Sport Action as a Construction of the Discourse of Body Beauty
Oral Presentation
Paper ID : 1670-12THCONG
Oral / Poster Presentation File: 1670-12THCONG.mkv
Authors
1Department of Social Science, Faculty of Literature & Human Science, University of Guilan, Rast, Iran
2دانش آموخته کارشناسی ارشد جامعه شناسی، پژوهشگر آزاد
Abstract
This study examines the qualitative approach of the discursive space of women's physical activity in order to answer the fundamental question of what hegemonic signifiers are shaped by the discursive order of women.
Purpose of the study
This study examines the qualitative approach of the discursive space of women's physical activity in order to answer the fundamental question of what hegemonic signifiers are shaped by the discursive order of women. For this purpose, the theoretical areas related to social constructionism were used in the framework of discourse analysis and the description and interpretation of women's athletic activities were discussed.
Methodology
The conceptual framework of this study is derived from the theoretical approaches of Foucault, Elias, and Laclau and Mouffe. Methodologically, this study is based on the qualitative method, and data are collected by semi-structured interviews. The study sample consisted of 22 women from Rasht city who were selected through purposeful theoretical sampling.
Findings
The findings of the research led to an analytical expansion of women's athletic activities at three levels, and the concepts of bodybuilding, body femininity and discipline and shame were formulated and interpreted as central discourses. The objectification of each of these three levels of discourse suggests that the concept of femininity underlying the ideals of "superiority masculinity" seeks to reject other forms of femininity and to reproduce the feminine body in the form of "hegemony of masculinity".
Conclusion
The dominance of patriarchal traits leads to reduction of the presence of women in sport to actions that reinforce and reproduce femininity, and expected features in male-dominated –patriarchal- structures.
Purpose of the study
This study examines the qualitative approach of the discursive space of women's physical activity in order to answer the fundamental question of what hegemonic signifiers are shaped by the discursive order of women. For this purpose, the theoretical areas related to social constructionism were used in the framework of discourse analysis and the description and interpretation of women's athletic activities were discussed.
Methodology
The conceptual framework of this study is derived from the theoretical approaches of Foucault, Elias, and Laclau and Mouffe. Methodologically, this study is based on the qualitative method, and data are collected by semi-structured interviews. The study sample consisted of 22 women from Rasht city who were selected through purposeful theoretical sampling.
Findings
The findings of the research led to an analytical expansion of women's athletic activities at three levels, and the concepts of bodybuilding, body femininity and discipline and shame were formulated and interpreted as central discourses. The objectification of each of these three levels of discourse suggests that the concept of femininity underlying the ideals of "superiority masculinity" seeks to reject other forms of femininity and to reproduce the feminine body in the form of "hegemony of masculinity".
Conclusion
The dominance of patriarchal traits leads to reduction of the presence of women in sport to actions that reinforce and reproduce femininity, and expected features in male-dominated –patriarchal- structures.
Keywords
Subjects