This article focuses on the intersection of gender, dis/ability and other social forces in the life course of a young man who has had physical impairments from an early age. Drawing on interactionist theories and applying an ethnographic approach, we analyze the life experiences taking place in multiple social spheres throughout the life phases of Simon, a Swiss powerchair hockey player with cerebral palsy. During his childhood and adolescence, Simon was not in a position to embody the familial ways of performing hegemonic masculinity, and he was functionally dependent on women. Through his ongoing transition to adulthood, his commitment to sport and the process of technologizing his body enabled him doing gender differently and emancipate himself from the familial masculine figure, while remaining reliant on the care provided by women. Thus, we show how the body, context, and life phases contribute to the performances of gender and dis/ability.
This paper aims at initiating scholars to consider dis/ability as a category of analysis when doing intersectionality in sociology of sport. First, it introduces a conceptual framework that allows researchers to engage with the issue of the body and its physical and cognitive functions, as well as to address how the ability–disability system intersects with various other salient systems of oppression and privilege. I call this concept the intersectional co-conditioning of dis/ability, whereby experiences of dis/ability are fundamentally conditioned by (and also condition in return) other systems of difference and inequality. The framework provides scholars with theoretical tools that will help them to investigate body-related issues while avoiding the pitfall of essentializing dis/abilities. Second, this work offers an application of the abovementioned conceptual framework, focusing on the co-conditioning of dis/ability and gender. Based on a multi-sited ethnography of Powerchair Hockey in Switzerland, I investigate different aspects of this sport practiced by people living with so-called “severe” physical dis/abilities. The results highlight the tensions, contradictions and paradoxes that both male and female players face as they (re)negotiate their positions within the matrix of domination. This application demonstrates the explanatory power of considering the intersectional co-conditioning of dis/ability.
Cet article se donne comme enjeu de retracer le développement du E-hockey, un des rares sports
collectifs pratiqué en fauteuil électrique, afin de comprendre qui sont les personnes qui y ont (ou y ont
eu) accès, et comment cette pratique devient un espace de la construction des identités individuelles
et collectives. Ce texte propose une vision diachronique des débats internes relatifs à la démarche
d’intégration de ce sport au sein du mouvement paralympique. La recherche met au jour les effets du
processus de sportivisation du E-hockey sur l’inclusion/exclusion des joueurs aux compétions sportives.
D’une part, la pratique du E-hockey semble participer à l’empowerment des personnes ayant
des incapacités motrices sévères, leur permettant de se réinventer en minorité active. D’autre part, le
processus d’institutionnalisation de la pratique produit l’exclusion de joueurs dont les limitations de
capacité ne correspondent pas aux critères d’éligibilité retenus dans les règlements internationaux de
ce sport.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.