Women’s lives and cultural expectations have changed dramatically in the last century in most Western cultures, as women’s participation in sport is now a cultural norm rather than an act of defiance ( Bruce, 2016 ). Despite this, research shows an enduring pattern of women athletes being treated
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Does He Make a Difference? Analyzing the Role of Men Athletes in the Framing of Elite Women CrossFit Athletes in Sportswear Retailers’ Marketing Materials
Alexandra Gibson and Andrea N. Geurin
Mentioned, Quoted, and Promoted: How Sports Journalists Constructed a Narrative of Athletes’ Value in the “Name, Image, and Likeness” Era
Shannon Scovel
neoliberal solution to the institutional issue of athlete exploitation ( Lovell & Mallinson, 2023 ). Other scholars have warned that NIL funding could create Title IX issues for universities if male athletes are supported financially through boosters or given more in-house promotions than women athletes
Self-Compassion in the Stress Process in Women Athletes
Amber D. Mosewich, Catherine M. Sabiston, Kent C. Kowalski, Patrick Gaudreau, and Peter R.E. Crocker
Women athletes encounter many potentially stressful situations in competitive sport, such as body dissatisfaction, injury, bullying, eating disorders, coach conflicts, poor performance and performance plateau, self-criticism, and social comparisons, that are often accompanied by negative self
Conflict and the College Sport Experience of Women Athletes
Elaine M. Blinde and Susan L. Greendorfer
This paper is a synthesis of results from five separate studies examining how recent structural and philosophical changes in women’s intercollegiate sport programs may have altered the sport experience of female athletes. Based on both questionnaire and interview data, it was apparent that athletes participating in sport programs characterized by the greatest change (e.g., post-Title IX programs, programs of the 1980s, product-oriented sport models, and Division I programs of recent years) shared somewhat common experiences — with the presence of conflict being one of the most pervasive themes. Four types of conflict were identified: (a) value alienation, (b) role strain, (c) role conflict, and (d) exploitation. Each of these types of conflict is discussed and examples to substantiate the presence of each form of conflict are presented. Based upon the findings, it is suggested that the changing context and emphases of college sport may have exposed female athletes to different sets of circumstances, expectations, and experiences, thus altering the nature of the sport experience and bringing into question the educational legitimacy of college sport.
“Know That You’re Not Just Settling”: Exploring Women Athletes’ Self-Compassion, Sport Performance Perceptions, and Well-Being Around Important Competitive Events
Margo E.K. Adam, Abimbola O. Eke, and Leah J. Ferguson
connected to others based on shared experience), and mindfulness (a balanced and present perspective), and each subcomponent plays a unique role in the overall experience of self-compassion ( Neff, 2003a , 2003b ). In addition to helping women athletes during challenging or difficult times in sport
Manufacturing Dreams and Investing in Future Generations: Women Athletes’ Inspirational Labor in the Marketing and Promotion of Their Sport
Tarlan Chahardovali and Christopher M. McLeod
Previous sociological research on women’s labor in sport has largely focused on women’s work behind the scenes to support family members’ participation in sport ( Boyle & McKay, 1995 ; Messner & Bozada-Deas, 2009 ; Thompson, 1990 , 1999a , 1999b ). However, the labor of women athletes
“A Really Strong Bond”: Coaches in Women Athletes’ Experiences of Inclusion in Parasport
Jessica J. Ferguson and Nancy L.I. Spencer
mainstream sport, much less empirical work has focused on coaching in parasport. Furthermore, lacking from the limited research are the perspectives of athletes experiencing disability and women athletes, in particular ( Alexander et al., 2020 ). In addressing some of these gaps, Alexander et al. ( 2020
Athletes’ Body Talk: The Role of Contextual Body Image in Eating Disorders as Seen Through the Eyes of Elite Women Athletes
A.P. (Karin) de Bruin and Raôul R.D. Oudejans
transiency of body satisfaction ( Krane et al., 2001 ; Loland, 1999 ; Russell, 2004 ). Russell ( 2004 ) interviewed women athletes, such as female rugby players, who displayed positive interpretations of body size and shape in their games as a tool for successful performance, while their body satisfaction
The Indivisibility of Women Athletes in Magazines for Teen Girls
Elizabeth A. Daniels
Past research has shown that teen girls consume media that frequently contains objectified images of women. Little is known about whether these girls are also exposed to empowering images, such as women playing sports. The current study evaluated the prevalence of these images in five popular magazines aimed at teen girls. Of the 620 photographs examined, only 7% showed women engaged in physical activity or sport. The majority of these images showed women in fitness activities that emphasize shape and muscle tone, rather than in sport activities that emphasize instrumentality. Results demonstrate that women athletes are largely invisible in mainstream magazines for teen girls.
Self-Compassion: A Potential Resource for Young Women Athletes
Amber D. Mosewich, Kent C. Kowalski, Catherine M. Sabiston, Whitney A. Sedgwick, and Jessica L. Tracy
Self-compassion has demonstrated many psychological benefits (Neff, 2009). In an effort to explore self-compassion as a potential resource for young women athletes, we explored relations among self-compassion, proneness to self-conscious emotions (i.e., shame, guilt-free shame, guilt, shame-free guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride), and potentially unhealthy self-evaluative thoughts and behaviors (i.e., social physique anxiety, obligatory exercise, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation). Young women athletes (N = 151; M age = 15.1 years) participated in this study. Self-compassion was negatively related to shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, social physique anxiety, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. In support of theoretical propositions, self-compassion explained variance beyond self-esteem on shame proneness, guilt-free shame proneness, shame-free guilt proneness, objectified body consciousness, fear of failure, and fear of negative evaluation. Results suggest that, in addition to self-esteem promotion, self-compassion development may be beneficial in cultivating positive sport experiences for young women.
