Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Gender ideologies are intricately woven into the structure of sports; but the degree to which individuals have agency within those structures is not yet fully understood. Additionally, some sports are overtly structured to be highly gendered (football, cheerleading), while others are less so (soccer, tennis). Students choosing to participate in sports often must decide to be a traditionalistic athlete (i.e., playing a sport that coincides with and reinforces the hegemonic expectation for their gender) or a transgressive player (i.e., playing a sport that specifically violates the gender status quo). Past scholarship has shown specific instances in which gender conformity in sport coincides with an individual’s views on gender ideologies. However, the extent to which such a phenomenon is generalizeable or holds today is uncertain. In this study I investigate sport as a potential site for resistance to hegemonic gender norms for student athletes. Using data from Monitoring the Future’s survey of high school students in 2015, I test the rates that sports participation, parental influence, and demographic factors correlate to respondents’ views of gendered norms compared across both “traditional” and “transgressive” student athletes. While I find evidence for the continuation of a hypothesized connection between gender conformity on and off the field, comparisons across genders show surprising nuances. I discuss these nuances, potential explanations for the observed trends, and paths forward for future research.