ERIC Number: EJ1136974
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1357-3322
EISSN: N/A
Girls' Bodily Activities in Physical Education How Current Fitness and Sport Discourses Influence Girls' Identity Construction
Walseth, Kristin; Aartun, Iselin; Engelsrud, Gunn
Sport, Education and Society, v22 n4 p442-459 2017
Girls' identity constructions are influenced by the dominant sport, health and beauty discourses in their society. Recent research indicates that sport and health discourses embedded in physical education (PE) compete for influence. Some of these studies have illustrated how these discourses inform girls' social construction of body ideals and femininities, as well as their choices among physical activities. Our purpose in posing the question, "How are girls' identity construction in PE influenced by current fitness and sport discourses?" is to explore their identity construction and how they negotiate within the PE discourse as embodied subjects, as well as how they use their body as an object of display. This study is based on fieldwork among 10th grade students (15-year-olds) in a school in Oslo, Norway. The methods used include participant observation, informal conversations with the students and two group interviews. We hope that our findings concerning how sport and fitness discourses influence the students' concepts of both the ideal body and their choices among bodily activities in PE will contribute to the debate on the future of PE. In particular, the girls' embrace of the fitness discourse in PE is relevant to a question of great current concern: How should schools and PE teachers meet and relate to the fitness discourse in contemporary society? We believe that if left unchallenged and permitted to deepen its influence on PE, this discourse may well ensure that body modification becomes the primary purpose of PE.
Descriptors: Females, Human Body, Physical Education, Physical Fitness, Identification (Psychology), Femininity, Social Influences, Self Concept, Athletics, Grade 10, Participant Observation, Interviews, Foreign Countries, Resistance (Psychology), Competition, Training, Health Behavior, Dietetics, Student Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 10; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Norway (Oslo)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A