Women's Studies
Faeze Zamanian; Majid Vesalinaseh; Elham Forouzandeh
Abstract
Introduction: Female athletes often experience significant challenges and tensions with their identity as both athlete and female. Especially if they participate in sports that are more masculine. One of the most challenges for female athletes is related to their body. The body has an important place ...
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Introduction: Female athletes often experience significant challenges and tensions with their identity as both athlete and female. Especially if they participate in sports that are more masculine. One of the most challenges for female athletes is related to their body. The body has an important place in the athletic context because of the accurate execution of skills. In men's sports, an ideal athletic body should be bigger and stronger, which is very different from today's ideal body standards for female beauty. While female gender roles in Iran emphasize wifehood, motherhood, dignity, soft-speaking, gentle behavior, feminine dress and appearance along with chastity, female soccer players try to prevent opponents from advancing and creating opportunities for score goals. therefore, they do aggressive and violent actions such as cutting passes (tackle) and physical contact with the soccer players. soccer is known as a sport that inherently has a high risk of injury. Hence, masculine values and characteristics such as muscular body along with the characteristics of physical strength, competitiveness, violence and hardness and even simple appearance and masculine clothing are being strengthened in female soccer players. The requirements of soccer make female athletes perform behaviors that are historically associated with the male gender roles. Therefore, women who participate in male sports are sometimes assumed to be abnormal in society and transgressing social expectations of female gender roles. Since the gender roles of femininity and the athletic role of women in soccer are different, they may perceive incongruence or conflict of their athletic and feminine identities. Studies have shown that female athletes have perceived conflict in relation to their body image and investing in their appearance. The sport of soccer presents a unique context in which to study body management in the paradox between femininity and athletic identity, as soccer has been perceived as a masculine sport. Therefore, it seems female soccer players experience the tensions and challenges related to their body and muscular structure. female athletes try to make appearance changes to gain social acceptance by their bodies. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the body management in female soccer players’ negotiation of their athletic and feminine identities in and outside of sport. Method: In this research, the qualitative research method of phenomenological analysis was used. The constructions of athletic, femininity and the body are in the form of female lived experience. according to the religious, cultural and traditional context of Iran, these constructions are unique. Therefore, the hidden layers of women's attitudes and experiences in this regard should be explored by using the qualitative methods in which way women can be heard. To collect data, an in-depth and semi-structured interview was conducted by eight female soccer players (19-27 years old) on Iranian super league. At first, the sampling started by the familiar people, and after the emergence of the basic concepts, it was continued by the theoretical sampling method until the theoretical saturation was reached. All interviews were recorded and then handwritten line by line. Analysis of findings was done during data collection and after that. The interviews lasted an average of 60 minutes. The information obtained from the written interviews was analyzed. Findings: Data analysis revealed the categories and concepts in two general sections after coding including: 1- The attitude of the female athlete about body, 2- body management inside and outside the context of soccer. Some participants perceived their athletic and feminine identities to be compatible in both athletic and social contexts. In this group, a type of experience emerged as the perception of compatible identities in which revealing both athletic identity and feminine identity in both contexts. These group of female soccer players create kind of body management as “athletic femininity” both in and outside of soccer context. Other participants experienced that femininity and athleticism are incompatible. Three general experiences are used to deal with this incompatibility which is visible through their body management. 1- revealing the athletic identities in sport contexts, and their feminine identities in social contexts. 2- highlighting the feminine identity in both contexts. 3- highlighting the athletic identity in both contexts. Conclusion: In general, participants tried to reduce the pressure caused by the perceived incompatibility between their athletic body and the femininity body by choosing these kinds of body management that obtained in the present study. “Bem's gender roles” support these four “gender body management experiences” which perceived by female soccer players in the present study. In addition, the female athletes in this study may have experienced satisfaction with their athletic performance due to their body shape to similar norms of the ideal athletic body. However, they had perceived dissatisfaction experience because of femininity performance, especially in shape of upper body. furthermore, the type of body management that they chose was influenced by the feedback were received from the community, soccer team, romantic partner, family, significant others, sports model, coach, and media. It is suggested that the coach, significant others, role models and media to provide the most appropriate physical feedback for female athletes, to reduce the double pressures on them in relation to their bodies. Also, the female athletes who have perceived an athletic femininity congruent should be presented as a suitable role model for athletic body management. Data analysis in this study appeared that Female soccer players manage their feminine or athletic identity through appearance and body management such as clothing, makeup, hair and body manipulation, behavior, tone of voice, and gender role tasks for decrease the negative tensions and pressures from this conflict. In addition, it revealed an overlap between perceptions of the (in)congruence of their athletic and feminine identities and the type of body management in which used by female soccer players. Applying this strategy regardless of whether it is positive or negative is a way to reduce the pressures of conflicts of identity incompatibility. This study provides useful information to practitioners, sports experts, sport psychologists and sociologists to be aware of the psychological and sociological pressures caused by incompatibility between the athletic body and the femininity body for female athletes and to help them remain in professional sports.
