Work

Anatomy of a Spectacle: Race, Gender, and Memory in the Kobe Bryant Rape Case

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: This article argues that coverage of the Kobe Bryant rape case illuminated bitter divisions in American society, because the allegations against Bryant brought forth tensions involving conceptions of Black masculinity, White femininity, and the role of sport and celebrity in public life. The divisions laid bare by the Bryant case involve long histories of discursive contests waged by social movements and state actors over the meanings of categories of race and gender. I argue that these struggles have influenced public understandings of history; that contemporary understandings of race, gender, and crime are very much indebted to rhetorical battles fought long ago; and that invocations of collective memory can help to determine how various audiences make sense of public dramas unfolding in the mass media.

Source: Sociology of Sport Journal

DOI: 10.1123/ssj.23.4.396

Author: Jonathan Markovitz

Institution: University of California System

Language: English

Topic: Sports, Gender, and Society

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: U.S. Department of Justice