[In Press] Trans*, female bodybuilding and racial equality : narratives from a Hong Kong Chinese gender-fluid bodybuilder

Bonnie Pang, Denise Tse-Shang Tang, Siufung Law

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article examines the construction of femininity and sexuality, specifically as trans* intersect with race/ethnicity, in sport. The third author (S.F.’s) lived experiences as a Hong Kong Chinese gender-fluid bodybuilder who competes in international women’s bodybuilding contests serve as an impetus to examine cultural norming and marginalization in professional sport. Narrative analysis and autobiographical memory are used to understand SF’s construction of identities in relation to her 1 sociocultural environment and as a political process that alerts us to the power structures that permit certain stories to be told while silencing others. Specifically, this article problematizes how professional women bodybuilders are being constructed as objects that are expected to embody Whiteness and ‘authentic heightened femininity’. It highlights how the intersection of genderfluidity, race/ethnicity and bodybuilding defy dominant understandings of what is aesthetically, experientially and physically acceptable within the ‘norm’ in both ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’, and masculine and feminine worlds. The discussion aims to provide implications to moving beyond the enduring binary gendered, racialized and sexual assumptions in women sport.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages13
JournalSport\, Education and Society
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Open Access - Access Right Statement

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way

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