Negotiating Gender in Professional Soccer: An Analysis of Female Footballers in the United States

Abstract

Youth soccer is thriving in the United States but the country's\nprofessional soccer leagues over the past couple\ndecades have had mixed results in terms of commercial viability\nwith some leagues surviving (e.g., MLS) and others\nceasing (e.g., WUSA). While scholars and practitioners may\noffer explanations regarding the reasons for the specific challenges\nfacing women's professional soccer leagues, the present\nstudy looked at this subject by examining one group of\nstakeholders - female elite athletes - and the players’ perceptions\nof gender in the USA professional soccer program.\nThe findings of this qualitative analysis were concentrated into\nthree interconnected themes. The first theme involved the\nparticipants' perceptions of role models and their socialization\nas soccer players. Media images and the invisibility of\nthe female athlete formed the second theme. The third theme\nwas the sexualization of elite female bodies and transgressions\nof compulsory heterosexuality boundaries. The analysis\nof the interviews revealed an interesting paradox of elite female\nathletes using gender to understand sports. The interviewed\nathletes used stereotypical notions of masculinity to\nincrease their legitimacy as elite athletes, while at the same\ntime devaluing the abilities of female coaches by using\nstereotypical notions of femininity. In addition to discussing\nthe empirical results and interconnected themes, the implications\nof the findings are also detailed.

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