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Living the paradox: female athletes negotiate femininity and muscularity

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, March, 2004 by Vikki Krane, Precilla Y.L. Choi, Shannon M. Baird, Christine M. Aimar, Kerrie J. Kauer

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      You're surrounded by it. Like in the media, you're shown this
      perfect image,... you know the Barbie doll, and models and
      everything. And then you see the female athletes, all the popular
      athletes, and they've got like the athletic physique and now
      that's becoming more popular.

A hockey player responded to this comment as follows:

      How many people would rather look like Rachel Hunter [a model]
      rather than Mia Hamm [a soccer player]? Because Rachel Hunter is
      this little skinny thing, waif-like person and then Mia Hamm's
      thicker, and that's not as cool. I still think that's not gonna
      change.

The athletes also acknowledged that the cultural ideal body was unrealistic: "all the perfect people and like no one looks like that, they're all air brushed and stuff."

In the focus groups, the athletes discussed their personal ideal bodies. Each woman identified something that could be different such as "longer legs," "smaller stomach," "smaller rear end," and "smaller thighs." Overall, they lamented their size and muscularity. Distance Runner 1 stated: "I wish I was littler.... Sometimes I just wish I had like a regular size body." Volleyball 1 concurred: "we have our muscle and I don't like it, I'd rather not have that." Still, most of the athletes wanted more muscular definition, but without muscular bulk. As they said: "I would be more defined," and "I always wanted to have a six pack [well defined abdominals]."

Femininity Defined

Discussion regarding femininity was intriguing; their definitions of femininity typically were based on contrasting it with athleticism. "You lose all femininity when you put on a hockey uniform." In general, their definitions of femininity concerned being "petite and dainty" and engaging in specific behaviors. For example, femininity was defined as "having a gentle spirit," "more laid back," "having proper etiquette," "being clean," and "being girly." Generally, it was easier for the athletes to state what femininity was not: "not sweaty," "opposite of being a tomboy," "not wearing baggy jeans," and "like hitting the weight room is not feminine." The following exchange further expressed these beliefs:

Gymnast 2: When you think of being feminine, you don't think of the
  person being like really outgoing, it's really reserved.
Volleyball Player 1: Yeah and like grunting. You know how like people
  grunt in the weight room.
All: laughter
Volleyball Player 1: Farting and belching are definitely not
  feminine.... Making noises is not.
Distance Runner 1: [I am not feminine] because I grunt, I fart, I burp.
  (laughter) I'm loud, I'm obnoxious, I swear worse than any guy you'll
  probably ever meet. I don't have the body structure, I don't act like
  it, I'm ... I dunno, aggressive.

Health Care Industry

Living the paradox: female athletes negotiate femininity and muscularity

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, March, 2004 by Vikki Krane, Precilla Y.L. Choi, Shannon M. Baird, Christine M. Aimar, Kerrie J. Kauer

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