Fictional denials of female empowerment: A feminist analysis of young adult sports fiction

Scholars have argued that spelt is a highly gendered space where dominant and subordinate groups engage in struggles of resistance and counter-resistance. There are two limitations with this research. First, the majority of investigations have been confined to adult women; examinations of adolescent females are virtually nonexistent. Second, most research has focused on print and broadcast journalism. The influence of one important medium-young adult sports fiction-has been neglected. This investigation analyzed "lone girl" novels (where adolescent female protagonists try out for boys' teams), as well as books focusing on women's team sports. Findings revealed lone girl novels characterized female protagonists as going against their "true nature." Novels featuring women's team sports undermined female solidarity by equating it with heterosexual desire. These results constitute a fictional denial of sport as a site of resistance and empowerment for athletic females.