Heavy Bag Heroines: Fighting Sports, Gender and the Commodification of Violence

• In Event: Hidden in Plain Sight: Criminological Apparatuses as Public Secrets

Abstract

The boxing gym has become the site of focus for scholars that seek to unpack and understand both physical and sociological regimes of masculinity. It is this approach that has become the socially accepted and taken for granted 'common sense' on the topic of boxing. However, what is missing from much of this research is any analysis of the body projects and physical regimens of boxing from the point of view of women as they have gradually accessed the sport, industry, and gym spaces. This is of particular interest as boxing has become increasingly packaged, commodified, and sold to predominantly white, middle-class, female consumers as a means to improve their health and fitness (i.e. boxercise, punchfit, and bootbox) in a manner that disconnects it from the reality and risk of boxing (i.e. to hit or be hit). Drawing on interviews and ethnographic research, this study utilizes the frame of physical feminism to bring the experiences of women to the fore while exploring the 'hidden space' and geographies of the boxing gym as it relates to gender, consumerism, and the body as a site of power relations.

Author

• Victoria E. Collins, Eastern Kentucky University