Contemporary Perceptions of Femininity and Masculinity and How These Influence Female Athletes’ Actions and Behaviours

This thesis aims to discover the impact of contemporary perceptions of ‘femininity’ on the experiences, beliefs, and actions of female university athletes. In particular, the paper considers where these expectations are influential to how these female athletes act and behave. The actions and behaviours of the athletes considered include the mannerisms and forms of communication between themselves and different groups, actions carried out to present themselves in certain ways, and, how the athletes train and their goals. Discussion will first focus on past literature relating to the prevalent discourses of traditional gender roles in sport, and the historical context of women in sport that shows how women have previously and are often still seen as the ‘other’ in sports (Hargreaves, 1994). In particular, the work of Butler will be drawn upon, to show how gender is discursively created and maintained, the performativity of gender and the heterosexual matrix (Butler, 1990, 1999, 2006). Furthermore, structures that influence people’s beliefs and perceptions will be explored, specifically looking at the notions of hegemony, hegemonic masculinity, and how political and civil society spread ideas to make them the norm (Bairner, 2007; Gramsci et al, 1998; Carrington and McDonald, 2009; Connell, 2002; Pringle, 2005). Toxic masculinity will also be explored, looking at how gender stereotypes have a negative impact on both men and women, thus causing groups to be stigmatised for behaving differently (Messner, 1992; Young and White, 2000). In addition to this, Foucault’s concepts looking at disciplinary technologies, strategies of surveillance and how ‘docile’ bodies are created will be explored (Foucault 1991; Mansfield et al, 2018). These concepts are used to critically reflect upon the emergent themes for a number of semi-structured interviews held with female athletes. In particular, consideration is given to: 1) what the words ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ mean to them, 2) how they believe their peers perceive female athletes, 3) their experiences in sport as a female throughout their life and at university, and 4) how these experiences have influenced how they act now. These emergent themes thus allow scope to critically reflect upon the various narratives which emerge from female athletes in terms of everyday negotiation of their gender identities within daily life and within the specific context of sport, whilst creating opportunities to consider on how university sport cultures can be enhanced to ensure equality between females and males within this domain.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2020

Author dc:creator

• Laffey, Amelia Jane

Contributors dc:contributor

• Whigham, Stuart

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/e91e-pe17

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:9d8e3490-0e5c-438c-81f3-442bfeb1b64c:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1