Women Athletes Research Articles

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu

Reviewed by: Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S.J. Sindu Anna Saikin S.J. Sindu. Marriage of a Thousand Lies. Soho Press, 2017. At the beginning of S.J. Sindu's stunning debut novel, the narrator, Lucky, recounts an anecdote of how when she was a girl, she asked her mother for a button-down shirt to wear for a school play, a request that was her first lie. The moment causes her to realize her love for her best friend, Nisha, and pries loose a thread that slowly unravels over the course of the novel as she comes to terms with Nisha's upcoming arranged marriage. Lucky hides imperfectly within her own marriage to Krishna, a gay man, an arrangement that allows them to remain members of their Sri Lankan-American community. Both Kris and Lucky chafe under the pressure to conform to her family's expectations. After Nisha's engagement party, Kris tells her, "'Because of me, you can seem like the perfect little brown wife.'" The façade Lucky wears gradually hardens and cracks as she discovers that she has been lying to herself as much as to her family and friends. Sindu's narrative highlights how members of the South Asian queer community negotiate cultural norms that strictly delineate expressions of love and fidelity differently from each other. In addition to Lucky and Krishna's arrangement, Lucky discovers how other members of her family imperfectly balance traditional roles with their own desires. While Lucky's mother and sister are heterosexual, they both live outside of expected female roles. Lucky's mother is divorced and her father remarried her mother's best friend, while her sister Vidya ran away from home after falling in love with an American boy. These family struggles make it more difficult for Lucky to fully come out of the closet. She notes that while many of her classmates rebel against their parents, eventually "they shape up … and everything is forgiven. As long as you follow your directives in the end, no matter how many lies you have to tell." Lucky desperately wants to fit in even as she falls more deeply in love with Nisha. Sindu's first-person narration offers a great deal of compassion for Lucky's struggles as she comes to terms with her own choices and how they differ from that of Nisha, who seemingly sees no problem with continuing their affair while planning her wedding. As Lucky becomes lovesick with Nisha, she continuously asks her to make a decision: "What do you want?" or "What do you want me to do?" are recurring questions, and it becomes clear that Lucky is not only asking them of Nisha, but also herself, though neither woman knows how to answer them. In one moving passage early in the novel, Lucky articulates the dilemma of coming out: "Most people think the closet is a small room. They think you can touch the walls, touch the door, turn the handle, and walk free. But when you're inside it, the closet is vast. No walls, no door, just empty darkness stretching the length of the world." As the novel progresses, the darkness begins to take over Lucky's mind. Lucky finds herself living out one of her favorite Bollywood movies, a love story in which a man tries to win back his lover who has an arranged marriage. Lucky repeats a line from the movie—"The bride belongs to the man who brings her home"—like a talisman. As the novel progresses, it becomes increasingly uncertain whether her fantasy will come to fruition as Nisha marches through her engagement ceremonies with ritualistic certainty. A talented dancer, Lucky finds relief by rediscovering her passion for Bharatanatyam. She notes how "Dancing saved me" when she was a girl, and learns that Nisha found a similar community in her college's rugby team. Nisha introduces her to Tasha, an athletic queer woman, who allows Lucky to become more comfortable with her preference for masculine clothes and mannerisms. The juxtaposition between the openness of Tasha's friendship and Lucky's secrets heighten the tension between Lucky and Nisha. Lucky's actions prove inscrutable to her...

Including Trans Women Athletes in Competitive Sport

In this paper, we examine the scientific, legal, and ethical foundations for inclusion of transgender women athletes in competitive sport, drawing on IOC principles and relevant Court of Arbitration for Sport decisions. We argue that the inclusion of trans athletes in competition commensurate with their legal gender is the most consistent position with these principles of fair and equitable sport. Biological restrictions, such as endogenous testosterone limits, are not consistent with IOC and CAS principles. We explore the implications for recognizing that endogenous testosterone values are a ‘natural physical trait’ and that excluding legally recognized women for high endogenous testosterone values constitutes discrimination on the basis of a natural physical trait. We suggest that the justificatory burden for such prima facie discrimination is unlikely to be met. Thus, in place of a limit on endogenous testosterone for women (whether cisgender, transgender, or intersex), we argue that ‘legally recognized gender’ is most fully in line with IOC and CAS principles.

Esporte, gênero e ideologia: a (des)construção de Ronda Rousey no comercial #PerfectNever

Neste trabalho, buscamos responder as questões:
 como as atletas do Ultimate Fighter Championship
 (UFC) são simbolicamente construídas por peças
 publicitárias? Em que medida e como essas
 construções se entrecruzam com relações de
 dominação de gênero em um esporte tradicionalmente
 considerado masculino? Analisamos e interpretamos
 o potencial ideológico e o contestatório dos sentidos
 mobilizados pelo comercial da Rebook #PerfectNever,
 protagonizado pela ex-campeã de UFC Ronda Rousey.
 Para tanto, adotamos a metodologia da hermenêutica
 de profundidade, de Thompson. Concluímos que, do
 ponto de vista das relações de gênero, o comercial é
 potencialmente subversivo e, do ponto de vista das
 relações de classe, potencialmente ideológico.

The Development of Self-Compassion Among Women Varsity Athletes

The purpose of this study was to explore factors that contributed to the development of self-compassion among highly self-compassionate women varsity athletes. More specifically, the research question was: how did women varsity athletes with high self-compassion perceive they became self-compassionate? To purposefully sample participants, 114 women varsity athletes completed the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003b). Ten athletes with high self-compassion scores then participated in individual interviews and a follow-up second interview. Data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Analysis produced three main themes that contributed to the development of self-compassion: (a) role of parents (seeking and receiving help from parents, parents teaching self-kindness, parents putting experiences in perspective); (b) gaining self-awareness; and (c) learning from others (peers, siblings, coaches, sport psychologists). These findings provide insights into the ways in which self-compassion can be learned and taught, and have implications for practitioners who work with women athletes.

AGTR2 and sprint/power performance: a case-control replication study for rs11091046 polymorphism in two ethnicities.

We aimed to replicate, in a specific athletic event cohort (only track and field) and in two different ethnicities (Japanese and East European, i.e. Russian and Polish), original findings showing the association of the angiotensin-II receptor type-2 gene (AGTR2) rs11091046 A>C polymorphism with athlete status. We compared genotypic frequencies of the AGTR2 rs11091046 polymorphism among 282 track and field sprint/power athletes (200 men and 82 women), including several national record holders and Olympic medallists (214 Japanese, 68 Russian and Polish), and 2024 control subjects (842 men and 1182 women) (804 Japanese, 1220 Russian and Polish). In men, a meta-analysis from the two combined cohorts showed a significantly higher frequency of the C allele in athletes than in controls (odds ratio: 1.62, P=0.008, heterogeneity index I2=0%). With regard to respective cohorts, C allele frequency was higher in Japanese male athletes than in controls (67.7% vs. 55.9%, P=0.022), but not in Russian/Polish male athletes (61.9% vs. 51.0%, P=0.172). In women, no significant results were obtained by meta-analysis for the two cohorts combination (P=0.850). The AC genotype frequency was significantly higher in Russian/Polish women athletes than in controls (69.2% vs. 42.1%, P=0.022), but not in Japanese women athletes (P=0.226). Our results, in contrast to previous findings, suggested by meta-analysis that the C allele of the AGTR2 rs11091046 polymorphism is associated with sprint/power track and field athlete status in men, but not in women.

Pengaruh Kecemasan Berolahraga terhadap Motivasi Berprestasi Atlet Bulutangkis Remaja di Klub J Jakarta

Badminton is the largest contributor to Indonesia's sports achievements in the international arena. High achievement motivation necessary for athletes to be able to maximize the achievement. However, there are problems of anxiety experienced by adolescent athletes PB Jaya Raya Jakarta. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of anxiety to the achievement motivation in adolescent atheletes in PB Jaya Raya Jakarta. This study uses quantitative methods with the type of causal comparative research. The study involved 158 adolescents who have been through the assessment stage of self-criticism with an age range of 15-21 years. Characteristics of the subjects in this study, namely young men and women athletes, aged 12-18 years, and active to practice. Data can be obtained using the research instrument which are then analyzed using SPSS 17. Researcher looked at the effect of self-concept on the purchase intention by using simple linear regression techniques. The analysis results, showing that the anxiety have a significant influence on the achivement motivation. The effect from self-concept by 23,3%, so there are 76.7% other factors that influence. Therefore, it is advisable to adolescent badminton athletes in order to better control the anxiety in the match and more motivated to achievement.

Young athletes return too early to knee-strenuous sport, without acceptable knee function after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the return to knee-strenuous sport rate, muscle function and subjective knee function among adolescent patients (15–20 years of age) and adult patients (21–30 years of age) 8 and 12 months, respectively, after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. It was hypothesised that no differences in outcome would be found between age groups at 8 or 12 months after ACL reconstruction.MethodsCross-sectional data from five tests of muscle function, from the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) and the Tegner Activity Scale (Tegner), performed at 8 and 12 months after a primary ACL reconstruction, were extracted from a rehabilitation outcome register. A total of 270 (51% women) athletes, aged 15–30 years, who were all involved in knee-strenuous sport prior the injury, were included at 8 months after ACL reconstruction. At 12 months 203 (51% women) were included. The return to knee-strenuous-sport rates and the rate of achieving a limb symmetry index of ≥ 90% in all five tests of muscle function, defined as recovery of muscle function, and subjective knee function scores, as measured with the KOOS, were compared between age groups.ResultsThe adolescent patients had a higher (50%) return to knee-strenuous sport rate compared with the adult patients (38%) 8 months after ACL reconstruction (p = 0.04). At the 12-month follow-up, no difference was found between the age groups; 74 and 63%, respectively. At the 8-month follow-up, 29% of the patients, in both age groups, who had returned to sport had recovered their muscle function in all five tests of muscle function. At the 12-month follow-up, the corresponding results were 20% for the adolescents and 28% for the adult patients. No difference in mean KOOS scores was found between the age groups at 8 or at 12 months after ACL reconstruction.ConclusionThe majority of young athletes make an early return to knee-strenuous sport after a primary ACL reconstruction, without recovering their muscle function. To set realistic expectations, clinicians are recommended to ensure that young athletes receive information about not to return before muscle function is recovered and that this may take longer time than 12 months.Level of evidenceII.

Malt Beverage Brand Popularity Among Youth and Youth-Appealing Advertising Content.

This study examined whether alcohol brands more popular among youth are more likely to have aired television advertisements that violated the alcohol industry's voluntary code by including youth-appealing content. We obtained a complete list of 288 brand-specific beer advertisements broadcast during the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's and women's basketball tournaments from 1999 to 2008. All ads were rated by a panel of health professionals using a modified Delphi method to assess the presence of youth-appealing content in violation of the alcohol industry's voluntary code. The ads represented 23 alcohol brands. The popularity of these brands was operationalized as the brand-specific popularity of youth alcohol consumption in the past 30days, as determined by a 2011 to 2012 national survey of underage drinkers. Brand-level popularity was used as the exposure variable to predict the odds of having advertisements with youth-appealing content violations. Accounting for other covariates and the clustering of advertisements within brands, increased brand popularity among underage youth was associated with significantly increased odds of having youth-appeal content violations in ads televised during the NCAA basketball tournament games (adjusted odds ratio=1.70, 95% CI: 1.38, 2.09). Alcohol brands popular among underage drinkers are more likely to air television advertising that violates the industry's voluntary code which proscribes youth-appealing content.

The effect of oral contraceptive use on salivary testosterone concentrations and athlete performance during international field hockey matches

ObjectivesTo investigate the effect of oral contraceptive (OC) use on salivary testosterone (sal-T) concentrations and performance-related statistics in international field hockey matches. DesignA cohort observational study with repeated measures. MethodsTwenty-three elite female athletes were monitored across four international field hockey matches over a nine-day period. Salivary T was assessed 45min before each match and several match performance statistics were collated; load (i.e. ratings of perceived exertion×playing time), video-derived positive actions (PA) and negative actions (NA), plus coach and player ratings of performance. The sal-T and match performance profiles of OC (n=7) and Non-OC (n=16) players were compared and predictive relationships tested. ResultsPre-match sal-T concentrations were 35% higher in the Non-OC than the OC group (p=0.001), representing a large effect size (ES) difference of 0.96. The OC and Non-OC groups did not differ on any performance statistic (p≥0.348) with ES differences from −0.22 to 0.11. Salivary T was positively related to the number of PA during match play (p=0.017). Additional linkage between sal-T and NA emerged, but with opposing slopes (p=0.008) in the OC (B=−1.783, p=0.030) and Non-OC (B=0.692, p=0.127) groups. ConclusionsOC usage by elite women athletes was accompanied by lower sal-T concentrations, but the performance outputs of the OC and Non-OC groups were similar. This suggests that the T differences had no impact on match performance. On an individual (population-averaged) level, sal-T was associated with PA and NA during these matches, though the response curves predicting NA differed for OC and Non-OC athletes.

La imagen de la mujer en la prensa deportiva digital: análisis de las portadas de as.com y marca.com

This paper analyze the image of women in the two most widely read sports digital media Spain. On the covers of as.com and marca.com 5,105 photographs have been counted. Only in 2.45% of the images analyzed we found a woman athlete. In six out of ten photos we see some sort of sexual connotation.

Strong Women Never Mumble: Female Athlete Attitudes About Sexual Consent.

Research demonstrating the effect of sports' hypermasculine culture on athlete attitudes about sexual consent primarily focuses on men. Female athletes routinely engage with the same culture but their beliefs about sexual communication are rarely examined. This study examines the unique ways that athletic norms of hegemonic masculinity intersect with embodied lived experiences to influence female athletes' perceptions of consent communication. Data were gathered from surveys and focus group interviews at a midsized university in the Northeast. The findings indicate that athletic women place emphasis on confidently saying "no" in ambiguous sexual situations. Data also show that female athletes' attitudes about sexual consent differ from their nonathletic peers even though both groups experience many of the same sexual pressures. The research demonstrates how athletic women's gendered practices are constituted by their status as women and as athletes and suggests that future training programs should aim to incorporate perspectives of women athletes.

The Effect of Physical Activity Agains The Telomere Length in The Leukocytes Cells of KONI (Indonesian National Sports Committee) Athletes

<p><br /> Telomeres are strands of non coding DNA at the ends of chromosomes that have the primary function to protect DNA from damage and maintain chromosomal stability. Physical exercise will increase the antioxidant activity can increase telomere proteins, lengthen telomeres and or protein networks associated with telomere so that the telomere remains long, or stopping telomere shortening. Telomere length was also associated with age. The purpose of the research was to determine telomere length of leukocyte cells in the KONI athletes in Jakarta,<br /> The research method is descriptive, by measuring telomere length using quantitative PCR on leukocyte cells. Samples are KONI athletes from several sports, including men and women athletes, with ages between 15-20 years. Used a control group (not athletes) is students of the Faculty of Medicine, University of YARSI. The results showed that there was no significant difference (p> 0.05) between telomere length group of athletes with the control group in both sexes. Similarly, telomere length between athlete male with female athletes also showed no significant difference (p> 0.05). It was concluded that physical exercise in athletes KONI at the age of 15- 20 years had no effect on telomere length in leukocytes. The results of this study provide information about the telomere length in Indonesian athletes at an early age</p>

Perceptions From Women Athletic Trainers Who Have Departed the Traditional Setting in Athletic Training

Women athletic trainers leave the profession of athletic training after the age of 28. The reasons appear complex, but are not well defined in the literature, as many studies examine intent, not actual attrition. We used a descriptive qualitative study with a general inductive approach. Twelve females (4 single with no children, 5 married with children, and 3 married with no children) who left the profession of athletic training between the ages of 28 and 35 participated. Attrition from athletic training for our participants was triggered by organizational, individual, and sociocultural factors. These can be broken down to four main themes of family values, work-life imbalance, sexism, and financial concerns.

Women on ice - gender equalization

In the last decades the women started to do sports which were originally masculine (Pfister, 1990). The parity led to the slow transformation of the old-school thinking about the traditional roles of sexes (Hall, 1996). The main questions of our investigation were whether the athletes’ thought of the figure skating and the ice hockey are different according to their sport or to the existing stereotypes in the Hungarian sport society. We used semi-structured interviews to gather opinions of two different gender type icy sports’ top women athletes (figure skating and ice hockey) to see their viewpoints about the gender equalization. We can verify Metheny (1965) findings, that the social acceptance or refusal of women in sports on the basis of traditional features is changing slightly. Research questions were: Are there differences in the childhood sport socialization processes of the representatives of the two sports? What was the motivation behind their choice of sports? Are there differences in the gender identities of female athletes? What is the athletes’ opinion on one another and the representatives of the other sport? Method was semi-structured in-depth interviews and the samples were the members of the Hungarian women ice hockey and figure skating national team. According to our results family and siblings were decisive in the childhood socialization process. Early age patterns do not seem to have much influence on the selection of sport. Although among water polo/ice hockey girls there were a few tomboys. Among the ice hockey team members there were girlish girls and boyish girls as well, but among the figure skaters there were no one who was boyish. No differences can be observed in their views on gender roles concerning for example employment or housework.
 JEL Code: Z29

Serum androgen profile and physical performance in women Olympic athletes

BackgroundThe role of endogenous androgens for body composition and physical performance in women athletes is still not elucidated.AimTo examine the serum androgen profile in relation to body composition and physical...

FIFA's double hijabophobia: A colonialist and Islamist alliance racializing Muslim women soccer players

This paper focuses on FIFA's ‘hijab ban’ crisis, or the disqualification of the Iranian women's national soccer team from the 2012 Olympics because the players wore a head cover. Utilizing Arab, Muslim and anti-racist feminist theories, I analyze a colonialist and Islamist patriarchal alliance built on two gendering and racializing logics. I refer to these overlapping logics as ‘double hijabophobia.’ Both FIFA and Muslim-majority nations used medicalized and cultural notions of the hijab, safety and dress laws. Double hijabophobia denies Muslim women players their bodily integrity and excludes them from world football. This analysis also recognizes Muslim women athletes who are working to overcome colonialist and Islamist racializing and gendering logics in sport.

Dressed to play: An analysis of gender relations in college women’s ultimate Frisbee

This research examines how college women athletes negotiate gender in the space and context of ultimate Frisbee. The data for this project come from ethnographic research, group interviews, and one-on-one interviews that were conducted while participating on a college women’s ultimate Frisbee team at a large, southeastern public university. Currently, the college ultimate Frisbee series in the United States does not include a mixed or coed division in the college series. Therefore, this work focuses on the following three key processes in college women’s ultimate Frisbee: the attire, the language, and the formation of a supportive community. Findings indicate that these women perform gender identities throughout the culture of college women’s ultimate Frisbee that reshape normative gender relations often found in mainstream sporting culture. These athletes create a sense of comfort by bridging the gap between “female” and “athlete” within this competitive sport. This context allows for a spectrum of gender identities, resulting in less restrictive gendered relations in sport. This work contributes an important conceptualization of gender in sport. It highlights how gender is fluid, adaptable but also a form of resistance. College women’s ultimate Frisbee is a space where hegemonic identities are negotiated and transformed.

Exploring the complexities of community attitudes towards women’s rugby: Multiplicity, continuity and change in Fiji’s hegemonic rugby discourse

Negative societal pressures against women’s participation in traditionally male-dominated sports like rugby are widely acknowledged, but little empirical research has investigated community attitudes associated with such participation, especially in non-Western contexts. This article presents exploratory insights into community attitudes towards women’s rugby in Fiji with a focus on athletic young women, who do not play rugby but are physically active, and their ‘gatekeepers’ or those in positions of influence over athletic young women’s sport-related decision-making. Based on a questionnaire survey ( n = 160) and focus groups, the article identifies significant diversity, possible change, and persisting disapproval in community perceptions of women’s participation in rugby. From these findings, the article also draws some insights into the changing dynamics of women’s rugby as a site of hegemonic struggle.

Competition-related testosterone, cortisol, and perceived personal success in recreational women athletes

Thirty-five women participating in one or more intramural flag-football games provided saliva samples before, immediately after, and 10min after competition and completed an after-competition questionnaire appraising their own performance during the game. As seen in other studies of elite athletes, these recreational athletes, on average, showed significant elevations in testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) across the competition period – the “competition effect”. In winners and losers, T levels at all time points measured were positively related to athletes' appraisals of their own individual performance. Results from this study show that the competition effect for T and C is evident in recreational women athletes and provide preliminary evidence about the relationship between cognitive appraisal and competition-related T levels.

The queen of the sports with the eyes of the women

The media plays a very important role in the gender socialization as in the sport selection also, in which the individual is born,. We want to introduce those disciplines through the development of more studies are in athletics not least, belonged to a man's privilege. The emergence of women in a variety of masculine competitions has enabled the track and field sport turned into both gender sport. The masculinity and feminity separation in sport is increasingly disappear and become neutral. In our study, we analyze the changes in women's athletics point of view of history, in some disciplines for women and the availability of representatives assessment of Hungary. We based on Methenys categorization in 1965, and Bem's study, written in 1974, and examined women's branch of track and field sports acknowledgment and acceptance focused on the masculine category.