Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2002-12
The Social Construction of Female and Male High School Basketball Participation: Reproducing the Gender Order through a Two-Tiered Sporting Institution
Qualitative interviews explore the meanings increased female participation in basketball have for a sample of basketball players from three high schools. To what extent are post–Title IX female inroads into sport challenging and/or reproducing the gender order? How do girls and boys give meaning to the successes and failures of girls' and boys' basketball teams and athletics? The social processes reproducing a two-tiered basketball institution at the high school level are illustrated (i.e., emphasis on playing differences, undervaluing of girls' contributions, policing of normative gender expectations). This research suggests that both girls and boys are complicit in supporting the gender order. It illustrates how challenges to the gender order signified by females' increased participation in “male-identified” sports are appropriated. Modifiable social processes for gender equity education in sport are identified as important to support Title IX legal access.
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