Flickor och pojkar i idrottens läromedel.Konstruktioner av genus i ungdomstränarutbildningen

Abstract

Title: Girls and boys in sports textbooks. Constructions of gender in youth coaching education programsLanguage: Swedish with a summary in EnglishKeywords: Sports, gender constructions, gender order, textbooks, coaching education, youth sports, discourseISBN: 978-91-7346-623-3The aim of this thesis is to examine how gender is constructed in textbooks used to educate youth coaches in six different sports. Earlier research has given examples of how gender is constructed in different areas of sports, but there is a lack of knowledge about gender constructions in official texts produced by the different sports confederations.A theoretical framework based on theories of gender as social constructions is used. By looking at sports in terms of a gender order and the specific sports included in the study as gender regimes, the textbooks analysed are seen as producers of gender constructions. Relations between women and men and between different types of femininities and masculinities are important in the constructions. A text and discourse analysis was used in the research. In the first part of the study, the number of girls and boys are presented as well as how the texts, as parts of gender regimes, express gender. It also includes an analysis of gender labelling in the language of sports. The second part of the thesis explores what is written about youths in puberty and how the contents are framed by discourse types, genres and the style used to express knowledge.The result shows that gender is constructed both in terms of an equality discourse, where girls and boys are presented equally, and in terms of the male norm , where the male athlete is positioned as the general athlete. When not positioned as equal, women are positioned as excluded, different, a gender-specific subject or gender specific and thereby different. In descriptions of girls and boys in puberty, the results show a variety of ways of constructing boys and especially girls. The main picture, however, constructs girls as problematic in sports and boys as functional sport athletes. Yong women and active elite girls are also positioned in relation to a gender-specific female norm. In conclusion, many of the texts use gender-neutral expressions for athletes which can be seen as a potential challenge to the gender order in sports. But when gendered, athletes are constructed in a way that upholds the gender order both by a male norm and a female-specific norm. This construct boys and men as the athlete and girls and women as female athletes .