No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Conceptualizing Resistance: Women's Leisure as Political Practice
Abstract
The idea of leisure as resistance focuses attention on the political nature of leisure, and specifically on the potential for leisure to enhance individual empowerment and to bring about positive social change. In this paper, the different theoretical perspectives that have led researchers to the idea of leisure as resistance, including structuralism, post-structuralism, and interactionism, are discussed. Using insights from these perspectives, three issues related to the conceptualization of resistance are examined: the collective versus individual nature of resistance; the question of outcomes of resistance; and the issue of intentionality. It is argued that resistance is, by definition, both individual and collective, and that research on resistance needs to focus on the specific types of oppression and constraint being resisted through leisure. However, while intentionality and outcome are also important aspects of resistance, they should not be seen as defining characteristics. Intentional acts to resist may be more or less successful, and successful resistance may occur without prior intent. Although the focus of this analysis is on women's leisure, the framework developed here can be applied to all forms of resistance, and hopefully can be used to enhance our understanding of leisure as political practice.
... This line of inquiry grew out of Wearing's (1990) work which explored leisure as a domain in which Australian mothers resisted dominant expectations of motherhood. Resistance found leisurebased theoretical support in Shaw's (2001) work which suggested that "…leisure behaviors, settings and interactions can challenge the way in which power is exercised, making leisure a form of political practice" (p. 186). ...
... The 206 papers are discussed below under two key themes: theoretical and atheoretical study of resistance. Wearing (1990), Shaw (2001), and Foucault (1980) were most often used by authors who conceptually grounded their work on resistance. Wearing (1990), though foundational to the study of resistance in leisure, was only cited in six papers. ...
... Most authors (n = 22) who grounded their work in an existing theoretical framework used Shaw's (1994Shaw's ( , 2001Shaw's ( , 2006 work. Shaw's work was primarily used to position leisure activities as acts of resistance. ...
Scholars have long recognized that injustice pervades recreation and leisure. Some scholars have framed leisure activities or research as a meaningful response to injustice, a body of research we term resistance studies. However, this body of research has grown without a corresponding rise in analyses of unjust social structures. Given that injustice is rooted in the social structure, critical analysis of the resistance studies literature is needed to determine. if the field is tackling the oppression and domination of people. We address this gap through a systematic review of the resistance studies literature in leisure journals. The review was guided by the following questions: (a) what theoretical or conceptual frameworks have authors used to guide their investigations of resistance, (b) what are the targets of resistance (i.e., that which is being resisted), and (c) what acts are presented as resistance. We argue that many of the articles reviewed did not ground resistance historically or conceptually. Without such conceptual grounding, it was difficult for us to see how leisure activities or research could be an effective counter to injustice. We encourage future scholars to ground their work in non-Western thinkers who mapped social structures and worked for material change. The relevance of leisure activities to material change remains to be seen.
... Statement of the Problem The study of leisure has become an important aspect of feminist scholarship and literature on leisure researches abounds with significant insights from noteworthy post-structural feminists (Aitchison, 2000;Coalter, 1999;Henderson, 2006 ;Shaw, 2001Shaw, ,2013Wearing, 1998). However, its application onto literary works is lacking. ...
... According to Shaw (2001), the idea of leisure as a form of resistance implies the political nature of leisure. Leisure is seen as a site for power struggle where power can be won, lost or negotiated. ...
... Leisure is seen as a site for power struggle where power can be won, lost or negotiated. Within feminist leisure scholarship, the concept of leisure as resistance is based on the assumption that leisure behaviors, settings and interactions can challenge and subvert the dominant and repressive patriarchal practices (Shaw, 2001). Wearing (1998) contends that compared to other activities leisure activities and behaviours provide greater leverage for self-assertion and resistance to forced norms. ...
ABSTRACT Leisure practices serve a dual purpose- they allow people attain self�recovery and self-actualization; they can be adopted as covert means of resistance by the marginalized groups to record their protest against oppression. The present study attempts to explore the leisure-based practices and behaviour that the female protagonist of Hamid‟s Moth Smoke adopts to subvert and undermine the oppressive circle of patriarchy. Adopting a poststructuralist perspective, this study draws insights from Wearing‟s leisure resistance theory for the analysis of the data. Data have been analysed qualitatively using purposive sampling technique. The results indicate that the female protagonist, Mumtaz, finds herself confined in acting out the traditional gender roles and adopts many covert leisure-based practices to challenge the set social norms of womanhood. She shows resistance against the patriarchal authority that denies her the due right to have control over her body and mind by indulging in leisure-based smoking, drinking, and sex outside of the marriage and by leading the life of a secret investigative journalist. The study is significant as it highlights the effects covert means can have in the subversion of unjust authority. Keywords: Leisure practices, self-actualization, resistance, oppression, patriarchy
... Building on the work of previous scholars that question individualist and biological understandings about the consumption of alcohol and other drugs (Ella Dilkes-Frayne, et al. 2017;Suzanne Fraser and David Moore 2011), this paper examines representations of women's public alcohol consumption and gendered bodies at the Australian Melbourne Cup. Women drinking as a leisure activity can be construed as being a political practice that highlights intentional and unintentional forms of resistance to gendered power relations (Susan Shaw 2001). Shaw (2001) argues that there is a need to document the "types of leisure activities and contexts in which resistance occurs" as well as the "specific types of oppression and constraint that are being challenged or resisted". ...
... Women drinking as a leisure activity can be construed as being a political practice that highlights intentional and unintentional forms of resistance to gendered power relations (Susan Shaw 2001). Shaw (2001) argues that there is a need to document the "types of leisure activities and contexts in which resistance occurs" as well as the "specific types of oppression and constraint that are being challenged or resisted". Women's individual acts of resistance (such as unruly behaviour at the Melbourne Cup) can challenge how gendered power is exercised more collectively (Shaw 2001). ...
... Shaw (2001) argues that there is a need to document the "types of leisure activities and contexts in which resistance occurs" as well as the "specific types of oppression and constraint that are being challenged or resisted". Women's individual acts of resistance (such as unruly behaviour at the Melbourne Cup) can challenge how gendered power is exercised more collectively (Shaw 2001). This paper examines the media shaming of "unruly" and "unfeminine" women who are drinking in public as well as resistant feminist media discourses that support the agency and empowerment of women. ...
This paper critically examines competing media discourses about women’s alcohol consumption as spectators at the Melbourne Cup, a historically prestigious annual Australian horse race. Taking a feminist poststructural lens, this paper identifies how print media representations of the female drinking subject can provide a multitude of subject positions that can be contradictory and subversive, offering possibilities for resistance to idealised middle-class gendered norms about women and drinking. This paper provides new insights into print media portrayals of “unruly” female spectators and their alcohol consumption at public events such as the Melbourne Cup.
... I 3 trouble the concept of freely chosen leisure activities to further explore the colonial and patriarchal discourses that influence our leisure lifestyles. To address the gaps in leisure literature, this article explores various leisure pursuits as acts of resistances to navigate agency (Shaw, 2001) against traditional cultural gender expectations. I employ a postcolonial feminist lens to decenter Eurocentric thought and provide multiple, and at times competing, perspectives from SGEIC women to illuminate our unique experiences with leisure. ...
... However, these studies and other contributions to the leisure literature are missing an important piece of these women's narratives. Employing a postcolonial feminist lens allows a deeper analysis of the power relations, resistance and agency that can help explain SGEIC women's understanding of leisure (Shaw, 2001). ...
... There is privilege recognizing injustice and standing up to power, as not all women may find these acts safe. For example, Tia stands up to resistive forces that inhibit her from drinking as leisure and practices leisure agency through resistance (Shaw, 2001), while another woman, Jot, understands these restrictive boundaries of not drinking in her in-law's household and chooses to resist leisure pursuits to establish agency. And thus furthering the concept, that SGEIC women use leisure agency to suit their individual circumstances. ...
Inspired by the experiences of married second-generation East Indian women living in Canada, we explore the complexities of their leisure choices. Using postcolonial feminist theorization and narrative inquiry we constructed four dialogue-based vignettes from nine one-on-one interviews to highlight areas of resistance and agency to understand patriarchal power relations that impact leisure behaviour. Given that the voices of married second generation East Indian Canadian (SGEIC) women have been ignored in leisure literature, this research contributes to the importance of understanding multiple influences impacting leisure choices.
... Green leisure is a concept developed herein which refers to voluntary behaviors by individuals or groups aimed at making positive changes to the landscape that resist dominant discourses. Building on Shaw's (2001) framework of leisure as resistance, the features of green leisure as resistance were empirically examined by investigating the outcomes of Chicago's Large Lot Program within high-vacancy, predominantly African American neighborhoods. The resident-led greening program encourages residents to purchase a vacant lot on their block for a dollar and take control of their own beautification and greening. ...
... Evidence from previous research shows that greening behavior functions to resist the dominant stigma of neighborhood blight by making transformative changes to the local landscape to signal that neighbors' care about the safety, quality of life, and well-being of each other (Branas et al., 2011;Garvin et al., 2013;Kondo et al., 2016). We view resistance as a central theme of green leisure and, in addition to Shaw's (2001) work, draw upon Hoy (2004) who defined resistance as "any acts against the present order that assert a positive sense of oneself and one's own truth about the world" (p. 94). ...
... Green leisure extends Shaw's (2001) framework of leisure as resistance and integrates it with research on urban greening (Vogt, 2018). Several factors come together in interdependent ways to explain green leisure. ...
Many cities have addressed urban population shrinkage by adopting strategies to re-purpose vacant lots in ways that leave them beautified and groomed. This study investigates leisure behavior resulting in beautified and groomed vacant lots that resist dominant discourses – referred to as green leisure. We applied a mixed-methods research design with property owners who purchased vacant lots through the Chicago Large Lot Program. Our focus group findings (n = 25) indicated that participants framed their activities as resistance tied to (a) vacant lot beautification, (b) providing places to socialize, (c) efficacy, and (d) neighborhood transformation. Using survey data (n = 197), results from a path model show that behavioral investment in greening – as measured by a Cues to Care Action Scale – is influenced by social normative beliefs, collective-efficacy, self-efficacy, and perception of gardening as leisure. Our findings lend support to policies that encourage resident-based private ownership of vacant land to revitalize urban neighborhoods.
... They highlight leisure as a space for resistance against societal expectations and pressures for women (Dilley and Scraton 2010). Shaw (2001) and Lewis (2004) argue that leisure can provide an alternative to the mundane aspects of life. The activity of climbing for leisure, climbing culture and physical environments where climbing occurs can all be considered sites of resistance, and spaces potentially outside of the 'mundane' responsibilities of life, including parenthood and childcare. ...
... Patricia, Sian and Jenni recognize the expectations they defied, and they were also perhaps unusually for society at the time, hugely supported by their male partners in being able to keep active as mothers. This finding nods to other studies that argue leisure offers a site of resistance to societal norms and the 'mundane' (Lewis 2004;Shaw 2001;Spowart, Burrows, and Shaw 2010;Robinson 2008). ...
This article employs a critical postfeminist lens to examine experiences and perceptions of motherhood and climbing, with a focus on negotiating childcare and risk. Drawing on interview data, I consider gendered societal pressures placed on mothers who participate in climbing. I argue that although climbing is a site that may facilitate agency and resistance to pressures, mothers’ experiences of climbing are varied, and women remain constrained by societal expectations. This article contributes towards the growing body of literature considering women’s experiences in climbing. Findings on experiences of motherhood and climbing may be transferable or comparable when thinking about experiences of motherhood in other lifestyle activities, particularly those that involve risk.
... To date, examinations of women's leisure have mostly pointed to the constraints they face pursuing particular activities, and how these barriers are resisted (Du, 2008;Henderson & Gibson, 2013). Yet there has also been a push to think about the reproduction and resistance binary more critically, recognising their often-close association (Shaw, 2001). It has been argued that women's leisure may be better understood as a way of creatively positioning oneself in relation to gender norms (Raisborough & Bhatti, 2007) whether this involves reproduction, resistance, or both. ...
... Irrespective of the conceptual approach undertaken, there is generally a consensus that 'women's leisure can be conceptualised as a site where femininities and masculinities are "made" and reconstructed, in relation to shifting social relations and cultural forms' (Green, 1998, p. 183). Intentional or not, leisure is ultimately a type of 'political practice' (Shaw, 2001) with the social justice potential to transform lives (Parry, 2014). Engagements with leisure by women is not, therefore, only about the activities performed and how these carve out spaces for women, especially in traditionally masculinised arenas, but also the meaning they hold for their lives and identity. ...
For women who migrated for marriage, life after divorce may be characterised by disappointment, sorrow, and despair. Yet, leisure activities can transform their lives and emotions after separation. Using detailed case studies of five migrant women who experienced divorce in Hong Kong, this article examines how leisure with and within green and blue spaces can release negative emotions generated by this difficult life event while also creating opportunities for new ones, such as pleasure and joy, to emerge. It finds that these women’s chosen forms of nature-based leisure were highly embodied, with sight, smell, taste, and movement key to their emotional and personal transformations. In some cases, these experiences even led to the development of strong, kin-like, affective connections with natural objects. Overall, this article highlights the benefits of considering the role of leisure in and with nature for divorcees and divorced migrant women in particular – a group who are under-researched within the field of leisure studies.
... Interdependent teams may indeed offer opportunities for women to become deeply engaged in collective pursuits, potentially strengthening social relationships, and a construction of community (Theberge, 1995); but more than that, Shaw (2001) theorized women's leisure as resistance, where both individually and collectively, women can challenge power relations in society through leisure pursuits. Shaw explained that structurally, older women's lack of power or restrictive expectations could be either reinforced or resisted through sport; or post-structurally, empowerment through sport could provide individual freedom to develop new identities. ...
... Further, Narrative Three suggests that sport is not used as a way to escape from household labors, but as an introspective tool to regard themselves as athletes and competitive teammates. In this way, according to Shaw (2001), their sport participation is a resistance to restrictive expectations of their time and efforts to others (e.g., family members or jobs), in order to engage in self-care. ...
This qualitative investigation explored the lived meaningful experiences of adult women in a coached Masters synchronized ice-skating team and the role of the coach in these experiences. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 11 team members (mean age = 39) and their 32 year-old female coach, over multiple time points in their season. Observational field notes were taken during training, competition, and social engagements. Story analyst methods were used for data collection and analysis, to then present the results in the form of realist tales (Smith & Sparkes, 2009a; 2009b) about the novelties of identifying with a women’s Masters team. Stories respectively highlighted (1) how notions of team included compliance to social norms despite individual differences, (2) women’s unique empowerment through sport, sisterhood, and what that meant for their respective identities, and (3) the value of surrounding support networks and social negotiations. Intertwined within these three stories was a fourth narrative characterizing the coach’s involvement in the culture, interactions, and climate of the team. The coach had implicit and explicit roles, was integrated into the team, and shared power which enhanced athletes’ experiences. This study points toward the meaningfulness of sport by illustrating the inherent social dimensions and connectedness within a team sport for adult women.
... Gender, race, class, geographical context, and political economic ideology are some of the interconnected areas that leisure scholars have argued must be addressed (Rose et al., 2018). In addition, feminist leisure scholars have also argued that leisure can be a site for resisting gendered relations of power (Mansfield et al., 2018;Shaw, 2001;Valtchanov & Parry, 2017). For example, McRobbie's (1991) research shows how teenage girls used their own bedrooms as a safe space where they can resist dominant views on conforming feminine behaviors, and develop alternative identities. ...
... To capture these tensions, a conceptual and theoretical expansion of Third Places is therefore needed, involving a special focus on how youth leisure can be a collectively caring space. At the same time, with this expansion follows a recognition and scrutiny of how discourses on , for example, gender and rurality shape how these caring spaces are constructed, who carries the responsibility for this caring, and under what material circumstances it takes place (or not) (Shaw, 2001). ...
This work is protected by the Swedish Copyright Legislation (Act 1960:729) Dissertation for PhD ISBN: 978-91-7855-548-2 (print) ISBN: 978-91-7855-549-9 (pdf)
... An influential paper published by Susan Shaw in 2001, pointed to the political nature of women"s leisure, through acts of resistance. According to Shaw (2001), the conceptualisation of leisure as resistance "implies that leisure behaviours, settings and interactions can challenge the way in which power is exercised, making leisure a form of political practice" (p.186). Since the publication of Shaw"s (2001) paper, the construct of resistance has become popular. ...
... According to Shaw (2001), the conceptualisation of leisure as resistance "implies that leisure behaviours, settings and interactions can challenge the way in which power is exercised, making leisure a form of political practice" (p.186). Since the publication of Shaw"s (2001) paper, the construct of resistance has become popular. For example, some researchers have argued that the potential exists for women to resist dominant discourses of motherhood and create time out for themselves (see for example: Currie, 2004;Miller & Brown, 2005;Roster, 2007;Weedon, 1997). ...
There are very few in-depth studies that have focused on the impact of motherhood and sports participation, and no studies within the 'lifestyle sports' literature which have explicitly focused on mothers. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of mothers who snowboard. The thesis explores from a poststructural perspective, the experiences of eight mothers, resident in Aotearoa/New Zealand, who snowboard. In particular, Michel Foucault's ideas regarding discourse, power and 'technologies of the self' afforded a useful heuristic for examining the women's talk about motherhood and snowboarding and the practices they engage in as they negotiate the two. The study draws primarily on diary and interview texts gathered during the 2008 winter snow season. I present my interpretation of the women's 'collective stories' (Richardson, 1990), with the intention of raising the profile of nonconformist performances of motherhood.
... Given the many factors that influence LTPA participation, it is important to consider the diversity among women to understand their behaviors toward PA. Poststructural feminism recognizes the multiple experiences and subjectivities of women and believes in the resilience of each individual in the face of the gendered power relations that are experienced in society (Giblin, 2016;Shaw, 2001). Furthermore, the socioecological model may prove helpful to understand individuals' behaviors toward LTPA (Sallis et al., 2008). ...
Background : Women, particularly those with young children, engage in less leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) than men. Additionally, mothers living in rural areas have more difficulty participating in LTPA than those in urban areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the challenges faced by mothers of rural areas of Gipuzkoa in LTPA participation, from a feminist perspective. Methods : A total of 129 mothers (age 41.5 ± 5.9; 45.7% inactive) with young children completed the Gipuzkoa Women’s Physical Activity Questionnaire. Concurrently, four focus groups were organized in four different municipalities, in which 19 mothers of young children participated (13 were inactive). Barriers were classified based on the socioecological perspective. Results : The most frequently mentioned intrapersonal barriers were lack of time due to work and caregiving, age-/pregnancy-/motherhood-related health issues, and a feeling of rejection toward LTPA. The most relevant interpersonal barriers were a lack of partners to do LTPA with and a lack of spouse support. The main environmental barriers were related to the shortage of facilities and activities suited to their needs and the rugged terrain. Conclusions : Mothers of young children living in rural areas face barriers twice over: because they are women and mothers and because they live in a rural environment. It therefore seems important to consider their perceived barriers to design, develop, and implement strategies to promote LTPA among this population group.
... Other studies have shown that playing with styles of smoking enables women to represent their gender in particular waysadopting a masculine or 'butch' style of smoking or a more feminine, 'elegant' style of smoking as part of their gender performance, or as a conscious strategy to play with gender. A similar point is made by Shaw (2001) who posits that women's leisure activities (e.g. sporting pursuits) may be a symbol of resistance to dominant cultural narratives around how women should be. ...
Background: Lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women exhibit high rates of alcohol and tobacco use, yet there is limited qualitative research examining why. Previous research has focused on minority stress explanations, linking alcohol and tobacco use to experiences of discrimination. However, other work considers the social contexts and cultural practices associated with alcohol and tobacco consumption. This confirms the need for more in-depth understandings of LBQ women’s lived experiences in a contemporary Australian context. Aims: To address gaps in existing research, this project aims to develop a more nuanced contemporaneous theorising of what alcohol and tobacco mean to LBQ women in Australia. Drawing on feminist and critical drugs studies, this research will examine the complexities of alcohol and tobacco in LBQ women’s lives, including how patterns of use change over time. We will also critically consider how LBQ women understand risk in relation to these substances, including factors leading to harm reduction and help-seeking. Method: We will employ a longitudinal qualitative approach to explore LBQ women’s experiences over time, including three waves of semi-structured interviews and participant photography. We aim to recruit approximately 60 women in Victoria and New South Wales. Interview and visual data will be analysed using a range of narrative and thematic techniques. Conclusion: This study seeks to explore the complexities of individual experiences with alcohol and tobacco use, including pleasure and support-seeking, and to provide a nuanced understanding of the cultural dimensions of use that may change over time. In doing so, we propose a shift from deficit approaches to LBQ women’s substance use towards more meaningful strengths-based engagement with the function of substances for LBQ women. Findings will be significant in their contribution to the current understandings of substance use patterns among LBQ women and the implications for harm reduction and health interventions.
... Shinew et al. (2004) recognized there was a need to challenge the application of the leisure constraints theoretical framework and conceptual models in relationship to race and gender. Explicitly referencing the experiences of Womxn and leisure, the authors address how experiential barriers can mirror that of racial and/or ethnic minorities by citing Jackson and Henderson (1995), Philipp (1995), and Shaw (1994Shaw ( , 2001. However, in many of the cited studies and Shinew et al. (2004), a comparison between a populations' race/ethnicity was used as a comparative analysis. ...
There remains a gap in the literature about the experiences of Black Womxn Collegiate Swimmers (hereafter referred to as BWCS) and the application of the leisure constraints model. Whether research has been conducted with Black Womxn Swimmers enrolled in a swimming course while using an autoethnographic lens (Norwood, 2010) or the representation of one Black Womxn Swimmer from a Predominantly White Institution (Quash, 2018), minimal knowledge is known about this specific demographic representative of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and the barriers they experience. Using a qualitative methodological approach to understand the leisure constraints experiences by BWCS, this study methodically invited this demographic to share and discuss their lived experiences across generations. By challenging the leisure constraints model, this article revisits research completed by Chick and Dong (2003) and Waller and Norwood (2009). The researcher interviewed twenty-five self-identified Black Womxn Collegiate Swimmers (current and former), between the ages of 19-61. Each interview focused on the experiences and the barriers participants encountered during their collegiate swimming careers. The analysis presents a new theoretical construct to replace the leisure constraint framework while working with a marginalized population. The results of this narrative inquiry suggest that the experiences of BWCS differ individually but have similar themes as a collective; thus, charging the field of leisure behavior to consider the experiences of marginalized groups who excel in a leisure activity outside of societal and cultural norms.
... This study starts from the premise that leisure time is influenced by a patriarchal social structure, where inequalities based on gendered power relation force women to assume roles separate from their individual identity, which are related to caregiving work and family responsibilities (Henderson and Shaw 2006;Merelas and Caballo 2018). Nevertheless, even though leisure contexts are conducive to women being oppressed, they can also provide an opportunity for women's resistance and empowerment (Henderson and Dialeschki 1991;Shaw 2001). This feminist approach incorporates the existing diversity among women based on the different intersectional aspects that construct identities (Henderson and Shaw 2006). ...
The aim of this study was to analyse the meanings that underlie women’s participation in and commitment to leisure-time sport related to Basque pelota. Thirty-eight women between 22 and 60 years old participated in this ethnographic study, which conducted 21 semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework used for the analysis was informed by a feminist approach and the Serious Leisure Perspective. A hybrid approach, deductive-inductive coding was employed. The data analysis revealed that recreational and competitive female athletes had different levels of engagement and attributed different meanings to their sport practice depending on their form of participation, their commitment, and the lifestyle built around it. It is concluded that the seriousness with which the activities are carried out influences the sport involvement of female Basque pelota players, which should be taken into account to adapt the activities and make an offer related to the characteristics of each pelotari type’s context.
... those who are not heterosexual males) while facing multiple barriers to engaging in leisure are not passive recipients of such discriminatory behaviour. Instead, there is a long history of active resistance, of people discriminated against on the basis of gender and/or sexuality refusing to submit to social constructed definitions of identity and associated control and wielding of power (Dilley and Scraton 2010;Henderson and Gibson 2013;Shaw 2001). Instead, they have actively engaged in a process of resistance, empowerment and Othering. ...
... La danza como expresión de ocio y de disfrute puede convertirse en un ocio de resistencia (Shaw, 2001) a los estereotipos de género y la heteronormatividad dominante en las danzas de samba de gafieira y de tango. ...
Este artículo forma parte de mi Doctorado en Ocio en las universidades de Deusto y UFMG, es un trabajo de revisión documental y estado del arte sobre la temática de la danza de salón, que tiene una perspectiva de género y diversidad sexual. En la danza de salón se han venido presentando en los últimos 20 años diversos cuestionamientos: la crítica hacia la heteronormatividad y los estereotipos de género. La metodología cualitativa de revisión documental permitió realizar una revisión teórica de autores relacio-nados con las temáticas de heteronormatividad y este-reotipos de género en las danzas de tango y samba de gafieira. Esta revisión teórica y conceptual nos permitió visualizar ideas, conceptos y una perspectiva del estado del arte en relación con la heteronormatividad, los este-reotipos de género y los cambios que se vienen desarro-llando en los últimos años que cuestionan esta hegemo-nía en las danzas de salón de samba y tango.
... Finally, in line with a more critical understanding of leisure (Glover, 2004;Hemingway, 1999) and theories of recognition (Fraser, 1996), participants also understood leisure as activities that could increase their social capital and status, and even provide them with a collective voice that might challenge the discourses on poverty. Amidst discourses that pressured participants into normative, income-generating activities, the very thought of engaging in leisure and play thus became an act of resistance (Shaw, 2001). ...
Background. Poverty disproportionally affects persons with disabilities, elderly individuals and racialized groups. Leisure, play and rest are not prioritized in either services for or research with people living in poverty. Purpose. This study aims to examine the facilitators and barriers to participation in meaningful leisure activities for adults living in poverty. Method. We used community-based participatory research and art-based elicitation strategies with 39 service users at a food security organization. Findings. Individuals experiencing poverty value and engage in a variety of free and affordable leisure activities, but they are not afforded the necessary leisure opportunities, accommodations and supports as the general population. We co-created a map of local leisure resources to foster collective capacity in leisure planning, and to support organizations working with this population. Implications. Occupational therapists can work alongside members of underserved communities to uncover and address the systemic and local contextual barriers to engagement in leisure activities.
... We should again respond with vigilant resistance and perhaps reactivate war machines by releasing new creative energy similar to the use of arts and crafts to challenge the biomedical model. Because of the violence with which arts and crafts were erased from occupational therapy, bringing back more leisure activities and showcasing them in its practice would be a radical act of political resistance (Shaw, 2001). While it might seem unsettling, theorising this resistance using politically charged terms such as 'nomadology' and 'war machines' should be central to the discussion to enable occupational therapy to move beyond taken-for-granted assumptions and challenge the assumed goodness of the current status quo. ...
Occupational therapy knowledge emerged in the 19th century as reformist movements responded to the industrialisation of society and capitalist expansion. In the Global North, it was institutionalised by State apparatuses during the First and Second World Wars. Although biomedicine contributed to the rapid expansion and establishment of occupational therapy as a health discipline, its domestication by the biomedical model led to an overly regulated profession that betrays its reformist ideals. Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari, our aim in this article is to deconstruct the biomedicalisation of occupational therapy and demonstrate how resistance to this process is critical for the future of this discipline. The use of arts and crafts in occupational therapy may be conceptualised as a ‘nomad science’ aesthetically resisting the domination of industrialism and medical reductionism. Through the war efforts, a coalition of progressive nurses, social workers, teachers, artisans and activists metamorphosed into occupational therapists. As it did with nursing, biomedicine proceeded to domesticate occupational therapy through a form of ‘imperial’ patronage subsequently embodied in the evidence-based movement. ‘Occupational’ jargon is widely used today and may be viewed as the product of a profession trying to establish itself as an autonomous discipline that imposes its own regime of truth. Given the symbolic violence underlying this patronage, the future of occupational therapy should not mean behaving according to biomedicine’s terms. As a discipline, occupational therapy must resist the appropriation of its ‘war machine’ and craft its own terms through the release of new creative energy.
... The recognition of the political nature of leisure, as well as the proliferation of studies that consider it an ideal space for resistance are relatively recent (Auster, 2001;Dionigi, 2002;Lewis & Johnson, 2011;Therlault, 2014). There is consensus around the idea that leisure, as an environment that involves large doses of freedom and self-expression, can encourage resistance behaviours, aimed at changing social norms and the ways in which power is exercised (Shaw, 2001). There is also a growing body of research that applies the concept of resistance to the phenomenon of ageing, in order to explain the strategies that older people use in their leisure time to confront social stereotypes, as well as the situations of discrimination and exclusion that these generate (Genoe, 2010;Hurd, 1999). ...
Through narrative research, this article analyses elderly people´s leisure in Spain, from the experiential paradigm and a ambination of sincronic and diachronic perspective, which seeks to know the evolution of leisure across lifespan and the impact of past leisure in the current leisure styles. The analysis of the particular case of a 71 years old woman, for whom leisure becomes a central element in her life after her widowhood, contributes to know the psychosocial factors and processes that make leisure a source of well-being and vital engagement among elderly people.
... In these more restricted societies, women will still seek ways to express themselves even when given limited opportunities to do so, for example by structuring independent leisure activities (e.g., recreation) which require autonomy, including their own time and space, which offers opportunities for selfexpression (Freysinger & Flannery, 1992;Shaw, 2001). These efforts to express oneself may be directly related to the felt oppression; for example, the possibility for oppression to foster expression can help to explain how movements such as 'Me Too' gain traction, which has inspired greater self-expression among women to speak out about the injustices they face (Hosterman, Johnson, Stouffer, & Herring, 2018). ...
Autonomy involves a sense that one’s behaviour is authentic, volitional and aligned with inner beliefs. Though extant literature describes the importance of both autonomy satisfaction and autonomy support from others with whom one interacts, little work has been conducted to understand what specific qualities comprise autonomy satisfaction and its support. In other words, we know little of how and why autonomy matters for individuals’ well-being. In two empirical chapters, I describe an understudied aspect of autonomy satisfaction: whether self-expression is congruent (autonomy satisfying) or incongruent (autonomy-thwarting) with the self. Therefore, in a first empirical chapter (Chapter 3), I investigated two types of self-expression: authentic self-expression (that supports autonomy) and inauthentic self-expression (that may undermine autonomy). I developed a new scale to assess these constructs and show they are distinct from, but closely linked with, the internal experience of feeling authentic and that they foster feelings of agency. In Chapter 4, I further examined what happens when people think of in-group others’ undermined self-expression. Specifically, I tested whether vicariously undermining autonomous self-expression can elicit a reactive response to reassert one’s own autonomy through self-expression. In two final empirical chapters, I studied autonomy support from close others within samples of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB; with transgender and related communities, LGBT+). Disadvantaged individuals, such as those who are LGBT+, are known to have worse well-being than the general population and may benefit more from autonomy support. Therefore, understanding autonomy support for this minority group is an important step in rectifying health disparities. Chapter 5 uses a large pre-existing dataset to analyse the importance of specific components of autonomy support within close relationships in an LGB sample, whilst Chapter 6 further explored the components of autonomy support and their relation to well-being in LGBT+ individuals.
... While the question of what is leisure was not often times taken on by the texts of this historiography, the impact of that question was the crucial focus of the texts. In this historiography, leisure was then also the site of socio-historical and socio-political dominance and resistance in society (Britton, 1991;D.R Williams, 2002;Hollingshead, 2008;Mani & Krishnamurthy, 2018;McAvoy, 2002;Mowatt, 2012;Santos & Buzinde, 2007;Shaw, 2001;Smale, 2006;Sykes & Hamzeh, 2018;Theriault & Mowatt, 2018). This reality falls in line with seeing modern leisure practices through one of key scholars of this alternative or counter tradition, Chris four areas of privatization, individuation, commercialization, and pacification. ...
Recent calls for papers in numerous academic journals within leisure studies have focused on a global and nation-specific climate that leans towards autocratic policy development, fascist rhetoric as the norm, and a greater expansion of a neoliberal philosophy. A critical leisure approach critiques leisure studies and leisure research for what the construction of leisure is in its origin and in its function. The aim of this discussion is to present counter, critical narratives to leisure studies. Two hundred and ninety-two texts that focused on the 'critical' in leisure were read and analyzed through critical discourse analysis and political discourse analysis. The analysis resulted in a historiography that articulates four key alternative or counter traditions: Critical Leisure Studies; New Leisure; Post-Leisure Studies; and Anti-Leisure, which could aid leisure studies into taking on a role as a 'new' cultural studies.
... Through participation in leisure activities or as Deutsch (2007) puts it: activities that "undo gender" (i.e. reduce gender differences), women can destabilize stereotypical perceptions that sustain an ideology of inequality (see Shaw, 2001Shaw, , 2005. Namely, when women refuse to conform to gender norms, take time for leisure despite family responsibilities, and engage in "male" pursuits, they destabilize the stereotypical perceptions that buoy up an ideology of inequality. ...
Previous research suggested that women and men experience their leisure time differently (i.e. time not committed to the labour force, domestic caregiving, or personal care). In relation to quantitative differences, studies worldwide have confirmed that a gender gap in leisure time use exists even though both women’s and men’s lives may be enriched through opportunity for leisure. In this article, we examine the organisation of time in the domains of leisure and its gender dimensions in Croatia. To determine whether demographic characteristics (e.g. education, age, employment) and household organisation (e.g. presence of children, time spent doing housework, number of household activities) account for considerable variation in leisure time, we focus on married and cohabiting individuals. Apart from gender differences, we will also investigate whether there are regional differences in leisure time use. An explanation of forces that result in gendered and regional differences of leisure time use in Croatia is discussed.
The present paper explores how aging bodies of middle-aged women can enable and constrain participation in physical activity. The study is inspired by the process sociology of Norbert Elias and builds on qualitative empirical material from passive observations ( N = 57), focus groups ( N = 51), and individual follow-up interviews ( N = 21) with middle-aged Danish women who participated in a 3-month research project with exercise intervention. The qualitative study found that awareness of bodily aging enabled the taking up of exercise in the intervention. Additionally, taking up regular exercise in midlife can be understood as a highly rationalized leisure-time activity in relation to societal moral norms of self-responsibility for own physiological health. Furthermore, the qualitative material indicates that participation enabled a self-realization among the middle-aged women, as strong and capable bodies counter to the biomedical view of decline in the aging body.
This article highlights the role of beauty salons in London as sites of migrant leisure. It argues that this leisure is created through the affective labour of beauty workers. Produced through the efforts of migrant beauty workers, leisure in the beauty salon leads to sociality and resistance of traditional gender norms among other migrant women. However, leisure can be disrupted when beauty workers withhold their affective labour due to a feeling of disaffection in their jobs. Here, disaffection is defined as a feeling of alienation or disenchantment from their work. It is against this context of disaffection stemming from feminised and racialised labour practices as well as living conditions of migrants in the UK that we need to consider the work of beauty workers and the consequent production or disruption of leisure in the beauty salon.
In this paper, we investigate the meanings and experiences of active leisure among first time mothers. The connection of first time mothers’ experiences to broader concepts such as intensive mothering, social policy, and neoliberalism are also examined within the context of their well-being. Using narrative analysis, 27 interviews were conducted with nine first time mothers participating in three in-person interviews over three months. Five stories were constructed that call attention to the importance of social relationships in creating opportunities for active leisure participation as well as confronting challenges related to the first time mothers’ recovering post-partum bodies. The findings from this study are important to consider for prospective first time mothers and those who wish to support them (e.g. academics, policymakers, sport, leisure, health and social service professionals) as the transition to motherhood may be marked with social isolation, depression, and a need to be connected to others.
Postnatal women’s physically active leisure experiences can sometimes be inhibited by gendered expectations of motherhood. As a result, participation in leisure, such as community team sport, may be a context for resisting ideologies such as gender and intensive mothering. In this paper, we critically examine postnatal women’s return to community team sport and gendered expectations of motherhood. Using narrative methods, eighteen interviews were conducted with six postnatal women participating in three interviews over a three-month duration. Six creative nonfiction stories were constructed to represent the mothers’ unique, yet shared experiences and their return to community team sport. Emphasis is placed on the complicated relationship between resistance, reproduction, and empowerment as postnatal women encounter the gendered expectations of motherhood. We additionally explored the potential of stories, community, and support as central to the process of resisting gendered expectations.
The medium of dance can offer routes other than textual and verbal for expressing women’s oppression and also their resistance to it. The folk dance of garba in the Gujarati film Hellaro (The Outburst, 2019) directed by Abhishek Shah is an exemplary instance of this. Further, the present essay traces the history of this dance form to explore the filmic reversal of the traditional understanding concerning garba. Garba changes in the film from being a ritualistic and religious performance to a recreational one, thematically linking women’s leisure as a mode of resistance to patriarchy. Moreover, such an understanding of garba serves to highlight women’s negotiation of agency in their everyday lives through nonverbal cues, as in the film.
Museums and Social Responsibility examines inherent contradictions within and effecting museum practice in order to outline a museological theory of how museums are important cultural practices in themselves and how museums shape the socio-cultural dynamics of modern societies, especially our attitudes and understandings about human agency and creative potential. Museums are libraries of objects, presenting thematic justification that dominant concepts of normativity and speciality, as well as attitudes of cultural deprecation. By sorting culture into hierarchies of symbolic value, museums cloak themselves in supposed objectivity, delivered with the passion of connoisseurship and the surety of scholarly research. Ulterior motives pertaining to socio-economic class, racial and ethnic othering, and sexual subjugation, are shrouded by that false appearance of objectivity. This book highlights how the socially responsive practitioner can challenge and subvert taken-for-granted motivations by undertaking liberatory museum work that engages subaltern narratives, engages historically disadvantage populations, and co-creates with them dialogical practices of collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting. It points to examples in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, not as self-contained entities but as practices within a global web of relationships, and as microcosms that define normality and abnormality, that engage users in critical dialogue, and that influence, are conditioned by, and disrupt taken-for-granted understandings and practices of class, ethnicity, sex, gender, thinking and being.
The purpose of this study was to examine the physically active leisure meanings and experiences of women with acquired physical (dis)abilities. A sample of eight women, between the ages of 27–45, participated in this study guided by a constructivist approach to grounded theory. The women participated in two semi-structured interviews. After analysis, three major themes were identified: (1) the essentiality of physically active leisure to negotiating changing health considerations, (2) confronting the stigmatizing gaze as a woman with an acquired physical (dis)ability, and (3) building agency and sense of connection in the community. The overarching theme “reclaiming a sense of community belonging through physically active leisure” captures and integrates insights gained from the overall analysis and challenges ableist attitudes and behaviors. This study highlights the importance of programs for women with acquired physical (dis)abilities to develop a sense of belonging in both (dis)ability specific and mainstream community contexts.
Most studies on Taiwanese women’s leisure life mainly focus on lifestyle and leisure behaviors that fail to discuss the symbolic meanings or meaning-making process of participating in social leisure activities. This study applies the social exchange framework to examine the social leisure activities of Taiwanese urban women from two aspects: the meaning making of social leisure to them, and what they can attain through social leisure participation. The study found that Taiwanese urban women participating in social leisure activities are driven by extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. Social leisure activities are not only the settings for leisure but also the settings for expanding social relations and networks, in which leisure activities are primarily emotional and social in nature. Results show that to sustain positive effects of satisfaction and happiness from participating in social leisure, positive emotion and commitment matter to gain gratification through participating in social leisure activities.
While there is much research on men's mental health and sport, there has been less focus on women's gendered experiences of mental health and sport. Sport is widely considered to improve or sustain mental health, but it can be a problematic space for women. Focusing on four in-depth interviews with two women from a case study of an Australian field hockey club, we examine how women negotiate and manage their mental health and recovery from trauma through sport participation. Analysis is informed by a narrative approach that focuses on the enactment of gendered identities through stories that complicate relations between playing hockey and mental health. While sport facilitates women's identity-work and mental health recovery, we demonstrate how it can also produce additional challenges due to the gendered power relations shaping their experiences within sport and society more broadly.
Çalışmada; Hiyerarşik Boş Zaman Kısıtlamaları Teorisi (HBZKT) çerçeve olarak kabul edilmiş, kadın seyyahların, turizm süreçleri ve davranışları teorik bir temel üzerinden açıklanarak, turizm literatüründeki boşluğu doldurmada yararlanılmasına çalışılmıştır. Araştırmada kullanılan Yalnız Başına Seyahat Kısıtlaması Ölçeğinin (YBSKÖ) güvenirlik ve geçerlik analizleri 862 (501 kadın ve 361 erkek) katılımcı üzerinden yapılmış ve ölçeğin genel güvenirliği cronbach alpha=0.902 olarak çok yüksek bulunmuştur. Araştırma bulguları kadın katılımcılarla sınırlandırılmıştır. Faktör analizi sonucunda değişkenler toplam açıklanan varyansı %60.928 olan 5 faktör (içsel kısıtlamalar, yurtiçi destinasyon nitelikleri, zaman ve maliyet, yurtdışı destinasyon nitelikleri ve kişilerarası kısıtlamalar) altında toplanmıştır. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre katılımcıların “içsel kısıtlamalar”, “yurtiçi destinasyon nitelikleri”, “yurtdışı destinasyon nitelikleri”, ve “kişilerarası kısıtlamalar” ortalamalarının “zayıf”, “zaman ve maliyet” kısıtı ortalamasının “orta” düzeyde olduğu sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonuçları genel olarak kadınların yalnız başına seyahatlere katılımları için güçlendirilmeye, desteklenmeye ve teşvik edilmeye ihtiyaç duyduklarını, karar vericilerin, uygulayıcıların ve akademisyenlerin üzerine farklı sorumluluklar yüklediğini göstermektedir.
This article discusses a unique cultural politics of identity affirmation and resistance enacted in the rural spaces of Greece by male migrants from India and Pakistan through the game of Kabaddi, a rural indigenous sport. Drawing on interviews with South Asian migrant men and observation of Kabaddi tournament in Greece, it argues that the play of Kabaddi offers deliberate performative acts of masculine resistance against the emasculatory bordering regimes of illegality, deportability and racial otherness. Kabaddi tournaments occur as highly masculinised, public, collective, celebratory, yet potentially subversive spectacles. Kabaddi allows South Asian migrant men to acquire culturally specific masculine capital through displays of muscular masculinity. As spectators and participants, they collectively engage in cultural affirmation and wresting subjectivity against bordering regimes that subjugate racialised migrant men into (im)mobility, enforce labour disciplining and invisibility and emasculate them into abjectivity.
Es un libro coral, contado y escrito a varias voces, en el que Tania Merelas encuentra un pulso narrativo que se sitúa entre el ensayo y el informe de investigación. Desde una sólida estructura teóri- ca, y con inteligencia analítica, aborda un tema complejo y formu- la preguntas incómodas que nos alejan de la zona de confort para adentrarnos en otras miradas de las violencias machistas. Otras miradas que incorporan, en primera persona, los testimonios de las mujeres que están reconstruyendo sus vidas en recursos de acogida; unos relatos que se engarzan con fluidez en las líneas argumentales de carácter más teórico.
This article explores the gender of sewing as well as its relationship to domesticity, femininity, and maternity in the contemporary, western context. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with 30 women who sew in Kingston, Ontario, it is evident that sewing is no longer considered a domestic task but is devalued due to its association with women's work. While sewing for others is no longer the task of a devoted mother and wife, it appears many women sew to communicate love and care to family and friends. At first glance, these gifts and gestures seem unrelated to gender, but analysis suggests they are part of the emotional labour predominantly done by women. Finally, the decision not to sew for others, and prioritize sewing as a leisure practice, is interpreted as a form of feminist resistance. It appears that the relationship between sewing and gender is a difficult seam to unpick.
Based on prior research about other male-dominated leisure pursuits, we might expect game hunting to present a hostile climate for its women participants. However, our qualitative analysis of 293 threads posted between 2005 and 2019 on an online hunting message board suggests that women were welcomed within the pastime. While they did not overtly exclude women from their ranks, however, posters curated the boundary between masculinity and femininity, as well as staking out the territory of emphasized femininity. In particular, they accomplished this via benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, and sexual objectification. Our findings not only shed additional light on the gendered dynamics of this pastime but also enriched our knowledge of the ways that hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity can work in tandem—within male-dominated recreational activities, and more broadly.
Women’s oppression undermines and inhibits women but may also prompt an enterprising reaction. In this paper, three studies explored the extent to which women respond to awareness of the oppression of other women with an increased desire for self-expression, a reactive but constructive response. Study 1 explored reactions to two forms of other women’s oppression: restricted self-expression and restricted economic opportunities. Women reported an increased desire to self-express after exposure to either form of oppression, as compared to a control group. Study 2 compared British women’s reactions to stories of a woman versus a man being oppressed, finding the former group wrote more words about an unrelated, but timely and consequential topic (Brexit). Finally, Study 3 replicated the effect of greater self-expression after being exposed to women’s oppression, and furthermore identified an indirect effect through reactance. Findings are discussed in relation to identity, constructive forms of reactance, and implications for current women’s rights movements.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a profound impact on the well-being and social connectedness of older adults. In an era of physical distancing, older adults’ connections are changing. While digital leisure spaces are often described to enhance social connections, little is written about older adults and digital connectedness in a time of physical distancing. We completed 20 in-depth interviews with older Canadians (average age 77) during the initial wave (Spring 2020). This paper draws on critical tenets of Age Studies, leisure as resistance, and an understanding of the digital divide to reflect on interviews with older adults about their technology use during the COVID-19 pandemic. We reflect on technology use as resistance to ageist stereotypes, discuss facilitators of technology use as lived privilege that deepen the digital divide during COVID-19 for some, and identify opportunities for supporting older adults not presently using technology for social connection.
The aim of the present study was to illuminate how middle-aged women in Denmark manage, practically and emotionally, exercise in personal leisure time within the constraints of an ongoing time bind related to the societal obligations of work and family. The study was inspired by the micro sociological perspective of Arlie Hochschild, and findings are based on empirical material from focus groups of middle-aged Danish women who completed a three months research based exercise intervention (N = 51), and individual follow-up interviews (N = 21). We elucidate how the societal obligations of being successful at work, being a good mother, and being physically active creates a time bind in the everyday life of middle-aged women. Instead of having more leisure time, middle-aged women experience continuous time demands of work flexibility and performance, as well as new time demanding care duties linked to their children, parents, or grandchildren. We conclude that the personal leisure time of Danish women, exemplified by participation in an exercise intervention, is highly constrained by the time bind of market culture. Furthermore, prioritisation of personal leisure time involves considerable emotion management as a consequence of being unable to fulfil the societal obligations of their usual roles.
Regardless of one’s perspective on the relationship between paid work, leisure, and social order, it is widely accepted that paid work is a central activity in light of which one may examine this linkage. There are rare cases in which the freedom associated with leisure choices explicitly challenges the existing social order and the values on which it is founded. Types of leisure that are not in harmony with the core values of society have been discussed under the conceptual category of deviant leisure. Inspired by previous work on leisure and the social order, as well as by some observations on Israeli society during the pandemic, this paper offers some reflections on the possible theoretical contribution of the concept of deviant leisure to the study of the interconnection between work, leisure, and the social order.
The popular media and some aspects of social science research view computer gaming either in disruptive pathological terms or through one-dimensional notions, such as violence inducing or as simple escapism. These singular perspectives create gaps in the research and skew our understanding of computer games as a social phenomenon. To address this, we examine computer gaming as a leisure experience in the context of contemporary western consumer culture. The paper presents a conceptual investigation which critically analyses selected themes on gaming, designed to offer an interpretation of the adolescent gaming experience and its links with self–identity. Outcomes indicate that gaming has the potential to create resistance to commodifying processes and adult modes of the self but can be convalesced by the market to attract the purchase of and engagement with games. Adolescent self-identities, analysed through the lens of leisure experience in consumer culture and within the ambivalent experiential consciousness and leisure spaces of everyday life, may provide alternative perspectives on gaming. In this view, gaming can create experiences that lead to the formation of self-identity through social interactions and relations that have the potential to build social and cultural capacities for adolescents while also enabling resistance to social norms.
This study explores the role of yoga leisure in shaping identity of Chinese second-time mothers under the universal two-child policy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 participants. The results showed that (a) Chinese second-time mothers’ maternal identity was in conflicts with their career identity and personal identity; (b) yoga leisure was positively related with Chinese second-time mothers’ identity development in four ways: affirming self, approaching self, transforming self, and balancing self; (c) with a balanced development of different aspects of life, the previous identity conflicts were largely mitigated. The study has a theoretical contribution in developing a model interpreting the role of yoga in identity development and practical implications on policy making and leisure activity programming for Chinese second-time mothers.
Este artículo analiza las barreras, negociaciones y formas de resistencia habidas durante la práctica y/o aprendizaje de danzas de salón (tango y samba de gafieira), en tres ciudades latinoamericanas (Buenos Aires, Montevideo y São Paulo). En dichas danzas se reproducen estereotipos de género, reflejo de una hegemonía heteronormativa socialmente muy arraigada. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar formas de resistencia y estrategias de negociación con las que las personas, en general, y los colectivos LGBTIQ afrontan las barreras derivadas de los estereotipos de género a la hora de bailar. El trabajo se apoya en un diseño metodológico cualitativo, basado en el estudio de casos múltiples. Los resultados confirman que las barreras asociadas a estereotipos de género dificultan el acceso, participación y disfrute de estos bailes, como prácticas de ocio. Las personas afectadas reaccionan ante las barreras y buscan estrategias de negociación, con el fin de sortearlas, eliminarlas o mitigar sus efectos. La resistencia es una de ellas.
Conceptualising Leisure - Capitalism, Patriarchy and Ideologies of Leisure - A Social History of Women's Leisure - Women's Leisure Today - Social Control in the Public and Private Spheres - Women's Fight for Independent Leisure - Putting Women in Their Place - Towards Feminist Sociologies of Leisure
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between leisure and motherhood from life course/life span and family life stage perspectives. Personal interviews conducted with a purposive sample of fifty-three mothers reaching the end of active mothering were analyzed by a constant comparison process. After analyses of the interviews were completed, four major themes emerged from the data related to the leisure of mothers in this sample. These four themes related to: (a) the way in which leisure was described by the women as a focus on self, (b) a concept of “full circle” leisure that was similar to a suspension of career while the children were dependent, (c) the limitations imposed on mothers due to socialized gender roles, and (d) the dichotomous influence of the ethic of care on the women's leisure.
This paper examines three approaches to the analysis of women's leisure, and discusses ways in which the ideas and concepts from these different approaches can be integrated. The first and dominant approach to understanding women's leisure is analysis of how leisure is constrained. From this perspective leisure is conceptualized as a desirable experience, and constraints to leisure participation are seen to arise out of structured gender relations. The second approach focuses on how leisure activities themselves, especially stereotypical activities, can be constraining through the reinforcement of traditional gender relations. A third, emerging approach examines ways in which women's leisure can be seen to have the potential for resistance to societally imposed constraints. Some guiding principles are suggested for the integration of these three approaches into a broader conceptual framework. Such a framework allows for both the diversity of women's experiences, and the contradictions inherent in women's leisure, to be taken into account.
Contemporary leisure theorists have emphasized ways that leisure can enhance or reaffirm one's sense of self, but they have not effectively acknowledged that leisure can be a context for negative messages about self. The ways that stigma and discrimination influence the leisure of one disempowered group, old lesbians, is the focus of this study. Sixteen lesbians over the age of 60 wrote responses discussing aspects of their leisure; eight of these women provided additional insights during a series of in-depth interviews. Their awareness of discrimination and their responses to it, with particular focus upon responses within their leisure, are discussed in this paper. Use of an ecological perspective provided a framework for understanding the sources of stigma and discrimination. These women's stories suggested that discrimination was most evident at the macrosystem level but most painful at the exo- and mesosystem levels. The mesosystem and microsystem provided active, viable resources through which these women were able to resist discrimination and establish a supportive community. Leisure played a significant role in this resistance.
Identity formation is thought to be one of the major developmental tasks of adolescence. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the role of leisure activities in this critical developmental process. This study provides an initial examination of the relationship between participation in various categories of leisure activity and level of identity development for male and female adolescents. Survey (n = 73) and interview (n = 20) data were collected from a sample of grade 10 students (mean age = 15.8 years). The questionnaire included measures of time use, identity development status, and self esteem, while the interviews focused on attitudes towards self and towards leisure activities. Analysis showed that level of participation in sports and physical activities was positively associated with identity development for females (r =.45, n = 35, p <.05) but not for males, even though females were less likely than males to self identify as “physically active”. Time spent watching television was negatively associated with identity development for males (r =.41, n = 38, p <.05), but not for females. Participation in social and other free time activities was not significantly associated with identity development for either gender. The findings suggest that different leisure activities can have either beneficial or detrimental effects on the identity formation process. Moreover, the relationship between leisure and identity development seems to depend on both gender and the gendered nature of leisure activities.
Although involvement has emerged as an important concept for understanding leisure behavior, the gendered nature of involvement has received scant attention. The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the leisure involvement profiles of female and male participants in "conforming" (gender-appropriate) and "nonconforming" (gender-inappropriate) activities. Specifically, the study involved a survey of general sports involvement and specific activity involvement among adult recreational hockey players (51 men and 76 women) and figure skaters (24 men and 54 women). Multiple analysis of covariance was used to test for gender and sport-type differences with regard to overall involvement scores as well as scores for the three main facets of involvement (attraction, centrality, and self-expression). As hypothesized, male hockey players had higher centrality scores compared with the other groups. The results, however, also showed that the women had higher activity-attraction scores, the female figure skaters reported the highest activity self-expression, and the female hockey players had the highest attraction for sports in general. The theoretic implications of these results are discussed. In particular, it is suggested that leisure involvement may be influenced by societal ideologies about the gender-appropriateness of activities, as well as by individual interests and preferences.
Theory and research suggest that, while embarrassment may be intrinsic to social interaction, its expression is C. taboo. Embarrassment is seen as reflecting social incompetence. As such, members make routine attempts to repress embarrassment in the self and to deny embarrassment to self and others. I call this the taboo–repression–denial hypothesis. However, despite attempts at repression and denial, members reveal embarrassment in a variety of ways, including verbally, paralinguistically/vocally, and facially/bodily. This paper is an initial investigation of emotion denial in verbal discourse. Through an analysis of embarrassment talk and non-embarrassment talk, I discover six features of the verbal context of references to embarrassment which aid in the disguise and denial of feeling: (1) verbal mitigation; (2) a link between references to embarrassment and mitigation; (3) verbal projection; (4) a link between use of “ya know”, embarrassment references, and mitigation; (5) a link between use of “I don't know”, embarrassment references, and mitigation; and (6) a link between references to embarrassment and laughter. Findings indicate verbal and nonverbal methods of emotion denial, and provide initial support for the taboo–repression–denial hypothesis.
The structural view of power in feminist analysis to date has discouraged women as victims from thinking that anything they do at an individual level can be effective in the gender struggle. This article presents a view of power that incorporates resistance. Leisure as resistance for mothers of first babies is explored. The intersection of two contradictory discourses: the discourse on motherhood and that on human rights allows these mothers to transform some repressive aspects of motherhood. The vehicle is leisure, a legitimate area of autonomy concerning time and space. Strategies in this site of struggle include, refusal to do housework and cook, co-option of the father, relatives and other mothers in child-care responsibility for periods of time and refusal to adopt a victim mentality by organising and planning for self-space. Gains in control over labour and in gender power relationships at a strategic time in family relationships are potential outcomes.
Sport is a crucial arena in which masculine hegemony is constructed and reconstructed. The effects of sporting activity are usefully analyzed in terms of two major dimensions. Those that relate directly to men, and those that serve dominant interests less directly, though no less effectively, through inferiorizing women and their activities. Processes through which sport directly supports male dominance are ones which associate males and maleness with valued skills and the sanctioned use of aggression/force/violence. Sport celebrates the dominant form of masculinity, though it must be noted that as well as women, some men are also excluded. This monopolization process is completed by a series of concrete processes which exclude women from the terrain completely, or if they do manage to pass through the barriers, effectively minimizes their achievements. Four concrete processes are considered and illustrated from the Australian sporting scene, those of definition, direct control, ignoring, and trivialization. It is necessary to understand these processes if we are to develop strategies to circumvent them. The mere fact that it is necessary for these processes to be continually invoked demonstrates that there are contradictions which can be exploited.
Previous research has shown that women, and especially young women, in this culture experience pressure to be thin. Although considerable research has been directed toward the investigation of body image and its relationship to psychological health and self‐image, the impact of body image on leisure behavior has not been adequately addressed, nor has body image received much attention as a potential leisure constraint. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways in which body image might function as a constraint to young women's participation in aerobic exercise classes. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey of 190 women undergraduate students and in‐depth interviews with a sub‐sample of 11 students. The qualitative data are the main focus of this analysis. The data indicated that body image did not seem to prevent participation or constrain levels of participation in aerobics. Nevertheless, body image concerns were shown to constrain the enjoyment of aerobics as a leisure activity, and this reduction of enjoyment was related to the clothing worn for aerobics and to competition over appearance and body weight among participants. The findings also showed that body image functioned as a constraint into participation in that body‐image‐related concerns were a major motivating factor exerting pressure on young women to participate in aerobics. In sum, the study suggested that body image can constrain leisure in some situations, although it is not a constraint in the traditional sense of preventing participation. The implications of these findings for the conceptualization of leisure constraints were discussed. Furthermore, some practical implications for the provision of aerobics classes were provided.
A number of leisure researchers have indicated that women believe that they have no right to leisure and this belief places a severe limitation on their construction of time for leisure and their attitudes toward leisure. This conceptual article describes entitlement and related background research, offers some reasons why the sense of a lack of entitlement might be so pervasive among women, concludes through an exploratory pilot study that the priority of leisure in a woman's life may be an important aspect of entitlement, and offers suggestions concerning how women may gain empowerment through a sense of entitlement to leisure within their lives. This article raises questions that require further pursuit by other researchers who are attempting to understand more completely the meaning of leisure for women and the constraints that may prevent a full realization of one's potential for leisure.
The issue of pornography as a form of leisure practice has received little attention from researchers. In this study, the impact of pornography consumption on women's lives was examined. A diverse group of thirty-two women was interviewed, with discussion focusing on their individual experiences, meanings, and perceptions of pornography. The women's reactions to pornography, especially to violent pornography, were consistently negative. Pornography elicited fear reactions, had a negative effect on women's identities and on their relationships with men, and was seen to reinforce sexist attitudes among men. Despite this, many of the women felt that their opinions were not 'legitimate', and overt resistance to pornography was often muted. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of pornography in the reproduction of gender, the ideology of individualism, and the potential for resistance among women.
This paper examines the importance of leisure contexts as a crucial site of gendered identity construction. Revisiting the debate about the meaning of leisure for women, it is argued that leisure contexts, particularly those with other women, are important spaces for women to review their lives; assessing the balance of satisfactions and activities through contradictory discourses which involve both the 'mirroring' of similarities, and resistance to traditional feminine identities. 'Women's talk' as friendship is examined, both as a prime site of leisure and as a key mechanism through which feminine subjectivities are secured. Finally, it is suggested that in particular circumstances, women use humour to subvert sexist imagery. Shared humour between women in leisure contexts, can be a source of empowerment and resistance to gender stereotypes, the study of which, assists in illuminating the process of gender identity construction.
This paper focuses on the future of feminist analysis in leisure studies given the recent theoretical debates within postmodernism and the journalistic and academic assumptions that we are in a ‘post-feminist' era. This discussion is situated within the discourse of ‘change' in which a changing world is seen to be throwing into disarray many of our shared taken-for-granted assumptions, values and theories. For the purposes of this paper I will be focusing on two major questions concerning feminism and leisure studies. First, I am interested to question whether the world of leisure for women reflects major social and cultural change. Can we identify changes in the lives of women that are having an impact on their leisure in the 1990s? Second, is feminism outdated both as a political movement and as a perspective that informs our theoretical analysis and understanding of leisure in this contemporary world?
In this paper, the proposition that research on gender and leisure is part of a big ghetto, is subjected to critical examination. It is suggested that it is not just gender and leisure, or even leisure and social exclusion defined more widely, which are ghettoized but also leisure studies as a whole, at least in the UK context. There are some indications that the entire interdisciplinary field is somewhat academically isolated from other social science research. Where there are attempts to move closer towards mainstream social science developments, as for example by moving away from analyses of social exclusion towards studies of markets and individual consumers, this can be problematic and may ignore developments which run counter to the preferred analysis. An example of such an approach in leisure studies, that of Coalter (1998), is examined in some detail. Subsequently in the paper, further opportunities for synthesis with cultural studies and sociology are suggested as a possible way forward out of the ghetto. It is emphasized that the path out of the ghetto is a challenging one. Though the paper is based on an exploration of the situation in the UK, the strategies suggested may prove relevant to leisure studies in a number of other western countries.
Examines the extent to which women bodybuilders represent models of resistance or compliance to dominant discourses of feminine body beauty. Ss were 8 elite female bodybuilders (aged 28–36 yrs) living primarily in southern California. Data collection included both in-depth interviews and survey methods. Although findings indicate a degree of compliance, they also suggest that bodybuilding for women has resistant and transformational possibilities. It is concluded that feminist perspectives of embodiment should acknowledge the body/mind disciplinary practices of bodybuilding as one of the potential sources of feminist "care of the self" (M. Foucault, 1988) models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of the study was to investigate ways in which gender-related perceptions and actions influenced students' construction of realities in curriculum-in-action in secondary school physical education. The participants were junior and senior secondary school students in a midwestern city in the United States. Data collection methods included observations and interviews. Data were analyzed with inductive analytical procedures. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of the female and male students reproduced traditionally dominant forms of femininity and masculinity. Female students patterned their behavior consistent with feminine ideology in selecting and participating in class activities, and male students chose and participated in class activities along masculine conceptions. The results were interpreted with reproduction and resistance theories. While femininity and masculinity cultures were reproduced through students' choice of activities and participation patterns, these cultures were resisted through students' construction of oppositional behavior.
An exploration of leisure as resistance for First Nations women. Paper presented at the Ninth Canadian Congress on Leisure Research
- Beveridge
Sport and the maintenance of masculine hegemony. Women's Studies International Forum
- L Bryson
- Wearing B.
Feminism and leisure studies: Opening up new directions Relative freedoms: Women and leisure (pp. 5-17)
- R Deem
Women's sexuality and men's appropriation of desire
- C Ramazanoglu
- J Holland
Leisure sciences and leisure studies: The challenge of meaning Leisure Studies: Prospects for the twenty-first century State College
- F Coalter
A social psychology of leisure. State College
- R C Mannell
- D A Kleiber
Practices of freedom Up against Foucault: Explorations of some tensions between Foucault and feminism
- J Grimshaw
Culture, the media and the ‘ideological effect’
- S Hall
Feminism, difference and discourse: The limits of discursive analysis for feminism
- J Ransom
Gender and leisure Leisure Studies: Prospects for the twenty-first century State College
- S M Shaw
