The Female Athlete Paradox

Traditionally, the sporting world has been understood as a masculine domain, with connotations of competition, aggression, and intensity deeply rooted within it. Although many strides have been taken to include and celebrate female sports,

there remains disparity in the participation, representation, and discourse surrounding male and female sports and athletes. 

Theorists generally agree that the social construct of femininity is defined in binary opposition to masculinity. What we understand as being ‘feminine’ includes notions that women are passive, maternal, emotional, compassionate, and gentle. Sports and athleticism throughout history have been positioned within the masculine domain, with connotations of competition, aggression, and intensity. Therefore, we can conclude that a cultural assumption exists that to be an athlete, is to be masculine. 

Historically, women have been excluded from sports and are unable to play professionally, in the same capacity as men, to this day.

We have seen this from women being unable to participate in the ancient Olympic Games, to the top women’s football league in the UK only becoming fully professional in 2018. We still fail to pay women equally, despite their achievements. For example, the USA women’s football team have won the last 6 Olympic gold medals and have won 4 world cups, but are paid only just over a third of what the men’s team are paid.  

Female athlete representation in the media is pertinent to this discussion.

A mere 4% of all sports media coverage represents women’s sports.

Moreover, women are more likely than men to be portrayed using emotive and infantilising terms, to have their successes attributed to the male figures in their lives, and are degraded through being valued on their appearance rather than their athleticism. 

A study on media images of female athletes undertaken in 2015 showed that an overwhelming number of media outlets emphasise women’s sexuality, choosing to focus on an athlete’s beauty, youth, and sex appeal. Echoed in sponsorships, athletes deemed to be more ‘feminine’ tend to have greater media attention and endorsements. This also negatively affects athletes who participate in what is seen as more ‘masculine’ sports, where media focus tends to be on the athlete’s looks, private lives, or questions around their sexuality.  

Knowing that there is an extremely strong prevailing cultural understanding that femininity contrasts with athleticism, I conducted a research on female athletes to understand how they navigated this paradox. Several focus groups with female athletes from a range of individual and team sports, and from a mix of female and mixed team sports participated. 

From the beginning, there was a consensus that a conflict between being seen as feminine and being seen as an athlete exists. The participants agreed that one of the best things about being a female athlete was proving themselves as strong and capable.

These women tended to reject what they saw as traditional forms of femininity, which was mainly through appearance, through wearing makeup or opting for nicer clothes over sports gear. They saw this rejection as being more authentic to themselves, as adhering to these feminine ideals meant to them, reducing their ability to train efficiently.

Although the women rejected traditional femininity in their day-to-day lives, they found enjoyment through being more feminine in other non-sporting contexts, expressing how much they love dressing up for formal occasions. Notably, when they did choose to dress up, many participants said that friends around them would make comments on them being more feminine, and remarking on it being out of character, thus reinforcing this divide between being feminine and being an athlete. 

Following more recent trends in the media, many of the athletes found their muscularity as a source of body positivity.

Seeing their bodies as beautiful and sexy is a strong and positive step away from the notion that muscularity is inherently masculine. 

Research has shown that women struggle to solidify an identity that is both feminine and athletic. The small percentage of the media that portrays female athletes presents them often devoid of their athletic achievements, often focusing on their appearance, private lives, and sexuality. These notions have been deeply ingrained within society, and are often perpetuated by those around us, in friends, family, teammates, and within ourselves. The female athlete is empowered by her talent and strengths, yet constantly has to prove it to be taken seriously.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I was so engaged by this research, and by empowering women in sport in general, is that I understood it to be a validation of my own experiences as a female athlete. Studying the history of female participation and equality in sport was more than just eye-opening - quite frankly, it was infuriating. I constantly needed to remind myself that we have come such a long way since then, and the opportunities for female participation in sport, both recreationally and professionally, increase year after year. 

I believe a brighter and more inclusive future of sport is ahead of us, and

we must continue to empower and support those around us to help pave the way for the next generations of female athletes.