John Harris

Femininity, Masculinity, Physicality and the English Tabloid Press: The Case of Anna Kournikova

This article is an examination of how femininity, masculinity and physicality are created and (re)presented within the English tabloid press. In identifying mechanisms for the construction and maintenance of (hegemonic) femininity and masculinity within sport, a gendered sports formula has been developed to analyse and explain sports coverage within this particular medium. Copies of the Sun and Mirror newspapers were collected and analysed over the course of the summer of 2000. The study highlights that idealized conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity are prevalent within the dominant narratives of both publications, not least through the disproportionate ratio of male/female sports coverage where only 5.9 percent of the sports reporting focused upon women’s sport. Our analysis of this mechanism is explicated through focusing upon one of the most photographed athletes in the world today, the Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova. Kournikova, we posit, is the most powerful symbol of the masculinity/femininity nexus within media sport and accounted for one-third of all articles on women’s sport. She is presented as the masculinists’ transcendent image of the idiosyncratic sportswoman, whereby masculinity is maintained through ideological representations of femininity. While the analysis does not focus exclusively on Kournikova, it is argued that she, more than any other athlete, epitomizes the gendered sports formula within the tabloid press.

Footballers' wives: the role of the soccer player's partner in the construction of idealized masculinity

This article is concerned with the media image of some of the women associated with professional football players in England. More specifically, a textual analysis of multiple media sources was conducted, the results of which connect media portrayals of, and narratives about, the image of football players partners with the social (re)production of masculine hegemony. Media accounts of the heterosexual practices of a number of elite football players were examined. The focus of this examination was not the footballers per se, but the women implicated in their ‘off the pitch’ lives, whose media image, we posit, is constructed in accordance with a traditionally feminine, hetero‐sexy, and ‘expressive/supportive’ role. Adopting a critical feminist perspective, two principal typologies were developed to explore this role: the beautiful, erotic woman and the devoted and supportive woman, both of which, we argue, are complicit to the stalwart hegemonic project happening in English football. A further typology was developed to incorporate the most media‐visible of all footballers partners, Victoria Beckham, whose ‘image’ is both complicit and contradictory. It is worth noting that certain articles referencing Victoria were the only challenge – in this study – to the hegemonic patterns apparent in the image of the footballers wife.

Cool Cymru, rugby union and an imagined community

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the place of rugby union in contemporary Wales where the game is used as an important tool to promote images of the nation. Using Benedict Andersons conceptualisation of the nation as an “imagined community” the paper aims to locate and analyse the game within and around discourses of Cool Cymru, a term coined in the late twentieth century to promote images of a new vibrant Wales as popularised through its leading music bands.Design/methodology/approach – A critical sociological approach analyses and problematises notions of Welshness as it relates to the national sport of rugby.Findings – The nation is often (re)presented and conceptualised as a monolithic whole where rugbys assumed centrality is rarely questioned. This essay focuses upon the areas of language, geography and gender to demonstrate the situated limits of these (re)presentations. Rugby union and Cool Cymru are also located alongside devolution and are examined further with ...

David Beckham and the changing (re)presentations of English identity

David Beckham is, arguably, the most high profile association football player in the world, securing global media interest in all aspects of his life. Contradiction and inconsistencies are prevalent within the narratives that accompany the conflicting images of Beckham where media discourse has been adjusted to position him as both hero and villain. This paper examines the inconstant nature of the nationalistic and masculine discourses applied to Beckham and the diversity of roles played by him in upholding and distorting ideologies in sport. Beckham has become a cultural icon and a symbol of national identity and masculinised sporting pride. Yet many of his exploits, both on and off the pitch, have led to allegations of non-conformity. His role, therefore, is a complicated one as he is both symbol of, and an exception to, conceptualisations of Englishness and of the hegemonic model of masculinity.

Sport and social identities

Playing and watching sport can teach us a great deal about wider social issues. This book looks at how identities are constructed and reinforced in sport, exploring notions of race, class, sexuality and nationalism. With contributions from international experts, this book is key reading for students of sociology and sports studies.

Our Friend Jack: Alcohol, friendship and masculinity in university football

Abstract Masons (1980) research noted how the public house has been an integral part of the ‘football experience’ in England for more than a century. Drinking alcohol has been positioned both as central to the experiences of those watching the game in their leisure time and as an important activity for professional footballers to relax and bond with their fellow players. In England the consumption of alcohol is also central to the leisure lifestyles of many students, and although organised sport is often promoted as a ‘healthy’ alternative to alcohol consumption in reality the two are implicitly linked. This paper critically examines the ‘locatedness’ of alcohol consumption in the construction of samesex friendships of male football players at a university in the south of England. It posits that the student bar provides a ‘safe’ environment for homosociability and a pretext for a postulated community of footballing men where the imperatives of male hegemony can be realised and defended away from the interference of an itinerant society.

The science of research in sport and tourism: some reflections upon the promise of the sociological imagination.

The following paper discusses some issues relating to qualitative research in sport and tourism drawing upon the sociological imagination of C. Wright Mills. In arguing the case for a perspectival approach to data collection it explores the textual construction of qualitative research accounts. A reflexive framework highlights the different ways of telling and discusses the need for more ways to tell of culture as we move from macro to micro theoretical analyses of the social world. It has been suggested that how our research is presented is just as important as what is presented, although this is not always considered within the context of the peer review process and its associated pressures. Understanding writing as a way of knowing becomes of significant importance as we each tell our tales. In exploring the hermeneutic circle of interaction it discusses factors concerning the uniqueness and individuality of interpretive studies and also briefly considers what contribution the sociological imagination may make to meta interpretation and the synthesis of qualitative research.

Match Day in Cardiff: (Re)imaging and (Re)imagining the Nation

In their work on postcards as cultural texts, Pritchard & Morgan (2003) suggest that there is evidence of ‘an internal re-mapping of Wales that is celebrating the capital city of Cardiff as its metropolitan cultural core and marginalizing alternative imagined communities of Wales’ (Pritchard & Morgan, 2003, p. 111). This paper critically assesses this remapping with specific reference to the place of rugby union in the country and problematises the way(s) in which national identity is (re)created through the sport. Through focusing upon what is considered to be the national sport of Wales, this research critically assesses the relationship between sport and tourism in a country often overlooked in academic work within both of these areas. It shows how rugby union is a significant tool in the (re)imaging and (re)imagining of the nation but also considers how Cardiff is increasingly being used as a substitute for Wales and argues that many (re)presentations of Welshness are little more than a means of (re)imaging and (re)imagining the capital city.

The impact of perceived service provider empathy on customer loyalty: some observations from the health and fitness sector.

The leisure product is often dependent on the person delivering the service. The research presented here sought to better understand how important the empathy component is in that personal delivery of a service. Health and fitness clubs, faced by high rates of customer attrition, traditionally promote themselves on the basis of either price or facilities, but are these two tools the only ones that the marketing of the clubs should be limited to? For this study, the impact of service provider empathy, as perceived by health and fitness club members, was examined in an attempt to better understand the impact of the concept on customer loyalty. The findings indicate that for those with a low level of self-responsibility for getting the most out of the service experience, those without previous experience of gyms and those with heightened self-consciousness, empathy is an important factor impacting upon their anxiety levels as well as on their loyalty to a club.

Doing Gender on and off the Pitch: the World of Female Football Players

The following paper looks at the experiences of female football (soccer) players at a College of Higher Education in the South of England. Association Football occupies a special place in English society where it has traditionally been linked to notions of toughness, manliness and hegemonic masculinity. The last decade has witnessed expedient growth in the number of women playing football and this has led to much debate related to the positioning of the game in contemporary society. Data was collected through an ethnographic approach utilizing observation and semi-structured interviews. Through their very participation in the game the women can be seen to be challenging notions of male hegemony. However their acceptance of the male game as being more important, and their adopting of discourse and ideologies emanating from the male model of the sport, means that they are also colluding in the (re)production of masculine hegemony. For the women in this study, of central importance to the development of a female footballing identity are issues surrounding sexual orientation within the football world. Womens football in England suffers from an ‘image problem’ which can and does lead to tension both on and off the pitch. This paper explores how these women make sense of their own involvement in the game and how they negotiate the contested ideological terrains surrounding femininity, masculinity and sexual orientation.