Alex Channon - Sex Integration in Sport and Physical Culture

Scholars working in the academic field of sport studies have long debated the relationship between sport and gender. Modern sport forms, along with many related activities, have been shown to have historically supported ideals of male superiority, by largely excluding women and/or celebrating only mens athletic achievements. While the growth of womens sport throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has extinguished the notion of female frailty, revealing that women can embody athletic qualities previously thought exclusive to men, the continuation of sex segregation in many settings has left something of a discursive back door through which ideals of male athletic superiority can escape unscathed, retaining their influence over wider cultural belief systems. However, sex-integrated sport potentially offers a radical departure from such beliefs, as it challenges us to reject assumptions of male superiority, entertaining very different visions of sex difference and gender relations to those typically constructed through traditional models of physical culture. This comprehensive collection offers a diverse range of international case studies that reaffirm the contemporary relevance of sex integration debates, and also articulate the possibility of sport acting as a legitimate space for political struggle, resistance and change. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Alex Channon is a Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and Sport Studies at the University of Brighton, Eastbourne, UK.

Katherine Dashper is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.

Thomas Fletcher is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.

Robert J. Lake is an Instructor in Sport Sociology at Douglas College, New Westminster, Canada.

Series Editor: Boria Majumdar, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, England, and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

The social, cultural (including media) and political study of sport is an expanding area of scholarship and related research. While this area has been well served by the Sport in the Global Society series, the surge in quality scholarship over the last few years has necessitated the creation of Sport in the Global Society: Contemporary Perspectives. The series will publish the work of leading scholars in fields as diverse as sociology, cultural studies, media studies, gender studies, cultural geography and history, political science and political economy. If the social and cultural study of sport is to receive the scholarly attention and readership it warrants, a cross-disciplinary series dedicated to taking sport beyond the narrow confines of physical education and sport science academic domains is necessary. Sport in the Global Society: Contemporary Perspectives will answer this need.

Gender in Physical Culture
Crossing boundaries reconstituting cultures
Edited by Natalie Barker-Ruchti, Karin Grahn and Eva-Carin Lindgren

A Social and Political History of Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs
The split, 18781914
David Kennedy

Football Fandom in Italy and Beyond
Community through media and performance
Matthew Guschwan

Numbers and Narratives
Sport, history and economics
Wray Vamplew

Sex Integration in Sport and Physical Culture
Promises and pitfalls
Edited by Alex Channon, Katherine Dashper, Thomas Fletcher and Robert Lake

The Containment of Soccer in Australia
Fencing off the world game
Edited by Christopher J. Hallinan and John E. Hughson

Sex Integration in Sport and Physical Culture

Promises and pitfalls

First published 2017
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ISBN 13: 978-0-415-78381-1

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The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen during the conversion of this book from journal articles to book chapters, namely the possible inclusion of journal terminology.

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Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders for their permission to reprint material in this book. The publishers would be grateful to hear from any copyright holder who is not here acknowledged and will undertake to rectify any errors or omissions in future editions of this book.

The chapters in this book were originally published in Sport in Society Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, volume 19, issue 89 (OctoberNovember 2016). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows: