Cara Carmichael Aitchison, ed. Sport and Gender Identities: Masculinities, Femininities and Sexualities. London: Routledge, 2007.
1 Sport and Gender Identities: Masculinities, Femininities and Sexualities is an edited collection exploring and describing the complex interplay among sport, gender and sexual identity. The interdisciplinarity in this new sub-discipline in which the editor places the work, the sociology of sport, are evidenced by the selections chosen, and parallel the myriad connections in the formation of gender and sexual identities the book succeeds in making visible to readers. Researchers working in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States present a range of disciplinary perspectives that inform this work, including anthropology, geography, philosophy, psychology, sociology and sport sciences. The research and post-structural critiques that comprise the text are developed for researchers and graduate-level students in these disciplines as well as those working in cultural studies, gender studies, media studies, queer and sexuality studies, social and cultural geography, and sociology.
2 Editor Aitchison, Professor of Human Geography, Director of the Centre for Leisure, Tourism and Society at the University of the West of England, and a leading researcher on identity and social justice related to leisure, sport and tourism, introduces the text in the opening chapter, "Gender, Sport and Identity: Introducing Discourses of Masculinities, Femininities and Sexualities." We find out that the book "explores and explains the complex ways in which both gender and sexuality, as significant aspects of individual identities, identity politics and identity relations, inform and are informed by sport" (Aitchison 1). Aitchison identifies the twofold aim of the empirical research and social analyses selected: to both problematise thinking on the possibilities and relations existing with the interplay of sport and gender and sexuality and also, "to question our policies, practices, rights and responsibilities in relation to developing a more inclusive sport studies within the academy and a more equitable sport management in practice" (4). Sport and Gender Identities succeeds in its goals by partnering theory, research, and practice to grow scholarship and to foster research-based change.
3 Following the introductory chapter, the book is organized into three parts that represent aspects of identity formation in sport: the social and media construction/performance of masculinities; contesting and reifying femininities in sport organizations and spaces; and sexuality performance. Part one, "Representing Masculinities in Sport" contains two chapters: Garry Whannel's "Mediating Masculinities: The Production of Media Representations in Sport," and Eileen Kennedy's "Watching the Game: Theorising Masculinities in the Context of Mediated Tennis." Whannel provides an historical context to masculinity in Britain and its "relational construct" to femininity, emphasizing that masculinity — and in relation femininity — are, "always shaped in ways that have a social and historical specificity" (7). His essay focuses on representations of masculinities in media ranging from advertising, fiction and film to music, news and television programming. His analyses lead readers to question the ways in which masculinities have and are played out in sport and their abilities to challenge, change, or maintain hegemonic masculinities (17). Kennedy continues this conversation with a focus on recent (1990-present) gender and media theory. She brings to the forefront the need to consider class, nation and race; and through case study-like examinations of tennis championships at Wimbeldon, deconstructs "the myth of the great, white, athletic Englishman" (25). Kennedy wants scholars to recognize and engage with the ways in which sport media images ask to be looked at and are viewed. Both scholars provide a strong foundation for the situational performance of "masculinities" (i.e., multiple/plural) in sport, particularly as these acts are shaped by and shape the dialogue among media and consumers.
4 Part two, "Transgressing Femininities in Sport," is comprised of three chapters. Tiffany Muller's "The Contested Terrain of the Women's National Basketball Association Arena," examines the public spaces of sport as an arena in which femininity/gender and lesbian identity/sexuality are challenged and constructed, for both athletes and fans. Through examples of power relations in the league's structure, game attendance and activities and the lack of acknowledgement of the Association's large lesbian fan base, Muller explores and argues that, "WNBA spaces are contested terrains that are implicated in both the elimination and reification of traditional heterosexual norms of femininity" (40). The following chapter by Amanda Jones and Cara Carmichael Aitchison, "Triathlon as a Space for Women's Technologies of the Self," presents feminist ethnographic research on triathletes. Through the theoretical work of Foucault, Jones and Aitchison analyze the female triathletes' life stories, specifically their controlled eating, training routines and the clothing and equipment they wear and use, and "suggest that triathlon practices both function as technologies of power and also operate transgressively as technologies of the self" (71). Sally Shaw's "Gender in Sport Management: A Contemporary Picture and Alternative Futures," concludes the second section of the book with practical guidance for creating change in the organizational structures of sport. Shaw discusses the need for examining the culture, history and policies that have shaped the gendered nature of sport organizations; and urges employees to use these lenses, assessment and analyses of "deep structures" to "become more aware of their organization's gendered nature, and work towards alternative discourses," to gender equity (74, 82). The studies and theory presented in this section of the book offer broad perspectives on the presentation, social construction and contesting of femininity in public, corporate and organizational sport spaces.
5 "Performing Sexualities in Sport," is the final section of the work. In the opening chapter, Corey W. Johnson and Beth Kivel's "Gender, Sexuality and Queer Theory in Sport," introduces and advocates for the use of queer theory and "being queer" to expand the current thought on sexual identity as it relates to sport and leisure — to allow for multiplicities of categories/identities and to place sexuality at the center of critiques (93-94, 103). Johnson and Kivel present a series of useful queries to lead scholars through this process. Kate Russell's "'Queers Even in Netball?' Interpretations of the Lesbian Label Among Sportswomen," based on interview data, explores the experiences sportswomen have with the lesbian stereotype and/or being labeled a lesbian. Russell found that "women are regarded as lesbian purely on the basis of physical activity rather than as a consequence of participation in 'male' sports" (110). The third chapter in the section, Celia Brackenridge, Ian Rivers, Brendan Gough and Karen Llewellyn's "Driving Down Participation: Homophobic Bullying as a Deterrent to Doing Sport," looks at the use of gender, sexuality and sexual identity as tools to deter participation and enjoyment in sports. Specifically, the researchers address homophobic bullying by looking at previous studies conducted in school environments that provide data and context for their discussion of the same harassment in sport. Their analyses show that homophobic bullying influences female and male participation in sport in different ways, discouraging females and encouraging hypermasculinity in males. Caroline Symons's "Challenging Homophobia and Heterosexism in Sport: The Promise of the Gay Games," provides the context informing, and the history of, the Gay Games. Similar to the closing chapter in the previous section, Symon's analyses concludes this section and Sport and Gender Identities with practical guidance — specifically on the important role of policies, practices, and guiding principles in creating a space for diverse participation in the Gay Games — and, in turn, mainstream games/sports generally.