“If I’m sailing with a girl, I get identified as a ‘marshmallow’ ”: Gendered practices of school sport sailing in Western France and California

Abstract

Gendered divisions and representations can be especially problematic issues underpinning participation in water-based lifestyle and sporting activities. Sailing has particularly been found to be dominated by male participants who tend to dictate everyday codes of practice and symbolic representation. Female sailors are therefore regularly portrayed as inauthentic members of this activity and their participation also typically reflects much lower rates than males. In this paper, we develop these critical ideas about gendered sailing in the context of an 18 months comparative qualitative study involving 24 interviews and 113 hours of ethnographic field observations with five coaches, three physical education teachers, and 16 sailors. This study examined school sailing programmes in Western France and California in terms of the gendered practices and relationships that developed amongst young sailors and supporting adults. Bourdieu’s theory of embodied power reproduction and masculine domination is used to analyse how school sport sailing programmes often benefited male participants. Within both Western French and Californian sailing contexts, young men were viewed as being more legitimate participants and regularly took up the lead role of skipper – young women were considered secondary participants and were typically positioned as crew members. Notions of embodied agency are subsequently developed to illustrate how young women sometimes contested the male-dominated gender order found within Franco-American school-based sailing programmes.

The Use of Nautical Activities in Formal Education: A Systematic Review

“…To check the methodological quality of the studies, the analysis of the quality of the four qualitative articles evaluated in the research showed that two articles obtained a high score of 13 points or more out of a total of 21 items, with one article achieving the maximum score of 15 points [23], followed by Schmitt et al [42] with 13 points. Two qualitative articles, however, were below the threshold of 10 points, namely Machota-Blas [40] with five points, as well as Santos et al [41], so it could be understood that the quality of their papers is low.…”

“…Two qualitative articles, however, were below the threshold of 10 points, namely Machota-Blas [40] with five points, as well as Santos et al [41], so it could be understood that the quality of their papers is low. However, in a qualitative observation, and regardless of the scale used, the article by Machota-Blas [42] is a descriptive article of a teaching experience that is well presented and documented. In contrast, Santos et al's research [41] delineates collaborative efforts across multiple schools in Portugal aimed at crafting a curriculum centered on life skills via the medium of surfing.…”

“…The eight selected articles for in-depth analysis that satisfied all the criteria are as follows: [13,23,[38][39][40][41][42][43].…”

“…They have gained insight on how to implement a life skill focus within surf-based programs and connected research to practice by shedding light on how to utilize the implicit/explicit continuum [42] Qualitative Education 16 Age: [14][15][16] Young men were viewed as being more legitimate participants and regularly took up the lead role of skipper-young women were considered secondary participants [43] Quantitative Management 350 Age: 6-12…”

Perception of Yachts by Non-Owners

“…Ltd. ( 2012), sailing is predominantly a man's sport and it's required to be wealthy to deal with it. Because of the deep-rooted yet dehistoricized somatic codes, sailing has been assumed as a maledominated special interest (Schmitt et al 2020). To prove participation of the woman in yachting should be proved by performing a further study evaluating the owner-shipping, chartering, skippering, or just attending the cruises or sports activities.…”