ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters I have illustrated how the sporty type is positioned as masculine and how within this masculine culture, women’s participation is more acceptable when it is in feminine appropriate sports. I have also argued that women’s sport is considered of less interest and importance than men’s sport; and that sportswomen’s achievements are placed secondary to their (heterosexual) feminine characteristics. I have argued that within the masculine culture of sport, women’s sport has been accommodated, but at the same time resisted, through hegemonic femininity where the female athlete’s body is (hetero) sexualised; where, although she is strong and independent she is subordinated and made to fit with cultural norms. This is also prevalent in the world of women’s recreational physical exercise, particularly in the aerobics subculture, where women are encouraged to exercise according to conceptions of femininity that emphasise beauty over health. As a result, this activity which has the potential to be empowering for women by providing a womendominated, if not women-only space to experience their physical bodies and to develop physical skills, instead limits the experience to one of sexualised physicality (Theberge, 1997). The question for this chapter is, how might the sporty type as masculine, and hegemonic femininity within women’s sport and exercise, play a role, amongst other factors, in influencing girls’ and women’s perceptions of themselves as physically active beings and hence their physical activity choices?
