Sporty Girls: Gender, Health and Achievement in a Postfeminist Era (New Femininities in Digital, Physical and Sporting Cultures)

This book engages with the ongoing question of why many girls stop doing sport and physical activity in their teenage years. Previous research has found that many girls’ disengagement from sport takes place despite their childhood enjoyment and that frequently these same women take up sport again as adults. Within these chapters, Sheryl Clark explores what it is about this period of time that persuades many girls to disengage from sports when their male peers continue to take part; why some girls continue to take part; and most importantly how girls understand this participation. She suggests that girls’ participation in sport should be viewed as part of their ongoing constructions of ‘successful girlhood’ within a competitive schooling system and broader socioeconomic context. Contents 1: Defining a “Problem”: Girls’ Participation in Sport and Physical Education Introduction “Go Girl”: Sport as Empowerment “Talented Girl”: Sport as Performance “Fit Girl”: Sport as Health Practice Physical Education and School Sport Provision in the UK Girls to Blame? Too Much Sport? The Aims of this Book The Studies Summary of Chapters References 2: Embodying Sporty Girlhood: Exploring Perspectives on Girls’ Sporting Participation Through Postfeminism What Is Postfeminism? Healthism and Postfeminism Sporty Girls and “Risky” Girlhoods Embodied Performances of New Sporting Femininities Body Pedagogies Affective Bodies From Exclusion to Sporty Alpha Girls Schools and the Enactment of Successful, “Healthy,” and Achieving Femininities References 3: Becoming a Sporty Researcher: Gender, Legitimacy and Bodies That Move Situating the Researcher Through Reflexive, Moving Bodies Embodied Approaches to Physical Culture Research Legitimacy, Shame and Gendered Recognition Project 1: Girls’ Participation in Sport Over Time Data Analysis and Feminist Dilemmas in Transformative Agendas Ethical Considerations Bodily Difference and Physical Legitimacy on the Playground The Moving Researcher Physical Competence in a High-Stakes Context: Bodily Learning on the Track Discussion and Conclusion References 4: A Good Education: School Achievement, Sport and Becoming a Successful Girl Successful Girls and the Achievement Agenda in Schools Transitions and Choices Hurried Up Girlhood: Fun Versus Seriousness Family Education Projects and Being Happy Lindsay: Aspiration Amidst Sacrifice Spirit: Concerted Cultivation and Being Pushed Gazza: Happiness and Angst Challenging Aspirational Discourses References 5: Being “Good at Sport”: Constituting Bodies Through Competition and Selection Processes Performing Bodies at School Ability Lucy: Not Making the Cut and Finding Alternatives Lindsay: “I’m not a good runner anymore” Nirvana: “I don’t really care anymore” Spirit: “But now I’m doing it to get faster” Fragile Sporting Embodied Subjectivities References 6: Responsible Body Projects, Health and Moral Hierarchies Gendering the Health Agenda in Schools Growing Up and Getting Healthy Moral Hierarchies of Bodies Deniz: Becoming a “non-doer” and a “proud Muslim” Danny: Resisting the “Anorexic” Body Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds? References 7: Gendered and Racialised Bodies in Postfeminist Athletics: Embodied Capacities and Feminist Rage Introduction Athletics Clubs and Shifts in Youth Sporting Provision Moving Methods and Shifting Bodily Engagements Inclusion Within and Against Performance: “They’re at the Front and They’re Very Competitive” Racialised Bodies and Performance “Compete, Compete, Compete”: Damage and Intensity in Performance Achieving Bodies and Projects of Self Changing Bodily Capacities Challenging Sexism Through Feminist Rage Conclusion References 8: Conclusion: Sporting Girlhoods and Feminist Possibilities Power, Harm and the Sporty Girl The Problem of Girls into Sport Schooling, Differentiation and Achievement Relationships and Identity Legitimacy, New Femininities and Feminist Rage Practical Recommendations References