UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones May 2018 Contesting and Constructing Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Women's Roller Derby Suzanne Becker Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Gender and Sexuality Commons Repository Citation Becker, Suzanne, "Contesting and Constructing Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Women's Roller Derby" (2018). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 3215. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/13568377 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONTESTING AND CONSTRUCTING GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND IDENTITY IN WOMEN’S ROLLER DERBY By Suzanne R. Becker Bachelor of Arts – Journalism University of Wisconsin, Madison 1992 Master of Arts – Sociology University of Colorado, Colorado Springs 2004 Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2009 A doctoral project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy – Sociology Department of Sociology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2018 Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas April 25, 2017 This dissertation prepared by Suzanne R. Becker entitled Contesting and Constructing Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Women’s Roller Derby is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Sociology Department of Sociology Barbara Brents, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean Robert Futrell, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Lynn Comella, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii ABSTRACT Contesting and Constructing Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Women’s Roller Derby by Suzanne R. Becker Dr. Barb Brents, Examination Committee Professor of Sociology University of Nevada, Las Vegas In this dissertation project I use the case of women’s roller derby to examine gender resistance in spaces produced and dominated by women. I examine the challenges and strategies roller derby participants deploy in resistance to the gender binary and its gender mandates, and whether or not these strategies and cultural expressions are oppositional or political. Through a combination of ethnography, participant-observation, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of web and print media on roller derby, I explain how women’s roller derby participants construct identity, varying types of femininities, and engage in forms of cultural resistance through their sport. I analyze the political and cultural challenges skaters and the sport of roller derby pose to the gender binary, mainstream gender expectations, and understandings of femininity and sexuality, and investigate how those challenges manifest at the level of individual identity, roller derby organization, and roller derby cultural symbolism. I argue that the skaters’ embodied practices challenge and disrupt notions of gender, sexuality, body, and identity. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………...……iii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION – DERBY AND RESISTANCE............................................... 1 The Feminist Roots of Resistance in Roller Derby .................................................................... 2 How Far We’ve Come ................................................................................................................ 7 History of Roller Derby: The First Whistle ............................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: LITERATURE – GENDER, SPORT & CULTURAL RESISTANCE ...................... 17 Femininities: A New Frontier ................................................................................................... 21 Doing Gender ........................................................................................................................ 23 Gender, Identity, and Performativity .................................................................................... 25 Alternative Femininities........................................................................................................ 26 Modern Understandings of Sport .............................................................................................. 27 Sport as a Masculine Space....................................................................................................... 29 Sport as a Space of Resistance .................................................................................................. 33 A Sport of One’s Own .............................................................................................................. 35 Gender and the Organization of sport ....................................................................................... 36 Social Movement Research and Cultural Resistance ................................................................ 39 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................ 44 Researcher’s Background ......................................................................................................... 44 Population and Sample ............................................................................................................. 47 Sampling Methods .................................................................................................................... 50 Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 51 Participant Observation ............................................................................................................. 53 iv Analytical and Interpretive Strategies ....................................................................................... 55 Validation .................................................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER 4: SPORTS AS RESISTANCE: PUTTING THE FEMININE AND SEXUAL INTO CONTACT SPORT ..................................................................................................................... 60 Challenging Norms ................................................................................................................... 64 Sexuality and Sport ................................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 5: DIY AS A STRATEGY OF RESISTANCE IN ROLLER DERBY..................... 71 Doing It Yourself ...................................................................................................................... 74 The DIY In Derby – DIY League Operation ............................................................................ 77 The DIY in Derby – DIY League Ownership ........................................................................... 79 “By the Skaters for the Skaters” DIY and the WFTDA ........................................................... 80 The Collective Ethic – Group Control over Activity and Community ..................................... 82 A Sport of One’s Own (Again) ................................................................................................. 89 CHAPTER 6: PARODY & PERFORMANCE AS STRATEGIES OF RESISTANCE .............. 97 Social Protest ............................................................................................................................ 97 Performance as Politics: Parody, Irony, Camp ......................................................................... 99 Uniforms, War Paint, and Skate Names, ................................................................................ 100 Fashion ................................................................................................................................ 100 Skate Names........................................................................................................................ 102 Refocusing the Gaze – Sexuality in Bouts .............................................................................. 104 Performances........................................................................................................................... 106 Taking on the Tropes .............................................................................................................. 107 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 111 v CHAPTER 7: QUEERING THE TRACK ................................................................................. 113 Defining Queer.......................................................................................................................