Taking It All Off | Undergraduate Honors Thesis
Spring 2014 | Thesis adviser: Donald Shaw | Honors level: With Highest Honors
Taking It All Off: A Content Analysis Study of ESPN's Body Issue, 2009-13
by Mary Paige Hanson '14
This thesis explores relationships between gender, nudity, and provocativeness in the photographs in The Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine, released yearly from 2009 to 2013. The Body Issue was launched to boost revenue through increased advertising and readership. The Body Issue contains photographs of male and female professional athletes in varying states of nudity, to pay homage to the daily sacrifices athletes make to keep their bodies in incredible shape for maximum performance. The method of research used in this thesis was a content analysis study. The goal of my research was to be able to objectively analyze various aspects of the photographs across the five-‐year period. I designed the content analysis study to code the 141 total photographs for 19 variables clearly defined in a coding sheet. The purpose of the coding process was to be able to quantify the photographs so that trends and patterns among variables could be determined. Although 19 variables were coded for each photograph, my research was primarily focused on examining the relationships between gender and race, gender and exposure/nudity rating, and gender and provocative level. Overall, I hypothesized that over the five-‐year period, the exposure rating and provocative level would gradually increase for both genders to be a majority of fully nude ratings and high provocative levels, yet there would be a difference in when these shifts occurred between genders. Through my content analysis study, I found that there was a shift to full nudity for both genders after 2009. Regarding provocative level, females shifted almost immediately to a majority of high provocative level after 2009, while males shifted to a majority of medium provocative level throughout the five-‐year period. These findings reflect societally constructed gender stereotypes that are sustained through the media.
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Many Honors Carolina students cap their undergraduate experience with a Senior Honors Thesis, partnering with a faculty mentor to develop original research or creative work. Students who successfully defend their thesis before a faculty review panel graduate with Honors or Highest Honors. Each year, approximately 350 students complete a Senior Honors Thesis. For many of those students, the thesis becomes a first publication or an important part of their application to graduate or professional school. Students who wish to undertake a Senior Honors Thesis project must have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher. Academic departments may set higher thresholds for course work within students’ major field of study.
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