Gender, Play, and Identity: A Longitudinal Study of Structure and Agency in Female Football Fandom

Through the longitudinal study of female football fans from the mid-1990s to 2015, this chapter explores the interplay between gender, identity media and football. Documenting interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions of fandom, including shifting fan practices and motivations vis-à-vis technological and industrial change, the chapter highlights the role of both structure and agency in female fans’ identity formations and articulations. In reference to Judith Butler’s work on gender performativity, the chapter’s longitudinal approach to the study of female football fans reveals gradual qualitative change overlooked in previous work. While reiterating that participation does not equal gender equality and football culture continues to operate through masculine hegemonic frames, the chapter acknowledges the capacity and significance of female participants’ challenges to binary perceptions of ‘essence fabrication.’