Masters Dissertation TITLE : WOMEN’S FOOTBALL: SEXED BODIES AND INTERFERING DISCOURSE If gender is the social organisation of sexual difference through various social practices, discourses, and politics of representation, to what extent can the media popularisation of female soccer in South Africa be read as an interference in the hegemonic organisation of gender relations and heteronormativity? Kate Joseph Supervisor: Dr. Antje Schuhmann Political Studies Department University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Submitted in fulfillment of the degree of Master of Art at the University of the Witwatersrand 2012 PLAGIARISM DECLARATION 1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another‘s work and to pretend that it is one‘s own. 2. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this essay from the work, or works, of other people has been acknowledged through citation and reference. 3. This essay is my own work. 4. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. 5. I have done the word processing and formatting of this assignment myself. I understand that the correct formatting is part of the mark for this assignment and that it is therefore wrong for another person to do it for me. Signature 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 4 1.1 AIMS ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 BACKGROUND TO SOCCER IN SOUTH AFRICA .......................................................... 9 1.2.1 Race, Gender and Class: Masculine omnipotence ........................................ 9 1.2.2. History of Organised Women‘s Soccer in South Africa ............................ 10 1.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................. 12 1.3.1 Cultural Studies ......................................................................................... 14 1.3.2 Sports Feminism........................................................................................ 16 1.3.3 Queer Theory ............................................................................................ 19 1.4 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 21 1.4.1 Critical Theory .......................................................................................... 21 1.4.2 Critical Discourse Analysis ....................................................................... 28 1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 33 1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINE ............................................................................................... 36 2. (SUBVERTING) POWER OR NOT PART I................................................ 39 2.2.1 Power, Agency and Resistance .................................................................. 39 2.1 (EN)GENDERING ACTION: THE RELEVANCE OF DISCOURSE .................................... 41 2.2.2 Feminism and Linguistic Theory ............................................................... 42 2.2.3 Contextualising (and) Performativity ......................................................... 47 2.2.4 Reception, Multi-layered Reading and Subversion..................................... 54 3. AN IMAGE OF SPORT: INTRUDING BODIES AND THE MEDIA ................... 62 3.2.1 The Image(s) of Sporting Women .............................................................. 62 3.2.2 Media, Men, Women and Representation .................................................. 66 3.2.3 Soccer and (homo)Sexuality ...................................................................... 68 3.1 READING WOMEN‘S SOCCER IN SOUTH AFRICA ..................................................... 70 4. SHIFTING BODIES AND BOUNDARIES....................................................... 81 4.2.1 Performing Gender .................................................................................... 84 4.2.2 Race and Sexuality .................................................................................... 85 4.1 READING AMBIGUOUS BODIES AND DEFINITIVE CLAIMS ....................................... 87 4.2.3 Transgression ............................................................................................ 95 2 5. IS GAY SPORT QUEERING SPORT? .......................................................... 103 5.2.1 Offsetting Discrimination ........................................................................ 104 5.1 READING LESBIAN TEAM .................................................................................... 106 5.2.2 The Problem of Identity Politics .............................................................. 119 5.2.3 Re-envisioning Inclusion: A Double Take on Gay Sport .......................... 122 6. (SUBVERTING) POWER OR NOT PART II ............................................... 125 6.2.1 The Opportunity for Resistance ............................................................... 125 6.2.2 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 128 7. BIBLIOGRAPHY CITED WORKS ............................................................. 143 8. APPENDIXES 8.1 Appendix A: Sisters Still Sidelined: SA‘s Female Footballers Struggle to Make Their Mark 8.2 Appendix B: Caf Acknowledge Gender Complaint 8.3 Appendix C: Lesbian Soccer Team Fight for Rights in SA TABLE OF FIGURES Fig.1. Excerpt from rubric based on Halliday‘s Functional Grammar ......................................... 30 Fig.2. Fairclough‘s model of dimensions of discourse and discourse analysis ............................ 31 Fig.3. Image illustrating the butch athlete .................................................................................. 50 Fig.4. Image of Gsport webpage ................................................................................................ 56 Fig.5. Image of South African Football Association webpage..................................................... 58 Fig.6. Image of golden boot trophy ............................................................................................ 59 Fig.7. Sasol League logo ........................................................................................................... 60 Fig.8. Cartoon Zapiro, Feminine Image, Mail & Guardian (2005) .............................................. 68 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would have not been possible without the help of so many people. Thank you for support and love and learning, and most importantly, for teaching me how to dream constantly. 3 INTRODUCTION Imagine if you can a female sport. Picture a sport which is, or at least predominantly imagined as, played only by women. Picture a sport which is distinct and stands alone, having no relatable male equivalent. Netball is out – too similar to men‘s basketball. Badminton, Tennis out – co-ed. Now do the same with men‘s sport. That is incredibly easy. ―The reason why we started the soccer teams was we wanted lesbians to feel comfortable. In a way relieving and releasing the stress by kicking the ball.‖ - Ndumie Funda,1 founder of Luleki Siziwe, a community based organisation in the Western Cape for lesbians who are victims of homophobic attacks and rape. I was told in casual conversation with Leigh-Ann Naidoo,i an iconic South African sports personality and a self-identified black, lesbian, woman that 95% of female soccer players in South Africa are gay. However since homophobia is rife in organised structures, for many athletes sexuality is something best kept in the closest and not brought to the field. Interestingly though, several pro-lesbian and feminist organisations in South Africa, such as the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW), to which Naidoo is affiliated, and People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), have opted to employ soccer as a personal and political mobilisation tool. The opening quote is testament to this. I was intrigued. What were the associations? Do many of the women who play soccer turn out to be homosexual? Would it be more appropriate to question why Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Intersex (LGBTI) organisations specifically chose soccer? How have soccer and sex(uality) been interconnected, and what implications can and do these connections have? On the one hand, is there simply popular buy-in from society at large to the i Leigh-Ann Naidoo was a member of the first South African beach volleyball team to compete in the Olympics (2004). She is the first African ambassador for the Gay Games, and was the keynote speaker for the Gay Games VII Closing Ceremonies in Chicago in 2006. She campaigns for racial equality in sports (following in the footsteps of her father, Derrick Naidoo, an early activist for athletic desegregation in South Africa), and promotes the rights of LGBTI athletes (most recently as a mentor to the soccer team, the Chosen FEW.) 4 assumption that lesbians are ‗mannish‘: so the ‗cause‘ behind a woman‘s wanting to participate in ‗male sport‘ must by extension imply the presence of her other ‗deviant‘ (sexual) desires? Or on the other hand, have civil society organisations undertaken an ‗agenda‘ to ‗politicise‘ soccer in order to promote an acceptance of alternative sexualities which would be less resisted by the population at large through tapping into the nationwide soccer frenzy? Clearly both these