Becoming a belly dancer: gender, the life course and the beginnings of a serious leisure career

Abstract

Serious leisure careers have a beginning, middle and end, yet few studies examine the beginning stage of leisure careers dominated by women. Drawing from interviews with male and female belly dancers in the USA, this study examines how people join serious leisure activities. Results show that both men and women were interested in dance, arts and history, had personal ties to belly dance, and wanted an enjoyable form of exercise to match their capabilities when they entered the world of belly dance. Unlike men, the women in this study also experienced major life transitions, such as diminishing familial responsibilities, job and school issues, moving and shifting relationships. These findings have implications for the gendered nature of serious leisure.

深度休闲事业有开头，中间和结尾，但很少有研究探讨以妇女为主的休闲事业的起步阶段。根据对美国男性和女性肚皮舞演员的采访本研究 ，本文探讨了人们如何加入深度休闲活动。结果表明，无论是对舞蹈、艺术和历史感兴趣的男性还是女性，对肚皮舞有着个人感情，当他们进入肚皮舞的世界，都想通过一种愉快的锻炼形式来展现他们的能力。不像男人，本次研究中的女人都经历了重大的生活转变，如家族职责的减弱、工作和上学问题、移动和转移的关系。这些发现对于深度休闲学的性别特征研究有启示意义。

Keywords:

• serious leisure
• leisure careers
• belly dance
• gender
• qualitative methods

关键词:

• 深度休闲
• 休闲生涯
• 肚皮舞
• 性别
• 定性方法

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge Scott A Desmond and Carolyn Kapinus for their insightful comments and suggestions about this project. I also acknowledge Ashley Brooke Baker, Daniel R. Flowers and Amanda Zimmerman for their very helpful research assistance. This project would not be possible without the participation of the 81 participants who graciously took time out of their extremely busy schedules to talk with me. I very much appreciate their candor and openness. Participants are referenced in this paper by pseudonyms. Any and all errors are my own. This research was partially supported by a New Faculty Research Grant from Ball State University.