Strike a Pose! The Femininity Effect in Collegiate Women’s Sport

The apologetic strategies women employ to manage the cultural tension between athleticism and hegemonic femininity are well documented. Existing research, however, tends to be small-scale. The cumulative symbolic implications of female athlete appearance on cultural ideals remain under-theorized as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of sport journal 2016-06, Vol.33 (2), p.101-112
Main Authors: Musto, Michela, McGann, P.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Content analysis
Females
Femininity
Gender roles
Hegemony
Homogeneity
Sports
Women
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The apologetic strategies women employ to manage the cultural tension between athleticism and hegemonic femininity are well documented. Existing research, however, tends to be small-scale. The cumulative symbolic implications of female athlete appearance on cultural ideals remain under-theorized as a result. Our quantitative content analysis of a stratified, random sample of 4,799 collegiate women athletes' roster photos examined whether sport, school type, and geographical location are related to gendered appearance. Despite important contextual variation, we found overwhelming homogeneity across settings. Our results suggest that the normalization of women's athleticism is limited and depends on subordinated femininities. Thus, despite some positive changes, team sport still helps stabilize and naturalize the gender order.
ISSN:0741-1235
1543-2785
DOI:10.1123/ssj.2015-0034