Pedagogical and knowledgeable on ‘doing gender’ in sports and PE

Karin S. Lindelöf
Umeå University

This book is the seventh publication (since 2022) in the Sport and Society Pocketbook Teaching Series (Common Ground), which aims to be an accessible introduction to concepts, theories and topics within sport history and sport sociology, for educational purposes as well as for everybody interested in sports. As an academic teacher and researcher with a great interest in public outreach activities, I really appreciate these kinds of initiatives where scientific knowledge finds its way to a broad audience. In addition to the printed edition, there is also an electronic version and a link to extra online materials. Unfortunately, I did not manage to find this material, and I had also much appreciated a QR code in the printed edition instead of manually having to write the link into my browser. Anyway, the series seems to be a great idea.

The author Håkan Larsson is one of the pioneers within Swedish sports studies with a gender theoretical perspective, and has, since his doctoral studies in the 1990s (Larsson 1998 & 2001), continued to build on this field of research – not least through supervision of a number of PhD theses in sports studies with feminist and queer perspectives. Thus, he is well suited to take on this task of presenting the topic of gender performativity in sports and physical education to a broader sports studies audience.

Anyway, Larsson’s initial presentation of concepts and definitions within gender theory is simple and clear, and as a reader I feel like an undergraduate student listening to an introductory lecture on the topic.

The book starts with a self-reflexive comment about the author’s own childhood and privileged position as a white, middle class, heterosexual, cis man. The introduction also claims to present ‘new perspectives’ of doing gender and gender performativity to the field of sports. Here I want to protest: these are not new perspectives in research but have been around since the 1990s in gender studies and almost as long in sports studies, but might be a bit newer in relation to sports practices. Anyway, Larsson’s initial presentation of concepts and definitions within gender theory is simple and clear, and as a reader I feel like an undergraduate student listening to an introductory lecture on the topic. It is obvious that Larsson is a knowledgeable, pedagogical and inspiring teacher. The introduction is overly correct, but perhaps not very rich in nuances, and I miss some references to research.

Then the author presents an interesting section on movement cultures within competitive sports and physical education, which partly overlap, but differ in aims and purposes (to win competitions and set records in the former case, and to learn how to live a healthy life in the latter). This is followed by a section where he sets the scene for the rest of the book, presenting the role of gender and sexuality in sports and physical education, gender segregation in sports, the strength of gender norms, et cetera. Larsson introduces the doing gender/gender performativity perspectives with reference to the works of West and Zimmermann (1987) and Butler (1990, 1993), and states that ‘The gradual acceptance of other life forms than cis-gendered heterosexual ones has made clear that gender is not merely something that we “are”, but also something that we “do”’ (p. 24). In relation to this, he also brings up the possibilities to do gender ‘correctly’ or ‘incorrectly’, to queer gender, and he questions the nature–culture divide in relation to sex and gender. ‘[W]hat we assume is “biology” is oftentimes the result of gender performativity’ (p. 25), i.e., culture – cf. the famous Judith Butler quote that ‘”sex” […] was always already gender’ (Butler 1990, p. 7). This is of great importance to the field of sports and physical education, and Larsson claims that this perspective ‘opens completely new ways of understanding movement cultures and gender equity in these cultures’ (p. 25). Then he sets off to show the usefulness of ‘gender performativity as a tool to understand and change practice’ (p. 26), which is also the main purpose of the book.

The following chapters cover the historical background of sports and physical education (Chapter 2), an overview of theoretical perspectives on gender and the different ‘waves’ and ‘strands’ of feminism in research and political activism (Chapter 3), examples of gender performativity in sports and physical education, respectively (Chapters 4 and 5), examples of LGBTQI+ issues and how gender can be queered in sports and physical education (Chapter 6), and finally some conclusions and a hopeful wish for a more gender inclusive future within the field of sports (Chapter 7).

Every chapter ends with a few questions for reflection and/or discussion. While I sympathize with the ambition to inspire the readers to connect the content of the chapters to personal experiences, I sometimes wonder about the target group of these questions – and in the end, of the book in general. I find the more theoretical parts of the book well written and of great interest, but the empirical examples, mostly taken from Larsson’s own research, or his PhD students’, are sometimes less instructive for the points he tries to make – at least in relation to a more general level, that could be useful for an international audience. The book is overall knowledgeable, pedagogical, and definitely political in the best academic way: aiming to promote change and point out certain ways to try to make the world a bit better, but I cannot stop thinking that it is probably most interesting for readers within the Swedish national context.

It is a great book for students, for everyone active (in any role) within competitive sports, for physical education teachers in schools, for parents, et cetera – in Sweden and perhaps in some of the neighboring countries as well. But maybe not so much in an international setting. Partly therefore, I also very much wish that the book would have been published in Swedish instead of English. I think it would have served its mission better that way, and as it wants to reach a broad audience, including non-academics, more of them would then probably read it – leading to real change of sports practices, if only in the Swedish context. I am also quite certain – having read many brilliant texts from Larsson before – that this book is not as pleasant a read as it would have been in the author’s native language.

Nevertheless, this is a very useful book for educational and other purposes. It has many good points and illustrative examples, presents important theoretical concepts in a comprehensible way, and indeed contains very good and much needed discussions about both gender equity and trans and intersex issues in sports and physical education. I warmly recommend it.

Copyright © Karin S. Lindelöf 2025

References

Butler, Judith (1990). Gender Trouble. Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge

Butler, Judith (1993). Bodies that Matter. On the discursive limits of ‘sex’. New York: Routledge

Larsson, Håkan (1998). ‘Att bli bra, eller bara snacka med kompisar’: en studie om idrott och genus. Licentiatuppsats. Stockholm: Stockholms universitet

Larsson, Håkan (2001). Iscensättningen av kön i idrott. En nutidshistoria om idrottsmannen och idrottskvinnan. Diss. Stockholm: HLS

West, Candice & Don H. Zimmerman (1987). Doing gender. Gender & society, 1(2), p. 125–151