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Smash Mouth Football: Identity Development and Maintenance on a Women's Tackle Football Team

Journal of Sport and Social Issues

Published online on

Abstract

Opportunities for women to participate on professional women’s football teams have expanded over the past decade. Still the experiences of these players have largely gone unnoticed by the general public in the United States and underanalyzed by scholars. Using a feminist interactionist framework, this research examines how women on a successful Midwestern football team developed and maintained their identities as football players. The major themes that emerged from participant observations and semistructured interviews include play the right way, recognize uniqueness, and demand respect.