'Jumping like a girl': Discursive silences, exclusionary practices, and the controversy over women's ski jumping

dc.contributor.authorLaurendeau, Jason
dc.contributor.authorAdams, Carly
dc.date.accessioned2012-10-02T18:08:57Z
dc.date.available2012-10-02T18:08:57Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.descriptionSherpa Romeo green journal. Permission to archive accepted author manuscript
dc.description.abstractThis paper considers the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision to deny women the opportunity to compete in ski jumping at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing on a feminist Foucauldian framework, we suggest that the Olympics is a discourse that constructs excellence and fairness as “within the true,” with the IOC protesting that this recent decision is not about gender, but about the upholding of Olympic ideals. We interrogate three conspicuous absences in this discourse, each of which trouble the IOC’s claim that this decision is not evidence of gender discrimination. In particular, we contextualize this decision within the risk discourses upon which the IOC has historically drawn on denying women’s participation in particular Olympic events, arguing that the discursive silence around the issue of risk points to “old wine in new bottles” as the IOC dresses up the same paternalistic practices in new garb. We conclude with a consideration of these discursive structures as more than simply oppressive of women. Instead, they may also be understood as indicative of the ‘problem’ posed by women, especially those who threaten the gender binary that pervades many sporting structures. Finally, these structures signal opportunities for resistance and subversion as women act to shed light on the discursive silences upon which structures of domination rest.en_US
dc.description.peer-reviewYesen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipA portion of this paper was presented at the the 9th International Symposium for Olympic Research, Beijing, China, in August, 2008. Thanks to those attending this session for their helpful observations and suggestions. Our thanks as well to Mary Louise Adams, Dayna Daniels, Michelle Helstein, Claudia Malacrida, and the Sport in Society reviewers for their insightful comments throughout the development of this paper. We would also like to acknowledge the Revelstoke Museum and Archives for their assistance with this project.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLaurendeau, J. and C. Adams. (2010). 'Jumping like a girl’: Discursive silences, exclusionary practices and the controversy over women’s ski jumping. Sport in Society, 13(3), 431-447. DOI: 10.1080/17430431003588051en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/3139
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherTaylor and Francisen_US
dc.publisher.departmentSociology Department
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Lethbridgeen_US
dc.publisher.urlhttps://doi.org/10.1080/17430431003588051
dc.subjectSki jumpingen_US
dc.subjectWomen's ski jumpingen_US
dc.subjectInternational Olympic Committeeen_US
dc.title'Jumping like a girl': Discursive silences, exclusionary practices, and the controversy over women's ski jumpingen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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