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ETD Abstract Container

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"Let's Bang": Constructing, Reinforcing, and Embodying Orthodox Masculinity in Women's Full-Contact, Tackle Football

Carter, Jennifer A.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1418909838

Abstract Details

2014, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Sociology.
If asked to envision a football player in your head, a pretty standard image would likely emerge: a big, strong, muscular man. This image, and the discourse surrounding full-contact, American tackle football, focus on football as a "bastion of manhood;" a space where only the manliest of men will be successful. However, missing from this picture are the many women who participate in tackle football. In examining women's football, this study began by asking: what beliefs and practices constitute women's experiences of gender in tackle football? To answer this question, this project used several qualitative methodologies to examine the lived experiences of women playing football, including more than 300 hours of embodied participant observation, informal interviews, and autoethnography. This study finds that in aligning with expectations of football culture, women engage in a cyclical process in which they construct, reinforce, and embody football masculinity, an aggressive masculinity requiring physical sacrifice, and overt denigration of femininity. The construction of football masculinity requires women to overcome physical and ideological boundaries regarding women's bodies, engage in antifeminine behaviors, and suppress feminine performance throughout the season. This requires policing of masculinity and femininity constantly, a practice in which both coaches and players engage. Ultimately, this process illustrates the fluidity of masculinity and femininity, as it is apparent that women tackle football players engage in both at varying levels through their interactions. Thus, this study finds that masculinity and femininity cannot be seen as polar opposites, or as the ends of a singular continuum. Instead, women tackle football players illustrate that one can engage in femininity and masculinity simultaneously.
Erynn Casanova, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Annulla Linders, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
David Maume, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Corinne Reczek, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
165 p.
Sociology
masculinity; tackle football; gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Carter, J. A. (2014). "Let's Bang": Constructing, Reinforcing, and Embodying Orthodox Masculinity in Women's Full-Contact, Tackle Football [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1418909838

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Carter, Jennifer. "Let's Bang": Constructing, Reinforcing, and Embodying Orthodox Masculinity in Women's Full-Contact, Tackle Football. 2014. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1418909838.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Carter, Jennifer. ""Let's Bang": Constructing, Reinforcing, and Embodying Orthodox Masculinity in Women's Full-Contact, Tackle Football." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1418909838

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1418909838
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.