This article explores the potential for martial arts to support transformation and community building for women. Findings indicate women can derive many individual benefits from learning martial arts. Yet, the benefits must extend beyond the individual level to create social change. Based on an evaluation of literature on women's experiences…

This paper reports the findings of a mixed-methods study which investigates the socio-cultural impacts of UK gendered school sport uniform and the role uniform plays in shaping female school sport experiences. Drawing on an extensive analytical survey with over 400 women of all-ages and 8 interviews with women aged 18-24, it explores how school…

In Australian culture, males dominate sports such as football, cricket and Australian Rules Football. Girls and women in such sports are frequently required to negotiate persistent gender constructs and stereotypes. Despite this, in recent years there has been an increase in girls' participation in sports that are constructed as masculine. The…

The sport of track and field in the United States has a storied but tumultuous past, especially in women's collegiate athletics. In the late 19th century, it was enjoyed by women at elite colleges in the form of a "field day," but would have trouble surpassing that level, among middle class Whites especially. This hurdle in large part…

Discusses how the media represents U.S. women's gymnastics, examining the degree to which the manifest promises of gymnastics (veneration of mass-mediated femininity and celebration of flexibility, strength, and agility) function in relation to economies of perversity. Suggests that the promises and perversities embodied by gymnasts are…