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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The athletes reconciled their perceived lack of femininity by saying that it was not essential to being athletic. As two athletes said:

Hockey Player 1: it doesn't count [on the ice], nobody is going to give
  me points for having my hair done or whatever. No way, I'm looking to
  be the toughest person out there, the meanest person out there, the
  dirtiest person, whatever I can get away with, all I get away with,
  whatever. That's not feminine, that's not feminine at all, and I spit
  and hack and cuss and everything that you're not supposed to do when
  you're a girl.
VB/Hockey Player: When you're sitting in pre-game, we're having our
  locker room talk or whatever, you're not thinking about 'ok we need to
  go out there and cross our legs when we sit on the bench because
  that's the feminine thing to do, we need to sit up straight.' We're
  not trying to look like women out there because that's not the whole
  point of why we're playing the sport. We're out there 'cause we enjoy
  it, we want competition and we're out there to beat the crap out of
  somebody. I mean it's just not a focus at all.

Most of the athletes believed that being soft, girly, dainty, and clean implied femininity, whereas being aggressive, outgoing, and sweaty implied being an athlete. Further, being athletic was equated with being masculine. Feminine was socially acceptable, and athletic was not. The athletes consistently expressed this conflict throughout the focus groups.

Muscular But Not Too Muscular

The athletes struggled with their perceptions of their own bodies. They recognized the cultural ideal body as one shape, and they viewed their own bodies as contrary to that ideal. These athletes clearly were in great physical condition with low body fat, yet their muscularity was a source of consternation. Having or building muscles was associated with being unfeminine or "like men." Gymnast 1 said: "You don't feel feminine when you're big and buff." By building "excess" muscle the athletes were being "like guys." Soccer 1, when talking about working out in the weight room, said: "I feel like when I am in there like we are getting ... we're being like men or something like that."

The participants described a seemingly arbitrary line that demarcated too much muscle from attractive muscle tone in women. Once women surpassed this subjective limit of musculature, they were no longer perceived as feminine. As Distance Runner 2 said: "Muscle tone, yeah that's sexy. But, I guess I don't want to get too big or anything." Similarly, Softball Player 2 stated: "I like muscle a lot, [but] I mean, there is a point ..." Concern about becoming too big often was expressed. The Basketball player noted, "I wouldn't want to be like real big and buff." Softball 3 elaborated on that point:

      I like the way I feel when I get the muscle ... but yet, in the
      back of my mind I get scared that I'm gonna get big and people are
      gonna look at me like 'oh my god.'... I get scared of looking too
      much like a guy, like having too much muscle.