Challenging color blindness in sport : women deconstructing whiteness

Intersections within and between sport, race, and gender, underpinned by critical whiteness theory are here elucidated and problematized. In an apparent “post pandemic world” where sports at the individual and community level are positioned as contexts through which communities can be strengthened, and hegemonic power relations and their normalizing affects might be meaningfully challenged. Drawing from an intersectionality lens and forwarding a strengths and hope perspective, the proceeding chapter offers a critical engagement with case examples of how racial and gendered stereotypes are constructed, reproduced, and increasingly challenged and dislodged in recreational and elite sport settings. Positioned as “bright lights” these examples also attend to how more inclusive sport futures might be imagined and realized. Through the chapter three recreation/sport-focused case studies are presented. The first case the “Matildas” (the Australian women’s football team) is considered through engaging with and elevating the voices and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders players and those with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. While player diversity and inclusion are celebrated, the scrutinization of non-white athletic bodies remains deeply problematic. In the second case, notwithstanding the Commonwealth Games’ complex racial and gendered histories, we explore how the Games might provide an impactful platform for reconciliatory efforts where strengths can be shared and hopes realized. The final case considers the “Swim Sisters,” a group in Sydney consisting mainly of Muslim women. The group discusses navigating and pushing against the boundaries of what is considered the “norm” in Australian swimming making space in what is a traditionally White Anglo domain.