Girls’ active identities: navigating othering discourses of femininity, bodies and physical education
Authors
Hill, JoanneIssue Date
2015-09-01Subjects
physical educationgendered bodies
physical activity
visual methods
femininity
ethnicity
L320 Gender studies
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Within physical education and sport, girls must navigate discourses of valued athletic and gendered bodies that marginalise or ‘other’ non-normative performances through systems of surveillance and punishment. The purpose of this paper is to share girls’ perspectives on how these discourses affected their gender performances and activity engagement. Students aged 13-14 in one ethnically diverse UK secondary school were invited to create a photo diary of the physical activities they engaged in. Photo elicitation interviews in small groups followed. The girls positioned themselves as physically active but had to carefully manage their activity choices and gender performances in a single-sex physical education environment that regulated deviation from the fit, slender, girly girl. Although the girls demonstrate the difficulty of resisting, they indicate moments of positioning themselves against norms that suggest the possibilities of shifting gendering processes. The paper points out the importance of listening to ‘other’ girls’ narratives in building positive physical education engagements.Citation
Hill J (2015) 'Girls’ active identities: navigating othering discourses of femininity, bodies and physical education', Gender and Education, 27 (6), pp.666-684.Publisher
Taylor & FrancisJournal
Gender and EducationAdditional Links
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2015.1078875Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0954-0253ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/09540253.2015.1078875