Drawing on data from a life history study of 11 women, this article explores the ways in which a group of newly qualified female physical education (PE) teachers constructed the "problem" of girls' relatively low participation in PE. It is suggested that, while these women voluntarily expressed a desire to change the gendered nature of PE, during…

Over the last two decades we have witnessed an emerging set of conditions in schools which render them contexts replete with social messages about the body, health, and self. Research has suggested that both the formal and informal contexts of education are heavily imbued with a "culture of healthism" which places moral obligation and…