Why was this story of scandal and conspiracy so intriguing? Is there som e greater social significance to this story, or are the folk and the journalists just captivated by dirty laundry? Was it because the lead players were (inter)national caliber athletes, and women athletes at that? Tonya Harding has referred to herself as "the Charles Barkley of figure skating", but even Barkley's outrageous and sometimes violent behavior has never generated this kind of press.
Of course, the scandal of trying to alter the outcome of a major national sporting event is always newsworthy. But apparently this is especially so when those involved are:.
1. Olympians, presumably athletes who best embody the principles of sportsmanship;.
2. figure skaters, members of an elite, aristocratic sport in which competitors do not normally even face one another;.
3. and women, who are expected by social norms to be neither corrupt nor violent, nor athletic.
As numerous sport historians and sport sociologists have pointed out, sport reflects the values and beliefs of sociocultural system in which it occurs (Coakley, 1994; Creedon, 1994a). This of course includes values and beliefs about gender. Because sport in the U.S. is typically associated with aggression, competition, and self-assertion, sport is often seen as antithetical to femininity.
The perceived contrast between athleticism and femininity places women athletes in a double-bind; they cannot meet both the ideals of femininity and the norms of sport. Given this sociocultural context, Mariah Burton Nelson (Nelson, 1991; Nelso n,1994b) has argued persuasively that for women, participating in sport is an inherently feminist act; sport teaches women to enjoy and take pride in their bodies and their physical capabilities, plus it fosters solidarity with other women. For an increa sing number of North American women, participation in sport is also an inherently pleasurable act.
