Setting the scene: hailing women into a running identity

Abstract

Readers should also refer to the journal's website at http://www.informaworld.com/rqrs and check volume 2, issue 2 to view the visual material in colour. With the ethos of providing ‘all women whatever their age, size or ability the opportunity to run together’, the Women’s Running Network (WRN) emphasises its accessibility to the ‘true beginner’. The network provides a social and physical space in and through which (often) previously inactive, non‐elite, non‐competitive women of all ages learn to experience and perceive their bodies in a different way. The literature exploring all‐female leisure settings has highlighted the importance of these environments for promoting physical and psychological empowerment, enhancement of body image, and improved perceptions of women and the female body. However, within this social field, the specific ways in which women learn to live with and through their bodies – and indeed are taught to do so – have received limited attention. In this paper, I focus upon the role of the visual and material culture of the WRN to examine how women are told and shown particular gendered and embodied identities. I suggest that, via narrative text and images, the WRN hail women of a specific social location to seek out and embody the ethos of the network. Using the concepts of gendered identity performance and commercialised feminism, I highlight how the visual culture of the WRN can be interpreted as constructing a moral, gendered obligation for sport/exercise participation through midlife and beyond. I conclude by discussing how the visual and material culture of the WRN has implications for framing and facilitating would‐be participant’s potential identity performance, socialisation experiences, embodiment and physicality within this women’s‐only context.