Exercise in the Female Life-Cycle in Britain, 1930-1970 (Hardcover)

Eilidh Macrae

ISBN 10: 1137583185 / ISBN 13: 9781137583185

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2016

About this Item

Hardcover. This book examines how adolescence, menstruation and pregnancy were experienced or managed by active women in Britain between 1930 and 1970, and how their athletic life-styles interacted with their working lives, marriage and motherhood. It explores the gendered barriers which have influenced womens sporting experiences. Womens lives have always been shaped by the socially and physically constructed life-cycle, and this is all the more apparent when we look at female exercise. Even self-proclaimed sporty women have had to negotiate obstacles at various stages of their lives to try and maintain their athletic identity. So how did women overcome these obstacles to gain access to exercise in a time when the sportswoman was not an image society was wholly comfortable with? Oral history testimony and extensive archival research show how the physically and socially constructed female life-cycle shaped womens experiences of exercise and sport throughout these decades. This book examines how adolescence, menstruation and pregnancy were experienced or managed by active women in Britain between 1930 and 1970, and how their athletic life-styles interacted with their working lives, marriage and motherhood. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781137583185

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Exercise in the Female Life-Cycle in Britain, 1930-1970 (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1137583185
• ISBN 13: 9781137583185
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This book examines how adolescence, menstruation and pregnancy were experienced or ‘managed’ by active women in Britain between 1930 and 1970, and how their athletic life-styles interacted with their working lives, marriage and motherhood. It explores the gendered barriers which have influenced women’s sporting experiences. Women’s lives have always been shaped by the socially and physically constructed life-cycle, and this is all the more apparent when we look at female exercise.  Even self-proclaimed ‘sporty’ women have had to negotiate obstacles at various stages of their lives to try and maintain their athletic identity. So how did women overcome these obstacles to gain access to exercise in a time when the sportswoman was not an image society was wholly comfortable with? Oral history testimony and extensive archival research show how the physically and socially constructed female life-cycle shaped women’s experiences of exercise and sport throughout these decades.

About the Author

Eilidh Macrae is Lecturer in Sport Development at the University of the West of Scotland, UK.  She is a social researcher with interests in community sport, and has published work on nineteenth- and twentieth-century sport and gender history.