Instrument and variables

The instrument used for sample analysis, as can be seen in Table 2, is part of the category system designed by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}), in a previous study, in which they analysed images of female athletes in textbooks from PE to from the variables: year, gender, colour or race, nationality, type of olympic sport, practice environment, sport classification, sporting event and athlete’s name.

The category system is composed of two dimensions: athlete characteristics and sport characteristics. The athlete’s characteristics dimension includes the variables: a) gender, difference between men and women that, socially constructed, can vary according to culture, determining the social role attributed to men and women and their sexual identities; b) colour or race, traditional and arbitrary division of human groups, determined by the set of hereditary physical characteristics (skin colour, head shape, hair type, etc.); disability, depending on the presence or absence of physical, mental or sensory limitation; and country, a space demarcated by geographic borders and endowed with its own sovereignty.

The characteristic dimension of sport corresponds to the sports represented in PE textbooks, defined by the variables: a) sport discipline, depending on the sport practiced by the athlete; b) sport classification, categorization of the sport according to whether it is performed individually, in groups or adapted; and c) sport event, carrying out sports modalities, each one subdivided into categories, in which titles are disputed with the presence of a cheering public.

Process and statistical analysis

Next, images and texts associated with female athletes were selected for a qualitative analysis, as well as a quantitative analysis of their prevalence, to discover what are the models of female Olympic sports and identify which sports they participate in. We remind you that, when analysing the female gender, we are at the same time analysing the male gender, as we understand that an analysis composed of both genders would be more appropriate for our case.

For the analysis of the images, those that portrayed a female and/or male figure in a sporting context were selected, identifying their name. Figures in which the athlete’s name was not mentioned were discarded, as well as those that were unrelated to the study sample. Then, the images and associated texts were selected and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively, to identify which sports models of male and female athletes are offered by PE manuals to teachers who work in elementary school.

The images were coded by the principal investigator, and the work was divided into several sessions to avoid errors due to exhaustion. The images were analysed by direct observation of the textbook. For data processing, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences program (SPSS® Inc., version 21.0, Chicago, IL, USA) for Windows was used. A univariate and comparative descriptive analysis between publishers was presented in percentages.

Gender

Descriptive analysis revealed that men make up the gender most represented in PE textbooks, with 42 images (61.8%), in relation to the female presence, with 26 images (38.2%).

As it is possible to observe in Figure 1, in the analysis of the images chosen by the publishers, we verified that, in three of the four publishing houses, more male than female athletes are represented. Publishers FTD, Moderna and Terra Sul represent more men than women: 2 images, 30 images and 10 images, respectively; while Boreal is the only publisher in which the representation of female athletes prevails, in its only image.

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 1 Gender of athletes in physical education textbooks 

Brazilian PE textbooks continue to represent the male gender to a greater extent. The representation of female athletes is very scarce, coinciding with what was observed in the studies by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}) and ^{Ruiz-Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020}), which show that in elementary school manuals almost two thirds of the images represent male athletes.

The most significant results of male prevalence in the images are presented by ^{Sánchez-Hernández et al. (2017}), who found, for high school material, 100% of male athletes in the Serbal publishing house and 85% in the Teide publishing house. This reality presents a mismatch in the practice of sporting and professional merits and leaves girls and young people without a reference model to follow.

This under-representation of female athletes also occurs in images related to physical activity in educational material in Brazil (González-Palomares, ^{Altmann et al., 2015}; González-Palomares, Rey-Cao et al., 2015), despite the gradual incorporation of women in sports. It should be noted that, in a current study, a change in trend was identified, towards a more equitable representation of men and women through mixed groupings in the images of Brazilian books (^{Loro et al., 2021}).

In view of the above, attention must be paid to the cultural elements that are vehicles for conceptions about genres, including textbooks, educational materials par excellence, since these concepts represent a set of “meanings of symbols and that limit and reduce its metaphorical possibilities, being expressed in religious, educational, scientific or legal doctrines, and makes fixed the binary opposition of the meaning of man and woman, male and female” (^{Scott, 1995}, p. 86, own translation).

It is worth noting here that our findings provide materiality for the apprehension that regulations, by promoting unequal relations in sports participation in general - in this case, through different illustrations about the frequent male representation and female invisibility -, acquire different forms.

Colour or race

As for the colour or race of the athletes represented, white colour or race predominates, with 47 images (69.1%); colour or race brown follows, with 14 images (20.6%); black colour or race, with 6 images (8.8%); and Asian, with 1 image (1.5%).

By publishers, as shown in Figure 2, Moderna mostly represents the white colour or race, with 36 images (76.6%), followed by Terra Sul, with 10 images (58.8%). The brown colour or race is mainly represented by Boreal and FTD publishers, with 1 and 2 images, 100% and 66.6%, respectively. Black colour or race is represented only by publishers Terra Sul and Moderna, with 3 images each, 17.6% and 6.4%, respectively. The yellow colour or race is represented only by publisher Moderna, with 1 image (2.15%). It is important to highlight the omission of indigenous colour or race in all publishers.

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 2 Colour or race of athletes in physical education textbooks 

The discrepancy of percentages of this type of images, subsequently, will also influence the different levels of representativeness, sometimes contributing to the creation of stereotypes. The greater representation of athletes of colour or white race in Brazilian textbooks coincides with the study by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}), in relation to the colour or race of Olympic athletes in Spanish PE textbooks. Thus, it also coincides with studies on the analysis of images in Brazilian PE textbooks, such as the study by ^{Loro et al. (2021}), which mainly shows bodies of colour or white race, and contrasts with the current legislative framework according to which didactic manuals are prepared.

The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística [Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics] (IBGE) (2013) presents the theme of classification of colour or race based on the results obtained by the Survey of Ethnic-Racial Characteristics of the Population (Pcerp) (2008), allowing a better understanding of the current classification system of colour or race. Since 2000, the IBGE has used five categories in surveys (in the order in which they appear in the questionnaire): white, black, yellow, brown and indigenous - which are also included in the 2010 Demographic Census (IBGE, 2013). In that year, the number of people who declared themselves black (black or brown) increased in Brazil, who constituted more than half of the population (50.7%). More recent data indicate that, in 2015, 53.9% of people declared themselves to be black or brown (Ministério da Saúde, 2017).

Information on race/colour is relevant to meet the competencies and principles of the Base Nacional Comum Curricular [National Common Curricular Base] (BNCC) (Ministério da Educação, 2018a). In undergraduate courses in PE, the theme begins to be researched and introduced in a procedural way, in relation to the culture of African countries and Brazilian culture itself, as well as regarding issues related to prejudice and discrimination (^{Rangel, 2006}).

The deepening of this theme is a concern of professionals in the field of PE, although still in a modest way. As ^{Lima and Brasileiro (2020}) found, when situating the specificity of recent scientific productions (articles) that were related to Afro-Brazilian culture, the field of PE has approached ethnic-racial relations. The data indicate studies on cultural manifestations, sports in African ethnic groups, quilombola communities, legislation, multiculturalism and interculturality, with two predominant thematic fields: capoeira and racism in soccer.

Disability

Athletes without disabilities are more represented (54 images - 79.4%) than athletes with disabilities (14 images - 20.6%). Publishers Boreal and FTD do not include images of athletes with disabilities; only Moderna, with 12 images (25.5%), and Terra Sul, with 2 images (11.8%), contemplate this visibility (Figure 3).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 3 Disability of athletes in physical education textbooks 

Female athletes with disabilities are less represented than male athletes with disabilities. Specifically, of the 14 images of disabled athletes, 10 images are of men - 71.43% (Gabriel Sousa, Daniel Wagner, Richard Whitehead, Acott Readon, Felipe Gomes, Cícero Nobre, Ronald Hertog, Jeroen Teeuwen, Flávio Reitz and Fernando Fernande) - and 4 images are of women - Mônica Santos, Aliona Halkina, Marlou Van Rhijn and Vanessa Daobry.

This underrepresentation of athletes with disabilities in Brazilian PE textbooks compared to athletes without disabilities coincides with the finding of Ruiz- Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020), which proved that no female athlete with a disability was visible in PE textbooks Spanish people.

The lower representation of women athletes with disabilities compared to men (or the lack thereof) shows double discrimination based on disability and gender. This double discrimination could already be identified in Brazilian school textbooks, in which women with disabilities are represented in 7.7% of the images (^{González-Palomares, Rey-Cao et al., 2015}) or 9.1% of the total analysed (^{Loro et al., 2021}).

Contradictorily, the participation of women has grown exponentially since the 1984 Paralympic Games, when Brazilian athletes achieved a feat that would never be repeated in history: being the majority on the podiums and winning more medals (19) than men (9), totalling 5 gold medals, 12 silver and 2 bronze medals for women (Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro, 2021).

Given the above, the chance to give visibility to athletes who have marked the recent history of the Brazilian Paralympic Movement is lost: Ádria Santos (sprinter), Alana Maldonado (judo), Aline Rocha (cross-country skiing), Carol Santiago (swimming), Cátia Oliveira (table tennis), Débora Menezes (parataekwondo), Edenia Garcia (swimming), Jane Karla (archery), Jerusa Geber (sprinter) and Márcia Menezes (weightlifting). Athletes Márcia Malsar, Amintas Piedade, Anelise Hermany and Miracema Ferraz (athletics) and Maria Jussara Mattos (swimming) were on the podium more than once. Miracema was the first Brazilian athlete to win six medals in a single edition of the Paralympic Games. In terms of quantity, the largest number of women medallists occurred in Rio-2016, when 30 female athletes took the podium (including team sports) (Comitê Paralímpico Brasileiro, 2021).

Country

The country most represented by the athletes that appear in the images is Brazil, with 29 images (42.6%), followed by the United States, with 8 (11.8%), Great Britain, with 4 (5.9%), and Switzerland and the Netherlands, with 3 (4.4% each). As for the other countries, the representation is minimal: Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, with 2 images (2.9% each); and Belarus, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Kenya, Tajikistan, Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria and Ireland with 1 image (1.5% each).

As shown in Figure 4, Brazil is the only country represented in all publishers, with 100% of the images in Boreal and FTD publishers. The second most represented country is the United States, on the Moderna and Terra Sul publishers. Moderna is the publisher that represents the most countries, starting with its athletes, with 19 countries and nationalities.

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 4 Country of athletes in physical education textbooks 

In the studies by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}) and by ^{Ruiz-Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020}), the countries most represented in Spanish textbooks were analysed. Athletes from 35 different nationalities were identified, with the United States being the most represented country. Spanish athletes are almost invisible. The only Spanish Olympic athlete represented is Gemma Mengual (synchronized swimming).

The symbolic power of images plays a fundamental role in cultural transformation, and this sets up a possibility of reflection on a visuality capable of creating imaginaries referring to the constitution of Brazilian identities. In this sense, the majority presence of athletes from a given country needs to be problematized, since, according to ^{Bignami (2002}), identity is configured through the process of interaction between nations and, from the moment that certain standards are accepted as parameters of national identity, start to be produced and incorporated into individual behaviour or acquire image value.

Sport practice

The main sports practices represented in PE textbooks are not adapted: they have 54 images (79.4%), compared to the adapted sports practices, with 14 images (20.6%). In non-adapted sports practices, the most represented sport is artistic gymnastics (16), followed by athletics (11) and boxing (9). Represented by 2 images each, we find football, baseball, rowing, canoeing, tennis and fights; and, with 1 image, swimming, handball, rugby, golf, track cycling and horseback riding. Among adapted sports practices, the main sport represented is athletics (10 images), followed by wheelchair fencing (2 images) and adapted swimming and kitesurfing (1 image each).

Thus, as shown in Figure 5, it can be seen that artistic gymnastics is the non-adapted sport most represented both in the Boreal publishing house (1 image, 100%), as well as in the Moderna publishing house (13 images, 27.7%); the FTD publisher represents athletics, football and handball in the same proportion, with 1 image (33.3% each), and the Terra Sul publisher mainly represents boxing, with 7 images (41.2%). Both Moderna and Terra Sul publish a greater variety of sports practices: Moderna is the only publisher that represents athletes in baseball, swimming, golf, rowing, canoeing, track cycling, equestrianism, rugby and tennis; and publisher Terra Sul, in the fights.

Of adapted sports practices, the FTD publisher does not include any images in its textbooks, while the Moderna publisher includes images of athletics (9), wheelchair fencing (2) and swimming (1); and publisher Terra Sul, 1 image of athletics and 1 of kitesurfing.

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 5 Sports practices in physical education textbooks 

These results differ from those found by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}) and Ruiz- Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020), since, despite the low percentage, they represent adapted sports practices, contrary to what occurs in Spanish materials, in which such practices are not represented.

Regarding artistic gymnastics, the results do not coincide with previous Spanish studies, which point to athletics as the most represented sport (^{Moya-Mata & Ros, 2018}; ^{Ruiz-Rabadán & Moya-Mata, 2020}; ^{Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2017}). However, they coincide with these previous studies in relation to adapted sports, since athletics is the most represented sport of Paralympic athletes in Brazilian textbooks. But, if we compare the results with books in Spanish secondary education, the images represented again differ when we relate to adapted physical activity, such as goalball (^{González-Palomares, Rey-Cao et al., 2015}).

Although the most represented sports in Brazilian PE textbooks are artistic gymnastics and athletics, in the school context team sports predominate. Athletics is little disseminated in PE classes due to the infrastructure conditions of schools, lack of space and specific materials, lack of interest on the part of students and the institution in promoting it, little tradition of this sport and fragility in teacher training (^{Gemente & Matthiesen, 2017}). Regarding the production of knowledge about gymnastics at school, we can say that it is restricted, not being enough to base the practice of teachers and contribute to a change in the way they deal with gymnastics content (^{Oliveira et al., 2020}).

Despite the impasses, the inclusive process of students with disabilities in PE classes in regular public schools in Brazil is under development (^{Castro & Telles, 2020}). For these researchers, there are still major gaps for teachers and the school community, who face several difficulties, including precarious teacher training, little interpersonal interaction and limited architectural, instrumental and methodological accessibility.

Sports classification

The sports classification most represented are individual sports, with 56 images (82.4%), against 12 images (17.6%) representing team sports. In the case of publishers, Boreal exclusively represents individual sports; FTD mainly publishes team sports (66.7%); and Moderna, individual sports (78.7%), as well as the publisher Terra Sul (Figure 6).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 6 Classification of sports in physical education textbooks 

These results coincide with studies by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}) and ^{Ruiz-Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020}), according to which individual sports represent 92.3% of athletes’ images. However, they do not coincide with previous studies on adapted physical activities represented in Brazilian textbooks, which are mainly collective 64.3% (González-Palomares, ^{Altmann et al., 2015}).

In the present study, we found that the representation of women practicing individual sports predominates in PE textbooks, with 23 images (88.5%), compared to 3 images (11.5%) of collective sports. Sport, as a social domain, is based on values such as performance and result and, sometimes, based on gender stereotypes, prevailing the cultural judgment of what are male or female practices (^{Melo et al., 2015}). Sports modalities are culturally defined with predominantly male characteristics (soccer, weightlifting, skateboarding, hockey, shot put and hammer throwing), modalities with predominantly female characteristics (rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, dance, classical ballet, skating) and modalities with a more neutral (racing, basketball).

On this subject, the study by ^{Melo et al. (2015}) showed the existence of prejudice in relation to men who practice sports considered culturally feminine, depending on the degree of sports involvement, and that men and women present differences in these evaluations. Women (athletes or not) show less prejudice towards male athletes. Men apply the stereotype to that athlete who practices the most feminine or neutral sport, evaluating him as more negligent. This characteristic has a negative connotation (laziness/carelessness) when it comes to athletes. The study also revealed that, even though they are athletes, men tend not to abandon what was culturally apprehended, and they evaluate their peers with greater prejudice than women.

Sports events

The sporting events in which the athletes portrayed in the images appear are mainly the Olympic Games, especially the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, with 39 images (57.4%); followed by the Paralympic Games (Rio-2016), with 13 images (19.1%); other international competitions, with 12 images (17.6%); and training and unspecified activities, with 2 images (2.9%).

As shown in Figure 7, by publishers, the Olympic Games are the most represented event in PE textbooks, with more than half of the images (FTD: 2 images; Moderna: 28 images; and Terra Sul: 9 images), with the exception by publisher Boreal, which presents only 1 image, without specifying the sporting event. The Paralympic Games are represented in two publishing houses: Moderna, with 12 images (25.5%), and Terra Sul, with 1 (5.9%); while training activities are represented only in Terra Sul, with 2 images (11.8%).

Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Figure 7 Sports event in physical education textbooks 

These results coincide with those found in studies by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}) and ^{Ruiz-Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020}), in which all images refer to sports celebrated at the Summer Olympic Games, in different Olympic venues. We emphasize that in the sample images of this study the athletes are not represented only in the Olympic Games, but also in different types of events, such as the Paralympic Games, world championships, training sessions or others. Therefore, the variety of competitions is more represented than in the studies by Moya-Mata and Ros (2018) and Ruiz-Rabadán and Moya-Mata (2020), where it is found that athletes without disabilities are featured exclusively in Olympic Games; and athletes with disabilities, exclusively in Paralympic Games (^{González-Palomares, Rey-Cao et al., 2015}).

The studies of ^{Camargo (2018}), specifically those related to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, insert the universe of sports at the intersection with the fields of study of gender and sexualities. By problematizing the public manifestation of the sexualities and sexual practices of professional athletes, it is observed how enunciations on this theme have provoked tension in a complex system of control of their own sexualities and that of others.

Most represented athletes

Finally, of all the athletes mentioned in PE textbooks in Brazil, collected in Table 3, the most represented is Flávia Saraiva (Brazilian artistic gymnastics athlete), with 3 references in Boreal, Moderna and Terra Sul; followed by Adriana Araújo (also in artistic gymnastics), with 2 references at Terra Sul publishing house; Usain Bolt (Jamaican athletics athlete), with 2 references in Moderna and Terra Sul; and Arthur Zanetti (Brazilian artistic gymnastics athlete), with 2 references in Moderna publishing house.

The athletes represented in this study differ from the athletes most represented in the study by ^{Moya-Mata and Ros (2018}): Fanny Blankers-Koen (athletics), Wilma Rudolph (athletics) and Nadia Comaneci (artistic gymnastics); athletes who were legends in their modalities, with greater visibility of female athletes in elementary school material than in high school material in Spain (Moya-Mata & Ros, 2018; ^{Sánchez-Hernández et al., 2017}).

Specifically, it is noteworthy in this study that the most represented athlete is Flávia Saraiva, considering that in Brazil there has already been a ban on the practice of sports identified as inappropriate for the female “nature”. For this reason, female representation in sport is fundamental, as a positive reference in contemporary society. However, despite recent advances in participation and media coverage of women’s sport, sex and gender norms continue to influence media broadcasts in recent editions of the Olympic Games, regardless of medium, sport or country (^{Salido-Fernández & Muñoz-Muñoz, 2021}).

Even though there have been advances in terms of the “entrance of women” in the field of sports, we noticed that Moderna and Terra Sul publishers presented a greater diversity of athlete characters, both male and female, although the latter with less representation. We can infer that the placement of female athletes has grown, although they are still underrepresented in sports considered to be male dominated.