Images of the 'ideal' male and female body are constructed, consumed and sold in close association with images of sport, health and fitness. The worldwide 'health and fitness' boom has in part been driven by the perceived importance of acquiring the right body shape. Sport cuts across all language and cultural barriers. So sport becomes big money. Rupert Murdoch's international T.V. empire has been built largely on the back of sport.
Sport attracts ever more commercial interest and investment.
It tells us that sport is an arena for racism and sexism - but also for challenging racist and sexist myths. It tells us that sport can be violent, that sport is used by commercial interests, that sportspeople take drugs - in short, it tells us that sport is played by people, watched by people and run by people. Sport is part of society. The old and cosy myth that sport and politics should not mix was in itself a piece of pure politics, designed to keep the disenfranchised in their place. And since it is so much part of society, sport should be taken seriously as an area of academic investigation and study.