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"Roller derbies."
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Roller derby rivals
It's 1948 in New York City. A legendary high-speed, hard-hitting rivalry on the Roller Derby track is about to be witnessed by a packed arena at the 69th Regiment Armory and for the first time, thousands of television viewers. Here is the story of Gerry Murray and Midge Toughie Brasuhn, two pioneering athletes at the dawn of televised sports.
Book
Women Skating on the Edge
This study analyzes the marketplace performances that are enacted in the field of women’s flat track roller derby using the theoretical lens of gender performativity. Rather than treating the roller derby field as an autonomous enclave of gender resistance, this study focuses on the interrelationships between derby grrrls’ resignifying performances of femininity and the gender constraints that have been naturalized in their everyday lives. The market-mediated nature of derby grrrls’ ideological edgework enables them to challenge orthodox gender boundaries, without losing sociocultural legitimacy. This analysis casts new theoretical light on the gendered habitus and reveals key differences to the outcomes that would follow from Bourdieusian assumptions about the deployment of cultural capital in zero-sum status competitions. The concept of ideological edgework also presents a theoretical alternative to critical arguments, such as the commodity feminism thesis, that assume an inherently paradoxical and, ultimately co-opting, relationship exists between practices of countercultural resistance and marketplace performances. We further argue that ideological edgework redresses some of the conceptual ambiguities that can lead gender researchers to conflate gender performativity with social performances.
Journal Article
The consumer–activity relationship and separation distress
Purpose
Despite the rich history of examining the connections between symbolic consumption and identity formation, nearly all the research has focused on brands and possessions; the role of activities has been critically overlooked. This study aims to expand marketing’s understanding of identity formation by examining it in conjunction with attribution theory, exploring the relationship between activity engagement and separation distress.
Design/methodology/approach
A pilot study (n = 90) using a thematic content analysis reveals six themes (i.e. separation distress, negative emotions, indifference, adapting, positive decision and acceptance), providing support for the conceptual model. The main study (n = 347) tests the conceptual model via five hypotheses.
Findings
Self-worth match with an activity predicts the perceived separation distress of stopping the activity. Furthermore, self-activity connection mediates this relationship, but only if consumers believe they are in control of or the cause for stopping the activity.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides critical baseline understanding of activity consumption. Yet, future research on the topic of activities is needed to advance activity engagement as a unique category of consumer behavior.
Practical implications
To craft effective messaging and strategies, marketers should consider the meaning and value embedded in consumer activities (not just possessions and brands).
Originality/value
This research reveals that consumers use activities to construct their identity and manage their self-worth. It also demonstrates that stopping an activity may lead to separation distress.
Journal Article
Visual Function in Athletes from Different Team Sports and Non-Athlete Controls
Visual skills are increasingly recognized as critical to athletic performance, yet it remains unclear whether participation in specific team sports is associated with enhanced visual function. This cross-sectional study compared visual acuity, peripheral vision, stereoacuity, ocular alignment, and refractive error among 52 participants aged 15–56 years: basketball (n = 10), futsal (n = 9), hockey (n = 12), roller derby (n = 9), and non-athlete controls (n = 12). Standardized assessments included best-corrected visual acuity (logMAR), Hirschberg shift, peripheral perception using a tachistoscope, stereoacuity with the Randot® test, and non-cycloplegic autorefraction. Group comparisons were conducted using ANOVA, post hoc analyses, and regression models adjusted for age. Significant differences were observed only for visual acuity (F(4, 47) = 4.46, p = 0.003, η2 = 0.275): non-athlete controls (0.00 ± 0.08 logMAR) and basketball players (0.02 ± 0.05) showed the best performance, while roller derby athletes demonstrated the poorest (0.16 ± 0.12). No significant group differences were found for peripheral vision, stereoacuity, Hirschberg deviation, or refractive error, and the poorer acuity in roller derby remained after adjustment for age. These findings suggest that participation in team sports does not universally confer superior visual function and that static clinical measures may overlook the dynamic visual–motor strategies that underlie athletic performance.
Journal Article
Roller-skating into the big city: A case study of migrant workers' informal leisure activity in Guangzhou, China
The focus of this study was roller-skating on the streets of Guangzhou, China. It examined the relationship between informal leisure activities among young migrant workers and public spaces. Using basic data collected from nonparticipatory observations, in-depth interviews, and questionnaire responses, this study investigated how young migrant workers came to understand Guangzhou through roller-skating in public spaces and how roller-skating aided their integration into the city. The study found that when faced with marginalization as roller skaters, the participants adopted a moderate bodily strategy: they constructed their own informal leisure spaces and endowed public spaces with new meanings through embodied practice. As a kind of informal leisure activity, roller-skating came to transform urban streets into meaningful places for young migrant workers to pursue group belongingness; in that way, they established their own identities and constructed a place identity with Guangzhou.
Journal Article
POWER JAM
Nouran Elkabbany's family wasn't thrilled about the idea of her joining a roller derby team. They worried about all the ways she might damage her body. Noha Eid decided to take up roller derby after one of her best friends passed away. CaiRollers was formed in 2012 by expats living in Egypt who had played in their native countries. They invited Egyptian women to join-first their colleagues, then, through Fecebook events, women who, until then, were strangers. Now the team consists almost entirely of Egyptians, with only two foreigners. Roller derby is relatively accessible: It doesn't require a lot of training, or a certain body type, or even much physical fitness. But it can get expensive--people need skates, helmets, and padding, as well as a designated space. CaiRollers tried reaching out to different sports clubs in Egypt for sponsorship, but none were willing to offer it. Helal discusses roller derby sports history in Egypt.
Journal Article
Significant changes in the skin microbiome mediated by the sport of roller derby
Diverse bacterial communities live on and in human skin. These complex communities vary by skin location on the body, over time, between individuals, and between geographic regions. Culture-based studies have shown that human to human and human to surface contact mediates the dispersal of pathogens, yet little is currently known about the drivers of bacterial community assembly patterns on human skin. We hypothesized that participation in a sport involving skin to skin contact would result in detectable shifts in skin bacterial community composition. We conducted a study during a flat track roller derby tournament, and found that teammates shared distinct skin microbial communities before and after playing against another team, but that opposing teams' bacterial communities converged during the course of a roller derby bout. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the human skin microbiome shifts in composition during activities involving human to human contact, and that contact sports provide an ideal setting in which to evaluate dispersal of microorganisms between people.
Journal Article
Taking a Health Perspective on Roller Derby: A Qualitative Exploration of Women’s Experiences
Although far fewer women exercise regularly than men, one women-dominated sport growing in popularity internationally is roller derby. A limited number of predominantly US-based and qualitative studies have explored roller derby. This Scotland-based qualitative study explored reasons for women starting, continuing, and stopping participation in roller derby in order to inform people involved in promoting physical activity for health benefits. Semi-structured interviews with six participants from a Scottish women’s roller derby league were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis generated five super-ordinate themes. Most participants learned about roller derby from watching the sport on film, attending a bout (game), or word of mouth. The main motivators and benefits of participating in this sport were found to be challenge, enjoyment, increased confidence, health benefits, and motivation to exercise. Participants were empowered by involvement and motivated by community, team spirit, and support to develop. Despite high commitment, some women could not sustain team involvement due to barriers such as injury, changing life roles, and conflicting commitments—a lack of support was described when this happened. Greater inclusivity is needed to enable changing levels of participation as women’s commitments change, to facilitate ongoing health benefits and inspire others.
Journal Article