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Popular Culture Review
community produces athletes’ status by idealizing them, and consumes it by
being entertained by their exploits. Athletes become part of the superior classes
that structure the expectations, values, and ensuing habits of society (Fasteau
1974; Theberge 1981; Veblin 1899). With a few notable exceptions, such as
tennis, the avenues to achieving status through athletic exploit are far more open
to men. Accordingly, female marginalization is clearer in sports than most other
areas of social life.
Women may attempt to borrow status from high profile men to combat
their exclusion from exclusive social worlds, gaining notoriety or attention
through their associations with high-profile men (Gauthier & Forsyth 2000).
However, this may only magnify their marginalization. At best, groupies may
only be accepted at the fringes of the exclusive world of athletes. Moreover, the
less equitable relationships that groupies cultivate may perpetuate structures of
inequality and patriarchy when they reinforce the importance of prominent men
and male positions (Johnson 1997) and commodify sex and companionship to
exchange for reflected status. Further, groupies may attempt to establish
additional social value for their exchanges within their own community by
attaching themselves to the “best” in the sport or local teams (Gauthier and
Forsyth 2000), measuring their own value relative to the social value of their
sexual conquests. Such relationships reflect many dimensions of male
idealization and female marginalization in both sport and the history of Western
society.
Exchange Theory
Exchange theory focuses on relationships and the benefits and rewards
that people give and ta