LE3 .A278 2023

2023

Bonner, Claudine

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Women’s and Gender Studies

Women's & Gender Studies

Sports make up an important part of everyday culture, affecting the lives of many while having great influence over social values and norms (Zilcosky and Burks 2019). As a result, organized sports are an area where we can direcly see gender performed and regulated due to the public nature and popularity of organized sports (Delaney and Madigan 2015). This thesis argues that varsity sports directly influence traditional masculinity and femininity of athletes at Acadia University through physical and emotional regulation, directly affecting athletes’ sense of self. All Acadia University coaches were provided with a survey link to send to their athletes. The survey included ten single choice questions and ten short answer questions asking athletes about their relationship with sports and societal physical expectations, emotional expectations, and about their general views on gender within sports as a whole. This survey found that both female and male athletes at Acadia University engaged with traditional gender expectations through physical and emotional regulation of themselves and their peers. Due to the small sample size, we cannot determine whether or not organized sports directly enforces traditional gender norms among varsity athletes at Acadia University; however, we can conclude that traditional gender is practiced and enforced through players’ self-regulations.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3970