Reinventing the Body-Self: Intense, Gendered and Heightened Sensorial Experiences of Women’s Boxing Embodiment

Owton, Helen

doi:10.1057/9781137439369_14

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In judo, there were only guys." Overall, although the participants stated that their gender was never an issue, they provided rich accounts of the difficulties that women and girls face when entering a maledominated dojo, including prejudice and ridicule (see also, Halbert 1997;Kavoura et al 2015b;Owton 2015).…”

Section: (Heli)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is also reflected in the rapidly expanding gender literature on martial arts and combat sports (Channon and Matthews 2015;Channon and Phipps 2017;Kavoura et al 2014;Matthews 2014;Mierzwinski et al 2014;Spencer 2012). Fighting is framed as a violent activity associated with the male physique and against female biological nature (Kavoura et al 2015b;Matthews 2015Matthews , 2016McNaughton 2012;Mierzwinski et al 2014;Owton 2015). In martial arts' gyms around the world, masculine identities and notions of male biological superiority are celebrated (Matthews 2014;Spencer 2012;Woodward 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In martial arts' gyms around the world, masculine identities and notions of male biological superiority are celebrated (Matthews 2014;Spencer 2012;Woodward 2008). Such traditional understandings of men's and women's biological attributes are not only linked to gender hierarchies and inequalities, but also shape the ways that female martial artists make sense of themselves and their sporting experiences (Kavoura 2016;McNaughton 2012;Owton 2015).…”

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“Some Women Are Born Fighters”: Discursive Constructions of a Fighter’s Identity by Female Finnish Judo Athletes

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Martial arts and combat sports have been traditionally associated with masculinity, and a range of contradictory meanings have been attached to women's engagement and experiences. The present study draws on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks to explore how female martial artists are subjectified to dominant cultural discourses surrounding fighting and competition. Interviews with nine female judoka (judo athletes) were gathered in Finland and analyzed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA). The FDA revealed that in female judoka talk, judo was constructed as a sport for all, but also as a male domain and a manly sport with fighting and competition as innate masculine qualities that are not learned. Two sets of wider, competing discourses provided the dominant structure for participants' constructions of judo: (a) a mass sport discourse versus an elite sport discourse and (b) a gender equality discourse versus a female biological inferiority discourse. Drawing on this discursive context and in seeking to make sense of their experiences, participants constructed a "naturally born fighter" identity. Although this might be an empowering identity for female judoka, it does not advance the agenda of gender equity in martial arts because it constructs "ordinary" women as biologically incapable of competitive judo. Our findings reveal that even in the relatively egalitarian culture of Finland, gender hierarchies persist in judo and that it is only by disrupting prevalent constructions of fighting and competitiveness as masculine that progress toward gender equity can be made.

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“Some Women Are Born Fighters”: Discursive Constructions of a Fighter’s Identity by Female Finnish Judo Athletes

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“…Matthews, 2014;Tjønndal and Hovden, 2016), female boxers must often prove themselves over time to be more than dilettantes, and demonstrate willingness to spar and compete in order to be taken seriously as members of the gym (Sekules, 2012;Spencer, 2012;Tjønndal, 2017). Only after gaining skill, stamina and technique are women boxers accepted as part of the boxing gym (Owton, 2015). Scholarly work has also recognised how race, class and sexuality shape women's experiences of boxing (Heiskanen, 2012).…”

Section: Contextualisation: Women's Boxingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I don’t think they realise how good we are’: Innovation, inclusion and exclusion in women’s Olympic boxing

Tjønndal

2017

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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Marginalisation and exclusion of women in elite boxing has emerged as a substantial international problem, threatening women's democratic right to equal participation in sport. Since the London 2012 Olympic Games women's boxing has been an Olympic event. However, only 3 of the 10 weight categories were included in the Olympic programme for women. Today, male boxers compete in 10 out of 10 possible weight categories. While female boxers have gained accessed to a previously closed realm, discrimination, exclusion and unequal treatment of female athletes remains a widespread problem in international elite boxing. This article explores how the introduction of women's boxing into the Olympic Games involves practices of inclusion and exclusion in elite boxing. In particular, this analysis focuses on the following two research questions: (a) how practices of social exclusion and inclusion affect the involvement and engagement of women in boxing; and (b) how, and in what ways, female boxers have experienced recognition and acceptance in elite boxing after the introduction of women's boxing into the Olympic Games. Using a qualitative approach including document analysis of official press releases from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (AIBA), as well as interviews with athletes and coaches, this study reveals that although women's boxing has gained access to the Olympics, the structural and cultural changes that comprise the social inclusion of women in boxing are yet to be implemented.

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“…The consequences of these (and other) problems are varied, but perhaps most pertinent to the present chapter is the effect they may have on women's ability to access the benefits of participating equally in sports that have historically constituted male preserves. At the interactional level, both well-intentioned hesitation and dismissive hostility from male training partners can lead to women's place within sporting clubs being compromised; unchallenged sexist assumptions derived from orthodox gender expectations can create unwelcoming or off-putting social environments, ensuring few women enter or stay within clubs that are ostensibly open to them; while bans on women competing against men in their respective weight categories leaves women's skills underdeveloped if few female opponents can be found in regional or local competitions (Channon, 2013;Channon and Jennings, 2013;Owton, 2015). Together, such factors operate to perpetuate old systems of male privilege, effectively reducing the symbolic impact of women's entry into male preserves.…”

Section: Residual Patriarchy: the Preserve In Piecesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘male preserve’ thesis, sporting culture, and men’s power

Matthews

Channon²

2019

Routledge International Handbook of Masculinity Studies

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Introduction: Studying sport and gender Since the mid-nineteenth century, when the modern Westernised form of competition sport took shape, there has been a shifting yet robustly gendered structure to the experience of playing, consuming, managing, teaching and marketing sport. In this regard, save for a number of important examples, sports in various forms were created by men, for men (and boys). In light of this, critical studies of men, masculinity and sport culture have emerged as a major area of research in the sociology of sport (e.g.

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Reinventing the Body-Self: Intense, Gendered and Heightened Sensorial Experiences of Women’s Boxing Embodiment

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

“Some Women Are Born Fighters”: Discursive Constructions of a Fighter’s Identity by Female Finnish Judo Athletes

“Some Women Are Born Fighters”: Discursive Constructions of a Fighter’s Identity by Female Finnish Judo Athletes

‘I don’t think they realise how good we are’: Innovation, inclusion and exclusion in women’s Olympic boxing

The ‘male preserve’ thesis, sporting culture, and men’s power

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