Olivia Dunn is a gymnast on the Louisiana State University women’s team. She did not record particularly impressive achievements, did not win any prestigious international championships, yet she is one of the most talked about athletes in the US in recent times: Dunn, only 20 years old, has already become a millionaire, and has sparked a discussion about women’s sports, including an article in the “New York Times” Its title is “The new advertising contracts for college athletes flood old worries – the sex is familiar”.
Dunn, a slender and beautiful blonde, manages to earn the big sums thanks to new rules that will be implemented in 2021 that allow college athletes to sign sponsorship deals and earn money. Dunn did not give exact details of her earnings, but it is estimated that next year alone she will earn $2 million. “Seven figures,” she said, when asked about her income. “It’s something I’m proud of. Especially being a woman in college sports.”
The huge sums that the thin gymnast brings in are thanks to advertising to her 8 million followers on social networks – on Instagram and TikTok, platforms where she combines sponsored content when she models American Eagle Outfitters jeans and Vuori clothing with videos of herself singing popular songs or performing trendy dances .
For Dunn, and many other athletes of her generation, the use of videos with a sexual connotation is not only a legitimate way of self-promotion – but also empowering. “It’s just about showing as much of yourself as you want, as much or as little,” Dunn said of her online persona.
The rules that allow college athletes to earn have significantly changed the fate of college women, especially those who compete in non-revenue sports such as gymnastics. Male athletes in a popular sport like football manage to earn significant sums thanks to the great success of the game. Women benefit mainly due to their personal success in social networks. The reality shows that many succeed in obtaining the income thanks to popularity that stems from sexuality – and not from sporting success or achievements.
The New York Times quotes Andrea Guarin, a sports business researcher at Loughborough University in England, who studied female athletes trying to reach the Rio Olympics in 2016, many of them from colleges. “One of the big issues that came out was the pressure they felt to post sexual images of themselves on social media,” Gyorin said.
She noted that some female athletes decided it wasn’t worth posting such photos to the public while others found it one of the main ways to increase their online popularity and earning power.
“Anyone who examines the posts on the social network of female college athletes across the United States will discover a clear trend: familiar sex,” the New York Times wrote, “the market backs it up.” Tara Vanderveer, the famous Stanford coach, claims that technology and progress perpetuates old sexist perceptions: “We fight for all the opportunities to compete, to play, to get budgets, to have facilities, all the things that accompany senior athletes… but this is a step backwards.”
Not surprisingly, the person who defended Dunn’s right to promote herself with sexually suggestive content is Paige Spiranak, the former golfer who made a successful career out of provocative photos and turned into a thriving business. “I’m tired of women who belittle other women’s achievements just because it’s done differently than they would,” wrote the golfer, “hate Dunn because she makes $2 million a year. She built a successful business at the age of 20 while she was still a student. That’s awesome.” .