Susan Birrell

Is a diamond forever? Feminist transformations of sport☆

Abstract This paper focuses on how individuals and groups overcome the hegemonic grasp of alienating ideologies and institute social practices which have authentic meaning in their lives. Specifically, the paper investigates how women who define themselves as feminists actively construct and maintain alternatives to the male preserve of sport. The analysis is based on data drawn from intensive interviews and observations collected over a four year period of a womens summer recreational softball league. The sample was a purposive one: women who define themselves as feminists were purposely sought out and interviewed about their feminist attitudes, their attitudes toward sport and softball, and the relationship they saw between a feminist consciousness and the practice of sport. Several themes emerged as central issues in their complaints: the overemphasis on winning; the hierarchy of authority; the elitism of skill; the exclusivity represented by sexism, classism, racism, ageism, sizism, and heterosexism; the disparagement of opponents; and an ethic of endangerment. These criticisms serve as a blueprint for the changes they were putting into practice: a form of softball which is process oriented, collective, inclusive, supportive, and infused with an ethic of care. The analysis draws upon feminist theory, interactionist principles, and cultural studies approaches to explore the ways in which individuals can actively resist inimical social practices and create, maintain, and inhabit social worlds that fit their own needs.

Reclaiming Goffman: Erving Goffman’s Influence on the Sociology of Sport

Erving Goffman was the consummate sociologist. Throughout our academic careers we had heard anecdotes about him, and when we started work on this chapter we sought out people who had known him. All their stories confirmed the ones we had heard — Goffman was always working, always observing, always making field notes. He is seen at 3:00 am in a Las Vegas hotel elevator, riding up and down, observing how people behave. Guests at a dinner party realize that he is no longer at the table — he is sitting in a corner taking notes. Although late for an appointment, he insists that his driver stop while he watches the public’s response to a traffic accident. Lyman (cited by Smith, 1999, p. 18) noted Goffman’s justification for this: ‘sociology is something you do, not something you read about’.

Break Points: Narrative Interruption in the Life of Billie Jean King

This article explores intertextual representations of Billie Jean King, focusing on the announcement of her relationship with Marilyn Barnett in 1981 as a disruptive moment that occasioned remedial narrative work on King’s part. Media framing of the incident is examined through three mainstream newspapers, U.S. magazines, television interviews, and King’s autobiography. Analysis of the coverage reveals that at first glance King was quite successful in overcoming the potential rupture to her life story by controlling the narrative, for example, through the staging of a very public apology, relatively supportive public interviews, and the timely release of her second autobiography. Framing the analysis within the context of theories of intertextuality and narrative disruption, and heteronarrativity, we argue that King’s success came at the expense of a more radical statement regarding the fluidity of sexual desire.

Sport and Sport Studies

Sport is such a pervasive feature of contemporary life that, while not everyone participates in it actively or can be considered a fan, no one is unaffected by its presence. In all its forms and levels, sport exerts enormous significance in our cultural life. The billions of dollars pumped into the economy every year by sport and fitness consumers, the huge salaries of professional athletes, the extent to which the Olympic Games rivet the world’s attention every two years, the impact of intercollegiate and interscholastic sport in the US, and the symbiotic relationship between sport and television which has resulted in 24-hour-a-day all-sports networks — all point to the ways that sport has insinuated itself into the fabric of society.