ABSTRACT
This chapter explores gender researchmethodologies, in particular feminist and
queer theories. The first section outlines how Feminist researchmethodologies
emerged from the political activismof thewomen’smovement of the 1960s and
1970s, with the aim of securing equality and ending discrimination against
women. It suggests that whilst some researchers would argue against the
existence of a distinct feminist methodology, the philosophical and theoretical
tenets of feminist theory strongly influence and inform research practices that
can be defined as distinctly ‘‘feminist’’. It argues that while feminist method-
ologies are still in an evolving and emerging state, the developing recognition of
the importance of difference and the need to empower and give voice to research
participants offers the sport management researcher scope to investigate issues
specifically related to gender, and the impact these issuesmay have on the sport
management environment. The second section of this chapter discusses Queer
theory and calls into question ‘‘essential’’ sexed, gendered, and sexual identities,
striving to destabilize discursive constructions of sexuality that come to be
accepted as ‘‘natural’’ and that maintain a dominant/subordinate power rela-
tionship. We discuss how queer theory has the potential to be inclusive of race,
gender, sexuality, and other areas of identity by calling attention to the
distinctions between identities, communities, and cultures, rather than
ignoring these differences or pretending that they don’t exist
Feminist theory has its origins in the political activism of the 1960s and
1970s, generally referred to as the second wave of feminism, the first wave
being centered mainly in the suffrage movement of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. The second wave of feminism, put simply, sought
equality and an end to discrimination. Although the activism of the 1970s has
been somewhat tempered, feminism, as an academic focus, has thrived
throughout the 1980s and1990s, and into the twentyfirst century, co-existing
alongside what has been called the third wave of feminism, which arose as
a result of perceived failures of the second wave. This third wave of feminism,
with its origins in the 1980s, seeks to challenge existentialist definitions of
femininity and accepted views of what is or is not good for women. Also
recognizing the importance of voices other than white middle-class
women, the third wave of feminism has introduced into feminist research
theory the important concepts of difference, and difference amongst women,
specifically in relation to race, class and culture.
