Femininities, sport and physical culture in postfeminist, neoliberal times

This chapter details the significance and relevance of a critical engagement with post-, neoliberal and popular feminist discourses to studies of the female moving body, sport and fitness. It establishes a framework through which to approach emerging writing in this field by evaluating how feminist critiques of postfeminism, neoliberal feminism and popular feminisms can transform and reorient established paradigms through which sporting femininity has been traditionally theorised. It outlines the utility of these approaches for feminists seeking to respond to the cultural conditions under which athletic women and girls come to understand and engage in physical activity and the sporting domain, and reflects on the impacts of postfeminist and neoliberal paradigms on the enactment of gender power and politics in sporting and fitness contexts.