Moving towards inclusion : An analysis of photographs from the 1926 Women's Games in Gothenburg

• The 1920s was characterised by a struggle over the social acceptance and inclusion of women's track and field disciplines into international organisations. The debate was particularly heated between Alice Milliat, the then president of the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale, and the members of the International Athletic Federation and International Olympic Committee. Underlying the debate were differing assumptions about gender ideals and the role of women in society. While Milliat's efforts have been crucial and recognised in developing women's track and field, little research has examined how visual representations of track and field athletes related to gender norms. In this paper, we examine a corpus of professional sports photographs taken during the 1926 Women's Games in Gothenburg to gain understanding of how female athletes' media representations were part of negotiations over gender ideals. Placing the material within the notion of gender dispositive, our analyses reveal a process of negotiation between the new woman ideal that included characteristics such as autonomy and self-control, as well as the mechanisation of women's bodies and traditional notions of femininity.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Idrottsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Sport and Fitness Sciences (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Historia (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- History (hsv//eng)

Keyword

1926 Women's Games

gender dispositive

sports photographs

track and field

1926 Women's Games; sports photographs; track and field; gender dispositive

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)