Sex, Friendship and Women's Football

This book is contextualised by, makes connections to, and seeks to build ontheory intersecting various fields: codes of women's football globally; femalesport participation globally; gender and sexuality studies; queer theory; andvisual methods. Through showcasing women's experiences of playing football, highlighting the ways in which players make sense of their gendered embodimentand performances, and exploring how gender is understood and regulated withinthe unique social context of a female football team, this book demonstrates whysuch discussions are crucial for advancing gender equality and theorization ofgenders in contemporary Western cultures. In giving voice to the lived experiencesand perspectives of women who have and continue to play Australian Rulesfootball, this book highlights the ongoing tensions, conflicts, contradictions, andabsences of negotiating their passion for playing the game, the impact of genderon their playing experiences, and the significance of the social and cultural spaceof their football club to their lives. It provides a nuanced account of thepower and significance of women's social bonds in this space, explores hownotions of female friendship and desire are caught up in heteronormativediscourses, and engages in discussions of the ways in which genders, sexualities,desires, embodiments, and sociality are contested and negotiated among women in homosocial spaces. This book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students working and studying in the fields of gender and sexuality studies,queer theory, visual methodologies, sociology of sport, sports studies, femalefriendship, physical education, as well as those who play and work within codes of women's football.