Physical culture, pedagogies of health, and the gendered body

Emma Rich, John Evans

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter or section

5 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Sport and physical activity is commonly constituted as a panacea, and charged with combating all manner of social problems from obesity to youth disaffection. In this chapter, the authors explore how these contemporary visions of health and physical activity within social-cultural and political contexts shape how we come to understand the "sporting female," focusing specifically on the UK context. The chapter highlights the pressures placed on girls and young women to display appropriate physically active, fit, and "thin" subjectivities in contemporary societies where consumption practices, body ideals, and obesity discourse converge on and through their bodies. Whilst obesity discourse emphasizes weight-loss practices and thinness, mediated physical culture also emphasizes a toned femininity. The chapter demonstrates the importance of broader physical culture in terms of how we "learn" through body pedagogies about the value, importance, and meaning of particular physically (in)active bodies..

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationA Companion to Sport
EditorsD. L. Andrews, B. Carrington
Place of PublicationHoboken, U. S. A.
PublisherWiley
Pages179-195
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781118325261
ISBN (Print)9781405191609
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Aug 2013

Keywords

  • Body pedagogies
  • Femininity
  • Gendered body
  • Girlhood
  • Health
  • Obesity
  • Physical culture
  • Sport

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences

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