Video: The absurd portrayal of female athletes

Have you ever noticed when the Star Tribune takes a photograph of its all-metro high school sports teams, it quite often poses boys differently than the girls?

The men, typically, are shown as focused and serious athletes. Like this photo. Or this. Not so much this one. Or this.

Let me know the next time you see the fellas posed like the way the paper showed the all-metro girl’s volleyball team last week. Have a look.

They’re all fine photos that meet the challenge of making the images interesting, but they reveal the subtle difference in the portrayal of female athletes vs. men.

And that’s the point Cover The Athlete tried to make this week when it released this video.

You may recall the incident at the U.S. Open in September when a reporter asked Serena Williams why she wasn’t smiling, trivializing what she had just accomplished in her match.

(h/t: Tom Weber)