Girls and their bodies: approaching a more emancipatory physical education

Abstract

In this paper I will consider how girls become alienated from their bodies and how this is exacerbated by some of the current practices of formal physical education. I shall argue that a more fertile approach to the education of girls' bodies may be through the expressive arts, particularly dance and drama. From a very early age, girls are encouraged to be alienated from their bodies and to restrict their physical activity. By the age of 11, many girls are focused on the need to be thin, pretty and physically inactive. School physical and health education does little to address these issues and could be argued to exacerbate them. The school's emphasis on slimness, perfection and physical success, combined with self- and mutual-surveillance, lead girls to treat their bodies as objects to be worked on rather than an accepted part of the self. Traditional approaches to the education of girls' bodies are failing; they do not encourage a healthy embodiment. Arthur W. Frank argues that through the collaborative work of expressive dance forms, the body is able to recognise itself and be recognised; I suggest that the alienation from the body encouraged elsewhere in schooling may thereby be mitigated.

Keyword:

• Girls body
• physical education
• dance
• drama
• self-compassion

Notes

1. The Tomboy Identities Study took place in 2005–6. It was directed by Carrie Paechter, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, award number RES-00-22-1032, and based at Goldsmiths, University of London.

2. ESRC award number R000233548, directed by John Head and Carrie Paechter, based at King’s College, London and carried out between September 1992 and August 1994.

3. See http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/childhealth1-5/Pages/ChildMeasurement.aspx.

4. The Cross-Curricular Assessment Project was directed by Paul Black and Robin Murray at King’s College, London, from 1988 to 1991. It was funded by the Schools Examinations and Assessment Council and the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative Unit of the Department of Employment.