Reproducing, resisting and transcending discourses of femininity: a discourse analysis of women’s accounts of leisure

Abstract

Situated within a feminist, social constructionist perspective, this paper explores the utility of discourse analysis for the study of women’s leisure. The accounts of 14 women who regularly participate in leisure and self‐care were analysed and three discursive resources were identified. Whereas hegemonic constructions of femininity typically serve to forestall women’s leisure participation, participants’ accounts here are shown to negotiate these social meanings by reproducing, resisting or transcending dominant discourses of femininity. Findings are discussed with respect to health promotion initiatives aimed at supporting women’s leisure.

Keywords:

• feminist
• identity
• qualitative
• resistance
• women

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Brett Smith, Sue McKenzie‐Mohr and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper.

Notes

1. Gilligan (1982) developed her theory as a counterpoint to Kohlberg’s (1958, 1976) theory of morality, which was developed through the analysis of male participants’ responses to moral dilemmas and then used to situate women’s morality development as inferior to men’s (Kohlberg and Kramer 1969). Gilligan interviewed women considering having an abortion and analysed their responses to develop a theory that argued that women’s morality is not inferior to men’s, but that women simply speak of morality ‘in a different voice’; one centred around an ‘ethic of care’ rather than in terms of individual rights.

2. In particular, I adopt a critical realist position (Parker 1992, Willig 1999) within a social constructionist epistemology.

3. In response to my purposefully general invitation, the participants talked about a range of self‐nurturing activities, including walking, meditating, taking a bath, running, hiking, reading, skiing, kayaking, weight lifting, doing one’s hair and nails, resting, eating nourishing foods, crafting (e.g. rug hooking), biking and simply sitting and being quiet.

4. Three periods indicates a pause in speech. Square brackets indicate that text has been omitted. Clarifying information is at times inserted in square brackets. The interviewer’s speech is in italics.