The feminine image in male dominated sport

Lynn Malone

My name is Lynn and I am a Masters Student, studying Sexuality in Dublin City University, Ireland.
For my study I want to look into what is considered female masculinity. The area I am focusing on is: heterosexual women in male dominated sports such as bodybuilding and how female athletes deal with the battle between stereotyped femininity and reality of their sports physiques. At the research that I am gathering is based on personal opinion and open discussion there are no formalities. The discussion and topic provided will not be regarded as an interview or survey and so as this is more personal I will give a personal example.
I'm an avid Rugby player and do a lot of strength training in the gym for the position I play (forward, a main tackler) but find it offensive when people comment negatively on my femininity. In Ireland if a girl plays a certain sport i.e. boxing, rugby, Gaelic football etc. and show masculine traits i.e. muscle mass, roughness etc. they may become stereotyped as butch or mannish. It is merely that, due to external influences some people think that for a woman/girl to show tom-boyishness or masculine traits/characteristics, they are judged as being somewhat un-natural. This is why I have chosen to look at extreme sports such as female weightlifting and bodybuilding. It is a perfect example of challenging the femininity stereotype. For anyone interested it would be great to get voluntary insights into:

How athletes deal with the stigma and stereotypes?
What their personal attitudes and experiences are on female masculinity in sport?
Is it important to obtain ones femininity in stereotypically male sports?
What is it that drives a female bodybuilder’s passion for the perfect muscular physique?

It would be appreciated so much if I could get both female input into this topic. I will be using the transcription but will insure anonymity with people’s online names, location or any other personal details. It will be completely anonymous.
Thank you for your time
Lynn

r3nu4l

Lynn, boards.ie is a discussion forum not a research portal. This forum is the only place on boards.ie that you are allowed to post such a survey or query without asking the mods.

Occasionally moderators will allow such posts on their specific forums but only when their permission is asked in advance. Please don't start any more threads on this subject in any other forums without asking the moderators for permission first.

Thanks.