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The labeling of different activities as feminine and masculine is largely a social construction based on stereotyped expectations regarding gender and perceived gender differences, Sports have generally been labeled as masculine, although some sports are considered to be feminine. Suggestions based on theoretical considerations have been made about the features that may underlie the categorization of sports as feminine or masculine. The goal of this study was to examine what men and women perceive to be characteristic of different sports and of the participants of these sports. The purpose was also to examine whether these perceptions could be related to beliefs about gender appropriateness regarding sport participation. The results revealed that sports categorized as gender-neutral, feminine, and masculine, were perceived as different on several features, such as aesthetics and femininity, danger and risk, speed, and masculinity. These perceptions are in accordance with stereotyped expectations of femininity and masculinity and could explain the perceptions of some sports as feminine or masculine.
Certain tasks and activities have traditionally been assigned to men and others to women, that is, they have been considered to be masculine or feminine activities. These categorizations are to a large extent social constructions based on our expectations regarding gender, and on our beliefs that gender categories are natural, unambiguous, bipolar, static, and individual. They are also grounded in our perceptions of differences between these gender categories. These assumptions about gender and gender categories are in turn based on socially constructed, historically specific, and cultural representations of the social interactions that occur among gendered individuals through their relations to each other. These concepts and constructs are thereby sometimes subject to change (e.g., Acker, 1990, 1999; Lorber, 1994).
Sport has traditionally been regarded as primarily a male territory (e.g., Birrell, 1983; Birrell & Theberge, 1994; Lenskyj, 1990; Matteo, 1986; Messner, 1988,1990a, 1990b; Pedersen & Kono, 1990; Snyder & Spreitzer, 1983). It has been suggested that sport is a representation of the sociocultural system in which it occurs and that sports reflect, as well as reproduce, the attitudes, beliefs, rituals, and values of the societies in which they are developed. It is therefore argued that sport has been, and continues to be, a site for the construction, reconstruction, strengthening, and naturalization of perceived gender differences,...