Experiencing Oneself in the Other's Eyes: A Phenomenologically Inspired Reflexive Thematic Analysis of Embodiment for Female Athletes

Past research highlights the negative repercussions that female athletes experience in light of their internalization of the thin ideal. Striving to be a successful athlete, females confront questions about their femininity, informed by how they are perceived by others. This study explores how femal...

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Veröffentlicht in:Qualitative psychology (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2023-06, Vol.10 (2), p.245-261
Hauptverfasser: Landrum, Brittany, Davis, Michella
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Past research highlights the negative repercussions that female athletes experience in light of their internalization of the thin ideal. Striving to be a successful athlete, females confront questions about their femininity, informed by how they are perceived by others. This study explores how female athletes understand their bodies in light of what it means to be feminine and an athlete by focusing on their lived experiences rather than the degree to which they have internalized body ideals. We adopt a phenomenological lifeworld approach and analyze our data using Braun and Clarke's (2022) reflexive thematic analysis. We conducted interviews with six collegiate athletes who shared experiences when their gender was a concern for them playing sports. Our findings illustrate how our participants are attuning to their bodies both for themselves and the expectations they attribute to others as they discern their place and fit in the athletic world. Their frustration and exasperation revealed an attunement to discordant visions of how they perceived being seen by others and how they see themselves. At the heart of their experience, our participants grappled with the suitability of their bodies in light of their project to embrace both the athletic and feminine realms, wanting to embody their understanding and fulfill what they took to be the other's perspective of what it means to be an athlete and a woman. Our results demonstrate how a reflexive thematic analysis procedure can be used within a phenomenological approach to thematize intentionality.
ISSN:2326-3601
2326-3598
2326-3598
2326-3601
DOI:10.1037/qup0000256