Artistic Impressions : Figure Skating, Masculinity, and the Limits of Sport

In contemporary North America, figure skating ranks among the most 'feminine' of sports and few boys take it up for fear of being labelled effeminate or gay. Yet figure skating was once an exclusively male pastime - women did not skate in significant numbers until the late 1800s, at least a century after the founding of the first skating club. Only in the 1930s did figure skating begin to acquire its feminine image. Artistic Impressions is the first history to trace figure skating's striking transformation from gentlemen's art to 'girls' sport. With a focus on masculinity, Mary Louise Adams examines how skating's evolving gender identity has been reflected on the ice and in the media, looking at rules, technique, and style and at ongoing debates about the place of 'art' in sport. Uncovering the little known history of skating, Artistic Impressions shows how ideas about sport, gender, and sexuality have combined to limit the forms of physical expression available to men. Artistic Impressions is the first history to trace figure skating's striking transformation from gentlemen's art to 'girls' sport.' With a focus on masculinity, Mary Louise Adams examines how skating's evolving gender identity has been reflected on the ice and in the media, looking at rules, technique, and style and at ongoing debates about the place of 'art' in sport. Uncovering the little known history of skating, Artistic Impressions shows how ideas about sport, gender, and sexuality have combined to limit the forms of physical expression available to men."--Pub. desc Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 1. Introduction 13 2. Tough Guys? Figure Skating’s Macho Moment 40 3. Girls’ Sport? 57 4. Manliness and Grace: Skating as a Gentleman’s Art 93 5. Women Start Skating, Skaters Form Clubs, Their Art Becomes Sport 117 6. ‘They Left the Men Nowhere’: The Feminization of Skating 146 7. Artistic Sport or Athletic Art? Class and Gender and Shifting Definitions of Skating 173 8. Sequins, Soundtracks, and Spirals: Producing Gender Difference on the Ice 209 Epilogue 245 Notes 253 Bibliography 275 Illustration Credits 297 Index 299