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"Everybody's looking at you!": Girls negotiating the 'femininity deficit' they face in physical education

"Everybody's looking at you!": Girls negotiating the 'femininity deficit' they face in physical education
"Everybody's looking at you!": Girls negotiating the 'femininity deficit' they face in physical education
There is a growing awareness of the complex and largely negative attitudes many girls in the UK hold towards physical activity in general and Physical Education (PE) in particular. This research in the UK involves a qualitative study of six Year 9 girls’ experiences and motivations in PE. Reflexive interpretation and biographical analysis of in-depth interviews are utilized to explore the themes of the relationship between "sportiness" and heterosexual desirability; and the polarized images of "tomboy" and "girlie." Work by Connell [Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and power. Cambridge: Polity Press.] on the gender order, and theories arising from the cultural analysis tradition on teenage girls’ subcultures and identity formation are drawn on in order to make sense of the girls’ narratives. The findings of this research reveal that images of teenage girls and young women being physically active are non-congruouswith the traditional ideologies of acceptable femininity. This paper describes how these girls negotiate the contradictions and the tensions caused by the "femininity deficit" incurred in PE by creating "double identities" and living "split lives."
physical activity, physical education, girls, biographical analysis, sportiness, gender, femininity
651-665
Cockburn, Claudia
db767089-3f43-468c-8227-8f88874f5b9e
Clarke, Gill
112f4fba-7fd5-41eb-b70c-a91eb3309b2b
Cockburn, Claudia
db767089-3f43-468c-8227-8f88874f5b9e
Clarke, Gill
112f4fba-7fd5-41eb-b70c-a91eb3309b2b

Cockburn, Claudia and Clarke, Gill (2002) "Everybody's looking at you!": Girls negotiating the 'femininity deficit' they face in physical education. Women's Studies International Forum, 25 (6), 651-665. (doi:10.1016/S0277-5395(02)00351-5).

Record type: Article

Abstract

There is a growing awareness of the complex and largely negative attitudes many girls in the UK hold towards physical activity in general and Physical Education (PE) in particular. This research in the UK involves a qualitative study of six Year 9 girls’ experiences and motivations in PE. Reflexive interpretation and biographical analysis of in-depth interviews are utilized to explore the themes of the relationship between "sportiness" and heterosexual desirability; and the polarized images of "tomboy" and "girlie." Work by Connell [Connell, R.W. (1987). Gender and power. Cambridge: Polity Press.] on the gender order, and theories arising from the cultural analysis tradition on teenage girls’ subcultures and identity formation are drawn on in order to make sense of the girls’ narratives. The findings of this research reveal that images of teenage girls and young women being physically active are non-congruouswith the traditional ideologies of acceptable femininity. This paper describes how these girls negotiate the contradictions and the tensions caused by the "femininity deficit" incurred in PE by creating "double identities" and living "split lives."

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Published date: 2002
Keywords: physical activity, physical education, girls, biographical analysis, sportiness, gender, femininity
Organisations: Leadership School Improve &Effectiveness

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Local EPrints ID: 21056
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/21056
PURE UUID: 4cb13b72-d70b-41e1-91c7-542932fbb8df

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Date deposited: 09 Mar 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:27

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Contributors

Author: Claudia Cockburn
Author: Gill Clarke

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