If you can’t play nice, play roller derby: investigating gender performativity in women’s flat track roller derby

Author

• Valerie Cannon

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Fewkes, Jacqueline

Abstract

Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby is one of few contact sports available to women in the U.S. in which women play by the same rules as men. Contact sports are traditionally a male dominated arena in the United States. Rollergirls both challenge and negotiate socially constructed gender norms by participating in this contact sport while dressing and fundraising according to heteronormative concepts of sex appeal and femininity. While Rollergirls demonstrate their strength and endurance on the track, they often do so under a derby persona, emphasizing their femininity to counterbalance their participation in a masculine activity. In this manner, Rollergirls demonstrate how intertwined athletic capability and sexuality are, and the difficulty gaining recognition in female athletics.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Recommended Citation

Cannon, Valerie, "If you can’t play nice, play roller derby: investigating gender performativity in women’s flat track roller derby" (2011). Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019. 48.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_honors_2/48

Extent

66 p.

Identifier

FA00003569