ABSTRACT
Rodeo’s historical links to rural settler communities, ranching and cow herding traditions permeate the embodiment of the ‘legitimate’ barrel racing sportswoman in Western Canada. Ladies’ barrel racing is the only competition exclusive to women within Western Canada‘s professional rodeos. Barrel racers’ gender performances are thus on display within a sex-integrated context where women continually defend their athletic legitimacy while maintaining a certain brand of femininity that distinguishes them from rodeo cowboys, but also from other rodeo cowgirls. Showcasing the results of in-depth qualitative interviews with fourteen barrel racers from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, our discourse analysis shows that ‘legitimate’ barrel racers claimed to be disciplined in ways that set them apart from other cowgirls, whether groupies, other barrel racers or rodeo queens, through dividing practices such as upholding moral expectations at rodeo parties, wearing plain rodeo attire and dedication to horse care and skilled riding.
