Being grateful: Materalising ‘success’ in women's contact sport

Abstract

As women enter into spheres of production and consumption previously considered ‘masculine’, there is an opportunity to question the emotions and affects in circulation and what these ‘do’ to support the transformation of social life. The entrée of women into the world of professional contact sport is one site where these emotions and affects are intensified. These sports, once the bastion of male dominance and control, are being opened up to women, but on precarious terms. Drawing on interviews with 13 women Australian Football League players, this article focuses in on positivity, happiness and gratitude as concepts that illuminate both the impossible cruelty of women's full inclusion in the sport-industry complex, and, more importantly, the ways women's inclusion is challenging and shifting the practices and organisation of sport.