sports media and female athletes in the UFC McClearen, Jennifer. creator text bibliography biography ilu Urbana University of Illinois Press 2021 monographic eng

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xii, 211 p. : ill. (some col.) "Mixed martial arts stars like Amanda Nunes, Zhang Weili, and Ronda Rousey have made female athletes top draws in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Jennifer McClearen charts how the promotion incorporates women into its far-flung media ventures and investigates the complexities surrounding female inclusion. On the one hand, the undeniable popularity of cards headlined by women add much-needed diversity to the sporting landscape. On the other, the UFC leverages an illusion of promoting difference-whether gender, racial, ethnic, or sexual-to grow its empire with an inexpensive and expendable pool of female fighters. McClearen illuminates how the UFC's half-hearted efforts at representation generate profit and cultural cachet while covering up the fact it exploits women of color, lesbians, gender non-conforming women, and others. Thought provoking and timely, Fighting Visibility tells the story of how a sports entertainment phenomenon made difference a part of its brand-and the ways women paid the price for success"-- Introduction: Visibility and difference in the UFC -- Developing a millennial sports media brand -- Affect and the Rousey effect -- Gendering the American Dream -- The labor of visibility on social media -- The fight for labor equity -- Coda: On love and violence. Jennifer McClearen. Includes bibliographical references and index. UFC (Mixed martial arts event) Mass media and sports Women in mass media Mass media and women Women martial artists Mixed martial arts Feminism and sports Discrimination in sports Women in popular culture 20th century GV742 .M33 2021 9780252085727 (pbk.) 0252085728 (pbk.) 9780252043734 (hbk.) 0252043731 (hbk.) 210615 on1193594931