1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Gender Politics in Sport and Physical Activity
This progressive and broad-ranging handbook offers a comprehensive overview of the complex intersections between politics, gender, sport and physical activity, shining new light on the significance of gender, sport and physical activity in wider society.
Featuring contributions from leading and emerging researchers from around the world, the book makes the case that gender studies and critical thinking around gender are of particular importance in an era of increasingly intolerant populist politics. It examines important long-term as well as emerging themes, such as recent generational shifts in attitudes to gender identity in sport and the socio-cultural expectations on men and women that have traditionally influenced and often disrupted their engagement with sport and physical activity, and explores a wide range of current issues in contemporary sport, from debates around the contested gender binary and sex verification, to the role of the media and social media, and the significance of gender in sport leadership, policy and decision-making.
This book is an authoritative survey of the current state of play in research connecting gender, sport, physical activity and politics, and is an important contribution to both sport studies and gender studies. It is fascinating reading for any student, researcher, policy-maker or professional with an interest in sport, physical activity, social studies, public health or political science.
1. Connecting Gender, Politics, Sport and Physical Activity: An Introduction
Győző Molnár and Rachael Bullingham
Part I: Gendered History
2. Gender Equality, Sport Media and the Olympics, 1984-2018: An Overview
Aneta Grabmüllerova and Hans Erik Næss
3. Sex Verification and Protected Categories in Sport: Binary or Bust?
Pam R. Sailors and Charlene Weaving
4. The Politics of Positions of Sport Leadership: The Subtexts of Women’s Exclusion
Annelies Knoppers and Ramon Spaaij
5. Gendered Transformations: Conflict and Resistance in the Regulation of Female Athlete Eligibility in International Sport
Ekain Zubizarreta and Madeleine Pape
6. Analysis of Government Policy Relating to Women’s Sport
Julia White and Jean McArdle
7. Gender and Strength: Representation in Strength and Conditioning
Yvette L. Figueroa and Emily A. Roper
Part II: Gender Binary Troubles
8. Patriarchy and its Discontents
Eric Anderson
9. Atrophying Masculinity within Professional Road Cycling: Contesting ‘the male’ through a (Re)scripting of the Anti-Male
James J. Brittain
10. Rainbow Dancing and the Challenge of Transgender Inclusion in Finland
Anna Kavoura and SanTra Rinne
11. The Politics of Minority Ethnic Women’s Leisure Time and Physical Activity in Denmark
Adam B. Evans, Sine Agergaard and Verena Lenneis
12. Patriarchal Politics of Women Footballers in Australia: Changing the Narrative from Welfare to Women Saving Men’s Football
Michael Burke, Matthew Klugman and Kate O’Halloran
13. A Gendered Focused Review of Sports Diplomacy
Verity Postlethwaite, Claire Jenkin and Emma Sherry
14. Gender Politics in British University Sport: Exploring Contemporary Perceptions of Femininity and Masculinity
Amelia Laffey and Stuart Whigham
15. The Gender Politics of Sex Integrated Sport: The Case of Professional Golf
Ali Bowes
16. Reclaiming Women’s Voice in Masculine Competitive Sports Cultures: Playing to Win?
Adi Mohel
17. Towards Equality in Women’s Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity: Complexities and Contradictions
Claire-Marie Roberts
Part III: Intersecting Gender
18. Postcoloniality, Gender and Sport: A Snapshot of the Literature and Insights from Fiji
Yoko Kanemasu and Atele Dutt
19. From Disability to “Adaptivity”: Bethany Hamilton in Sean McNamara’s Soul Surfer (2011)
Tatiana Prorokova-Konrad
20. Women’s Parasport Experiences of Sacrifice, Conflict, and Control: Always Tilting
Nancy Spencer, Eri Yamamoto and Bobbi-Jo Atchison
21. Muslim Women and Sport: Obstacles and Perspectives in Socio-Political Contexts
Fabrizio Ciocca
22. The Politics of Passing for Trans and Non-Binary People in Physical Activity in the UK: “Yeah, Congratulations! You Look like a Cis Person, Well Done!”
Abby Barras
Part IV: Gender, Politics, Sport and Physical Activity Case Studies
23. Gender Politics of Social Media: A Case Study of Megan Rapinoe
Connor MacDonald and Jamie Cleland
24. Gender and the Politics of Patriarchy in Zimbabwean Football Administration
Tafadzwa Choto and Manase Kudzai Chiweshe
25. Women in Golf: Policy and Progress
Niamh Kitching
26. Narratives of Women Surfers: Rethinking Pre-constructed Gender Bias
Aimee Vlachos and Nuria Alonso Garcia
27. Fitness Practitioners’ Overcoming of Self-objectification: The Problem with ‘Legs, Bums and Tums’
Hannah Kate Lewis
28. Sex Integration and the Potential of Track-and-Field: A New Norm
Anna Posbergh
29. Gender Justice and Women’s Football: A Macro and Micro Analysis of the Game in England
Hanya Pielichaty
30. Gender Participation in Decision Making Positions of Sport Federations
Amalia Drakou, Popi Sotiriadou and Dimitris Gargalianos
31. Mamanet: Empowering Mothers towards Sport
Riki Tesler, Kwok, Daniel Gelber and Elina Hytönen-Ng
32. A Strategy to Promote Gender Equality: The Number and Status of Women in Leadership and Decision-making Positions in Finnish Sport
Matti Hakamäki, Salla Turpeinen and Kati Lehtonen
Biography
Győző Molnár is Professor of Sociology of Sport and Exercise at the University of Worcester, UK.
Rachael Bullingham is Senior Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, UK.