Docile, Feminine Bodies: A Feminist Reading of Figure Skating Habitus
Introduction: Figure Skating as a Case Study
Figure skating is a unique sport that challenges our conceptions of what sport, athletes, and competition can look like. Typically, we imagine competitive sport to be aggressive, focused on power or speed, and indifferent to aesthetics. However, figure skating turns that conventional idea of sport on its head - a competitive sporting world where aesthetics and attitudes are central to the success of athletes. A critical analysis of the world of figure skating, and the kind of habitus necessary to succeed in the space, is illustrative of the ways in which sport are often a microcosm of larger social dynamics - particularly concerning the promotion and maintenance of White heteropatriarchy and neoliberal capitalist standards. This literature review will be addressing how figure skating habitus has been shaped by White, upper-class femininities and how competitive figure skating has and continues to privilege the engagement of this specific habitus. To begin, this literature review will provide an overview of Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, specifically examining feminist iterations of his theorizing and the application of those extensions to sport studies. Then, a broad history, centered around the gendered dynamics of the sport, will be discussed. Finally, an exploration of figure skating habitus will examine how figure skating privileges those who can embody White, upper-class femininities through an analysis of (1) the history of the competitive sport, (2) the intersections between femininity and class status in figure skating, (3) the success of East Asian women in the sport, and finally, (4) the International Skating Union in maintaining and protecting this exclusionary culture. The essay will close with a discussion that reimagines the expansive and liberatory possibilities of the future of figure skating.
Bourdieu and Habitus
This literature review will be using theoretical frameworks of Bourdieu, particularly his theorizing around habitus. Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist working in the mid 20th century, contributing instrumental theories to the field of sociology concerning the culture, power, and ways of being of specific social groups. Habitus can be understood as the embodied preferences, habits, and behaviors that we take on according to our social identities - like race, class, gender, nationality, and more. The socialization associated with these social identities shape our ways of being in ways that impact the ways we understand ourselves and our relationships to the worlds and people around us. McDonough (1997) helpfully defines habitus as “a continually becoming embodiment that reflects an assimilation and/or resistance of norms that are accepted within an organizational field” (Jeffrey & Thorpe, 2024, p. 338) highlighting the dynamic nature of habitus as continuously reacting to and engaging with the field(s) that an individual participates in. In these ways, Bourdieu was especially interested in the workings of social categorization and the tools of power manifested within and across those distinct communities (Jeffery & Thorpe, 2024; McDonough, 1997). Bourdieu was also interested in sport as a site for social science inquiry, because he was especially attentive to the specific and particular ways in which the social rules and expectations of sport were constructed, maintained, and embodied. In particular, his work ‘Program for a Sociology of Sport’ describes how he theorizes around sport and habitus (Bourdieu, 1988). These theories are useful in an analysis of particular fields of sport because they allow us to critically inquire about the systems of power that are maintained within a sporting context and the ways in which actors within those spaces come to understand themselves and their behaviors as members of these communities with specific roles and expectations (Jeffrey & Thorpe, 2024). Engaging Bourdieu for sport studies enables us to address why and how certain individuals from certain socio-cultural backgrounds participate in specific sports because of those socializations and the ways they shape their choices, behaviors, and material lives.
While Bourdieu himself did not engage with gender very critically (often only noting data collection differences between men and women), feminists have found use in his theories, engaging particularly gender-centric understandings of habitus. Feminists understand gender as being central to habitus, because women and non-men are continuously reacting to, engaging with, and resisting against patriarchal social norms, expectations, and spaces (Thorpe, 2009). These readings of habitus assume the patriarchal social systems that all people live within and navigate, which enable their analytic ties across Bourdieu’s theory and feminist priorities. West & Zimmerman’s (1987) theory of ‘doing gender’ is also useful in understanding gendered habitus; their ideas contribute to understandings of gender, not as exclusively tied to biological markers, but rather as relational action where one expresses gender in accordance to gendered expectations of their time and place (Miller, 2016). In this way, gender is not seen as a naturalized or standard phenomena - rather, gender is understood as an expression, a way of being, and an embodiment of the social and cultural world. Feminist scholars expanding upon Bourdieu’s theories understand habitus as constantly impacted by gender, fluid and dynamic in its nature, and in continuous relationship with the world around the self. It is important to note that the key workings of habitus is in the system of rewards and discipline tied to one’s (un)successful assimilation to the standards and norms of their place and time - that the dominance of hegemonic habitus is enabled by the ways in which certain people are celebrated or condoned based on the habitus they are able to embody.
A Gendered History of Figure Skating
The following section will provide a brief overview of the history of figure skating that centers the gendered norms of the sport and the development of the notion of a ‘feminine’ figure skating. Early skating was a status of masculinity for upper (and later upper-middle) class men with a strong tradition in amateurism - a distinction between them and the lower-class men who didn’t have the resources to join a skating club. These associations were made in an effort to promote a ‘civilized’ way of being that was racialized and exclusive to White Europeans; this culture was certainly tied to the imperialist aims of the time and people. Skating, like other recreational activities, was a space with which upper-class, White men ‘justified’ their dominance of peoples and cultures around the globe by asserting their ‘civility.’ Sport and recreational or leisure activities were a space with which to engage their exclusionary habitus (Adams, 2007; 2010; 2011; Kestnbaum, 2003). An early British style was particularly indicative of the masculine-leaning culture of early figure skating by prioritizing rigid discipline rather than free movement. While this style was eventually phased out, it is an illustration of how figure skating has historically been used as a demonstration of sporting masculinity, nationalism, and high class status (Adams, 2007; 2010; 2011; Thurber, 2021).
The association between femininity and figure skating did not emerge until the 1930s and 40s, when women began to dominate, rather than participate relatively equally, in the sport (Adams, 2011). Even as women started entering the sport, it did not mean that skating was considered a ‘girl’s sport.’ It was not until women began surpassing men in skill, success, and number that skating became associated with femininity and therefore inferior to other ‘men’s sports.’ In addition, Sonja Henie’s breakthrough popularity in the 1930s and her affinity for fashion and her later success in Hollywood produced the image of skating as a glitzy, glamorous sport. Henie was a young Norwegian prodigy who revolutionized the competitive and entertainment worlds of skating, signaling the shift to the ‘feminine’ associations the sport has today. Skating, for women in particular, became a performance, a kind of theater aligned with dance - rather than the technical, stoic sport it was before - which also aided in its popularity as an entertainment and among young girls (Adams, 2010; 2011). All of these factors drove skating to develop in conflict with the increased demands of sporting masculinity - which came with stricter gender norms during WWII and in the post-war era (Adams, 2011).
Figure skating is an interesting and important case study for sport scholars to engage with because of the ways in which it challenges our assumed understandings of gender and sport; figure skating has not always been ‘feminine’ or a ‘girls' sport.’ The history of figure skating is an important one because it disrupts often taken-for-granted notions of gendered sport and demonstrates how the ‘gendered’ categories of sport are not inevitable but are socially constructed and specific to the contexts and histories in which they develop. In addition, it demonstrates the instability and fluidity of gender, femininity, and masculinity across time and space (Adams, 2007; 2010; 2011). In other words, the gendered habitus associated with skating (and with all sports) shifts with the “ideologically motivated actions of people in particular historical and cultural contexts” (Adams, 2011, p. 7). The unique nature of figure skating enables the potential to uncover the artificial nature of binary logics of gender; for instance, in early skating, men and women competed against one another, yet despite this competition, women did not seem to become ‘masculinized’ by their competence compared to men, and men did not appear to feel threatened by having competitive women as peers. This history stands in stark contrast with the contemporary realities of men in figure skating, who are often perceived as effeminate, gay, and less-than-masculine (Adams, 2011). In many ways, a historical account of figure skating that centers gender, as Adams (2011) retells with great detail, can work to destabilize our contemporary understandings of gender that assume an innate connection to biology rather than the realities of the fluid, relational, and dynamic nature of the complex social phenomenon.
Figure Skating Habitus: Light, White, and Slim
The next section will illustrate the ways in which upper-class and White femininities are privileged in competitive figure skating, along with an exploration of the institutionalization of figure skating that contributes to this privileging. As the history of figure skating highlights, the sport originated and continues to be a space for those of an upper-class background - from an economic standpoint, competitive figure skating is an expensive sport to participate in, with membership fees and equipment costing hundreds and thousands of dollars (Kestnbaum, 2003). However, beyond economic barriers, social and cultural barriers associated with class also persist. Adams says, “As it has for decades, figure skating continues to support and reward only a limited range of intransigently traditional femininities, none of which foreground women’s strength and power, none of which pull skating any significant distance from its white, upper-class European roots” (Adams, 2011, p. 199). Competitive figure skating privileges dominant aesthetics informed by White, upper-class femininity which can work to marginalize those who fall outside of or directly challenge those norms.
Classed Femininities: Docile Bodies
Class and femininity are tied. With a lens on habitus, it can be said that those with ‘low class’ status lack discipline and control - whether that be expressed through sexual deviance or lack of occupational success. In contrast, those with ‘ high class’ status are seen to embody a svelte and poised posture, achieved through discipline (Story & Markula, 2017). When it comes to femininity in figure skating, one way this is demonstrated is through the praise of a slim and girlish body, which is indicative of the privileging of the upper-class ideals of White femininity. The culture that privileges these ideals often results in material consequences for skaters, such as eating disorders or the pedestaling of youth success, as seen with Tara Lipinski in the 1990s or the slew of young Russian skaters in the late 2010s (Carmack & Lazenby, 2024; Kestnbaum, 2003; Story & Markula, 2017). In contemporary pop culture, there is an association with figure skating and the ‘ice princess’ narrative that can seep into the everyday habitus of young girls in figure skating and impact their self-conception in ways that perpetuate the exclusionary culture of the sport by communicating what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (Kuhlin, Barker–Ruchi, & Stewart, 2020). One of the most poignant examples of this in action was the vilification of Tonya Harding, who was widely ostracized from the skating world due to her ‘trailer trash’ presentation and powerful, ‘out-of-control’ skating compared to her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, who embodied the picture-perfect, all-American girl persona (McGarry, 2005; Story & Markula, 2017). While Harding is the most known example, these classed (and raced) distinctions have been made between other skater rivalries throughout the 1980s and 90s such as Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas or Kristi Yamaguchi and Midori Ito (Kestnbaum, 2003).
Despite institutional and cultural efforts in recent years to diversify the sport, figure skating continues to strive to maintain the upper-class, European cultural heritage of the sport by privileging style of dress, music, and movement that call back to traditions of classical European music, opera, ballroom dance, or ballet (Kestnbaum, 2003; McGarry, 2005). Much of the aesthetic standards of figure skating come from European theater traditions which value pointed, lifted feet and a light airy feeling, in contrast to African or South Asian dance forms where women have bend in their knees, flex their feet, and are grounded in the earth (Adams, 2011). In examining both the dominant movement aesthetics and the embodied classed femininities of competitive figure skating, it is clear to see that the overall habitus required to succeed in the sport is informed by upper-class ideals of femininity.
Racialized Femininities: East Asian Figure Skaters
In the West, Victorian ideals of Whiteness became associated with the attributes of purity, virtue, and discipline that are assumed to be linked to femininity (McGarry, 2005). In skating, assumptions that this European-coded habitus is superior is justified by the high praise for the same kinds of femininity for decades, while alternative femininities are ignored or diminished (Adams, 2011). Skaters of color, particularly those like Surya Bonaly or Midori Ito who embody more powerful styles of skating, present a kind of femininity to the skating field that is considered ‘exotic’ and threatening to the idealized femininity of skating (McGarry, 2005). Despite this, East Asian skaters in particular have enjoyed relative success compared to their Black and Brown counterparts. Examining the success and experiences of Asian women in competitive figure skating can reveal the ways in which White, upper-class femininity is privileged by illustrating how racialized bodies who can adhere to specific gendered and raced expectations may uphold exclusionary and problematic ideals.
Western cultural frames of Asian bodies often bring forth associations between Asianness and femininity, creating popular assumptions that Asian folks are submissive, docile, and quiet. Because Asian bodies are seen to innately possess some of the qualities of White, upper-class femininity needed to succeed in figure skating, there is less effort needed to ensure that they are accepted as appropriate skating bodies that are required by the gendered social norms in the sport (McGarry, 2005). Tiffany Chin was the first Asian American US National Champion and Olympic team member in the 1980s and can be seen as the first “Oriental Girl on White Ice,” providing us with a case study with which to examine how Asian women’s bodies have been aligned with acceptable White femininities. This reliance on legible femininities was seen around sport media and journalism surrounding Chin’s success, with the use of Orientalist framings relying on stereotypes to understand Chin’s Asian body in this sport that privileges White femininity (Seo, Turick, & Kim, 2019). The Oriental Girl is “supposedly small, submissive, and sexually active and eager to please… a popular caricature of sexual commodity for western White consumption” (Seo, Turick, & Kim, 2019, p. 674) - in partial alignment with the White, upper-class cultural taste that for femininity that prioritizes slenderness and docile bodies (Story & Markula, 2017). While ‘Oriental girls’ will never embody true White femininity, they are legible enough to White femininities as performative subjects for Western consumption. On an institutional level, the ISU exports “political-social-cultural standards from the center to peripheries including non-European affiliated nations such as South Korea” (Park et al, 2021, p. 80). These dynamics can result in a self-orientalizing of East Asian athletes - like a South Korean ice dance team who skated to a particularly Westernized and depoliticized version of a Korean folk song to become legible to the standards and expectations of competitive skating but still appealed to the largely South Korean audience of the 2018 Olympic Games (Park et al, 2021). East Asian skaters, in these varied ways, are able to take advantage of the Western cultural frames that align Asianness with White femininity in ways that emphasize how those racialized, classed, and gendered aesthetics are valued in the competitive skating world.
These racialized standards are also reflected onto claims of citizenship and the sporting body as a representation of national identity. Similar to how success with the early British style of skating was associated with British national pride, in settler-colonial nations like the US and Canada, those who are not White, therefore deviating from the expected kind of femininity, must continuously prove their claims to national citizenship by embodying the acceptable notions of gender expression within their respective space and time (McGarry, 2005). These dynamics of nationalism are illuminated when examining the economics behind competitive figure skating; corporate sponsors and advertisers want to market a specific kind of femininity because of its perceived market value. McGarry says, “... conservative, mainstream gendered representations of female skating bodies are promoted as national images by television networks because they appeal to middle class notions of ‘respectability’ and are thus marketable” (p. 4). Ultimately, privileged discourses (i.e., the media) have made meaning of women and girl figure skaters by reading them through “dominant, idealized norms of a socially appropriate femininity” (McGarry, 2005, p. 8) where skaters are critiqued, disciplined, or ignored if they challenged those normative gender expectations. Skaters learn from a young age that success means embodying ideal aesthetics, demeanor, and personal appearance; however, notions of female ‘discipline’ are specific within time and place (McGarry, 2005).
Institutionalization of Dominant Figure Skating Femininities
Lastly, top-down institutional norms, rules, policies, and expectations will be discussed in this section. Specifically, the historical background of the International Skating Union (ISU) - the international governing body of competitive figure skating and speed skating - will be analyzed with attention to the ways in which the privileging of White femininity is codified in the structures of the organization. The ISU is an organization mostly managed by nations located in Europe, and founded by 15 delegates from European nations; the cultural and political foundations of the institution were largely established by members from Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden (Park et al, 2021). It is crucial to pay attention to the early developments and foundations of these sporting governing bodies, as they largely shape the cultures and political economies within which athletes train, perform, and operate.
Competitive figure skating is unlike most sports that measure success based on a ‘higher, faster, stronger’ model - rather, competitors are judged based on largely subjective criteria, such as musicality, performance, and choreography. This dynamic is clear when deeply examining the ISU’s development of speed skating versus figure skating:
“In contrast to speed skating, figure skating was something of a hybrid, considered by some proponents to be a singular example of a manly sport and by others to be a fine art. The possibility of understanding figure skating through more than one discourse meant that male and female skaters, should they have desired to, could have judged themselves and their behavior by standards unrelated to sport. Here, the relationship between upper-class identities and cultural ambitions was likely key to the meaning skaters took from what they did. The arts, skating included, offered the privileged classes an opportunity to demonstrate the refined tastes and elegance that were expected of men and women of high social and economic standing” [emphasis added] (Adams, 2011, p. 143).
This observation from Adams of the institutionalization of competitive figure skating versus speed skating illuminates the ways in which figure skating was seen as an upper-class activity akin to the arts, where folks from those high status lifestyles could demonstrate their commitment to the ‘fine’ and ‘elegant’ elements of European culture. This stands in contrast to the more strictly defined ideas around speed skating, which was a demonstration of speed and power typical of what was considered purely a sport - not an art. The ISU’s part in the deviation of these two sporting cultures indicates the power that international governing bodies of sport have in shaping the popular conceptions of their sports.
Rules and policies of the ISU are also revealing when giving focus to the ways in which particular femininities are valued; age restrictions, costume and music expectations, and language around gendered participation are all examples of this institutionalized privileging. Age restrictions around who is eligible to compete at the highest levels of figure skating reinforce the ‘girlification’ and privileging of youthful femininity by disadvantaging athletes with more mature, ‘womanly’ bodies; as mentioned before, this rewarding of youth can be seen, especially in contemporary times, with the wildly successful results, and subsequent dramatic ostracization, of young Russian girls and teenagers in international competition (Story & Markula, 2017). Costumes and music also become symbols of feminine class status in the sport. Costumes are expected to have as many expensive rhinestones as possible and have unique designs that differ from mass-produced dresses, indicating the ways in which costumes, and money spent on costumes, have become a symbol of class status in skating (McGarry, 2005). Additionally, the ISU’s rules on clothing indicate the kinds of expectations around appearance and costume: “In all figure skating disciplines, ‘the clothing of the competitors must be modest, dignified, and appropriate for athletic competitions and tests, not garish or theatrical in design’ (rule 7031)” (Rand, 2023, p. 161). This rule begs the question: who decides what is ‘modest, dignified, and appropriate’? Similarly, classical music without lyrics is most judges' preference, informed by the recently reversed rule that banned lyrics from music selections (in the tradition of classical European theater and dance) (Park et al, 2021). Lastly, the language the ISU uses around gender in their rule book is indicative of the persistence of upholding traditional notions of femininity. Most illustrative is that the vote to change the language in ISU rule books from ladies to women was not unanimous (Rand, 2023). All of these examples, ranging from age restrictions to language changes to costume rules, demonstrate the ways in which the valuing of White, upper-class femininities are baked into and legitimated through the policies, rules, and expectations of the largest governing body for competitive figure skating. Here, one can see how history and institutionalization play key roles in the development of contemporary understandings around particularly gendered, classed, and raced sporting practices.
Discussion: Challenging Whiteness as Figure Skating Habitus
Figure skating is a unique sport whose history and institutionalization provide novel, complex, and revealing dynamics of gender, sport, and cultural politics. While the early history of the sport, demonstrating the kind of fluid, expressive, and distinctly classed masculinity of the 1800s, challenge our popular conceptions of the sport being a ‘girls’ sport,’ it is crucial to examine the ways in which the development of the sport have been shaped by larger socio-cultural dynamics. Figure skating was particularly impacted by the development of a stricter gender code, aligning with values and image of the heteropatriarchal nuclear family in the post-War era, which shifted the sport away from its roots as a decidedly upper-class, masculine (while different from our contemporary notions of masculinity) activity. Starting in the 1930s and through contemporary times, figure skating has taken on the reputation of being particularly feminine, and as highlighted throughout this essay, privileges a specific, White, upper-class expression of femininity.
Ultimately, this privileging of an upper-class, White habitus is indicative of the ways in which White supremacy and heteropatriarchy are foundational to the structures of competitive figure skating. Through every iteration of the sport - from a masculine, upper-class pastime in the 1800s to the feminine sport of the 20th century - hegemonic, dominant habitus and ways of being have always been privileged, valued, and promoted through figure skating. Figure skating has been and continues to be a space within which Euro-centric, upper-class preferences and tastes are protected, celebrated, and pedestaled. While skaters of color have always existed, this becomes increasingly concerning as the population of figure skaters becomes more diverse, both in gendered and racialized identities.
How can figure skating shed this exclusionary culture? This essay has highlighted how the history and institutionalization of the sport enable the problematic privileging of White, upper-class femininities. The institutions of skating, like the International Skating Union, have been slow to engage in social change - and have largely done so as a response to larger society. Changes in language, from ladies to women in the singles competitions and man and lady to two persons in paired competitions, have only happened in the last decade. These changes in language, especially in regards to adopting more gender-inclusive language, have emerged largely as a result of non-binary and genderqueer athletes competing at the highest levels of skating - forcing institutions like the ISU to change their ways.
These examples demonstrate the power of showing up authentically to sporting arenas; when athletes engage in their sporting cultures in ways that express their genuine identities, cultures, and social realities, the institutions around them, particularly as neoliberalism gains global legitimacy, must shift to accommodate those expressions. Yet, to burden individual athletes, particularly those with marginalized gender expressions or racial identities, with the task of navigating the space that privileges a dominant habitus is to subject them to violence and harm. With this in mind, it is imperative that those within the figure skating world who can align with the dominant habitus protect, empower, and liberate alongside athletes with more expansive social identities.
Some may argue that the foundational, structural barriers outlined in this work are much too institutionalized for there to be genuine change within the world of competitive figure skating. Perhaps there is no future within which figure skating is an inclusive, liberatory, empowering space. However, it may also be an injustice to deny people the opportunity to skate. Skating is an expressive, fluid, powerful emotional outlet that can empower a deep connection between one’s body and mind. The ways in which the institutionalization of the sport have severed this central aspect of the movement practice can be seen as an injustice in itself. As one of the few athletic endeavors that centralizes music, emotion, performance, and culture, how can a reimagining of the sport - beyond the history that we know - create expansive, novel, and creative ways of being?
This literature review was written for Sport & Gender: KIN5511 taught by Dr. Vicki Schull at the University of Minnesota in Fall 2024.
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