Characteristics Of Mixed Netball

Lorber notes, “images of modern women athletes tend to focus on feminine beauty and grace (so they are not really athletes) or on their thin, small wiry androgynous bodies (so they are not really women)’ (1992:43), while images of male athletes tend to focus on strength and power (Tagg 2008: 410). Connell (2002) suggests that “people typically take gender for granted in everyday life and assume that gender differences and gender relations are natural (as cited by Tagg 2008:410)”. Research into gender inequalities in sport is sparse, and those studies that do exist have come predominantly from male-focused studies, only two studies exist on male participation in netball and just one on mixed netball. Netball has traditionally been played by

For this ethnography, I am particularly interested in two broad questions 1. What are the gendered characteristics of mixed netball? 2. What is the culture of mixed netball?

In my observations/interviews I found that neither the females nor males expressed any barriers to participation in mixed netball. Tagg (2008) suggests that in recent years male participation in netball has become more widely accepted, despite the games long history of being a female dominated sport. When asked what his opinion was of men playing mixed netball, Andrew said

It’s a bit of fun. I like it. My girlfriend plays too, she has played for years...she is a much better player than me. I have sisters, they play too, not on my team, but you know, when they were kids. My mum was involved in their team. I wasn’t interested back then, I played rugby....Dad came along to

Cath’s response is interesting as it highlights anti-social behaviours amongst female players at school competition level. She also says she feels “more self conscious” playing with men, even though Andrew says that the girls are more skilled at the game. When asked about what their mates think about men playing netball Andrew said

(laughs)..My mates play on the team too. The guys play hard... Like throwing the ball hard to the other blokes. Putting the elbow in, pushing...The girls have more experience...they know the