In contemporary society, sport functions not merely as a domain of physical activity but increasingly as a site of social regulation where gender norms are constructed, maintained, and policed. The concept of normative femininity operates as a mechanism of control over women’s bodies, identities, and behaviors within the sporting arena, serving as a key locus for the reproduction of the binary gender order. Female athletes are situated within a tension between athletic performance and socially expected femininity, navigating contradictory demands to be simultaneously strong and competitively competent, yet also feminine and aesthetically aligned with heteronormative ideals. Sport is thus not a neutral institution but a critical space for reinforcing binary gender distinctions and traditional values, with media representations and gender segregation playing particularly significant roles. Drawing on a theoretical framework informed by the works of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, this paper examines how normative femininity is articulated in sport and how it contributes to the reproduction of conservative and heteronormative social structures. In this way, sport emerges as a pivotal social field in which contemporary struggles over gender equality, visibility, and the redefinition of femininity are contested.
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