ERIC Number: EJ1076163
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0954-0253
EISSN: N/A
Girls' Active Identities: Navigating Othering Discourses of Femininity, Bodies and Physical Education
Hill, Joanne
Gender and Education, v27 n6 p666-684 2015
Within physical education and sport, girls must navigate discourses of valued athletic and gendered bodies that marginalise or "other" non-normative performances through systems of surveillance and punishment. The purpose of this paper is to share girls' perspectives on how these discourses affected their gender performances and activity engagement. Students aged 13-14 in one ethnically diverse UK secondary school were invited to create a photo diary of the physical activities they engaged in. Photo-elicitation interviews in small groups followed. The girls positioned themselves as physically active but had to carefully manage their activity choices and gender performances in a single-sex physical education environment that regulated deviation from the fit, slender, girly-girl. Although the girls demonstrate the difficulty of resisting, they indicate moments of positioning themselves against norms that suggest the possibilities of shifting gendering processes. The paper points out the importance of listening to 'other' girls' narratives in building positive physical education engagements.
Descriptors: Females, Human Body, Foreign Countries, Physical Education, Gender Issues, Early Adolescents, Secondary School Students, Interviews, Photography, Single Sex Classes, Social Attitudes, Athletics, Ethnography, Qualitative Research, Diaries, Coeducation, Minority Group Students, Social Bias, Femininity, Self Concept, Student Attitudes, Observation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A