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D. ANTUNOVIC AND E. WHITESIDE
and places where the association between dominant and valued cultural characteristics are defined as essentially masculine (e.g., Duncan 2006). In seeking to occupy such spaces, women may be understood as a threat to masculinity, making ambitious women especially vulnerable to new forms of discrimination (Holland and Cortina 2016). The process of building a career in sports media is fraught with obstacles for women, and in general, sports media has been described as “a profession built on macho behavior which is reinforced by traditions of misogynist and racist jokes” (Claringbould et al. 2004, 715). Indeed, research across a range of methodological traditions consistently shows how discursive frameworks stemming from sports media organizations justify women’s exclusion and marginalization. A cultural value system grounded in protecting men’s status creates challenges for women trying to establish careers in a space where their worth is routinely questioned. It is no surprising, then, that past research has regularly noted women’s feelings of needing to prove themselves to male colleagues (e.g., Miloch et al. 2005; Hardin and Whiteside 2009). In response, researchers have turned their attention to investigating the process by which women negotiate their own identity and make meaning around discourses that question their very status and abilities. This area in particular represents one within the wider field of communication and sport where feminist methodological concerns have been especially prioritized through the use of long, in-depth interviews. As Hesse-Biber (2007) explains, long interviews prioritize the voices of subjugated knowledges and can highlight the diversity of experiences related to a given issue, or communicative event. By privileging women’s voices and concerns, qualitative research on the experiences of women working in sports media has broadened understandings of discrimination within the field, particularly pointing to the shortcomings of liberal feminist initiatives that create opportunities but cannot change cultural frameworks. For instance, qualitative interviews have showed the ways in which women appear to consent to discrimination and see it as routine (Hardin and Whiteside 2009). Failing to challenge a sexist joke, for instance, “seems to be an effective way for them to achieve acceptance, although the same dominant macho culture still prevails” (Claringbould et al. 2004, 716). Other studies have illuminated how women may identify themselves as the problem, and not the culture itself. Miloch et al. (2005) noted that women in their study saw discrimination as irrelevant, with one participant describing it as “a crock of B.S.” (228). The process by which women achieve acceptance reflects a salient feminist theoretical concern, given the relatively contemporary increased visibility
