ABSTRACT
Women footballers’ embodiment of physical strength, although necessary for their trade, must also be apologized for because it transgresses norms for heterosexual femininity. Women’s footballers’ butch masculinity can heighten anxiety and concern around the visibility of queer sexuality. Women’s football in Africa has a long unsung history, but a small number of scholarly publications have addressed the cultural significance of this sport. The sport also holds radical transformative potential for a more inclusive citizenship that admits a plurality of gender and sexuality. Contradictory statements from players and officials are illustrative of the gender and sexual anxieties that surround women’s involvement in sport. The African Women’s Cup of Nations is a continental championship where much of the cultural politics of race, gender, sexuality, class, and nation are produced, contested, and reshaped. A prominent example of how sportswomen are cast in the role of national representatives and heteropatriarchal subjects is in the gender panic associated with the South African runner Caster Semenya.
