Understanding "The Athletic Labour of Femininity" Through the Experiences of Turkish Female Personal Trainers

Year 2024, Volume: 15 Issue: 1, 115 - 143, 29.04.2024

Yeliz Eratlı Şirin İrem Kavasoğlu Tayfun Şirin Berna Can

https://doi.org/10.54141/psbd.1324201

Abstract

The momentum of social media in the world of sports has created a wide range of opportunities for women in sports. One of the most obvious of these opportunities is undoubtedly related to economic visibility. The current research aims to examine how female trainers in the health and fitness sector, who actively participate in the creation and consumption of sports, represent themselves on Instagram through the concept of the athletic labour of femininity in the light of Turkey's gender regime and neoliberal feminism. In this study, which applied quantitative content analysis to a total of 1100 photographs of eleven individual coaches (11), eight in-depth individual interviews were conducted, and these qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis method. The quantitative and qualitative findings of the research show that women trainers in the health and fitness sector construct coaching that is in line with neoliberal femininity. On the other hand, power relations based on Turkey's neoconservative, religious patriarchal norms influence the market-based decisions trainers make about their sharing. As a result, Turkey-specific dynamics are at the forefront of trainers' athletic endeavours, which they focus on building a brand image. This study offers a perspective on how personal trainers serving in the healthy living and fitness industry use Instagram as a marketing tool, what economic opportunities they get, and what they negotiate while improving their visibility on Instagram, in the context of neoliberal femininity and Turkey's gender regime.

Keywords

Brand image, Female personal trainer, Instagram, Social media

Project Number

TSA-2021-14150

References

• Abeza, G. (2023). Social Media and Sport Studies (2014–2023): A Critical Review. International Journal of Sport Communication, 16(3), 251-261. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2023-0182
• Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N., & Seguin, B. (2019). Social media in relationship marketing: The perspective of professional sport managers in the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL. Communication & Sport, 7(1), 80–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479517740343
• Abeza, G., Sanderson, J. (2022). Theory and social media in sport studies. International Journal of Sport Communication, 15(6), 1-9.
• Acar F., Altunok G. (2013). The ‘politics of intimate’at the intersection of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism in contemporary Turkey. Women’s Studies International Forum, 41(1), 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2012.10.001
• Akgöz, G. (2016). From unhappy marriage to dangerous liaison: feminism, neoliberalism and social movements. Fe Dergi, 8(2), 85-100.
• Arat, N. (1996). Women's studies in Turkey. Women's Studies Quarterly, 24(1/2), 400-411.
• Atuk S. (2020). Femicide and the speaking state: Woman killing and woman (re) making in Turkey. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 16(3), 283–306. https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-8637409
• Ayhan, B., & Demir, Y. (2022). Systematic Sexism: Women’s Sports News in a Circle of Gatekeepers and Users on Twitter. Communication & Sport, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795221147644
• Baki, A. & Gökçek, T. (2012). An overview of mixed method research. Electronic Journal of Social Sciences, 11(42), 1-21.
• Banet-Weiser, S., Gill, R., Rottenberg, C. (2020). Postfeminizm, popüler feminizm ve neoliberal feminizm? Sarah Banet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill ve Catherine Rottenberg sohbette. Feminist Teori, 21(1), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700119842555
• Benn, T., Pfister, G., & Jawad, H. (2010). Muslim women and sport. Routledge.
• Bilgehan Öztürk, M. (2011). Sexual Orientation Discrimination: Exploring the Experiences of Lesbian,Gay and Bisexual Employees in Turkey. Human Relations, 64, 1099–118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726710396249
• Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
• Bruce, T. (2016). New rules for new times: Sportswomen and media representation in the third wave. Sex Roles, 74(7), 361-376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0497-6
• Bozok, N., & Küçükdoğan, N. (2022). Fatness as a difference, gaze and outgrowth ıssue: A feminist discussion on the worlds of emotions and experiences attached to women’s fatness. Fe Dergi, 14(1), 64-77. https://doi.org/10.46655/federgi.1070026
• Bulgu, N., Koca Arıtan, C., Aşçı, F.H. (2007). Daily life, women and physical activity. Hacettepe Journal of Sport Sciences, 18(4), 167-181.
• Burch, L. M., & Zimmerman, M. H. (2019). Female athletes find a place for expression on Instagram. In Routledge Handbook of the Business of Women's Sport (pp. 468-479). Routledge.
• Clavio, G., Eagleman, A.N. (2011) Gender and sexually suggestive images in sports blogs. Journal of Sport Management, 7, 295–304. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.25.4.295
• Cindoglu D., Unal D. (2017). Gender and sexuality in the authoritarian discursive strategies of ‘New Turkey. European Journal of Women's Studies, 24(1), 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050681667900
• Güneş-Ayata A., Doğangün G. (2017). Gender politics of the AKP: Restoration of a religio-conservative gender climate. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 19(6), 610–627. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2017.1328887
• Demir, Y., Ayhan, B. (2022). Being a female sports journalist on twitter: online harassment, sexualization, and hegemony. International Journal of Sport Communication, 15(3), 207-217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2022-0044
• Denzin, N. K. (2012). Nirengi 2.0. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 80–88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689812437186
• Ekinci, M.A. & Koca, C. (2022). Self-branding of olympic women athletes on social media: an analysis of postfeminism context. 20th International Sport Sciences Congress, Antalya, Turkey.
• Filo, K., Lock, D., & Karg, A. (2015). Sport and social media research: A review. Sport Management Review, 18(2), 166-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2014.11.001
• Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977. Pantheon Books.
• Geurin, A.N. (2017). Elite female athletes’ perceptions of new media use relating to their careers: A qualitative analysis. Journal of Sport Management, 31(4), 345-359. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2016-0157
• Geurin-Eagleman, A.N., and Burch, L.M. (2016). Communicating via photographs: A gendered analysis of Olympic athletes’ visual self-presentation on Instagram. Sport Management Review, 19(2), 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2015.03.002
• Hacısoftaoğlu, İ. (2005). The effect of physical activities on the bodies and social identities of women. Hacettepe University Instıtute of Health Sciences, Ms. Thesis in Sport Sciences and Technology, Ankara.
• Hacısoftaoğlu, İ., Pfister, G. (2012). Transitions: life stories and physical activities of Turkish migrants in Denmark. Sport in Society, 15(3), 385-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2012.653207
• Harkness, G. (2017). Out of bounds: Cultural barriers to female sports participation in Qatar. In Sport in the Middle East (pp. 64-84). Routledge.
• Hanson, W.E., Creswell, J.W., Plano Clark, V.L, Petska, K.S. and Creswell, J.D. (2005). Mixed methods research designs in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 224–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.224
• Hayes, M., Filo, K., Riot, C., & Geurin, A. (2019). Athlete perceptions of social media benefits and challenges during major sport events. International Journal of Sport Communication, 12(4), 449–481. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2019-0026
• Kandiyoti, D. (2013). Cariyeler, bacılar, yurttaşlar. Metis Yayınları. İstanbul.
• Kandiyoti, D. (2014). Gender of the modern: Missing dimensions in Turkish modernization studies. S. Bozdoğan & R. Kasaba (Ed.), Modernization and national identity in Turkey içinde (ss.99-117). Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları.
• Kandiyoti D. (2016). Locating the politics of gender: Patriarchy, neo-liberal governance and violence in Turkey. Research and Policy on Turkey, 1(2), 103–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/23760818.2016.1201242
• Kara, F. M. (2016). Cinsiyetlendirilmiş Rekreasyonel Mekânlarda Kadınların Deneyimleri. Sporun Toplumsal Cinsiyet Halleri, 200-216.
• Kasfad (2021). Gender equality in sports monitoring report in Turkey. Hacettepe University, Ankara.
• Kavanagh, E., Litchfield, C., & Osborne, J. (2019). Sporting women and social media: Sexualization, misogyny, and gender-based violence in online spaces. International Journal of Sport Communication, 12(4), 552–572. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2019-0079
• Kavanagh, E., Litchfield, C., & Osborne, J. (2022). Social media, Digital technology and athlete abuse. In Sport, Social Media, and Digital Technology, 15, 185-204. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420220000015022
• Kavasoğlu, İ., Eratlı Şirin, Y., & Uğurlu, A. (2023). A space of one’s own? The tensions of being visible on Instagram for Turkish female athletes. Communication & Sport, 12(2), 347-369. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795231154913
• Kavasoğlu, İ., Koca, C. (2022). Gendered body of Turkish bikini fitness athletes on Instagram. Communication & Sport, 10(4), 685-707. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479520961370
• Kavasoğlu, İ. (2021) The construction of compulsory heterosexuality by referees in women’s football in Turkey, Journal of Gender Studies, 30(8), 949-963. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1869535
• Koca, C. (2021). Analysis of women and sport in Turkey. Women and sport in Asia. Routledge, 226-236.
• Koca, C., Aşçı, F.H., Demirhan, G. (2005). Attitudes toward physical education and class preferences of turkish adolescents in terms of school gender composition. Adolescence, 40(158), 365-375.
• Koca, C., & Hacısoftaoğlu, İ. (2011a). Struggling for empowerment: sport participation of women and girls in Turkey. Muslim women and sport, 154-166.
• Koca, C., & Hacısoftaoğlu, I. (2011b). Religion and the state. The story of a Turkish elite athlete. Muslim women and sport, 198-210.
• Koca, C., Henderson, K. A., Asci, F. H., Bulgu, N. (2009). Constraints to leisure-time physical activity and negotiation strategies in Turkish women. Journal of Leisure Research, 41(2), 225-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2009.11950167
• Koca, C., Hacısoftaoğlu, I., Benn, T., Pfister, G., & Jawad, H. (2010). Sport participation of women and girls in modern Turkey. T. Benn, G. Pfister, H. Jawad (4th eds.). Muslim women in sport. United Kingdom: Routledge.
• Li, B., Scott, O. K., Naraine, M. L., & Ruihley, B. J. (2021). Tell me a story: Exploring elite female athletes’ self-presentation via an analysis of Instagram Stories. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 21(2), 108-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2020.1837038
• Litchfield, C., Kavanagh, E., Osborne, J., & Jones, I. (2016). Virtual maltreatment: Sexualization and social media abuse in sport. Psychology of Women Section Review, 18(2), 36–47.
• Lopez-Carril, S., Anagnostopoulos, C., Parganas, P. (2020b). Social media in sport management education: Introducing LinkedIn. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2020.100262
• Lopez-Carril, S., Escamilla-Fajardo, P., Gonzalez-Serrano, M.H., Ratten, V., Gonzalez-Garcia R.J. (2020a). The Rise of Social Media in Sport: A Bibliometric Analysis. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 17(6). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219877020500418
• Müftüler-Bac, M. (1999). Turkish women’s predicament. International Forum for Women's Studies, 22(3), 303-315.
• Nuhrat, Y. (2022). Linguistic taboo, ideology, and erasure: Reproducing homophobia as norm and lesbianism as stigma in women's football in Turkey. American Anthropologist, 124(1), 141-153. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13695
• Osborne, J., Kavanagh, E., Litchfield, C. (2021). Freedom for expression or a space of oppression? social media and the female @thlete. in The professionalization of women’s sport. Emerald Publishing Limited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-196-620211010
• Ozeren, E., Ucar, Z., & Duygulu, E. (2016). Silence speaks in the workplace: Uncovering the experiences of LGBT employees in Turkey. Sexual orientation and transgender issues in organizations: Global perspectives on LGBT workforce diversity, 217-232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29623-4_13
• Özsoy, S. (2011). Use of new media by Turkish fans in sport communication: Facebook and Twitter. Journal of Human Kinetics, 28(1), 165-176. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10078-011-0033-x
• Öztürk, P., Koca, C. (2019). Generational analysis of leisure time physical activity participation of women in Turkey. Leisure Studies, 38(2), 232-244. http://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2019.1569112
• Öztürk, P. (2018). Feminist Interventions in Physical Activity and Sport Science in Turkey. In: Mansfield, L., Caudwell, J., Wheaton, B., Watson, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53318-0_47
• Özyeğin, G. (2018). Arzunun nesnesi olmak: Romans, kırılgan erkeklik ve neoliberal özne. C. Özbay, A. Terzioğlu & Y. Yasin (Ed.), Neoliberalizm ve mahremiyet: Turkey’de beden, sağlık ve cinsellik içinde (s.51-178). Metis Yayınevi.
• Pegoraro, A. (2010). Look who’s talking-Athletes on Twitter: A case study. International journal of sport communication, 3(4), 501-514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.3.4.501
• Pegoraro, A. (2013). Sport fandom in the digital world. In P. Pedersen (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of sport communication (pp. 248–258). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Rahikainen, K., Toffoletti, K. (2021). “I just don’t wanna deal with the headache of people fighting over the internet”: A study of sponsored female climbers’ digital labor. Sociology of Sport Journal, 39(3), 251-260. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-0177
• Rottenberg, C. (2014). The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism. Cultural Studies, 28(3), 418–437. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2013.857361
• Sakallı-Uğurlu, N., Uğurlu, O. (2016). Predicting Attitudes Toward Gay Men with Ambivalence Toward Men, Questioning Religion, and Gender Differences. Sex Roles 74, 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0571-0
• Saraç, L., McCullick, B. (2017). The life of a gay student in a university physical education and sports department: a case study in Turkey. Sport, Education and Society, 22:3, 338-354. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2015.1036232
• Sehlikoğlu, S. (2015). Female bodies and state power: Women-only sport centers in Istanbul. Women’s sport as politics in Muslim contexts, 102-35.
• Sehlikoglu, S. (2016). Exercising in comfort: Islamicate culture of Mahremiyet in everyday Istanbul. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 12(2), 143-165. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/15525864-3507606
• Smith, L.R., Sanderson, J. (2015). I’m going to instagram it! An analysis of athlete self-presentation on instagram. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(2), 342-358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2015.1029125
• Şener, G. (2019). Can Commodified Feminism Empower Women? Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of International Working Women’s Day Advertisements. Culture and Communication, 22(2), 146-172.
• Talimciler, A. (2006). Sport and Sport Sciences as the Idelogical Agent of Legitimation. Spor Yönetimi ve Bilgi Teknolojileri, 1(2), 35-40.
• Tanaltay, A., Langroudi, A. S., Akhavan-Tabatabaei, R., Kasap, N. (2021). Can social media predict soccer clubs’ stock prices? the case of turkish teams and twitter. Sage Open, pp. 1-20.
• Tashakkori, A., Creswell, J.W. (2007). Exploring the Nature of Research Questions in Mixed Methods Research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(3), 207-211. DOI: 10.1177/1558689807302814
• Timurturkan, M., Demez, G. (2018). The body as a fıeld of socıal power and reconstructıon of agıng body. Journal of Mehmet Akif Ersoy Unıversıty Economıcs and Admınıstratıve Scıences Faculty, 5(2), 441-456. http://doi.org/10.30798/makuiibf.402090
• Thorpe, H., Toffoletti, K., Bruce, T. (2017). Sportswomen and social media: Bringing third-wave feminism, post feminism, and neoliberal feminism into conversation. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 41(5), 359-383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723517730808
• Toffoletti, K., Ahmad, N., Thorpe, H. (2022). Critical encounters with social media in women & sport and physical culture. In sport, social media and digital technology. Emerald Publishing Limited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S1476-285420220000015004
• Toffoletti, K., Thorpe, H. (2018a). The athletic labour of femininity: The branding and consumption of global celebrity sportswomen on Instagram. Journal of Consumer Culture, 18(2), 298-316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469540517747068
• Toffoletti, K., & Thorpe, H. (2018b). Female athletes' self-representation on social media: A feminist analysis of neoliberal marketing strategies in “economies of visibility”. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 11-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353517726705
• Yarar, B. (2005). 'Civilized Women'and'Light Sports': Modernisation, Women and Sport in the Early Republican Period of Turkey. Kadin/Woman 2000, 6(2), 1-35.
• Yarar, B., Hacısoftaoğlu, İ., Akcan, F., & Bulgu, N. (2015). Modernleşmenin Gerilimlerle Dolu Kimliği: Modern Turkey Tarihinde Hem Kadın Hem Sporcu Olmak. Oyunun Ötesinde, 187-210.
• Yertutanol, F. D. K., Candansayar, S., & Seydaoğlu, G. (2019). Homophobia in health professionals in Ankara, Turkey: Developing a scale. Transcultural psychiatry, 56(6), 1191-1217. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461518808166