We use the case of a recreational college Quidditch class to examine the consequences of gender-integrated sport for gender essentialist ideology. Data include ethnographic observations and course journal data from 23 first-year undergraduates playing Quidditch over four months. While a gender-integrated sport provided numerous opportunities for participants to witness similarities in performance among men and women, we found only limited challenge to gender essentialist ideas. Despite rules intended to reduce competitiveness and physical contact, play became increasingly aggressive over time, particularly among men, and an emergent positional segregation located women in less central defensive positions. Students frequently understood these trends as the “natural” result of gender difference. Ultimately, participants’ experiences in Quidditch often drew on and solidified ideas about women’s athletic inferiority to men.
AndersonEric. 2008. “‘I Used to Think Women Were Weak’: Orthodox Masculinity, Gender Segregation, and Sport.” Sociological Forum23 (2): 257–80.
2.
ChannonAlex. 2014. “Towards the ‘Undoing’ of Gender in Mixed-Sex Martial Arts and Combat Sports.” Societies4 (4): 587–605.
3.
ChannonAlexDashperKatherineFletcherThomasLakeRobert J.2016. “The Promises and Pitfalls of Sex Integration in Sport and Physical Culture.” Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics19 (8–9): 1111–24.
4.
CoakleyJay. 2001. Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies, (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
5.
CohenAdam E.MeltonNicolePeacheyJon Welty. 2014. “Investigating a Coed Sport’s Ability to Encourage Inclusion and Equality.” Journal of Sport Management28 (2): 220–35.
6.
CohenAdamPeacheyJon Welty. 2015. “Quidditch: Impacting and Benefiting Participants in a Non-fictional Manner.” Journal of Sport & Social Issues39 (6): 521–44.
7.
CurryTimothy J.ArriagadaPaula A.CornwellBenjamin. 2002. “Images of Sport in Popular Nonsport Magazines: Power and Performance versus Pleasure and Participation.” Sociological Perspectives45 (4): 397–413.
FinkJanet S.LaVoiNicole M.NewhallKristine E.2016. “Challenging the Gender Binary? Male Basketball Practice Players’ Views of Female Athletes and Women’s Sports.” Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media Politics19 (8–9): 1316–31.
10.
Francombe-WebbJessicaPalmerLaura. 2018. “Footballing Femininities: The Lived Experiences of Young Females Negotiating “The Beautiful Game.” In New Sporting Femininities: Embodied Politics in Postfeminist Times, edited by ToffolettiKimThorpeHollyFrancombe-WebbJessica, 179–203. Palgrave Macmillan.
11.
GillRosalind. 2016. “Post-Postfeminism? New Feminist Visibilities in Postfeminist Times.” Feminist Media Studies16 (4): 610–30.
12.
HenryJacques M.ComeauxHoward P.1999. “Gender Egalitarianism in Coed Sport: A Case Study of American Soccer.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport34 (3): 277–90.
13.
KaneMary Jo. 1995. “Resistance/Transformation of the Oppositional Binary: Exposing Sport as a Continuum.” Journal of Sport & Social Issues19 (2): 191–218.
14.
LincolnYvonna S.GubaEgon. 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. New York: SAGE.
15.
LoveAdamKellyKimberly. 2011. “Equity or Essentialism? U.S. Courts and the Legitimation of Girls’ Teams in High School Sport.” Gender & Society25 (2): 227–49.
16.
MacleanChloe. 2016. “Friendships Worth Fighting for: Bonds between Women and Men Karate Practitioners as Sites for Deconstructing Gender Inequality.” Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics19 (8–9): 1374–84.
17.
MessnerMichael A.2011. “Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports, and the Production of Soft Essentialism.” Sociology of Sport Journal28 (2): 151–70.
18.
MessnerMichael A.2009. It’s All for the Kids: Gender, Families, and Youth Sports. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
19.
MessnerMichael A.2000. “Barbie Girls versus Sea Monsters: Children Constructing Gender.” Gender & Society14 (6): 765–84.
20.
PriyadharshiniEstherPresslandAmy. 2016. “Doing Femininities and Masculinities in a “Feminized” Sporting Arena: The Case of Mixed-Sex Cheerleading.” Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics18 (8–9): 1234–48.
21.
RichardsK.AndrewR.HemphillMichael A.. 2018. “A Practical Guide to Collaborative Qualitative Data Analysis.” Journal of Teaching in Physical Education37 (2): 225–31.
22.
RidgewayCecilia L.2009. “Framed Before We Know It: How Gender Shapes Social Relations.” Gender & Society23 (2): 145–60.
23.
RigdaRyan S.2016. “Creating Equality through Quidditch: A Rhetorical Analysis of Quidditch Blogs.” In Wizards vs. Muggles: Essays on Identity and the Harry Potter Universe, edited by BellChristopher E., 217–32. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
24.
RismanBarbara J.2018. Where the Millennials Will Take Us: A New Generation Wrestles with the Gender Structure. New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
ScarboroughWilliam J.SinRayRismanBarbara. 2019. “Attitudes and the Stalled Gender Revolution: Egalitarianism, Traditionalism, and Ambivalence from 1977 through 2016.” Gender & Society33 (2): 173–200.
26.
SchrijnderSuzannevan AmsterdamNoortjeMcLachlanFiona. 2020. “‘These Chicks Go Just as Hard as Us!’ (Un)doing Gender in a Dutch Crossfit Gym.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport56 (3): 382–98.
27.
SegraveJeffrey O.2016. “Challenging the Gender Binary: The Fictive and Real World of Quidditch.” Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics19 (8–9): 1299–315.
28.
StraussAnselmCorbinJuliet. 2015. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory (4th ed.). New York: SAGE.
29.
ThorpeHollyToffolettiKimBruceToni. 2017. “Sportswomen and Social Media: Bringing Third-Wave Feminism, Postfeminism, and Neoliberal Feminism into Conversation.” Journal of Sport & Social Issues41 (5): 359–83.
30.
TrauguttAlexAugustinJacobHazzaaRammi. 2018. “Perceptions of Athletic Identity: A Case Study of a Niche Club Sport.” The Qualitative Report23 (4): 875–88.
31.
TraversAnn. 2008. “The Sport Nexus and Gender Injustice.” Studies in Social Justice2 (1): 79–101.
WoodZacharias C.GarnAlex C.2016. “Leveling the Playing Field? Perspectives and Observations of Coed Intramural Flag Football Modifications.” Sociology of Sport Journal33 (3): 240–49.
