Approaching the Gendered Phenomenon of ‘Women Warriors’

Abstract

Introduction: Why Write of Women Warriors?Our initial motivation for producing Global Perspectives on Women in Combat Sports: Women Warriors around the World began several years ago when, as PhD candidates studying together at Loughborough University, UK, we developed a shared interest in combat sports through our separate but related research projects. Christopher's work, involving an ethnographic study of a working-class, predominantly male boxing club, and Alex's, which explored the phenomenon of mixed-sex training in a range of martial arts schools, fuelled many discussions between us on the sociological richness of these activities. Topics such as the contentious definition of 'violence', the emotional landscape of training to fight, the social class characteristics of participants in different clubs and schools, and the complex relationship between ethnicity and authenticity in the martial arts occupied many of our debates. However, the most salient issue for both of us, and that which we returned to with the greatest regularity, was the manner in which gender was constructed, portrayed, and lived out within these activities. Of particular relevance in this respect is the tendency for some combat sport settings to be relatively male-exclusive, and steeped in orthodox narrations of masculinity -as was the case in Christopher's study -or for sex integration to occur in ways which generate numerous complex, gendered problems for practitioners -a crucial aspect of Alex's work. Indeed, our doctoral theses and subsequent publications were eventually both based on analyses of the gendered behaviour of practitioners within such settings, and marked the beginning of our academic careers as scholars in this particular field (e.g., Channon, 2012a;2012b; 2013a; Matthews, 2012;.We were fortunate enough to be doing such research at a time when what might reasonably be described as the traditional association between combat sports and male exclusivity would be challenged in some fairly important and highly visibly ways, beyond the immediate confines of our studies' empirical foci. Firstly, in 2009, the International Olympic Committee approved the inclusion of women's boxing for the Olympic programme; the following Summer Games, in London in 2012, saw a 116-year history of women's exclusion from the Summer Olympic sports programme finally end, with female pugilists entering the

'Pink Gloves Still Give Black Eyes': exploring 'alternative' femininity in women's combat sports

“…Such dynamics have particular relevance for participation in (combat) sports, long associated with both the embodiment and display of power and idealised notions of masculinity [Channon and Matthews 2015b;Mennesson 2000]. According to Judith Butler's [1990] theory of the heterosexual matrix, female athletes practicing such sports, which most often require them to forgo socially normalised constructions of femininity, risk having their status as 'real' women (often conflated with, but not reducible to, being heterosexual) called into question [Tredway 2014].…”

“…Indirectly approaching this topic seemed to be the best way to avoid the issue being discussed in overly analytical and abstract ways, focusing instead on participants' actual behaviours and impressions of self. Similarly, interviewees often noted that developing greater female participation in their sports could be achieved by including what were thought to be feminised practices, such as self-defence classes or 'fitness-oriented' sessions, in their clubs' programs [Channon and Matthews 2015b]. It should be noted that many in our samples rejected the suggestion that training for fitness or self-defence were their own primary goals, preferring to identify as competitive athletes instead, while some were critical of ever advertising MACS to women by way of emphasising specifically 'feminine' practices [see Jennings 2015].…”

“…Commonly viewed as 'quintessentially masculine' [see Mennesson 2000 andGammel 2012], such activities often serve as cultural sites through which masculinity is symbolically articulated as the male embodiment of strength, toughness, and physical power [Matthews 2016]. Thus, women's successful entry into these symbolically 'masculine' spaces has the potential to pose particularly dramatic challenges to wider social discourses of male superiority, owing to the way in which female fighting ability and the combat-ready female body destabilise patriarchal gender norms and women's concurrent symbolic subordination to men [Hargreaves 1997;McCaughey 1997;Gammel 2012;Channon and Matthews 2015b]. In this respect, much research into women in MACS strikes an optimistic tone, with scholars frequently advocating women's participation as a potential source of individual empowerment and also wider, progressive social change.…”

Mixed Martial Arts: Civilizing or Decivilizing Process? A Bibliometric Analysis

“…It implies a subversive potential transcending the normative sexist discourses on gender. 86 In addition, the presence and exposure of non-white athletes in disciplines like MMA help neutralize hegemonic masculinity. This sport could therefore "provide minority men with the opportunity to disavow the legacy of imperialism and colonialism that has relegated them to the status of 'other'."…”

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

“…This is perhaps unsurprising considering the often dramatic speed, power, and physicality displayed as athletes engage in what Smith (1983) termed "brutal body contact." 1 Those working within the sociology of sports violence have done much to build up a critical understanding of the phenomenon in relation to various concerns, such as its historical development (Elias andDunning 2008 [1986] ;Guttman 1978); its painful/injurious consequences (Young, White, and McTeer 1994) and concurrent implications for athlete healthcare (Malcolm and Scott 2011); its relation to the commodification of athletes as workers (Robidoux 2001;Young 1993); its implications for constructions of gender (Channon and Matthews 2015;Matthews 2014Matthews , 2015Messner 1990;Thing 2001) and other ideologies embedded in performance sport (Hughes and Coakley 1991;Jakubowska, Channon, and Matthews 2016;Maguire 2004); the enjoyment it generates (Gard and Meyenn 2000;Maguire 1992;Matthews 2014); and its relation to hooliganism (Dunning, Murphy, and Williams 1988;King 1997) and other violences (Young 2012).…”