Double-trouble: Negotiating gender and sexuality in post-colonial women’s rugby in Fiji

Abstract

Although women’s exclusion in sport has attracted significant attention in the western context, similar issues in relation to post-colonial societies have remained in the margins of the sociology of sport. By analysing primary, interview-based evidence, in this article we explore the challenges female rugby players face regarding gender and sexuality in Fiji: a male dominated post-colonial society. In particular, we focus on participants’ resistance to dominant cultural practices and ways in which they (re)negotiate gender norms and sexuality in a double-bind struggle against both traditional and sporting male hegemonies. We argue that the case of Fijian women rugby players illustrates an interplay between a multiplicity of power relations in sport in a post-colonial society and the resilience with which the athletes negotiate and respond to them, as well as the dynamic nature and the transformative potential of their everyday practices.

Exploring the complexities of community attitudes towards women’s rugby: Multiplicity, continuity and change in Fiji’s hegemonic rugby discourse

“…Many gatekeepers, especially those in professional roles (such as teachers), and at least in urban areas, may be developing affirmative views of the game at a time of nation-wide excitement about Fiji's participation in the 2016 Olympic rugby sevens competition. That is, the shift that Kanemasu and Molnar (2015) suggested might be possibly arising in the dominant rugby discourse is indeed empirically observable. At the same time, it appears that negative perceptions and sanctions, grounded in traditional gender norms, safety concerns, and perceived lack of institutional support, also remain, discouraging some athletic women from attempting the game.…”

“…Nevertheless, the players have been resolutely committed to the game, which they see as a key space for mutual support, gender expression and counter-hegemony (Kanemasu and Molnar, 2015). They have made tentative victories in this struggle: the Fijianas, the national team, won the Bowl at the 2013 Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens; qualified for the 2014-2015 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series; and recently became the first women's rugby team from the Pacific region to compete in the Olympics.…”

Indo-Fijian women and sportive activity: A critical race feminism approach

“…Yes In various parts of the world, female athletes have found emotional strength and support from each other when resisting the barriers of masculinist sporting structures (e.g., Shockley, 2005). In the case of Fiji, this has been observed among indigenous women rugby players (Kanemasu and Molnar, 2017) These women's experiences illustrate resilience and tenacity. Their relentless pursuit of sport and physical activity is an act of expressing their tangible, physical agency in a society where claim to physical power is central to the gender and racial relations that marginalise them.…”

La Sexualidad en Entredicho: Nuevas Negociaciones Del Significado De Ser Mujer en El Deporte De Alto Rendimiento

“…El estereotipo de que las mujeres que practican deporte de competición son lesbianas ha estado siempre presente en los contextos deportivos y de Educación Física (GRIFFIN, 1998;SYKES, 1998;HARRIS, 2005). El deporte siempre se ha contextualizado como un espacio de legitimidad masculina, por lo que las mujeres que se atrevían a adentrarse a niveles competitivos y que presentaban una falta de adherencia de las atletas a las normas tradicionales de feminidad (CAHN, 1993;RIEMER, 1997) eran etiquetadas como lesbianas (KRANE, 1997;KANEMASU;MOLNAR, 2015). Los motivos que pueden conducir a esa percepción de desviación social y, ulteriormente, a ese etiquetado, son diversos: poseer un cuerpo más masculinizado (CAUDWELL, 1999; STIGGER; SILVEIRA, 2010); apartarse de otros cánones estéticos femeninos, como, por ejemplo, llevar el pelo corto y no usar maquillaje (KAUER; KRANE, 2006;FYNES;FISHER, 2016); o llevar a cabo desempeños y logros deportivos considerados masculinos por entenderse que trascienden los límites biológicos de la naturaleza femenina (SILVEIRA; VAZ, 2013; 2014).…”