Visual Negotiation: How Female Athletes Present Intersectional Identities in Photographic Self-Representations

ABSTRACTExtending Krane et al.’s (2010) research, 17 college female athletes created their own photo shoots and were interviewed about their self-representations. The images and interviews were analyzed through the lens of feminist cultural studies and intersectionality, and contextualized as post-Title IX and postfeminist creations. Four themes emerged: Being a Female Athlete highlights athletic identities; Being a Female Athlete reveals negotiations between femininity and athleticism; Being a Student-Athlete depicts negotiations of the “privileged athlete” stereotype; and Contested Choices further demonstrates tactics of negotiation, specifically with body art and parenthood. Female athletes exist in a complicated space, constantly negotiating social discourse about female athletes, femininity, sexuality, and stereotypes.