Swimming: The ‘Ideal’ Sport for Nineteenth-century British Women

Abstract

The nineteenth-century history of swimming has predominantly been portrayed as a history of male participation, with claims that women were marginalized from the sport and never able to be involved at the same level as men. However, this article will highlight that far from marginalizing women the unique qualities of swimming enabled it to develop into the ‘ideal’ and arguably first modern, urban sport for British women. The article will draw upon two nineteenth-century ideologies which surrounded the female body and health; firstly, the ideology of female bodily incapacity and secondly, the socially constructed ideology of correct feminine behaviour. These ideologies directly influenced perceptions about the female body and health and also curtailed the development of sport for women. Nevertheless, by analysing evidence gathered from nineteenth-century texts, newspapers and women's magazines this article will suggest that swimming was an exception. Three specific qualities enabled the promotion and tolerance of female swimming to continue virtually unchallenged. These qualities were health, safety and the aquatic environment.

La natation : le sport ‘idéal’ pour les femmes britanniques du XIXe siècle

L'histoire de la natation au XIXe siècle s'est surtout intéressée à la pratique masculine, prétextant que les femmes s'inscrivaient en marge de la pratique sportive et étaient incapables de s'impliquer au même niveau que les hommes. Cependant, cet article met en lumière que, loin de marginaliser les femmes, la natation dispose de qualités exceptionnelles qui lui ont permis de devenir indiscutablement le premier sport urbain moderne « idéal » pour les femmes britanniques. L'article puise dans deux idéologies du XIXe siècle qui concernent le corps féminin et la santé : premièrement, l'idéologie qui posait l'incapacité physiologique des femmes et deuxièmement, l'idéologie – socialement construite – qui imposait un comportement féminin correct. Ces idéologies ont eu une influence directe sur les perceptions du corps féminin et son rapport à la santé. Elles ont aussi mis une entrave au développement de la pratique sportive féminine. Néanmoins, en analysant les témoignages recueillis à partir de textes du XIXe siècle, journaux ou magazines féminins, cet article suggère que la natation a fonctionné comme une exception. Trois qualités spécifiques ont permis la pratique presque incontestée de la natation féminine, sa tolérance et sa promotion. Ces qualités étaient la santé, la sécurité et l'environnement aquatique.

La natación: el deporte “ideal” para las mujeres británicas del siglo XIX

La historia de la natación del siglo XIX se ha presentado mayoritariamente como una historia de la participación masculina, y se ha afirmado que las mujeres fueron marginadas de este deporte y nunca pudieron practicarlo al mismo nivel que los hombres. En cambio, este artículo destaca que, lejos de marginar a las mujeres, las particulares cualidades de la natación le permitieron desarrollarse como el deporte “ideal” y seguramente el primer deporte moderno y urbano apto para las mujeres británicas. El artículo analiza dos ideologías del siglo XIX relativas al cuerpo y a la salud femeninos; por un lado, la ideología de la incapacidad corporal femenina, y por otro, la ideología socialmente construida de la conducta femenina correcta. Estas ideologías influyeron directamente en las percepciones sobre el cuerpo y la salud de las mujeres y limitaron el desarrollo del deporte femenino. No obstante, tras analizar el material seleccionado a partir de textos del siglo XIX, artículos de periódicos y de revistas femeninas, este artículo sostiene que la natación fue una excepción. Tres cualidades específicas permitieron que la promoción y la tolerancia de la natación femenina no se vieran prácticamente afectadas: la salud, la seguridad y el entorno acuático.

Schwimmen: Der Ideale Sport für Frauen im 19. Jahrhundert

Die Geschichte des Schwimmens im 19. Jahrhundert wurde vornehmlich als eine Geschichte männlicher Teilnahme dargestellt, mit Behauptungen, dass Frauen vom Sport ausgegrenzt wurden und es ihnen nie möglich war, in gleicher Weise beteiligt zu sein wie Männer. Dieser Artikel jedoch weist darauf hin, dass es die einzigartigen Kennzeichen dem Schwimmen ermöglichten, sich zu der „idealen” und wohl ersten modernen urbanen Sportart für britische Frauen zu entwickeln, weit davon entfernt, sie auszugrenzen. Dieser Artikel stützt sich auf zwei Ideologien des 19. Jahrhunderts, die den weiblichen Körper und Gesundheit umgaben; zuerst die Ideologie des Unvermögens des weiblichen Körpers und zweitens die gesellschaftlich konstruierte Ideologie des korrekten weiblichen Benehmens. Diese Ideologien nahmen direkten Einfluss auf die Sichtweise des weiblichen Körpers und der Gesundheit und beschränkten ebenso die Entwicklung des Sports für Frauen. Trotzdem weist dieser Artikel durch die Analyse von Beweismaterial, welches in Texten, Zeitungen und Frauenzeitschriften des 19. Jahrhunderts gefunden wurde darauf hin, dass, das Schwimmen eine Ausnahme darstellte. Drei konkrete Eigenschaften ermöglichten es, dass die Unterstützung und Toleranz gegenüber dem Frauenschwimmen praktisch unangefochten anhielt. Diese Eigenschaften waren Gesundheit, Sicherheit und das aquatische Umfeld.

Notes

[1] Turner, The Body and Society, 2.

[2] Hall, Feminism and Sporting Bodies, 50.

[3] See, for example, Mangan, Shaping the Superman, Mangan, Superman Supreme, Vertinsky and McKay, Disciplining Bodies in the Gymnasium, Gori, Italian Fascism and the Female Body and Bandy, Hoffman, and Kruger, Gender, Body and Sport. In contradiction, Blake, The Body Language, 23, claims that ‘the body’ has been neglected as a focus within histories of sport.

[4] Hong, ‘Freeing Bodies’, 2.

[5] Hargreaves, Sporting Females, 3.

[6] Vertinsky, ‘The Social Construction of the Gendered Body’, 149.

[7] Ibid., 149 and 162. See also McCrone, ‘Play Up! Play Up!’, 104, and, more generally, McCrone, ‘Class Gender and English Women's Sport’, 159–83, and McCrone, Playing the Game.

[8] Ibid., 150.

[9] Ibid., 151.

[10] Hargreaves, Sporting Females, 51.

[11] Ibid., 50.

[12] The phrase ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ was usually known in Victorian times by its Latin form –mens sana in corpore sano.

[13] Vertinsky, ‘The Social Construction of the Gendered Body’, 161.

[14] Hargreaves, Sporting Females, 60.

[15] See White, Women's Magazines 1693–1968.

[16] Raszeja, A Decent and Proper Exertion, 16.

[17] Winterton, ‘”A Question of Propriety?’”, 2088.

[18] Tranter, Sport, Economy and Society, 86.

[19] Raszeja, A Decent and Proper Exertion, 25.

[20] Horwood, ‘Girls who Arouse Dangerous Passions’, 655.

[21] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 89. The 1846 Public Baths and Wash-Houses Act was a piece of permissive legislation that enabled local authorities that wished to adopt the Act, the opportunity to build baths and wash-houses.

[22] For example, the Woodcock Street Baths, Birmingham had three entrances – one for the men's first-class bath, one for the men's second-class baths and a separate central entrance to the women's department.

[23] The term ‘plunge pool’ was a generally used term for a swimming pool in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. These facilities, as Love, ‘Swimming and Gender in the Victorian World’, 594–95, points out, were generally inferior for women with the size of the swimming baths for women ranging from one-quarter to half the size of the men's pool in the swimming facility.

[24] Again, the Woodcock Street Baths, Birmingham, for example, had 32 private baths for men and 14 private baths for women. City of Birmingham Public Baths their Acquisition, Cost and Annual Maintenance by the Baths and Parks Committee 1879, 133.

[25] Thomas, History and Bibliography of Swimming, 110.

[26] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 286.

[27] ASA (Amateur Swimming Association). Handbook for 1899, 42–43.

[28] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 288.

[29] The exact number of women who swam in this period is impossible to state conclusively. However, figures provided in the Baths and Washhouse Committee Minutes from several major cities and the appendix provided in the Campbell Report on Public Baths all indicate that a large and significantly increasing number of women used the public swimming facilities at this time.

[30] Horwood, ‘Girls Who Arouse Dangerous Passions’, 57; Raszeja, A Decent and Proper Exertion, 42.

[31]Bicycle, Swimming and Athletic Journal, 13 Nov. 1878, and reported in The Lancet.

[32] Mrs Hoggan, ‘Swimming and its Relation to the Health of Women’, paper read before the Women's Union Swimming Club at 26 Great Queen Street, London on 21 Apr. 1879.

[33] Ibid., 1.

[34] Ibid., 2–4.

[35] Ibid., 8.

[36]Bicycle, Swimming and Athletic Journal, 13 Nov. 1878, and reported in The Lancet.

[37] Ibid. The Royal Humane Society in its Annual Report of 1902, 226, also provided a table of drowning statistics, which Love, ‘Whomsoever You See in Distress’, 670, also details.

[38] Thomas, History and Bibliography of Swimming, 347.

[39]Daily Telegraph, 11 Sept. 1878, 2, col. 5.

[40] Ibid.

[41]Bicycle, Swimming and Athletic Journal, 9 Oct. 1878, 2.

[42] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 297.

[43]Swimming, 29 Aug. 1895, 313.

[44]Bicycle Journal, Swimming and General Athletic Pedestrian Recorder, 21 Aug. 1878, 7.

[45]London Standard and New York Times.

[46]New York Times, 20 Sept. 1875, 2, col. 2.

[47] Ibid.

[48] See, for example, Shaulis, ‘Pedestriennes: Newsworthy but Controversial Women’, 29–50.

[49] Ibid.

[50] Parker, ‘An Urban Historical Perspective’, 310.

[51]Bicycle, Swimming and Athletic Journal, 27 Nov. 1878, 3.

[52]City of Birmingham Public Baths, 1897, 62.

[53] The first national Women's Swimming Championship took place in Scotland in 1892. England did not hold its first national women's race until 1901.

[54] Beresford, Encyclopaedia of Swimming, 115.

[55] Hargreaves, Sporting Females, 210.

[56] Raszeja, A Decent and Proper Exertion, 43.

[57] Ibid., 25.

[58] Ibid., 6.