Social Identity Of Female Athletes

Introduction

Inevitably, fashion and clothing have a significant role in the construction and expressivity of one’s social identity. Fashion and clothing gives the self a sense of distinctiveness and a reflection of one’s identity, as an extension of self-expressivity and self-definition. For a female athlete, their identities are consistently being challenged by their dual disposition and situation in the larger society (cite). These female athletes battled between the thin lines of athleticism and femininity which have rendered them an ambivalent position in society. They challenged the existing gender role order while on the other hand, reinforcing the status quo by displaying traditional modes of femininity through the role of clothes as a means of expressivity and conformity (Kolnes, 1995 ). Twigg (2012) established that identity and clothing are “intimately linked” (p.1). This shows that the role of clothes had its influences exert onto female athletes and their ambivalent identities which in turns affects the different aspects of their social identities. Therefore, clothes help to magnify the changing ways in which identities are being constituted in this modern society (Twigg, 2012, p.1).

Conflicting social identities of female athletes

Deaux (2001) established numerous parts of social identity that reflect the many courses in which individuals unite with different assemblies and social categories. A label on the acquired social identity might be viewed as a painted creation with emotional association and behavioural outcomes. People often participate in their own particular and eccentric definitions of what it intend to be a specific kind of individual. As such, by acquiring an athletic identity as a woman, they ...

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...used sex appeal as empowering means. Consequently, female athletes have acquired the ability to develop and utilise the power given to them to perform femininity and yet still garner social acceptance.

Conclusion

Therefore, to what extent does the role of clothes affect the social identity of a female? It is evident that fashion and clothing has an incredible impact, as proven on how it influences the shaping of diverse identities. The phenomenon that is fashion reveals multiple and unexpected ways through which fashion and clothing is part of a significant and entangled procedure of shaping the advance and ambivalent of female athlete and their identities. Therefore, fashion and clothing not only help to reveal multiple ways in shaping the identities of female athletes, it enables them to embody their clothing, giving them a sense of empowerment and individuality.