Gender manoeuvring in Swedish skateboarding : negotiations of femininities and the hierarchical gender structure

• The Nordic countries score high gender equality ratings and we have a long tradition of working with feminist agendas promising liberal futures to both young women and men. Still, today’s young women struggle to make room for female participation in male-dominated space. Based on ethnographic research, this article explores gender manoeuvring, i.e. manipulations of the relationship between masculinity and femininity in the patterned beliefs and activities of Swedish skateboarding. The three most apparent femininities in the empirical material, ‘the tomboy’, ‘the bitch’, and ‘the lesbian’, are discussed and how they sometimes give rise to gender manoeuvring and sometimes not. It is argued that the formation of a national network harnessing feminist strategies has been successful in making space for female skateboarding in local skateparks and the mainstream media. The negotiations these actions result in have the potential to transform the hierarchical gender order between and among masculinities and femininities. However, simultaneous tendencies to preserve the unequal gender structure through valuing both hegemonic masculinity and femininity become visible.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

gender

femininity

skateboarding

youth culture

sports

Sociology

Sociologi

Child and Youth Science

barn- och ungdomsvetenskap

Samhällsvetenskap/Humaniora

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)