Dressed for success or undermining the achievement? Material culture of recreational sporting events for women in Sweden

Abstract

This article explores meaning-making and performances of femininity through material culture among ordinary women who engage in recreational sports races for women in Sweden, and the discursive effects for individual participants, and society at large. Positioned within a framework of discourse theory and poststructuralism, the study is based on a multi-method approach in data collection of written and oral accounts of race participants, auto-ethnographical notes, and material objects. The exploration shows that the female participants’ usage of sportswear and gear points to stereotypical gender identities that are tied to women’s shopping practices, which discursively undermine the physical achievement, while creating a female sports community. Linked to social class and resources, women can learn how to enhance their athletic practices and become proper athletes with the help of sporting clothes and gear–even when their bodies are weak, aged or malfunctioning.