Women and the Sport of Boxing

• In Event: 56.046 - Documenting the Power, Place, and Perseverance of Women

Abstract

This study focused on the Beautiful Boxers Gym which is located outside a large urban city in northern California. We began our study curious about the lives of amateur and professional female boxers. In the Beautiful Boxers Gym we interacted with Blanca, the owner and manager of many of the professional boxers, as well as many of the gyms regulars – amateur and professional alike.
This study found that the pugilistic women’s entrance into the sport has degendered the everyday spaces of athletes. Through such everyday considerations, it is possible to penetrate the seemingly fixed gender organization of sport and begin to take notice of the cracks within its continually evolving power relations.

Author

• Diane P. Ketelle, Mills College