Bringing Men Back In? Male recreational hunters, divers and fly‐fishers and the creation of recreational space

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which men who engage in the types of ‘blokes’ leisure which involve trips away from home — recreational hunting, diving, and fishing — negotiate their recreational space in consultation with significant others, notably their partners. The research is based upon 28 in‐depth, tape‐recorded interviews conducted in Sydney, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand.2 The development of post‐structuralist feminism, which introduced a more subtle, nuanced appreciation of women's recreational experience, encouraged the researchers to investigate whether men's recreational enthusiasms — and in particular the way men go about organising their trips — would reveal similar diversity. Results indicate that there are variations in men's attitudes to gaining recreational space in the context of work and family commitments. Despite the methodological limitations of the study, the findings are seen to be of sufficient interest to warrant further inquiry into a neglected aspect of ‘gendered’ leisure research. Greater acknowledgement of the family contexts of ‘men's leisure’, it is claimed, has practical as well as analytic significance.

Notes

This part of the title was previously used by George Homans (1964: 809–818) in his Presidential Address to the American Sociological Association, 1964.

The authors acknowledge the financial support given to this research by SPARC (Sport and Recreation New Zealand) and Lincoln University.