Being a girl athlete

Abstract

In this study, we examine data from young girls spontaneously talking about what it is like to be a girl athlete. During ten focus group interviews, the girls’ (n = 52) often digressed and their conversations provide rich insight into their lived experiences as girl athletes. In this article, we portray these girl athletes’ negotiations as they enact, transform, transgress, and combine gendered expectations about being both a girl and an athlete. Using a narrative approach and creative nonfiction, we present vignettes exemplifying the themes of performing girl, performing athlete; gendered sport lessons; sport friends; and sport mentality. Not surprising, these girls’ experiences reveal how gender permeates all aspects of their sport experiences. Gender performance was a continuous negotiation with myriad potential outcomes. One could be sporty and girly girl, sporty and not girly girl, a girly girl cheerleader, or one could even be sporty and a cheerleader. We believe that the strong friendships among the girls provided the space in which they could experiment with these multiple gender performances. The strong bonds developed among teammates created space for exploring gender performances and provided a safety net for their daily identity negotiations. By being skilled girl athletes, they are destabilising gender and gendered expectations. At the same time, they are creating fluid and hybrid identities that are personally meaningful yet flexible enough to allow further exploration.

Keywords:

• girl athletes
• gender performance
• girl studies
• narrative
• femininity

Notes

1. A more thorough and reflexive description of the process is contained in Krane et al. (2012).

2. The pseudonyms used in this article are the same pseudonyms used in Krane et al. (2011).

3. Made (2002–present) is an hour-long reality series on MTV. Styled as a self-improvement series, the show features either a teen boy or girl who wants to drastically change his/her image, ability or appearance. Purported experts are brought in to help them achieve this goal and each episode concludes with a trial to highlight the changes undergone (e.g. a beauty pageant and a sport competition).