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oa To fight or not to fight? - De representatie van vrouwelijke judoka’s in de Verenigde Staten tijdens de periode 1965 – 1979
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, Volume 16, Issue 4, Dec 2013, p. 30 - 40
Abstract
This article discusses the way in which female judokas were depicted in the United States of America during the period 1965 – 1979 by means of articles from the American magazine Black Belt. By investigating this formative period in women’s judo this article provides information about the historical processes of gender exclusion in sports and how this was handled. Three time periods were distinguished that witnessed a correlation between sports journalism and the reality on the field. On the one hand the articles in Black Belt emphasized the female appearances of the judokas during the entire time period. This indicates that the traditional stereotypes were not breached, despite the changing reality on the field. On the other hand the contributions demonstrated the athletic talents of the female judokas and some clearly supported the emancipation of women in judo. Consequently this article shows how at the same time Black Belt functioned as a channel that supported and questioned the perception of sports as a ‘masculine’ domain..