“Is training with your children a double-edged sword?”: Motherhood and martial arts

Abstract

Using narrative inquiry together with photo-elicitation as a methodological approach, the conceptualizations of motherhood and martial arts, and whether they have salience, are explored. The theoretical approach is based on the concept of gender as something that is done or performed, and socially and culturally understood. Gendered discourses and everyday practices render male superiority in sport as natural and normal. Martial arts can create an environment where men and women can work together, promoting equality and challenging traditional models of gender inequality. Sport is frequently portrayed as something parents do autonomously and mothers are often contextualized as constrained from participation by their childcare responsibilities. Using photo-elicitation to explore participants’ experiences of motherhood and martial arts, the findings suggest that rather than feeling constrained, mothers were encouraged to participate with their children and experienced a sense of togetherness and pride as a result. This raises opportunities for future research to explore how sport participation may strengthen mother-child bonds, particularly through a sex-integrated sport such as martial arts. Participant-generated photo-elicitation provides a powerful method to undertake research in under-explored areas such as this.