Disabled sportswomen and gender construction in powerchair football

Abstract

Sports and physical activities are ideal fields to study gender construction. Much research aims at shedding light on these processes. Women involved in 'male' sports have been extensively studied, and mixed-sex activities have sometimes been used to support these studies, but research has rarely focused on populations of disabled athletes. Yet, the phenomenon of gender construction takes on a particular meaning in the context of disability, insofar as the relations between sports, gender and disability raise the issues of production and negotiation of bodily norms in a specific way. We will try to understand this gender construction phenomenon through the study of ten French powerchair football players, with whom we conducted a participant observation over two and a half years, as well as in-depth interviews. We will pay particular attention to the case of three sportswomen who competed in an almost exclusively male champion ship. We will see that these women are confronted with a dilemma: going against the stereotype of the asexual Paralympian female athlete while performing masculinity to gain legitimacy in a men's world. These sportswomen thus 'play the game' of masculinity through a set of discursive, behavioral and clothing strategies in order to find a place in powerchair football, while still preserving some of their 'femininity.'

The Singaporean Paralympics and Its Media Portrayal: Real Sport? Men-Only?

“…Bourdieu (2001) writes, “The masculinization of the male body and the feminization of the female body […] induce a somatization of the relation of domination, which is thus naturalized” (pp. 55–56, as cited in Richard, Joncheray, & Dugas, 2017). This also links to de Beauvoir’s (1973) point in The Second Sex that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (p. 301).…”

“…Noticeable body differences cause confusion and comment. (in Richard, Joncheray, & Dugas, 2017, p. 64)…”

“…The last element in these findings to be explored is if female disabled athletes are objectified sexually or stereotyped as asexual (Richard, Joncheray, & Dugas, 2017). From 70 articles with images, it was found that no photographs of Paralympians with sexual partners were presented.…”

“…Hall (1996) demonstrates how the media frames disabled female athletes as “sexually different” (as cited in Hargreaves & Hardin, 2009) in contrast to biological norms. More recent studies have explored how female disabled athletes are often stereotyped as asexual (Richard, Joncheray, & Dugas, 2017). These authors cite Zitzelsberger (2005):Discourses of women with disabilities as non-gendered, nonsexual, childlike and dependent extend to assumptions regarding women being unable to be sexual, spouses, partners or mothers.…”

The bodily experience of disabled athletes. A phenomenological study of powerchair football

“…This sport has caught the attention of researchers: Wessel, Wentz, and Markel (2011), along with Jeffress and Brown (2017), studied its psycho-social benefits, while Cottingham, Pate, and Gearity (2015) examined 'inspiration' in the context of powerchair football tournaments. Richard, Joncheray, and Dugas (2015), as well as Cottingham et al (2018), investigated the construction of gender within it. The health and wellness benefits of powerchair football (Barfield et al…”