The aim of this article was to explore, from a gender perspective, how young sporting women with physical impairments experience physical education (PE), and which strategies they use to manage situations that arise in the everyday interaction in connection with those lessons. Phenomenology provides a theoretical framework that includes the body. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with the women, aged 15-28. In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with three boys, aged between 10 and 15, and with one male coach. Those latter interviews are used in the article as material for comparison. The young women had a strong aspiration to appear normal. However, in relation to PE, the participants highlighted issues dealing with experiences of exclusion and special treatment. It appeared to be difficult for teachers to see these women as the sports-interested youths that they were. The young women used different strategies of resistance. Some of them did not participate in certain aspects of PE, or chose to quit the whole course. To receive a higher grade, another participant showed the teacher her medals from the Swedish national swimming championship, thus stressing her competence. When the women finally described the stigmatization that they had been subjected to, they avoided positioning themselves as victims, by downplaying the seriousness of a discriminatory situation or by using in the interview the word 'we' instead of 'I', thus describing the incident in collective terms. Previous research supports the suggestion that the students' opportunities to show their capacities and strength during PE are dependent on the students' gender. While one of the boys and a male coach gave examples of experiences of more inclusive PE, with a potential to challenge the able-bodied norm within the subject, the gender norm remained unquestioned.