What’s Up with the Ponytails? The Politics of Embodiment in Women’s Collegiate Sport

• In Event: 483 - Section on Sex and Gender Paper Session. The Politics of Bodies and Embodiment: Gender and Sports (co-sponsored with the Section on Body and Embodiment)

Abstract

Although “doing gender” is a foundational aspect of contemporary gender theory, few studies have systematically examined how the risk of being held accountable to hegemonic conceptions of gender varies across settings. We develop a more nuanced understanding of accountability by conducting quantitative content analysis on a stratified, random sample of 4,799 collegiate women athletes’ roster photos. Although most athletes in our sample oriented their appearances towards white, middle-class styles of femininity, results from logistic regression indicate that black athletes, soccer and basketball players, athletes in the Midwest and East, and Division III athletes were less likely to emphasize feminine markers of appearance than other athletes. As a result, the risk of being held accountable to hegemonic conceptions of gender appears to be lower within aspects of sport where athletes regularly engage in bodily contact and displays of force, but higher within the highest status and most visible aspects of collegiate sport. Consequently, features of accountability within women’s sport operate in ways that both challenge and undermine existing systems of inequality.

Authors

• Michela Musto, University of Southern California

• PJ McGann, University of Michigan