Rethinking Gender and Youth Sport

Much writing on gender and sport is focused upon the negative impact of girls' exclusion from the arena, suggesting by inference that current practice in sport and physical education offers an uncomplicatedly positive sport experience for boys, and that gender, in and of itself, offers a simple starting point for research into young people's experience of sport. Rethinking Gender and Youth Sport articulates certain themes which, it is suggested, might contribute to broadening and furthering discussion in the area of gender, youth sport and physical activity. This collection considers a number of themes relating to gender in sport, including: - the body - competence, ability and school physical education - cultural change and diversity - gendered spaces - human rights and well-being. Authoritative writers have contributed thought provoking chapters which will prompt the reader to re-think the ways in which gender is understood within the context of youth sport.

Ian Wellard is Head of the Centre for Physical Education Research, Canterbury Christ Church University.

1. Introduction Ian Wellard 2. Physical Education, Physical Activity, Sport and Gender Dawn Penney 3. Embodied Identities: Boxing Masculinities Kath Woodward 4. Girls, Bodies and Pain: Negotiating the Body in Ballet Angela Pickard 5. Being 'Able' in a Performative Culture: Physical Education's Contribution to a Healthy Interest in Sport? John Evans, Emma Rich, Rachel Allwood and Brian Davies 6. Inflexible Bodies and Minds: Exploring Gendered Limits in Contemporary Sport, Physical Education and Dance Ian Wellard 7. Gender and Secondary School NCPE: Change Alongside Continuity Ken Green, Andy Smith, Miranda Thurston and Kevin Lamb 8. (Hetero)sexy Waves: Surfing, Space, Gender and Sexuality Gordon Waitt 9. Sport, Well-Being and Gender Richard Bailey, Andrew Bloodworth and Mike McNamee