Holding the fish herself: women anglers and gendered power relations in Swedish recreational fishing

Le résumé fourni par la source

Recreational fishing is, like many other outdoor activities, shaped by gendered power relations that privilege men and masculinities over women and femininities. This study explores how women anglers experience and navigate these dynamics in Swedish recreational fishing, with particular attention to the postfeminist discourse and the growing anti-gender ideology. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and feminist theories of gender performances, gender hegemonies, and microaggressions, the analysis reveals an in/visibility paradox: women are overlooked as anglers, yet made hyper visible as women. Despite this paradox, the women anglers in this study resisted subordination by embodying qualities associated with masculinity in their gender performances. While this strategy enabled them to gain legitimacy as knowledgeable anglers, it also reinforced the existing gender hierarchy. Another form of resistance involved engagement in a women’s fishing organisation. The analysis further shows how wider narratives of already having achieved gender equality can obscure the full significance of such women-only spaces. Overall, the paper illustrates the contradictions involved in navigating gendered power relations in the outdoors and offers insight for recreational fisheries management to foster angling communities where neither men nor women are constrained by gender.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.