Book Section
This chapter explores gender performativity in the context of sport, with a focus on combat sports. It describes the dispositifs that construct and deconstruct these identities, starting from a contextualization of the relationship between gender and sport. Next, the chapter analyses gender performativity through Jack Halberstam’s concept of female masculinity. Finally, it discusses a specific aspect of female gender construction: motherhood.
Keywords: embodiment; gender performativity; female masculinity; combat sports; motherhood; mothering
Rights: © by the author(s). Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Part of Performing Embodiment Containing:
Introduction: Performing Embodiment / Alberica Bazzoni, Federica Buongiorno
Language as Embodied Practice: Notes on Performative Processes of Subjectification with Reference to Ludwig Wittgenstein, Stanley Cavell, and Judith Butler / Lucilla Guidi
Performing the Living Present: Clarice Lispector’s Água Viva / Alberica Bazzoni
Performing and Embodying Authorship: Case Studies from Italian Women’s Autobiographical Writings / Ursula Fanning
Affective Choreographies / Susan Kozel
‘Full Drop into the Body’: A Conversation and Public Discussion / Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir, Susan Kozel
Dancing Tango: The Realm of Appearances / Dorothea Olkowski
Embodying and Transforming Female Masculinity through Combat Sports / Elisa Virgili
Choreographies of Knowledge: Mis/fitting in Academia / Chiara Montalti
Title
Embodying and Transforming Female Masculinity through Combat Sports
Author(s)
Elisa Virgili
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-39_08
Description
This chapter explores gender performativity in the context of sport, with a focus on combat sports. It describes the dispositifs that construct and deconstruct these identities, starting from a contextualization of the relationship between gender and sport. Next, the chapter analyses gender performativity through Jack Halberstam’s concept of female masculinity. Finally, it discusses a specific aspect of female gender construction: motherhood.
Is Part Of
Performing Embodiment
Place
Berlin
Publisher
ICI Berlin Press
Date
April 28, 2026
Subject
embodiment
gender performativity
female masculinity
combat sports
motherhood
mothering
Rights
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Language
en-GB
page start
183
page end
204
Source
Performing Embodiment: Choreographies of Affect, Language, and Social Norms, ed. by Alberica Bazzoni and Federica Buongiorno, Cultural Inquiry, 39 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2026), pp. 183–204

Publication scheduled for 28 April 2026

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Cite as: Elisa Virgili, ‘Embodying and Transforming Female Masculinity through Combat Sports’, in Performing Embodiment: Choreographies of Affect, Language, and Social Norms, ed. by Alberica Bazzoni and Federica Buongiorno, Cultural Inquiry, 39 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2026), pp. 183-204 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-39_08>