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This book presents a critical rethinking of assumptions that have informed our understanding of women's engagement in contact sport, based on an in-depth ethnography with an English rugby team. Looking at the day-to-day concerns of women who play rugby, this work provides a refreshing perspective on different ways of doing femininities in postfeminist times. Women's rugby is one of the world's fastest growing sports, yet it is also a physical game that is traditionally the preserve of men. Tackling Stereotypes reveals the cultural and symbolic stigma that 'sticks' to women's rugby players and the tactics they use to carve out space for themselves and fight for legitimacy. It also argues that players engage in pragmatic politics, informed by their participation, that aims to enact realistic change. Branchu develops a situational sociology that furthers debates in the understanding of gender, belonging, becoming, embodiment, resistance politics, and the sociological study of sport.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Kicking off.- 2. Stereotypes that stick: moral economy and cultural politics.- 3. Understanding Participation: Dispositions, Situations, and (Infra)structures.- 4. Integrating the team: identity, becomings and careers.- 5. "The physical side": Getting a feel for the game - pains and pleasures of play.- 6. The 'social side': rugby culture, reflexivity and the space of women's rugby.- 7. Influencing the field: tactics and politics of play.- 8. Conclusions: Politics of play and pragmatic politics.
About the author
Charlotte Branchu is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, UK.
