‘It Feels Like a Big Performance’: Space, Performativity and Young Woman Skateboarders1

Carrie Paechter, Lyndsey Stoodley, Michael Keenan and Chris Lawton
Additional contact information
Carrie Paechter: Nottingham Trent University, UK
Lyndsey Stoodley: Independent Academic, UK
Michael Keenan: Nottingham Trent University, UK
Chris Lawton: Skateboard GB, UK

Sociological Research Online, 2024, vol. 29, issue 4, 947-964

Abstract: In this article, we apply philosophical and sociological theory to consider how young women skateboarders interact with and are affected by performative aspects of skateboarding cultures. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study of three skateparks plus other skate spaces in and around two English cities, we argue that these spaces are performative in nature and that this is frequently problematic for young woman skateboarders. We suggest that, due to their comparative rarity in these spaces, young women are put under an immediate spotlight on entry, with an expectation that they perform a competent skateboarder identity while under scrutiny from other users of the space; we examine their experiences of this. We conclude by suggesting ways that skateparks and skatespaces can be designed and used to make them more accessible to woman and girl skaters, and to other groups marginalised in skateboarding cultures.

Keywords: gender; design; performance; performativity; skateboarding; skatepark (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804231214100 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:4:p:947-964

DOI: 10.1177/13607804231214100

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Sociological Research Online
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().