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Surf lifesaving (SLS) clubs have been portrayed as male-dominated spaces perpetuating hegemonic masculinity. Contrary to this depiction, women and girls have participated in SLS in Aotearoa New Zealand since the 1930s, constituting approximately half of SLSNZ members. However, despite a growing body of research on women in ocean sports, studies on women's experiences in SLS are notably scarce. Addressing this gap, our interpretive research focuses on women's participation in SLS sports in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our findings reveal that the SLS community offers social and sporting opportunities for women throughout their life course. While providing a supportive environment for female friendships and mentorship, the sport fosters a sense of achievement, ocean skills and overall well-being. Nevertheless, challenges persist, as women encounter a ‘boys club’ mentality, where men are often perceived as the natural and legitimate bodies in SLS institutional contexts. Despite these perceptions, women don't necessarily feel excluded or marginalised within SLS spaces. Our research suggests that contemporary SLS clubs in Aotearoa New Zealand are more nuanced cultural spaces than previously portrayed. While still associated with masculinity, women dynamically navigate these male-defined arenas. SLS, as both a sport and lifeguard service, presents an institutional space where cultural norms reinforcing masculinity in ocean sports can be challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional team male-dominated sports have been built on masculine values; however, these values are challenged by the increasing number of women athletes entering this workplace. In this research, we explore the suitability and gender appropriateness of existing management processes and practices through three women's professional and semiprofessional leagues. Drawing on a feminist perspective of continuum of care, players (n = 36) and organizational representatives (n = 28) were interviewed to gain insights into how athletes and organizations contend with their rapidly evolving workplaces. Framed around the values of affirmation, empowerment, and belonging, the continuum of care contrasts players' everyday experiences of care with how organizations administer care. The research contributes through application of the feminist continuum of care. We present considerations for the management of female professional athletes in ways that are careful and an alternative value system that is affirmative, inclusive, and empowering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyze the organizational anti-trans discourse on the presence of transgender athletes in women's sport. To achieve this, the petitions published from 2019 to 2022 on the websites of three US organizations (Save Women's Sports, Independent Council on Women's Sports, and the Women's Sports Policy Working Group) were analyzed. The analysis addressed the research questions of how this discourse defines trans women and trans bodies and reproduces the indispensability of sex segregation in sport competitions. The research revealed that the petitions' authors identified trans athletes as biological males who have an advantage over cis women. The organizations demand that the protection of women's sport from trans women's participation and women's rights be based on the sex (assigned at birth) category. The article emphasizes that members and allies of these organizations perceive biomedical science as providing objective arguments for the sex dichotomy and the exclusion of trans women from sport competitions. At the same time, the petitions' authors ignore sociocultural factors that influence the perception of gender dichotomy and athletic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Tanzania, the gender gap in sports participation remains largely due to socio-cultural and economic influences, partly due to the transition to a market economy and the Ujamaa policy. One of the reasons for lower participation of women compared with men is that many girls give up continuing with sport after primary school. In this situation, the Tanzania Ladies First (LF), a national sports competition exclusively for women, has been held since 2017. In this paper, a questionnaire survey and random interviews were conducted with selected and non-selected athletes for Tanzanian LF, and their parents to examine the role of the LF in the continuation of elite female athletes' sport by using a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis. This paper found that participation in LF boosts subsequent continuation in sport. On the other hand, in the context of the transition to a market economy, this paper shows that LF may have fixed social and economic structures that allow only a few elite women athletes to continue in sport, rather than expanding women's participation in sport, which runs counter to the spirit of LF. This paper suggests that in the context of a market economy, it will be necessary to promote national awareness of LF to a wider audience and media to make LF more attractive to women and private companies. This paper also recommends the introduction of life skills training through sport for female students to encourage them to continue with sport after leaving school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sporting culture often celebrates mental toughness and chides weakness, which can stigmatize mental health issues. While some sport organizations have prioritized addressing mental well-being, referees have been ignored. Referees work in high-pressure environments; thus, the need to understand, destigmatize, and normalize the conversation around mental health within the referee community and the larger sporting system is important. Because the prevalence of stress-related issues is greater for women, this study focused on female referees' well-being, interviewing 20 female U.S. basketball referees via a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Participants represented various geographical regions in the United States and officiated at levels ranging from high school to professional. Findings revealed Gendered Aggressions negatively impacted the referees, mental health issues are Stigmatized, and more Resources and Support are needed. Results also indicated that officiating can be Cathartic. Suggestions for addressing the referee shortage and improving the officiating experience are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the progress of women in the sport industry has become more visible, there is still significant gender inequity. Extending the sport organizational literature, we argue that the unpaid, invisible, and emotional labor of women, especially those holding diverse social identities, is significantly contributing to gender inequity at the organizational level. In broader sport research, the micro, everyday experiences of women stakeholders and the connection to macro societal structures and ideologies have provided foundational insight to build upon. However, there is a need for research to focus on the meso-level organizational practices, policies, designs, structures, and culture to create real change. Therefore, we present a conceptual paper, focused on a meso-level analysis and the invisible labors that women stakeholders engage in, to extend existing work and provide a pathway for further investigation into gender inequity in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to understand the reality of gender disparities in sport in South Sudan, which has not been fully understood; and second, to examine the effects of sporting event interventions, such as whether they can improve gender disparities in sport. In order to achieve the research objectives, quantitative household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted with Juba citizens before and after the national sporting event held in Juba in 2020. Regarding the reality of gender disparities in sport in Juba, contrary to expectations, we found that more than 75 per cent of men and more than half of women play sports in Juba. However, a breakdown by sport shows that the sports actually played and participation rates are highly skewed by gender; men for football and women for volleyball. Furthermore, it was found that the national sport event intervention increases the probability of playing sport and the number of days playing sport for women more than for men. These findings suggest that the more sport events can be held, the more gender disparities in sport can be improved in South Sudan. In South Sudan, where patriarchy persists, the results show that increasing women's participation in sport may not only reduce gender disparities, but may also entail a change in the traditional social norm to date that women should focus only on childcare and housework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first few months of the pandemic, professional sport around the globe stopped, as competitions and leagues were cancelled, postponed, or went into hiatus while sport administrators scrambled to work out ways to reboot their product in a COVID-19 world. Sport media outlets were faced with the task of reporting on sport and filling the void for fans in the absence of any live content. This article is concerned with the content, both in quantity and quality that fans of women's sport could consume in those first months. In the context of the current "boom" in women's professional sports, we draw on the analysis of two online sport media sites to consider the narratives of female athletes that fans had access to. The findings suggest that during the beginning of the pandemic sport stories about women were largely erased and replaced by those appealing to a very different fan market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participation rate of women in masculine sports such as rock climbing is lower than men, because they consider themselves could not compete with men. There are several studies that investigate mental health related to gender, but there are limited studies related to rock climbing by female athletes. The objective of this study was to obtain concrete data regarding the careers of female athletes in Indonesia from a mental health perspective. This study used qualitative research with case study method. The respondent in this study was one female athlete who had gained international achievements as a snowball sampler, and the higher number of respondents were male coaches, head coaches, psychologists and parents of female athlete, which configurated a triangulation of respondents. The instruments included observation, open interviews, and documentation. The results of this research show that: (1) female athlete could increase their carreer and reach the peak of achievement, namely becoming champions in the IFSC Word Cup, (2) mental health significantly influences career and achievements of rock climbing athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I link philosophical discussion of policies for trans inclusion or exclusion, to a method of policy making. I address the relationship between concerns about safety, fairness, and inclusion in policy making about the inclusion of transwomen athletes into women's sport. I argue for an approach based on lexical priority rather than simple 'balancing', considering the different values in a specific order. I present justifying reasons for this approach and this lexical order, based on the special obligations of International Federations such as World Rugby. As a result, I provide a justificatory framework for the WR Guidelines that exclude transwomen from the women's game in WR competitions. Finally, I give an account of a maximally safe, maximally fair and maximally inclusive form of sex categorisation in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women athletes in professional sport are uniquely positioned to expose the limits of gender essentialist ideology and challenge its relationship with inequality, little empirical research has considered how professional women athletes understand and negotiate gender ideologies. Drawing on 19 in-depth interviews and one e-mail exchange with U.S. women's professional soccer players, this article finds that sportswomen strategically endorse constructions of gender difference while simultaneously universalizing White, middle-class women's experiences. "Privileging difference" is a narrative whereby players recognize belief in women's physical inferiority to men and argue for women's moral superiority to men as a source of value and reward for women's sport. Sportswomen's moral authority is defined from a position of racialized class privilege, as players construct an idealized woman player who sacrifices material reward for emotional satisfaction and who emphasizes future change over present conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A documented disparity exists in media coverage of men and women athletes. Women receive less coverage and much of it focuses on stereotypes instead of athletic performance, undermining women's sport and status. Social media, like Instagram, are user-generated and more interactive than traditional media and provide a space for alternative narratives. This study explored if, and how, conversations on Instagram about women athletes differed from traditional media coverage. A thematic analysis was conducted on comments left by men on Instagram posts by eight women athletes featured in the popular "Body Issue" of ESPN: The Magazine. Men's comments were analyzed in order to facilitate comparisons to traditional media outlets (typically operated and authored by men) and illuminate the dominant cultural discourse. Comments (n = 1,540) on 22 posts were manually collected and coded by a team of researchers. Online comments responded to images primarily through the lenses of gender or athlete, similar to traditional media, and sexism was present in online interactions in ways that were similar to offline spaces. The discussion highlighted how racist, sexist, ableist, and heterosexist narratives play out in online discourse about women athletes, underscoring the need for intersectional theorizing in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a way, there is nothing surprising about Plato's promotion of sport for women in Republic and Laws; it is logically implied by his philosophical theories. In another way, Plato's vision of female athletes is among the most radical proposals he makes. The purpose of this paper is to examine Plato's arguments for women in sport and reflect on its relevance in our modern world. His texts include as many misogynist as feminist comments, but Plato's consistent view in Republic and Laws is that females deserve equal education in gymnastics (i.e. movement activities) and equal opportunity to participate in athletic contests. This position derives from the convictions that athletics serves as training for virtue and communities need to maximize the virtue of all their members. It is his vision of women in civic and military roles, specifically their need for aretē (virtue, excellence) to perform those roles, that motivates Plato to include them in sport. In our modern world, where women are citizens and rulers – and regularly participate in sport – it is worth exploring the educational link Plato saw between the two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on many aspects of how female athletes are covered in the media exist. The overwhelming majority of these research have found that gendered depictions of female athletes in the media are less common than those of male athletes. Numerous studies have shown that the media's portrayal of men's sports reflects hegemonic masculinity, while women's sports are underrepresented and trivialized in this setting. The purpose of this study is to identify the gender bias in news stories concerning female athletes and to estimate how frequently these stories appear in print media. The following are the hypotheses developed in this context: 1) There are fewer sports news stories about women than about males. 2) Sports news articles featuring women place a strong focus on gender in their written contents. 3) The visual texts of sports news stories involving women place a strong focus on gender. In this study, the analysis of sports news in social media accounts and sports news including female athletes was carried out in December 2020, taking into consideration variations in the frequency and manner of adding sports news involving women. Due to the enormous volume of news on our female volleyball players' social media accounts around this time and the fact that several of them had success, the study was conducted in December. On news websites and Twitter accounts, descriptive data of other sports news and news about female athletes were calculated for the study. The news stories on female athletes will be subjected to written and visual content analysis. By counting or describing the elements in the text, content analysis is a procedure that reveals what the news' writers, presenters, and producers intend to say. This method will be used to demonstrate the prevalence of the masculine gaze in popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book makes an urgently needed intervention in a sport media context where media visibility is lauded as inherently beneficial for women athletes and a marker of gender progress in sport. As McClearen explains, "incorporating difference becomes a key strategy for the millennial sports media brand, as it allows the UFC to entice diverse fighters and fans" (p. 37). [Extracted from the article]

Women's sport remains a contested realm that frequently features standards and regulations premised on women's inferiority and physiological distinctions from men. In response to these purported sex-based differences, a range of protective policies have been implemented to ostensibly ensure women's safety and health, defend "fair competition" in women's sport, and/or prevent the violation of social and medical boundaries that define who is a "woman." Yet, protective policies encompass a multitude of rationales and strategies, demonstrating the malleability of "protection" in terms of who is protected and why. In this article, I draw from Michel Foucault's theory of "governmentality" to investigate the nuances of protective policies, especially their placed importance on sex differences. To do so, I examine three case studies: World Athletics' (WA) 2019 female eligibility policy, WA's 2019 transgender eligibility policy, and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). Using document texts and semi-structured interviews with eight scientists involved with developing the case studies, I find that protective policies are developed through messy and often contentious processes that selectively draw from varying knowledges and discourses. This then culminates in contrasting methods of defining, protecting, and governing women athletes and their bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We critically analyze four images of female Paralympians posing nude in ESPNThe Magazine’s Body Issuefrom the years 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2014. Past literature shows that media portrayals of female Paralympians emphasize esthetically pleasing bodies, able-bodied images and asexualization. Weaving’s continuum of sexual objectification was applied to assess the varying degrees of sexual objectification showcased within each image. From a feminist perspective, discourses of heteronormativity and ableism were applied to outline the concerns with female Paralympic representation inThe Body Issue. We argue that by normalizing disability and sexual objectification, woman athletes are trivialized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender has always played a key role in defining the ways in which athletes are portrayed in the media. This paper tackled how the patriarchal set-up of the Mizo culture and society resulted in the limited opportunity for Mizo women to participate in sports. It gives an in-sight on the status of women in Mizo traditional society, also how changes brought along by the Christian missionaries have led to the wider participation of women in society and in sports. This study explores the level of representation of women athletes in Mizo daily newspapers. It highlighted the differences in the representation of men and women athletes in Mizo dailies, and also studies the space given to women athletes in news coverage. and the types of sports covered by Mizos dailies. Content analysis is employed for the evaluation of data. Using purposive sampling method, three Mizo daily newspapers i.e., Vanglaini, The Zozam Times, and The Aizawl Post are selected as sample dailies. The sample dailies are selected based on their circulation figures. The data revealed that women athletes does not get the level of representation compared to male athletes, also the types of sports played by women paved a way for coverage in the Mizo dailies. The reason for the lack of coverage of women's sports news is deliberated in this paper. This paper will fill the vast research gap that existed in women's participation in sports in Northeast India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Niche sports such as women's professional sport leagues face many challenges to developing and expanding their fan base. Understanding sport fans, segmenting consumer bases and targeting them effectively can assist in both developing the fan base and competing for investments like sponsorships and media rights. The purpose of this study was to explore consumer segments of the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), a niche softball league, by identifying demographic and psychographic characteristics of the segments and developing a persona for each segment. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 3,463 NPF consumers with the assistance of NPF league officials using their social media outlets. A two-step cluster analysis was performed employing both categorical and continuous variables to inform the segmentation, which was followed with chi-squared statistics and two MANOVAs to compare the segments' demographic characteristics, points of attachment (POAs) levels and attendance and viewership of NPF games. Findings: Three distinct consumer segments with unique demographic, POA and softball participation characteristics were identified. Differences among these segments' consumption of NPF games validated the existence of three distinct consumer segments. Originality/value: This research is the first to examine consumer behavior in women's softball, and it expands the sport marketing literature through the identification of consumer segments of a niche sport league with a novel cluster analysis. Blending theory and practice by incorporating both demographic and psychographic variables into market segmentation, the research uniquely serves this niche sport and thereby informs improved marketing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes an experimental design to investigate how different presentations (sexualized, neutral, and combat) of female athletes competing in a combat sport such as mixed martial arts, a sport defying traditional gender norms, affect consumers’ attitudes toward the advertising, event, and athlete brand. When the female athlete in the advertisement was in a sexualized presentation, male subjects reported higher attitudes toward the advertisement and the event than the female subjects. Female respondents preferred neutral presentations significantly more than the male respondents. On the one hand, both male and female respondents felt the fighter in the sexualized ad was more attractive and charming than the fighter in the neutral or combat ads and more personable than the fighter in the combat ads. On the other hand, respondents felt the fighter in the sexualized ad was less talented, less successful, and less tough than the fighter in the neutral or combat ads and less wholesome than the fighter in the neutral ad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2014 marked the 50th Anniversary of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (SISI). I argue that SISI is problematic for the continued struggle of women in sport given the nature and the extent of sexual objectification. The SISI has evolved over the years from a bathing suit fashion spread to a contemporary multimedia colossal. For example, to help celebrate the 50th anniversary, SISI teamed up with Mattel and featured Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Barbie in the February 2014 issue, and a special collector's item Barbie doll was produced and sold exclusively at Target. Sport is a celebration of human variety, yet Sports Illustrated rarely includes female athletes on their covers, and instead pushes a product that celebrates heterosexuality and sexual objectification of females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Echoing I Outsports i founder Cyd Zeigler, Cassidy comments, "Thus the results confirm that when a woman athlete comes out, even if she's a superstar in her sport, it's not considered nearly as newsworthy as when a male athlete - even one with a much lower profile - does so." Sports Journalism and Women Athletes: Coverage of Coming Out Stories William P. Cassidy Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, ix + 127 pp. [Extracted from the article]

I No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. i I - i Title IX, Education Amendments Act (1972) Four years after the passage of Title IX, during my first year as an undergraduate at Yale University, my rowing teammates and I participated in what might have been the first stand for gender equity in college athletics [[20]]. Title IX may have turned 50, but there are plenty of issues that remain, including enacting policies and guidance related to transgender student athletes and improving how schools handle the reporting of sexual assault on college campuses. Equity360: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity - Title IX Turns 50: Women Athletes Are Still Fighting Against Gender Disparities in Sports This inequity resulted in the NCAA President agreeing to an independent review of disparities and a commitment to ensure that "all student-athletes are equally supported" at NCAA events [[14]]. [Extracted from the article]

Women's participation in sports and physical activities lags behind that of men, particularly among members of underrepresented or marginalized groups. Pakistani women from the rural areas of southern Punjab represent one such group. The aim of this study was to examine how traditional sports that are less well-known outside the Indian subcontinent offer opportunities for marginalized Pakistani women from Southern Punjab to participate in physical activities. Following a phenomenological approach, we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with Kho-Kho and Kabaddi women athletes from underrepresented groups in Pakistan. Elo and Kyngäs' three-phase content analysis process (preparation, organization and reporting) was used to examine interviews. The results of the study revealed that participants feel constrained by the systematic masculine hegemonic culture institutionalized by Pakistani society and the western sporting paradigm. However, the participants reported a sense of liberation and security via traditional sports. Our study contributes to the limited knowledge about women's participation in traditional sports beyond the western world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most widely celebrated documentaries about female athletes to date, The Heart of the Game remains an important text to examine for the ways it represents female athletic experience and encourages audiences to consider gender issues in sport. Such an investigation is particularly apt, given how sports documentaries authenticate particular viewpoints while being understood by audiences as historical reflections of reality. Although the film is praiseworthy for exposing the cultural construction of gender as well as some ways gender ideologies hamper female athletic success, this essay argues that The Heart of the Game 's progressive agenda is ultimately undercut by its simultaneous reproduction of gender and racial ideologies that actually marginalize women and girls in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the representation of female athletes within the Legends Football League (LFL; formerly 'Lingerie Football League') in 2013. Specifically, the study seeks to understand the vision of women's sport, and female athletes, which the LFL propagates. Drawing on a combined content and semiotic analysis of the commentary and visuals featured in 26 LFL matches broadcast online in 2013, our data suggests that the LFL presents apparently conflicting images of sexualized, but 'powerful' female athletes. We discuss these data relative to competing interpretive approaches to female sexuality in sports media, and join other sports media scholars in advocating audience reception research as a necessary next step to grasping this emergent sport's significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a critical mass of feminist scholars has been working to develop new ways of understanding the complex interactions between the social and biological body. Working broadly under the umbrella of 'new materialisms,' a subgroup of feminist scholars is proposing alternative non-dualistic models for engaging with biology, corporeality, science, and matter. In this study, we take inspiration from this body of literature, and particularly Samantha Frost's recent concept of 'biocultural creatures' to explore the complex entanglements between sporting cultures and women's biological bodies. In conceiving of biology differently, this study reveals the dynamism and plasticity of the biocultural sporting body and reveals sportswomen as active agents in these processes. Interviews with sportswomen in two different sporting cultures—endurance multi-sport events (triathlon and Ironman) and rugby sevens—offer rich insights into how different body ideals, physical requirements, support structures, and performance cultures intra-act with women's biological bodies, and particularly their embodied experiences of the health condition known as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Ultimately, this study reveals sportswomen as biocultural creatives, "constantly composing, decomposing and recomposing" (Frost 2016, p. 149) in response to their engagement with distinctive sporting habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated college students' attitudes toward media images of female athletes. We are particularly focused on how viewers perceive media images of female athletes that have both an appearance and athleticism focus, such as those found in ESPN's The Body Issue. An aim of our study was to assess viewers' attitudes toward these images that are not purely objectified, thereby contributing to the objectification literature and providing empirical data relevant to theorizing on the social impact of these images. U.S. college students (n = 563) viewed one of four types of images of the same athletes including: (a) sexualized athletes, (b) sexualized performance athletes (in which both athleticism and sexualization are present), (c) sport performance athletes (in which athletes are depicted playing their sport), or (d) non-sexualized athletes. They then rated the athletes' competence, esteem, and sexual appeal. Overall, sexualized performance athletes were rated more positively than sexualized athletes, but less positively than sport performance athletes. These results have implications for advocacy efforts calling for more media coverage in which women are depicted as athletes rather than as sexual objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testosterone levels in female athletes are increased due to their physical activity and correlate with their exercise volume. We therefore hypothesized that the reference intervals (RIs) derived from the general population are not applicable for female athletes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the given RIs for 6 commercially available testosterone immunoassays in a group of female athletes. Our study included 121 female athletes from various sporting disciplines (water polo, handball, volleyball, football, and basketball). The physical activity score was assessed by the Short Form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Total testosterone was measured in serum samples by the reference LC–MS/MS method and six different immunoassays (Abbott Architect 2nd Generation Testosterone, Beckman Coulter Access Testosterone, Roche Elecsys Testosterone II, Siemens Atellica® IM Testosterone II (TSTII), Siemens IMMULITE 2000 Total Testosterone, and Snibe MAGLUMI™ Testosterone). There were statistically significant differences in age (P = 0.042), weight (P = 0.001), height (P < 0.001), and BMI (P < 0.001) between athletes across different sports. Their quantitative measurements of physical activity and testosterone concentration did not differ significantly between subgroups of various sports, P = 0.167 and P = 0.181, respectively. All immunoassays had a positive absolute and relative bias, in comparison with the LC–MS/MS. The manufacturer's RI was not verified for Abbott Architect, Beckman Coulter Access, and Roche Elecsys Testosterone methods, with the highest percentage of athletes above RI for Beckman Coulter (30%). We demonstrated that the upper reference limit provided was too low for some young female athletes. Clinical laboratories should consider implementation of the new proposed RIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article we approach the discursive construction around the sportswoman figure, operated by Glamour Magazine portal. We delimit as a corpus of analysis three issues published in the current year (2019), namely: (i) How did the sport change the lives of four women? ; (ii) Paolla Oliveira talks about pressure to have perfect body: 'I suffered a lot'; and (iii) Triathlon: learn all about the sport that has become a fitness addiction. We aim, therefore, to problematize the norms - impositions/silencings of ways of being/acting - that engender certain lifestyles to reflect about the (in)visibilities produced by the hegemonic media in relation to the figure of a female sportswoman. For this, the present article proposes the Critical Discourse Analysis from Fairclough (2016) as methodological axis. As resualts, we find that although the discourse for the promotion of sports practice may have positive points, there is no significant increase in the media articulation that contributes to the sportswoman's visibility. The reports touch on superficiality by articulating autonomy and empowerment, omitting the real implications of an insertion of sports into the women's routine, approaching to a large extent the advertising discourse with promises, consumer incentives and calls for beauty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is true that not all women are born equal, and likewise, not all men are born equal, so before the game even starts, there are some athletes with longer legs, bigger hands and unusually high testosterone levels. These are natural properties and structures that have the potential to cause an unfair advantage. It is argued that since athletes are not born equal, natural properties should not be controlled or suppressed but ought to be considered as fair play in sports. Forcing intersex female athletes to lower their testosterone levels to compete is not only sexist and discriminatory, it is unethical. The question of fair play is at the forefront here as I seek to work from the premise that natural inequalities have always existed and will continue to exist in competitive sports. As long as these exist, competitions will not be fair. Since athletes have no control over these natural inequalities, they are neither causally nor morally responsible for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I illustrate how gender dispositions vary in women's soccer and women's boxing in France based on Connell's (1987) concept of gender régime and Bourdieu's theory of habitus. Data were obtained through ethnographic observations and biographical interviews with fifty female athletes. The main results showed that the gender dispositions of the interviewed athletes were formed between specific gender regimes and dispositional systems that differed depending on their sport. In addition, gender dispositions constructed during childhood could be reinforced and/or transformed by sport participation. Both in boxing and in football, the gendered behaviors were also dependent upon the forms of capital each athlete was able to mobilize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-compassion has demonstrated many psychological benefits (Neff, 2009). In an effort to explore self-compassion as a potential resource for young women athletes, we explored relations among self-compassion, proneness to self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt-free shame, guilt, shame-free guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride), and potentially unhealthy self-evaluative thoughts and behaviors (i.e., social physique anxiety, obligatory exercise, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation). Young women athletes (N = 151; Mage = 15.1 years) participated in this study. Self-compassion was negatively related to shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, social physique anxiety, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. In support of theoretical propositions, self-compassion explained variance beyond self-esteem on shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, shame-free guilt proneness, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. Results suggest that, in addition to self-esteem promotion, self-compassion development may be beneficial in cultivating positive sport experiences for young women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the content of the periodical "The Sportswoman," a women's magazine dedicated to discussions of female athletes and women's athletics. The author discusses the magazine's relationship to the wider themes of gender and class relations during the period of its publication. The magazine's origins with the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) are described. The leading subjects of the magazine were field hockey, figure skating, and lacrosse, with college athletics and club programs getting prime coverage. Issues of femininity and social order addressed by the magazine are discussed.

We assessed young adolescent female soccer players' perceptions of their peer group experiences. Data were collected via interviews with 34 girls from two youth soccer teams (M age = 13.0 years). Following inductive discovery analysis, data were subjected to an interpretive theoretical analysis guided by a model of peer experiences (Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Five categories of peer experiences were identified across three levels of social complexity. At the interaction level players integrated new members into the team and learned to interact with different types of people. At the relationship level players learned about managing peer conflict. At the group level a structure of leadership emerged and players learned to work together. Findings demonstrated interfaces between peer interactions, relationships, and group processes while also simplifying some apparently complex systems that characterized peer experiences on the teams studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminists have produced a number of important critiques of the way in which fat and fit are understood. While fitness provides opportunities for women's personal and political empowerment, in practice, because fitness is so frequently viewed as a cosmetic project and connected to achieving thinness, such opportunities have generally failed to materialize despite rapid increases in women's sports and exercise participation. I examine the experiences of larger female athletes in strength and power-based sports to examine how they negotiate their identities as athletes and women, and how they navigate "fitness" and "fatness." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we explore the narratives that 10 White, middle-class female athletes, ages 11-14, (co)produce around their sport experiences. Through interviews, observation, and participant observation, we argue that, consistent with the advertising rhetoric of such multinational corporations as Nike, these girls all advocate hard work, choice, opportunity, and personal responsibility in playing sport and in challenging gender discrimination. We argue this reflects the girls' subscription to elements of liberal feminism and to their frequent positioning as "insider-others"-that is, outside the dominant gender norms of sport but simultaneously the beneficiaries of Whiteness and middle-class norms. In contrast to Nike and liberal feminists who frequently argue for equal opportunity in sport, these girls' insiderother narratives suggest the need for critical interrogation of the multiple meanings and effects of sport experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a development from previous conceptual frameworks related to the risk/pain/injury nexus in sporting subcultures (Hughes & Coakley, 1991; Maguire & Roberts, 1998; Nixon, 1992; Young, 1991). To do this, we have developed a model of factors contributing to injury risk in sport. In outlining our framework we seek to trace the enabling and coercive social forces that combine to act upon athletes and consequently promote participation to the extent of risking injury. This paper is grounded in a two-year study of female rowers in the United Kingdom. Several dimensions of sporting activities are mapped out, including the physical and structural settings, or "stage" upon which the sport takes place; preparation and participation in the sport itself; and the athletes' attitudes toward, and actions on, receiving an injury. The themes identified in the model are used to "make sense" of the substantive insights drawn from the rowers' stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author explores the usefulness of Chicana feminist scholarship for sport studies. Gloria Anzaldua's concept of mestizaje, Maria Lugones's concept of coalescence, and Chela Sandoval's concept of differential consciousness are relied upon to assert the relevance of Chicana scholarship for sport studies. More specifically the paper focuses on the usefulness of such scholarship for identifying the ways that citizen-subjects both align with and resist dominant ideologies in everyday life. Interviews with former and current softball athletes of various Latina/o ethnicities are used to illustrate the occupation of a middle space and the usefulness of a mestiza sport studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has relied on the personal narratives of female coaches and athletes to generate knowledge related to homophobia in women's athletics. We suggest that the body of knowledge generated from these investigations has served to construct a meta story of victimization surrounding women's sport experiences. We make this claim primarily around theoretical frameworks that link a final, liberating stage of development with being explicitly out as a lesbian. As a result, only a narrow range of sexual identity performances (e.g., linguistically naming oneself as lesbian) is recognized as being effective in creating climates of tolerance and, by extension, social change. Employing an analytical tool developed by Plummer (1995), we examined the "sexual stories" of intercollegiate coaches who did not identify themselves as "out" lesbians, but who nevertheless employed a multiplicity of strategies related to the performance of their sexual identity to actively resist social injustice. Based on these findings, we call for a reconceptualization of identity performance that recognizes the non-linear, fluid and contextualized nature of sexual identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1999 Women's World Cup Soccer Championship serves as a particularly good site for examining both the social construction of gender and the structure of contradiction surrounding women's rule in sport and society. We conducted a content analysis of 576 American newspaper articles reporting on the 1999 Women's World Cup Soccer Championship. Contradictory messages surrounding women and sports were present, as past research has suggested. An analysis of more qualitative aspects of our data reveals the structure of these contradictions and provides substantial depth to this analysis. We discuss how the media actively promoted or constructed certain gender ideologies and how these gender ideologies contributed to the popularity of the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1998 marked the 25-year anniversary of the historic "Battle of the Sexes" between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. That match has been credited with enhancing the status of girls and women in sport (Frey, 1998; Hahn. 1998; Nelson, 1998), Although the match was staged during the conjunctural moment now referred to as second wave feminism, it was commemorated within the context of third wave feminism. In this paper, I revisit discourses written about the Battle of the Sexes in I973. Although it continues to be articulated as a watershed moment in women's sport, recent characterizations of the match reflect transformations from second to third wave feminist discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer and fall of 1993, women from the People's Republic of China set an astounding number of world records In track and field. Never had so many women performed so brilliantly in such a short period of time. American track and field journalists, however, responded with shock and outrage. Though the women had never tested positive for steroid use, these journalists insisted that the Chinese women could only have succeeded by using steroids. A qualitative discourse analysis of stories written by these journalists revealed that the case against the Chinese was made by privileging the voices of Western European and American athletes, coaches, and sport scientists, and discrediting the Chinese athletes and coaches. The case buttressed the authority of Western track and field experts and athletes whose dominance might otherwise have been shaken by the superior performances of the Chinese. However, the analysis also pointed to a conflict of interest among different factions of the American track and field establishment as scientists, coaches, athletes, and officials all attempted to distance themselves from blame for the prevalence of steroid use by focusing attention on the misdeeds of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, scholars have dedicated much attention to the coverage of sportswomen in the media. However, few of these studies are situated within the Central Eastern European context. In this study, I analyze the textual and visual coverage of sportswomen in the Hungarian monthly sports magazine Presztízs Sport and examine the ways in which Hungarian national identity is articulated through discourses of sport, athletic competence, and womanhood. This sports magazine reflects some of the global patterns in the representation of sportswomen, but also distinguishes athletes based on the sport's historical success in Hungary. Further, it positions the családanya, the "family-mother" as a gender ideal that transcends other representation categories. The maternal athletic body affirms conservative values and contributes to the aspirations of nation-building through both reproduction and elite sporting success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents brief information on several sports laws. These include the Excerpt of Resolution of July 24, 2018 from the Presidency of the Superior Council of Sports, which calls for aid to women athletes in 2018; modification of Law 12/2012, of June 21, 2018 against Doping in sport; and Resolution of August 24, 2018, of the Presidency of the Superior Council of Sports.