Balancing Acts: Women in Sport: Essays on Power, Performance, Bodies & Love

A collection of non-fiction pieces from more than 20 contributors that explores women’s range of experiences with sport and sporting culture in Australia. Focusing on a critically under-represented part of Australian culture—specifically the myriad ways non-male participants negotiate the traditionally male spectacle of athleticism—this collection interrogates the way sporting bodies and achievements are portrayed in Australian media and culture. Understanding the term ‘sport’ in the broadest possible sense, and applying the definition of ‘women’ in the same way (to include trans, gender diverse, non-binary, intersex and otherwise non-cis women, as well as from and/or about queer, lesbian, and bisexual women), these essays examine the way women athletes’ experience are marginalised and under-reported, and attempt to de-centre the status quo of sports writing and commentary as dominated by male perspectives and expertise. The pieces in the book take literary, historical, narrative, critical, experimental and personal approaches to their subject matter, as well as several that make use of reportage and interviews. Topics include: - the sexualisation of women in surfing culture; - the marginalisation of women in boxing; - feminine performativity in ballet; - life as an AFL spectator; - structural disadvantage as experienced by a cyclist; - social soccer's ins and outs; - the power relations between female athletes and coaches; - female-identifying athletes’ experience of homophobia; - the aesthetics of televised sports.