“You CanFeelThem Looking at You”: The Experiences of Adolescent Girls at Swimming Pools

Abstract

This paper explores the constraints that a sample of Western Australian high school girls experienced when using public swimming pools, and the strategies that they developed to negotiate these constraints. The data were collected from girls, aged 15–16 years, in focus groups and individual interviews. The girls were a subset of an earlier study that had found that 29% of girls would use pools more if boys were not around. For many of these girls, embarrassment affected both the frequency and quality of their participation. To reduce self-consciousness some had developed strategies to make themselves less visible including covering up their bodies, staying in groups, swimming at remote venues and avoiding pools altogether. Strategies for enhancing enjoyment of this public place are suggested.

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