The Gender Politics of Contemporary Sport: Ethics, Power, and the Body

Abstract

Gendered power relations in sport pose important problems for mainstream feminist and ethical arguments for the alleviation of gender-based oppression. Though mainstream feminist theorists and applied ethicists have largely left sport undertheorized, some multi- and inter-disciplinary scholarly attention has been devoted to analyzing gender and sport. However, this scholarship encompasses disparate lines of thought with a range of philosophical, political, disciplinary, methodological and theoretical commitments, which translate into conflicting and competing normative views on how to best conceptualize, theorize, and practically navigate gender relations in sporting contexts. My dissertation remedies the tensions between these conflicting normative views by excavating and critically evaluating the political and philosophical assumptions that ground these views of gender relations in sport. I define 'sport feminism' as the normative views and consequent practical strategies that are concerned with interpreting, navigating, and eliminating the unjust restrictions on women's freedom in sporting contexts. I identify and critically evaluate four sport feminist views: liberal, radical, somatic, and post-structuralist. These views are distinct from one another as they differ in their conceptualizations and interpretations of three elements: (1) the nature of gender and the significance of physiological difference; (2) the function of sport and fitness practices; and (3) the ethical grounds and strategies for defining and alleviating gender-based oppression. Drawing from the merits of these views, my project develops a feminist framework for ethical action with regard to unequal gendered power relations in sport.