Checking In: An Analysis of the (Lack of) Body Checking in Women's Ice Hockey
Source Information
September 2012, Volume83(Issue3)Pages 470To 478 -Permalink
URI
Click to copy the URI to your clipboard.https://resolver.scholarsportal.info/resolve/02701367/v83i0003/470_ci.xml
DOI
Click to copy the URI to your clipboard.https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2012.10599882
Abstract
Despite the growing popularity of women's ice hockey in North America, players continue to face limitations because of the prohibition of body checking. In this paper, we argue from a liberal feminist philosophical perspective that this prohibition reinforces existing traditional stereotypes of female athletes. Because the women's game does not incorporate checking, female ice hockey players are not afforded the same opportunity to flourish as men and experience bodily agency, which results in continued male domination of the game, therefore, indirectly reinforcing a gender hierarchy in hockey and society.