This book examines the experiences of amateur players in women’s football, challenging conventional discourses that centre male, masculine, and heterosexual identities and offering a new narrative that re-positions women’s voices.
Based on original empirical research, including extended interviews with female players, the book outlines current debates in women’s football around gender, identity, and intersectionality. It explores football as a space of contestation, examining the creative ways in which women have negotiated opportunities to play football and the friendships and sociality that emerge from playing the game. The book examines resistance to historically bound cultural norms that privileges men’s participation, reflecting on mixed-sex football, femininity, embodiment, physical capital, and authenticity, and considers how this deeper understanding of football cultures might help in the future development of the women’s game.
This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in football, women’s sport, the sociology of sport, or gender studies.
Part I
Pathways for Marginalised Voices
1 Women’s Football, Culture, and Identity
2 Researching Women’s Football: Place, Nostalgia, and Voice
Part II
Development, Opportunities, and Friendships
3 Formative Footballing Experiences: Early Aspirations and Playing Football at School
4 Sociality, Community, and the Importance of Friendships in Women’s Football
Part III
Encouraging Inclusivity: Challenges and Reconfiguration
5 Developing Football Players: Challenges and Reconfiguration
6 Voice, English Football Culture, and Encouraging Inclusivity: Contestation and Change
7 Women’s Football in a Contested Culture: A Reflection on Voice and Nostalgia
Appendix: Research Participants
Biography
Kate Themen is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
