Masculinities: A Journal of Culture and Society

Yazarlar: Yuliya Kulynych

Konular:-

Anahtar Kelimeler:Female masculinities,Gender performance,Resistance,Feminism,Skateboarding

Özet: Based on semi-structured interviews with 8 female skateboarders, this paper offers an in-depth analysis into the physical and aesthetic practices of alternative femininities amongst women in a skateboarding community. Skateboarding sites are prominent carriers of alternative femininity because they allow women to reclaim traditionally masculine traits such as physical strength, resilience and assertiveness (Pavlidis and Fullagar, 2013) and in turn experiment with their gender performance by integrating these elements of masculinity within their gender identities. As a result, female skateboarders actively challenge sexist 'assumptions as to what their bodies can do' (Pavlidis and Fullagar, 2015: 10) and confront misleading stereotypes of physical fragility and mental weakness.This research will therefore provide an informative account into the ways in which skateboarding practices facilitate collective gender performance and with it resistance against male hegemony amongst women.

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