Girlfight and Bend it Like Beckham

Screening Women, Sport, and Sexuality

Bibliographic Data

ID12458639
AuthorsJayne Caudwell (0000-0001-6860-3949, The Chelsea School, University of Brighton, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume13
Issue3
Pages255-271
Publication date2009-07-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Lesbian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1089-4160 • E-ISSN: 1540-3548
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10894160902876697
PMID19598047
OpenAlexW2145353950
LanguageDE
Citations received13
References cited31

In this article, sport film is taken as a social and cultural space where women's bodies are made publicly in/visible. Two films-Girlfight and Bend it Like Beckham-provide the focus for critical discussion. Moreover, a queer-feminist analysis explores the links between participation in boxing and football, and women's sexuality as represented in the films. Lesbian sexualities are considered in a critique of the erasure of the lesbian sport [film] star. Sexual subjectivity is also discussed in relation to the heterosexual heroic and to patriarchy. In this way I interrogate heterosexuality. I also consider links between ethnicity, women's bodies, and sexuality. In the final instance, I show that the films work to reproduce heterosexual hegemony and depict heteronormative assimilation

Hegemony · Heterosexuality · Human sexuality · Lesbian · Political science · Politics · Queer · Sociology · Subjectivity · Doping in Sports · Gender Studies · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society