Sporting a Skort

Abstract

This article explores the intersecting vectors of power, surveillance, and identity relating to technologies of material culture as located within the so-called “skort” or running skirt. It presents a cultural history of the skort, situating it within historical debates over femininity and sport, and contemporary arguments over the commercial branding of the feminine ideal. The author also presents and discusses the findings of her participant-observation that she performed in a group fitness studio on multiple occasions dressed in three different exercise outfits: a running skirt, a pair of shorts, and a sweat suit. With a focus on the skort experience, the concept of skorting materiality emerged in relation to the matrices of power acting on the body and highlights the results of this ethnographic experience, which uses “the researcher’s body to understand how power operates.” This analysis of skorting materiality focuses on the historically produced present and the current function of the skort in physical culture; its garment’s utility, function, meanings, and messages articulated concocting a rich display of culture and moving biopolitics.