The sexual division of sport and female subjectivity
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1992
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Melbourne Authors
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Department of Geography
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Masters Coursework thesis
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Abstract
Regular participation in sport has come to be associated with the development of confidence both personally and physically. However empirical research on this topic has virtually ignored the way sport types are divided by sex and gender, into female sports and male sports. This thesis investigates the impact that the sexual division of sport has on the self-concepts of women who partake in sports that mainstream culture deem appropriate or inappropriate for females.
Women who partake in the male sports, Australian rules football and soccer, are compared against women who partake in the female sports, aerobics and netball. Comparisons on physical self-concepts, self-identification with stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, and levels and types of motivation, were made. A total of 102 women partook in the survey. While there were some significant differences between the women who partook in the male sports and the women who partook in the female sports, the outstanding pattern that emerged from the findings was on differences between the women who partook in aerobics and the women who partook in the team sports. The latter group had greater confidence in themselves both physically and personally, and their motivation to partake in their sport was higher and more varied. The women in the team sports were more likely to resist popular notions of femininity than the women involved in aerobics. Overall the team sports came across as sites for feminist transformations of power, sites to build up confidence, sites where cultural definitions of the female body can be redefined.
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Sex discrimination in sports, Social aspects, Sociological aspects, Sports, Sports for women, Teamwork (Sports)