Muay Thai: Women, fighting, femininity

Abstract

Women fighting challenges conventional notions of femininity in many ways. A bleeding nose, bruised eyes and swollen lips embody perhaps masculine success but, for many, constitute failed femininity. Yet women fighters, who are attracting unprecedented media attention, are in novel ways forcing a re-imagination of femininity. This article draws on 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with professional and amateur female Muay Thai fighters based in Thailand to explore the subversion and reinvention, and also reinforcement, of feminine norms. Theoretically, we advance the debate around fighting and femininity by developing the concept of bio-borders to investigate the presentation, protection and penetration of bodily femininity. We conclude that women fighters inspire a femininity recognising physical and emotional strength alongside conventional feminine norms of beauty, relationality and compliance.

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