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"Gender-Jutsu" : grappling with gender in martial arts contexts

University of British Columbia

This is a critical, explorative thesis examining how ten female martial artists were attracted, challenged and empowered through their chosen martial arts training. Meanings and benefits of martial arts in the lives of participants were investigated through interviews, and the particular challenges encountered by females acting within largely male dominated sporting / martial arts spheres are situated within contemporary feminist sports theory analyses. Foci include gender constructs, practitioner agency and personal empowerment. Data gathering was conducted by recording and transcribing semi-structured interviews throughout 1996-97, and was inspired by conversations with female participants at martial arts seminars, special camps, training sessions and tournaments. Guiding the interviews were themes of initiation (how these women became involved in martial arts); motivation (the perceived benefits and reasons for years of continual training); and power dynamics (including the specific challenges of being a female in martial arts contexts, and how martial arts aids individual empowerment). Experiences are woven into the larger discourse on women in sports: how bodies are gendered through sports practices. Chapters explore the potential for martial arts as a transformative activity enabling self-knowledge and development both within mainstream male dominated martial arts organizations and alternative women-only or feminist dojos (training clubs). Advantages of both contexts are discussed. Martial arts are transformative sites on contested ideological terrain (Messner 1988: 66), wherein personal empowerment and the partial transcendence of cultural gender constructs are possible.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-05-25

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/8119

Educational Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace