‘Woman and the Sport Fetish’: Modernity, Consumerism and Sports Participation in Inter-War Britain

Abstract

The emergence of the ‘modern woman’ in Inter-War Britain was the result of a process which began at the end of the previous century. The new modern woman was symbolic of youth and freedom; she embraced life and spent her time in the pursuit of fun and enjoyment. The female body was, in many ways, one of the central focuses of the new modernity. The way it was dressed, its hair styled and even its shape were all intrinsic symbols of a woman's conformity to modernity and its associated ideals. Sport could provide an opportunity to train and tone the body in an effort to conform to the new idealised ‘boyish’ shape, to improve posture and, it was believed, even to enhance beauty. Sport therefore offered an opportunity to acquire some of the ‘essential’ attributes of the young modern woman, a lithe figure with grace of carriage and clear complexion. However, sport also played an important role in lifestyle. Yet sport's place in discussions of modernity has been overlooked by British sports and gender historians. This article will seek to address this gap in the historiography by examining the intersection between concepts of modernity and sport. As we will see, there is much evidence to suggest that participation in sport was a fundamental, yet hitherto overlooked, element of modernity for many women during the inter-war period in Britain. This study will explore the centrality of sport to the lives of these modern women by probing notions of emancipation and developments in fashion and consumer culture alongside the concomitant developments of sport for women.