This paper documents how I fought for a place as a boxer in a regional Tasmanian boxing gym over a 30 month period. This work builds on existing ethnographic accounts that argue that, for women, becoming a boxer is more than just a matter of developing a fit body and physical skill – it is a continual project of negotiating gendered identity. Using an analytic autoethnographic methodology and drawing on contemporary theories of masculinity, I share my individual experiences as a boxer and, in turn, reveal the complexities of bodywork and gendered identity within Tasmanian amateur boxing culture. My closing discussion analyses the way in which performances of masculinity were precarious, fragmented and anxious.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Social Change
Objective Division:	Cultural Understanding
Objective Group:	Arts and Leisure
Objective Field:	Recreation
Author:	Nash, M (Dr Meredith Nash)
ID Code:	104316
Year Published:	2017 (online first 2015)
Web of Science® Times Cited:	1
Deposited By:	Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2015-11-09
Last Modified:	2017-12-12
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