“It’s Supposed to be About the Love of the Game, not the Love of Aaron Rodgers’ Eyes”: Challenging the Exclusions of Women Sports Fans

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katelyn Esmonde ◽  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
David L. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Third Wave ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sports Fandom ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Dominant Discourses ◽  
Male Superiority ◽  
Sports Fan

Feminist sports scholars characterize sport as a masculine domain wherein the ideology of male superiority and dominance is structurally and symbolically perpetuated. Researchers similarly identify sports fan communities as exclusionary to women and sites for the reaffirmation of gendered hierarchies. The purpose of this project is to examine the gendered meanings of sports fandom. Using semistructured interviews with eleven women who identify as fans of sports at the institutional center, we find the narratives illustrate the complex ways women define themselves in to, or define themselves out of, dominant discourses of sports fandom. The third wave feminist sensibilities employed in our analysis, and in the narrative experiences of our participants, compel us to recognize and struggle with the seeming contradictions of women sports fans. By giving voice to women sports fans, we offer a feminist intervention into the exclusionary processes that marginalize women’s sports fans.

Gender, Sexual, and Sports Fan Identities

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Rachel Allison ◽  
Chris Knoester
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Sports Fandom ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Sports Fan

Using data from the National Sports and Society Survey (N = 3,988), this study analyzes associations between gender, sexual, and sports fan identities. The authors find that only 11% of U.S. adults do not identify as sports fans at all; also, nearly half of U.S. adults identify as quite passionate sports fans. Women and nonbinary adults are less likely to identify as strong sports fans compared with men. Compared with identifying as heterosexual, identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another sexual identity is negatively associated with self-identified sports fandom. Yet, gender and sexuality interact such that identifying as gay (or lesbian) is negatively associated with men’s self-identified sports fandom but not women’s fandom. These findings persist even after consideration of adults’ retrospective accounts of their sports-related identities while growing up and their recognition of sports-related mistreatment.

Getting Schooled

2012 ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Anastacia Kurylo ◽  
Michael Kurylo
Keyword(s):  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Alternative Perspective ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Sports Fan

Although the entrance of blogs into mainstream sports media has not been firmly established, there is evidence that blogs have attained a growing level of credibility particularly as a result of their role in facilitating sports fan communities. Applying the metaphor of a classroom, this chapter discusses how an alternative perspective voiced on a blog can, through the blog’s interactive features, create a community and enable the blog’s transition into the mainstream. Founded in 2004, KnickerBlogger.Net was designed to fill a niche by providing a viewpoint that was not covered by mainstream sports media. The argument is made that by being a “classroom” for sports fans, KnickerBlogger.Net has created learning opportunities and transitioned from an unknown blog expressing one person’s opinion to an affiliate of ESPN.com, a top sports network in the U.S.

scholarly journals Beers and blurred boundaries: The spatial and gendered organisation of pre-match venues for English football fans

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 647-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Richards ◽  
Keith D. Parry
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
Football Club ◽  
Sports Fandom ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Football Fans ◽  
New Space ◽  
The Creation

Academic research into sports fans has grown in recent years with studies examining a variety of aspects associated with fandom. However, recent changes in the professionalisation and commercialisation of sport have resulted in the creation of new spaces for fan experiences. In this article, we examine one of these created spaces, the fan zone. Through a case study on matchgoing fans from Everton Football Club we explore how this new space sits alongside traditional pre-match gathering places such as the ‘pub’ and examine the gendered organisation of these spaces. Drawing on Bale’s concept of boundaries within sports fan communities we show that traditional venues for pre-match activities enhance, maintain and legitimise masculine boundaries within sports fandom. We argue that fan zones provide an alternative match day atmosphere and experience that is centred on a family-friendly or at least family-inclusive culture.

Destabilization, adaptation and the long-term fan object: The search for continuity in later-life sports fandom

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Andrew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Process ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sports Fandom

Whilst there is a growing literature in fan studies on the ageing fan, there is a distinct lack of engagement with the body of work already established within the ‘ageing sciences’, such as gerontology. This article begins to address such issues by applying the gerontological notion of continuity theory to the study of later-life, long-term sports fandom. Drawing on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 35 retired or semi-retired sports fans, all of whom are in the third and fourth ‘life ages’, this article argues for a theory of fan continuity whereby the fan adapts their relationship to the fan object in response to various challenges to their fandom. These challenges to the fannish status quo are destabilizations, which, upon an adaptation on behalf of the fan and ultimate re-stabilization of the fandom, result in an outcome which can be assessed on a positive‐negative experiential continuum. This is a continuous process as the later-life adult looks for consistency of self, and continuity in fandom.

Charting the Currents of the Third Wave

Hypatia ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Orr
Keyword(s):  
Third Wave ◽  
The Third

Rethinking Philosophy in the Third Wave of Feminism

Hypatia ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-115
Author(s):  
David Golumbia
Keyword(s):  
Third Wave ◽  
The Third

MODEL OF SOCIAL POTENTIAL OF CHILDHOOD IN THE RUSSIAN REGIONS: THE RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS

2019 ◽  
pp. 152-162
Author(s):  
A.G. Filipova ◽  
A.V. Vysotskaya
Keyword(s):  
Third Wave ◽  
Russian Regions ◽  
The Third ◽  
Control Factors ◽  
Social Potential ◽  
System Input ◽  
Optimal Values ◽  
Fixed Ideal ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

The article presents the results of mathematical experiments with the system «Social potential of childhood in the Russian regions». In the structure of system divided into three subsystems – the «Reproduction of children in the region», «Children’s health» and «Education of children», for each defined its target factor (output parameter). The groups of infrastructure factors (education, health, culture and sport, transport), socio-economic, territorial-settlement, demographic and en-vironmental factors are designated as the factors that control the system (input parameters). The aim of the study is to build a model îf «Social potential of childhood in the Russian regions», as well as to conduct experiments to find the optimal ratio of the values of target and control factors. Three waves of experiments were conducted. The first wave is related to the analysis of the dynam-ics of indicators for 6 years. The second – with the selection of optimal values of control factors at fixed ideal values of target factors. The third wave allowed us to calculate the values of the target factors based on the selected optimal values of the control factors of the previous wave.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document