The @UFC and third wave feminism? Who woulda thought? Gender, fighters, and framing on Twitter

Bibliographic Data

ID13020775
AuthorsAllyson Quinney (Florida State University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume0
Issue2
Pages34-34
Publication date2016-06-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMartial Arts Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2057-5696 • E-ISSN: 2057-5696
PublisherCardiff University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.18573/j.2016.10063
OpenAlexW2407413316
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited15

Most professional sports, such as hockey, tennis, and basketball, separate men’s and women’s sports leagues. In 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) disrupted this pattern by showcasing its first women’s mixed martial arts (MMA) fight in a once male-only fight league. While the UFC’s inclusion of female fighters is a step forward for gender equality, the change does not come without issues. This essay focuses on the framing of female UFC fighters on Twitter over a four year period. Through an intersectional feminist analysis, it examines how Twitter users frame female fighters’ bodies in relation to gender, race, class, and sexuality. It argues that there is an imbalance in attention paid to female fighters in regards to gender, race, class, and sexuality, and this constructs contradictory messaging about feminism, female fighters’ bodies, and the UFC on Twitter

Basketball · Feminism · Framing (construction · Human sexuality · League · Political science · Sociology · Digital Games and Media · Engineering · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Sports, Gender, and Society

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