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RESEARCH PRODUCT

"Lempeä Lydia" - "voimakas Björgen" : naishiihtäjien representoinnin muutokset Urheilulehden teksteissä vuosina 1905-2010

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The purpose of my study is to examine how female skiers are represented in the texts of a Finnish sports magazine, Urheilulehti, and how these representations have changed during the examination period from 1905 to 2010. Relying on Judith Butler’s ideology of gender performativity, I analyse the representations of female skiers from the perspective of promoting the traditional female norm and simultaneously from the perspective of breaking and reforming it. The methodological framework of my study consists of Fairclough’s three- dimensional framework, which is based on the tradition of critical discourse analysis (CDA). In compliance with this framework, I began the analysis from the textual level and proceeded through the discursive practice level to explaining different interpretations at the social practice level. The analysis produced a classification of four ‘upper-level discourses’ and eight ‘main discourses’ for structuring female skiers’ representations. The upperlevel discourses were named skier discourse, female skier discourse, individual discourse and female discourse. The main discourses are based on pairs of opposing discourses within each upper-level discourse: successful skier – failing skier, respected female skier – unaccepted female skier, worthy individual – unworthy individual, and traditional woman – boundary-breaking woman. Several changes were discovered in the representations of female skiers. The discourse of successful skier, which became the dominant discourse in the examined texts, increased its share towards the end of the research period. During the last years, it became increasingly common to represent female skiers even as sports heroes. Descriptions of female skiers’ personal lives began to appear in the texts in 1970, and the role of these descriptions grew towards the end. Texts highlighting traditional femininity became less frequent, whereas descriptions of deviation from the traditional female norm increased. Overlapping of the discourses became typical of the representations. In the last years of the data, female skiers were primarily presented as multidimensional ‘subjects’ or agents. Contrary to earlier research findings, the texts in the final years of the research period included no trivialisation of female skiers, such as underestimation, description of appearances or focus on irrelevant matters.