Kicking against tradition

Women’s football, negotiating friendships and social spaces

Bibliographic Data

ID11436409
AuthorsKate Themen (0000-0003-2280-1223, Manchester Metropolitan University, corresponding author), Jenny Van Hooff (0000-0001-8735-8758, Manchester Metropolitan University)
Year2017
Volume36
Issue4
Pages542-552
Publication date2017-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueLeisure Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-4367 • E-ISSN: 1466-4496
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02614367.2016.1195433
OpenAlexW2409846213
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited41

This article examines friendships and social networks in the context of amateur women’s football. Studies of intimacies and friendships tend to situate women’s same-sex friendships around emotional support. The aim of this research seeks to account for more depth in understanding diversity in female friendships. The traditionally masculine (football) environment is peculiarly distinctive because it contrasts with traditional spaces found in private, domestic context that have traditionally associated with the formation and negotiation of ‘feminine’ friendship identities. Utilising 10 narrative interviews, the paper examines social and friendship networks in two main areas. Firstly, although non-traditional social groupings were evident, it was apparent that some participants had to negotiate a dual private/public role. Secondly, there were friendships based on sociability and these were integral to the connectedness of groups not defined by conventionally gendered roles, defined by emotional ties, but instead on collective interest focused around playing sport. These groupings are of interest because they are contrary to conventionality that frame emotional femininity, and foreground social activities that accentuate cultural complexities rather than confine friendship groups in terms of either masculine or feminine cultural practices. Drawing on the grounded experiences of female football players, we found that female friendships are much more layered and complex than represented in broader cultural discourse

Amateur · Context (archaeology · Femininity · Football · Friendship · Narrative · Negotiation · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Physical Education and Pedagogy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

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