Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Date of Award
January 2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Heather Dillaway
Abstract
Women's flat track roller derby is a growing niche sport that has gathered much attention from media and academics alike. Previous research has analyzed the sport from a gendered view with limited focus on bodies in the broader sense. I attempt to fill this gap in the literature by asking: How do derby skaters define the derby body? In what ways do skaters resist and/or accommodate conventional bodily norms and those within derby? Utilizing an ethnographic repertoire of observation, interviews, and autoethnography, I examine the experiences of women derby skaters for a local flat track league located in the Midwest. Drawing from literature on gender and sport, resistance, and embodiment, I argue that skaters engage with a series of tensions and contradictions between societal norms and derby values, specifically those related to body size, athleticism, public versus private spaces, and the role of non-(born) women in the sport.
Recommended Citation
Draft, Amanda Nicole, ""there's So Many Fabulous Butts In Derby": The Skating Body In Women's Flat Track Roller Derby" (2013). Wayne State University Theses. 229.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/229
