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Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, March, 2004 by Vikki Krane, Precilla Y.L. Choi, Shannon M. Baird, Christine M. Aimar, Kerrie J. Kauer
It appears that, in negotiating and reconciling the social expectations of femininity with athleticism, sportswomen develop two identities--athlete and woman. Sometimes these two contrasting identities are kept separate but at other times they merge. This can be seen in their different performances of femininity and gender. Drawing on Ussher's (1997) scripts of doing girl, being girl, resisting girl, and subverting girl, Choi (2000) suggested that "being girl" is unlikely to be common among sportswomen, whereas "resisting girl" is likely to be prevalent. The athletes in this study understood that being feminine was important for feeling like normal women, but they were unanimous in the view that, as athletes, they did not have the time required to work on their appearance on a daily basis. Being feminine in our society is an effortful exercise, but so too is being an athlete. These women's priorities as athletes did not include taking time to use makeup, style their hair, and dress nicely. Femininity, therefore, had to be "put aside" and resisted when they were being athletes as opposed to "girls." The athletes in our study simply displaced femininity with their "game face" or competitive zeal and left "doing girl" for social situations. This type of performance also was found in female rugby players who constantly negotiated being highly competitive (i.e., masculine) on the rugby pitch with being "real women" (i.e., feminine) in social contexts (Baird, 2001).
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For some athletes, "doing girl" was seen as important in sport, such as when the volleyball players wore bows in their hair to remind people that although they were athletes, they were still women. Thus, looking like a normal woman was deemed necessary, and femininity could not simply be displaced during sport participation. Russell (2002) reported similar findings concerning female cricketers' resistance to proposals to change their uniform from a skirt to trousers. Although trousers are more practical for sport purposes, the skirt was viewed as the only symbol of their femaleness on the playing field. These findings illustrated that the position of "doing girl" can be taken up at the same time as "resisting girl." The two identities of athlete and woman are not, or perhaps cannot, always be kept separate because of the requirements of hegemonic femininity. This conflict also emerged from the athletes' concerns about how other people perceived their bodies. The athletes who wore revealing uniforms thought that their bodies were sexualized while in their uniforms, which was a source of discomfort. Elite athletes in Kolnes' study reported similar concerns (Kolnes, 1995). However, Krane, Stiles-Shipley, Waldron, & Michalenok (2001) did not find quantitative differences in body satisfaction or social physique anxiety among athletes with differently revealing uniforms. In the current study, the athletes who wore revealing uniforms expressed discomfort in their uniforms. They felt sexualized because their bodies were so exposed and because of the resultant unwelcome attention from men. Many scholars have documented the numerous ways in which the sexual objectification of women athletes occurs (e.g., Choi, 2000; Kolnes, 1995). These range from the mandatory wearing of sport uniforms that emphasize the appearance of heterosexual femininity to media representations of sportswomen that emphasize their appearance and sexual attractiveness above their sport performance. The imposition of this perception upon the female athlete prevents the two identities of athlete and woman from being kept completely separate, as the unwanted attention from men is a reminder that she is a woman and subject to the male gaze.
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