Einleitung

In a world that is still dominated by men, modern woman’s emancipation is intimately bound up with her athletic ability and certainly with her physicality. But a number of women choose (or rather are forced to choose) to conceal their own strength and abilities in order to support man’s role in society. They therefore adapt themselves to social convention, to family pressures and to be frank - sometimes to their partner’s egotism. The collection of essays presented here offers reflections on these and other related matters. This collection should offer further understanding of the process whereby the female body becomes sexualised, controlled and oppressed. It also shows how sport plays a dynamic but paradoxical role in both reinforcing the male’s hegemonic status while emancipating women from traditional repression. (gekürzt und geändert)