2 research outputs found
Women, sport and new media technologies:Derby grrrls online
Sport has long been viewed as a public âgoodâ â a space for the creation and enactment of the âgood, healthy citizenâ. Yet this public âgoodâ has also been gendered masculine: competitive, public and âtoughâ, with womenâs participation historically marginal to menâs. In Australia in recent years, the participation of women and girls has fluctuated, with decline or stagnation in more traditional organised sports (netball, basketball) and growth in other areas, such as roller derby and football. However, womenâs sports are still largely invisible in the popular sport media. In this chapter we focus on roller derby as one particular womenâs sport that has undergone a global revival, mobilised through ânewâ youth-oriented media forms. We examine four diverse websites that form part of the âsocial webâ of derby: two official league sites, a blog and a Facebook group. The reinvention of roller derby is intimately connected to the alternative mediated spaces made possible by the social web. Roller derby players and organisers have used online spaces for various ends: to promote the sport community, to make visible the relations of power between those involved, to create and maintain boundaries of inclusion and exclusion within the sport, and to express âcreativeâ aspects of identity. This chapter provides examples of the strategies and tactics used to establish and maintain roller derby as a âwomenâs onlyâ sport and some of the challenges and possibilities inherent in this highly mediated space.No Full Tex