a cheetah print bra.

In the end, our group concluded that magazines targeting women wanted to prove that women could both be sexy and fit at the same time.  Also, they differentiated completely from the magazines targeting men because male magazines featured models that were only aiming to show off their huge muscles and didn't care to show their sexy side.  Also, female advertisements were much more "friendly" and welcoming whereas male advertisements tried to prove that if a supplement was taken or if a product wasn't bought then the reader would never be as strong as the model in the ad.

-Chris Cournan, Derek Zyski, Kyle McQuillen, Aaron Mehling