Friendships worth fighting for: Bonds between women and men karate practitioners as sites for deconstructing gender inequality? Sport is argued to be one of the few remaining domains for constructing masculine identity and reproducing ideas of men's (hierarchical) distinction from women. As a shared emotional (yet 'masculine') experience sport lays the grounds for building close, intimate, friendships which, in men's single-sex sport, are suggested to be underpinned by sharing sexist ideology. This paper argues that sex-integrated karate practice not only challenges the expectations /interpretations of women's bodies, but can also situate women and men within mutually respectful, cherished relationships which diverge from conventional sexualized and unequal ways of 'doing gender' in mixed-sex relationships.
This research highlights both the potential of physical leisure practice to 'undo' conventional gendered embodiments that particularly restrict women's intentionality in the world (Young, 1980), and the power of spatially-attuned research to illuminate the minute ways in which unequal gender relations are naturalised, legitimised, and done.
Emotional trials – such as break-ups, abuse, bereavement and ill physical or mental health – are a common part of life. These are events that interrupt our everyday routine sense of normality, and are often accompanied by increased reflexivity. Much of the literature on how we reflexively come to understand and make our way through emotional trials focuses on verbal reflection. What we ‘do’ when we do reflexivity is often overlooked (Brownlie, 2014). This article, looks to expand Brownlie’s contention that leisure pursuits ‘are a way of engaging in reflexivity, that is, thinking and feeling through an activity’ (Brownlie, 2014: 158) by exploring the role of karate practice in reflexively working through emotional trials. This article draws on data from four photo-elicitation interviews and participant observations from two karate clubs drawn across nine months. Findings suggest that karate practice facilitated participants’ reflexive processes during times of emotional trial. Karate practice worked to provide temporal relief from inner talk related to participants’ emotional trials, and provided a space to ‘release’ negative emotions associated with their trials. Through achieving small physical accomplishments, participants perceived karate practice as a way to develop a ‘better self’ during or after an emotional trial. This article concludes that understanding active processes of doing reflexivity is essential for understanding how people make sense of and move on from emotional trials.
Purpose: Mobility restrictions enforced by the UK Government in March 2020 as a response to COVID-19 resulted in those vulnerable to domestic abuse being confined in isolation with their abusers, deprived of safe spaces and many of their usual sources of support. Domestic abuse helplines therefore became an increasingly vital avenue for victim support, seeing a substantial increase in service demand during lockdown periods. Method: Through semi-structured interviews with 11 domestic abuse helpline workers across UK services dedicated to a diverse range of populations, this project examined the nature and frequency of calls received since the first COVID-19 lockdown period. Results: Key themes identified through thematic analysis were: 1) Abusers weaponising government guidelines to justify and intensify abuse, and restrictions acting as both a barrier and facilitator to leaving an abusive relationship; 2) A loss of previously accessed support, with users uncertain about what help was available and issues around engaging with new forms of support; and 3) Isolation from social support networks, with callers reporting a loss of respite, lack of emotional and practical support, removal of third-party abuse monitoring opportunities, and subsequent mental health implications. Conclusions: These findings will act as a crucial guide for policy decision-making regarding support needs emerging from the pandemic and beyond, highlighting the importance of multi-agency partnerships, and urging caution in the utility of virtual alternatives to face-to-face support longer-term.
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