Gender on the Ropes: An Autoethnographic Account of Boxing in Tasmania, Australia

This paper documents how I fought for a place as a boxer in a regional Tasmanian boxing gym over a 30 month period. This work builds on existing ethnographic accounts that argue that, for women, becoming a boxer is more than just a matter of developing a fit body and physical skill– it is a continual project of negotiating gendered identity.  Through a series of evocative stories and drawing on contemporary theories of masculinity, I share my individual experiences as a boxer, and in turn, reveal the complexities of bodywork and gendered identity within Tasmanian amateur boxing culture. I conclude that my performances of masculinity were precarious, fragmented, and anxious.