Jackie Robinson’s Legacy and Women “Cross-over Athletes”: A Comparison of The New York Times’ Coverage

ABSTRACT

This article compares coverage by The New York Times of Jackie Robinson’s groundbreaking entry into Major League Baseball with the participation of four women athletes in male-only sporting spaces. This comparison and analysis reveals the role of this specific print media in naturalizing sex differences that justify sex segregation and gender injustice; in contrast to media discourse that correlates racial segregation with racial injustice. This contrast illuminates the role of sport as cultural theatre to model and support social hierarchy while drawing attention to the malleability of essentialist notions of identity.