Rock climbers defying gravity and gender expectations
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University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract
This research seeks to explore a specific way that bodies may be redefined as
feminine and strong. Much of the literature on gender analyzes the ways in which
individuals are confined by gender expectations. Climbing is a venue that celebrates
skills traditionally associated with femininity such as flexibility, but because it is
assumed to require a lot of upper-body strength, it is not sport typed as feminine.
This creates an ideal environment to combine qualities traditionally associated with
both femininity and masculinity, and as individuals excel in climbing they discipline
their bodies to cultivate both sets of characteristics. Developing both embodied
masculine and feminine traits may blur embodied gender traits, and place less
emphasis on binary categorizations. This is why climbing offers important
opportunities to redefine our knowing bodies with respect to our gender. This
research is based on thirty semi-structured interviews coded to produce grounded
theory. I also conducted content analysis on thirty-eight issues of two popular
climbing magazines, and utilized two years of participant observation to generate the
theoretical analysis. The media analysis revealed less emphasis on normative femininity than other types of media, but women are still not represented equally in
numbers of photographs, the number of female authors published, or the difficulty of
the climbs. The women I interviewed described feeling both physically and socially
stronger in their everyday lives, and also more empowered suggesting that climbing
has a spill-over effect whereby women come to see themselves as more capable in
their everyday lives. Ultimately, I suggest that activities such as rock climbing
which allow women to develop holistic, strong, synchronized bodies helps them
resist the dominant cultural messages associated with fragmented and weak
femininity.
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Allee, K. M. (2011). Rock climbers defying gravity and gender expectations. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3495656)