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Balancing Acts: Women in Sport: Essays on Power, Performance, Bodies & Love
A collection of non-fiction pieces from more than 20 contributors that explores women’s range of experiences with sport and sporting culture in Australia.
Focusing on a critically under-represented part of Australian culture—specifically the myriad ways non-male participants negotiate the traditionally male spectacle of athleticism—this collection interrogates the way sporting bodies and achievements are portrayed in Australian media and culture.
Understanding the term ‘sport’ in the broadest possible sense, and applying the definition of ‘women’ in the same way (to include trans, gender diverse, non-binary, intersex and otherwise non-cis women, as well as from and/or about queer, lesbian, and bisexual women), these essays examine the way women athletes’ experience are marginalised and under-reported, and attempt to de-centre the status quo of sports writing and commentary as dominated by male perspectives and expertise.
The pieces in the book take literary, historical, narrative, critical, experimental and personal approaches to their subject matter, as well as several that make use of reportage and interviews. Topics include:
- the sexualisation of women in surfing culture;
- the marginalisation of women in boxing;
- feminine performativity in ballet;
- life as an AFL spectator;
- structural disadvantage as experienced by a cyclist;
- social soccer's ins and outs;
- the power relations between female athletes and coaches;
- female-identifying athletes’ experience of homophobia;
- the aesthetics of televised sports.
Focusing on a critically under-represented part of Australian culture—specifically the myriad ways non-male participants negotiate the traditionally male spectacle of athleticism—this collection interrogates the way sporting bodies and achievements are portrayed in Australian media and culture.
Understanding the term ‘sport’ in the broadest possible sense, and applying the definition of ‘women’ in the same way (to include trans, gender diverse, non-binary, intersex and otherwise non-cis women, as well as from and/or about queer, lesbian, and bisexual women), these essays examine the way women athletes’ experience are marginalised and under-reported, and attempt to de-centre the status quo of sports writing and commentary as dominated by male perspectives and expertise.
The pieces in the book take literary, historical, narrative, critical, experimental and personal approaches to their subject matter, as well as several that make use of reportage and interviews. Topics include:
- the sexualisation of women in surfing culture;
- the marginalisation of women in boxing;
- feminine performativity in ballet;
- life as an AFL spectator;
- structural disadvantage as experienced by a cyclist;
- social soccer's ins and outs;
- the power relations between female athletes and coaches;
- female-identifying athletes’ experience of homophobia;
- the aesthetics of televised sports.
- GenresNonfiction
357 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 16, 2019
Active women can change the world, Brunette Lenkić wrote in her essay on physicality and womanhood in Balancing Acts: Women In Sport, asking the question: but what are bodies for? and there wasn’t a single moment while reading it where I didn’t feel a part of some larger, tight-knit team. There’s something compelling about getting immersed in a collection so rich and apt if you—like me—live between the goalposts of what it means to be good, to be female. Themes included: carrying gender within the vessel of flesh, bones limbs, organs and race (see: Ellen van Neerven’s Australia is Open: To Hold! Receive! Take!), display, performance and growth (see: Gina Rushton’s Yoga Poses and Nicole Hayes’s From the Outer—And Back Again), what it means to be a constant spectacle, the body as a means to convey some larger truth (see: Danielle Warby’s Out on Instagram, Nadia Bailey’s Pas de Quatre, Rebecca Slater’s A Coach’s Hands, a Woman’s Body and Charlotte Guest’s The Thing About Sport and Poetry is That They’re Kind of Similar), and the poison that can be found in the male gaze (see: Stephanie King’s Becoming-Object, or: Body as Body of Work and Holly Isemonger’s Surfing is My Feminist Origin Story).
September 7, 2018
This heartfelt, angry, adoring, challenging collection of essays is absolutely fascinating. As a non-sports fan I feel that it opened the lid on a surprising community of whip smart writers who welcome the reader into their world. An important read that helped me reflect on and crystallise my own opinions about women in sport.
February 24, 2019
3.5 stars
I wanted to love this book more than I did. I did love some of the essays, some were less interesting for me.
My favourite essays were:
Australia is Open: To Hold! Receive! Take by Ellen van Neervan
Pas De Quatre by Nadia Bailey
The Thing About Sport and Poetry is That They're Kind of Similar by Charlotte Guest
All in the Bounce by Kate Doak
Cheering on the Boys by Savannah Indigo
I wanted to love this book more than I did. I did love some of the essays, some were less interesting for me.
My favourite essays were:
Australia is Open: To Hold! Receive! Take by Ellen van Neervan
Pas De Quatre by Nadia Bailey
The Thing About Sport and Poetry is That They're Kind of Similar by Charlotte Guest
All in the Bounce by Kate Doak
Cheering on the Boys by Savannah Indigo
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January 19, 2020A really good, interesting, diverse collection. I loved the contributions from:
- Brunette Lenkić
- Ellen van Neerven
- Gina Rushton
- Jodi McAllister
- Kasey Symons
- Nicole Hayes
- Brunette Lenkić
- Ellen van Neerven
- Gina Rushton
- Jodi McAllister
- Kasey Symons
- Nicole Hayes
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews