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Female athletes often negotiate their meanings of femininity and athleticism due to restrictive cultural norms, with muscularity at the center of this negotiation. Using a critical feminist interactionist perspective, this study seeks to understand how female collegiate athletes negotiate their meanings of muscularity and femininity within the strength and conditioning environment. Negotiation strategies emerged from the data, including the gendered body and the weight room environment. The findings suggest that while the strength and conditioning coach is responsible for training athletes in power and speed, they must do so within the cultural context that often attempts to limit women’s physicality.

Women’s flat track roller derby is considered by participants a space for constructing positive images of diverse female bodies in sport, proclaiming that women of all shapes and sizes are welcome. However, despite evidence to the contrary, the universal claim of diverse body acceptance has not been fully interrogated within the literature. In this three-year auto/ethnography of a Midwestern Division 1 derby league, I ask: In what ways do women derby skaters talk about the derby body, and how do their behaviors coexist with the mantra of inclusion? I rely on participant observation, in-depth interviews with 13 skaters, and personal journaling of my experiences as a skater to problematize the notion that “any body can be a derby girl.” I argue that three contradictory discourses regarding skater bodies simultaneously permeate the elite derby space: 1) “size doesn’t matter,” or that function trumps body form, 2) “bigger is better,” or that larger bodies have greater value, and 3) “serious athleticism,” that skater bodies must have a high level of fitness to compete. I conclude that the mantra of acceptance within derby must be qualified given these other discourses, and that derby’s potential to empower participants and serve as a critique for mainstream sport is thereby limited.

As Title IX approaches its 50th anniversary, the state of its application to athletic departments within federally funded schools at the secondary and postsecondary levels evokes the expression “the more things change, the more things stay the same.” Title IX has been credited with successfully addressing sexual stereotypes that generally limited opportunities and created barriers for students to realize their full potential as athletes, citizens, parents, scholars, and workers (Buzuvis, 2012). As much as the educational landscape has changed as a result of Title IX, there remains a concern that schools do not have the mechanisms in place to ensure compliance five decades after the law was passed. The purpose of this study was to examine what college athletes know about Title IX and how they come to know it through a survey instrument comprised of five open-ended questions. Consistent with previous studies of coaches, athletics administrators, educators, and athletes, nearly 50% of the college athletes participating in this study did not know what Title IX was. For the remaining 50%, their perceptions of Title IX reveal large gaps in foundational understandings of what Title IX requires and how it works. The words of the respondents offer a window into their understandings and relationship with Title IX which cover a full spectrum from “it opens up the door for everyone” and “gives female athletes the support they need to succeed” to it results in an “illogical” way to achieve fairness.

The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of competitiveness in elite women’s soccer, comparing the goal difference mean between the first FIFA Women’s World Cup (W1991) and FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011 (W2011), twenty years later. Analogous Men’s World Cups (M1990 and M2010) and the first one (M1930) were analyzed for comparative purposes. A total of 192 matches were taken into account and their final result was obtained through official match reports. The overall goal difference (GD) was 1.6, with GD of one occurring 44.3%. Percentage of matches finished with a GD of more than three was 30.7% in W1991 and only 6.3% in W2011. Mean of GD in W2011 was significantly lower than in W1991 (1.38 ± 1.10 vs. 2.81 ± 1.96, U = 226.0, z = -3.085, p = .002), while between M1990 and M2010 it did not differ statistically (1.21 ± 1.05 vs. 1.23 ± 1.23, U = 1639.5, z = -0.146, p = .884). In contrast to the comparisons to W1991, differences between W2011 and M2010 as well as M1990 were not significant. However, GD in W2011 was significantly lower than in the M1930. The results demonstrated that elite women’s soccer has shown a notorious development with regard to the competitiveness, approaching the status already achieved by men. This fast progress represents new challenges for the sports sciences and football associations.

As the usage of bicycles increases, cities are transforming their planning processes to incorporate this sustainable mode of transportation. In spite of bicycling’s importance to communities, there is a gender gap. Data indicates that only a small number of cyclists are women. This paper addresses that gender gap with an eye toward the marketing strategy known as transportation demand management (TDM). TDM provides lessons for communities looking to encourage greater levels of bicycle riding. To do this we review the literature on best practices in marketing to women, and evaluate different bicycle marketing guides. We find, after an analysis to pinpoint best practices, that only 15% of the marketing guides are targeted to women. The lessons learned from our study provide information for the design of future bicycle guides that will appeal to women consumers.

Fear of violent crime and concern for personal safety are well documented fears among women (Bialeschki & Hicks, 1998; Wesley & Gaarder, 2004). Feminist theorists argue that concern for personal safety among women is one of the most significant ways in which women’s lives and their use of space is controlled and restricted (Bialeschki, 1999; Cops & Pleysier, 2011). Employing a feminist standpoint framework (Hill Collins, 2000), the purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine recreational female runners’ concerns for safety while running outdoors in an urban park setting and the strategies employed to negotiate or manage their concerns. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 female recreational runners. Interview data were analyzed following the procedures outlined by Corbin and Strauss (2007) for open and axial coding. The following themes emerged from the interview data: (a) fear of being attacked, (b) environmental and social cues, (c) normalization of street harassment, (d) negotiation strategies, and (e) recommendations for enhancing safety. The findings provide important information pertaining to women’s access to safe outdoor space in which to exercise. Perceptions of safety, fear of being attacked and experiences of harassment have the power to negatively influence women’s engagement and enjoyment in outdoor PA/exercise.

Objectification theory postulates that societal norms influence women to internalize cultural standards of beauty and thinness as their own. The consequences of objectification experiences include body shame, anxiety, body surveillance, and internalization of the thin ideal. Self-presentation theory suggests that individuals attempt to control and manage impressions when they perceive they are being evaluated by others. Previous research has documented the role of apparel in objectification of women and how women use apparel to create particular impressions. Research has also documented how objectification and self-presentation mediates reasons and motivations for exercise. However, qualitative explorations of women’s thoughts and feelings regarding exercise apparel as a motivator or deterrent for physical activity within these frameworks are lacking. In the current study, twelve recreationally active women were interviewed to understand their perceptions of exercise apparel in relation to their exercise environment and motivation to exercise. Two higher order themes emerged: exercise apparel as a tool for the optimal exercise experience (lower order themes: comfort, functionality of clothing, and reciprocal relationship between motivation and affect) and societal influences shaping exercise apparel choices (lower order themes: social influence and social comparison within the exercise setting, the cultural standard, and past experiences of evaluation). For the women in our study, exercise apparel serves as both a motivator and deterrent for exercise and certain exercise apparel contributes to self-presentation concerns within the exercise setting.