Sporty Girls

Sheryl Clark is Lecturer and Researcher in the field of educational studies at Goldsmiths University of London, UK. With a particular interest in gender, sport, identities, youth, schooling and girlhood, Sheryl’s research makes use of qualitative methods working with children and young people in schools and other physical activity settings.

“The author’s emphasis on the lived experiences of girls, their stated reactions—both positive and negative—to sport participation, and a recommendation for more input from girls going forward, is exemplary. … This book, along with others in the series, is worth reading for scholars’ data-driven perspectives that can inform future feminist philosophical theorizing on the body.” (Peg Brand Weiser, Hypatia - A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, November 26, 2024)

• 1. Defining a “Problem”: Girls’ Participation in Sport and Physical Education.- 2. Embodying Sporty Girlhood: Exploring Perspectives on Girls’ Sporting Participation Through Postfeminism.- 3. Becoming a Sporty Researcher: Gender, Legitimacy and Bodies That Move.- 4. A Good Education: School Achievement, Sport and Becoming a Successful Girl.- 5. Being “Good at Sport”: Constituting Bodies Through Competition and Selection Processes.- 6. Responsible Body Projects, Health and Moral Hierarchies.- 7. Gendered and Racialised Bodies in Postfeminist Athletics: Embodied Capacities and Feminist Rage.- 8. Conclusion: Sporting Girlhoods and Feminist Possibilities.