Identity Construction in Muay Thai: Women, Fighting, Femininity

• In Event: Virtual Roundtable Session 1
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Reimagining Citizenship and Identity: Youth, Education, and Justice in a Globally Interconnected World

Proposal

While Muay Thai in martial arts has historically been associated with masculinity (Kavoura et. al., 2017), research on women’s engagement and experiences with these activities remains scarce, despite the ongoing discrimination against the female image in Thai society (Kavoura et. al., 2017) and the traditions of power relations in the Muay Thai community (Davies & Dekert, 2020). This study addressed this gap by examining how two Muay Thai athletes (a female athlete and a male coach) negotiate their roles and identities in their training. Data comprises in-depth interviews with the athletes and observations of gym training sessions. Data uses Constructivism (Creswell, 2013) and Feminist Theory (Davis, 2008; Freeman, 2022), involving line-by-line coding and topic coding, and employing constant comparative analysis to refine emerging themes. Themes were analyzed through the lens of Feminist Theory (Connell, 2002), which emphasizes gender issues in social contexts and gender discrimination in power inequity. This approach echoes Creswell’s (2013) concepts of Constructivism Theory, which acknowledges the links between individuals and outside communities. The presentation unpacks various facts about how dominant cultural discourses surrounding Muay Thai fights and competitions subjectify female fighters, exploring the impact of conventional notions of femininity on the construction of female fighters’ identities. Current findings reveal that (a) female fighters are empowering themselves by shifting gender relations of power in the Muay Thai community, (b) female fighters gain a sense of independence and confidence through Muay Thai, and (c) female fighters reposition themselves by emphasizing both gendered beauty and fighting techniques. Both participants shared their experiences in Muay Thai training, and their stories highlighted the dynamic power of gender. The findings demonstrated two versions of Muay Thai situations: female fighters may pay attention to the consequences, such as the shift from a student to a coach, while the male coach tends to focus on the process and growth of a female fighter. However, there are several limitations. The number of participants is limited, so the dimensions of data are analyzed within two persons. As narrative analysis aims to gain powerful insights, the data from two participants may not provide a comprehensive understanding of the reality.

Author

• Junnan Li, University of Rochester