‘We wear dresses, we look pretty’: The feminization and heterosexualization of netball spaces and bodies

Abstract

Since its introduction in New Zealand during the early 20th century, netball has been considered ‘unambiguously for women’ and it continues to represent one of the few team sport environments not characterized by the interests and participation of men. Yet, despite a long history as the ‘good game for girls’, there is an ongoing and complex relationship between netball and heteronormative femininity in New Zealand that has gone largely unexplored among contemporary studies of sport. In this paper, I take inspiration from French philosopher and social theorist Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space in order to examine this relationship, and particularly the geography of social relations in netball. Drawing upon insights obtained via historical and media analysis, observations and interviews with 16 women players, I demonstrate how netball is (re)produced as feminized and heterosexualized space, and thus, how this sport works to inscribe women’s moving bodies with a dominant, normative and culturally valued version of femininity. To conclude, I discuss how the findings of this paper and Lefebvre’s spatial theory may be useful for thinking further about the gendered nature of this sport and women’s everyday lived experiences.

Sportscapes: Contested bodies, gender and desire within a female Australian rules football team

“…And yet the cultural legitimacy of the butch body in this sportscape is abjectified, rendered unintelligible to Mac, despite her own embodiment of masculinities. Such a reaction reflects the way in which this sportscape, as ‘a social product…a dynamic, humanly constructed means of control, and hence of domination, of power’ (Lefebvre, 1991: 24, cited in Marfell, 2017: 4) enacts powerful hierarchies of domination that serve to powerfully legitimate those who are included and those who are excluded. The othering of the butch body suggests the enduring legacy of the binaries of the sexed body, and the limitations of this sportscape to support diversity and inclusion, despite its strength in advocating for and supporting gendered performances and desires outside of heteronormative ideologies.…”

“…Such conceptions draw on ideas of Lefebvre who, Fusco (2004) asserts, critiques the neglect of what space is by introducing the concept of ‘social space’. The social space, as described by Stella in this excerpt, reflects the experiences of engagement and interaction within space and is extended on in Lefebrve’s oeuvre, whose work positions space not as ‘simply “there”, a neutral container waiting to be filled’ (Lefebvre, 1991: 24, cited in Marfell, 2017: 4), but rather as ‘a social product[…]a dynamic, humanly constructed means of control, and hence of domination, of power’ (Lefebvre, 1991: 24, cited in Marfell, 2017: 4). In the modern era, suggests Lefebvre (cited in Fusco, 2004), the complexities of space have been condensed to abstraction, manipulated and homogenised for the imposition of power.…”

“…Indeed, theorists of human geography and space, since Lefebvre, reflect on the ways in which space is socially produced and innately connected to sustain and reproduce power and the production of certain subjectivities (Fusco, 2004). Marfell (2017: 3), for example, also drawing on the spatial theorising of Lefebvre, asks ‘in what ways are dominant relations of femininity and heteronormativity (re)produced within and across the social space of netball in New Zealand?’ Fusco (2004: n.p.). discusses the subjectivities that are (re)produced in locker rooms, ‘in, and through, a/the process of abjection which in turn ushers in the (re)production of respectable, normative and proper citizen-subjects’.…”

Gender Relations, Gender Equity, and Community Sports Spaces

“…Building on previous research in sports contexts (Friedman & van Ingen, 2011;Marfell, 2019;van Ingen, 2003), we use the work of Lefebvre (1991) as a framework for examining the ways space is organized and used within the case study club to create divisions and exclusions that reinforce and perpetuate gender norms. Lefebvre's (1991) conceptualization is valuable for considering the ways social relations produce (and are produced) by space.…”

“…The findings of the study demonstrate the importance of bringing spatial analysis into the scholarly and policy debate on gender equity in sport. Few studies within community sport settings utilize a spatial analysis (Caudwell, 2007;Marfell, 2019), and we would argue that this perspective is important in continuing to highlight inequities despite the growing number of women and girls participating and occupying space in community sport. In this study, a spatial analysis enables a foregrounding of the ongoing everyday micro-practices within a community club that continue to marginalize and exclude women and girls, despite the club committee's efforts to develop a more gender equitable environment.…”