Spring 2026
Online Representations of Professional Women’s Athletics
Instructors:
- Adiza Awwal
- Nina Lutz
- Kate Starbird
This Directed Research Group (DRG) will explore the visual representation of professional female athletes on social media, investigating how these representations intersect with visual media and culture, as well as gendered and political discourses in online environments. Students will collaborate with PhD students and faculty to review the current literature, develop research questions and a code book, and qualitatively analyze public social media posts (textual and visual content) featuring professional female athletes.
Our short term goal is to publish a paper featuring this research at an academic conference. Spring DRG students may have an opportunity to continue this research in Summer of 2026 to complete the research study (though this would be optional).
Our long term goal is to uncover and help to address some of the challenges and harms faced by female athletes (and their teams and leagues) related to their and others’ use of social and digital media, including image-based harassment and non-consensual image manipulation leading to reputational harm.
Enrollment Information
- Meeting time: Either Monday or Tuesday afternoons (2 hours) [Exact time TBD]
- Credits: 2-3 credits, or 6-9 hours of commitment each week, to be arranged with researchers
- This DRG does count toward the research requirement for PhD students.
- Who should apply:
- Student requirements:
- Strong interest in social media and influencer culture
- Interest in learning or prior experience applying qualitative research methods
- Strong interest in visual media
- Power users of social media are encouraged to apply (TikTok, Instagram, X, etc)
- Expertise or interest in sports and/or sports fandom
- Student requirements:
- To apply: Please fill out this Google Form.
- Anticipated notification deadline: Week before start of quarter
- Questions? Email Adiza Awwal at awwal@uw.edu.