"Holding Back": Negotiating a Glass Ceiling on Women's Muscular Strength

Dworkin, Shari L.

doi:10.2307/1389710

Cited by 49 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Our findings are somewhat different those which have found 'upper limits' of musculature (e.g. Dworkin, 2001;George, 2005). In the aforementioned studies participants are asked to directly describe the tensions they experience with their bodies and muscle unlike this study where expressions of desire for muscle emerge through bodies within contextual practice and interaction.…”

Section: Discussion and Reflectionscontrasting

confidence: 95%

Monadic, material and mirroring: Female bodies in track athletics culture

Stewart

Pullen

2016

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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This study explores how female track athletes experience and use their bodies within the contexts (social places) that form part of their everyday routines. Using ethnographic methods (focus groups, observations, self-directed photographic elicitation, and reflexive diary entries) the research focused on a training group of five semi elite female track athletes based in the U.K. in which, one researcher was a full participant. Arthur Frank's (1991) theory of the body is employed as an analytical lens to explore and illuminate the predominant types of body-usage manifest in their embodiments. The findings indicated that the athletes were predominantly mirroring bodies, with focus on appearance central to their experiences. Crucially these women desired more muscle in the mirroring process. Finally, attention is drawn to Frank's typology as a useful framework through which to contribute to some of the key issues related to women's experiences of their bodies in sport.

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Section: Discussion and Reflectionscontrasting

confidence: 95%

Monadic, material and mirroring: Female bodies in track athletics culture

Stewart

Pullen

2016

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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“…is then answered in terms of class (upper) and wealth (rich). As Dworkin (2001) showed in her examination of two differently priced fitness clubs in Los Angeles, the exclusion of lower socioeconomic classes from exercise space connotes the idea that fitness and health is a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Although it was socially difficult to broach this subject directly with participants, coaches offered some insight into the makeup of the gym's members, which were jokingly referred to as "desk jockeys" in reference to the fact that most worked an office desk for 8-10 hours before attending an evening WOD.…”

Section: Who Can Be (Cross)fit?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chasing Rx: A Spatial Ethnography of the CrossFit Gym

Crockett¹,

Butryn²

2018

Sociology of Sport Journal

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CrossFit is a group fitness program that incorporates a variety of weightlifting and gymnastic movements performed at high intensities. While scholars have examined CrossFit’s physiological and behavioral outcomes, few studies have examined the program’s psychological and sociological characteristics. Drawing from Henning Eichberg’s work on spatial geography, this 5-month ethnographic study examined the space and place of two CrossFit gyms as an introduction to a broader discussion on CrossFit subculture and evolving discourses about the body, health, and fitness. Specifically, the gyms’ location, layout, and open arrangement of moving bodies revealed three major themes about CrossFit space: a place that blurs the line between exercise and menial labor in an otherwise sedentary and technologized society; a place that is inclusive specifically in terms of gender, age, and ability, yet exclusive socioeconomically; and a faux-elite sporting place that inadvertently produces wild and untamed bodily movements. Results of the study suggest that CrossFit’s popularity in recent years portends a dramatic shift in the social function of recreational fitness toward forms of exercise that are more inclusive, and yet at the same time are more socially competitive and hierarchical.

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“…On the other hand, they put up resistance against this emphasized femininity, by accentuating their capacity and comparing their strength with that of boys. This could be understood as a way to 'balance between signalling femininity and masculine sport competence' (With-Nielsen & Pfister, 2011), a strategy much discussed in research about able-bodied women and sport (Dworkin, 2001;Griffin, 2002). But I would rather interpret it as a resistance against the ascribed genderlessness, weakness and passivity as disabled women.…”

Section: Being Like Everyone Elsementioning

confidence: 99%

‘You do it in your own particular way.’ Physical education, gender and (dis)ability

Apelmo

2018

Sport, Education and Society

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The aim of this article was to explore, from a gender perspective, how young sporting women with physical impairments experience physical education (PE), and which strategies they use to manage situations that arise in the everyday interaction in connection with those lessons. Phenomenology provides a theoretical framework that includes the body. Ten semistructured interviews were conducted with the women, aged 15-28. In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with three boys, aged between 10 and 15, and with one male coach. Those latter interviews are used in the article as material for comparison. The young women had a strong aspiration to appear normal. However, in relation to PE, the participants highlighted issues dealing with experiences of exclusion and special treatment. It appeared to be difficult for teachers to see these women as the sports-interested youths that they were. The young women used different strategies of resistance. Some of them did not participate in certain aspects of PE, or chose to quit the whole course. To receive a higher grade, another participant showed the teacher her medals from the Swedish national swimming championship, thus stressing her competence. When the women finally described the stigmatization that they had been subjected to, they avoided positioning themselves as victims, by downplaying the seriousness of a discriminatory situation or by using in the interview the word 'we' instead of 'I', thus describing the incident in collective terms. Previous research supports the suggestion that the students' opportunities to show their capacities and strength during PE are dependent on the students' gender. While one of the boys and a male coach gave examples of experiences of more inclusive PE, with a potential to challenge the ablebodied norm within the subject, the gender norm remained unquestioned. ARTICLE HISTORY

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"Holding Back": Negotiating a Glass Ceiling on Women's Muscular Strength

Cited by 49 publications

References 17 publications

Monadic, material and mirroring: Female bodies in track athletics culture

Monadic, material and mirroring: Female bodies in track athletics culture

Chasing Rx: A Spatial Ethnography of the CrossFit Gym

‘You do it in your own particular way.’ Physical education, gender and (dis)ability

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