Punching Back: Gender, Religion and Belonging in Women-Only Kickboxing Rana Jasmijn
In the Netherlands, girls and young women are increasingly active in women-only kickboxing. The general assumption, in the Netherlands and in western Europe more broadly, is that women's sport is a…
Specifikacia Punching Back: Gender, Religion and Belonging in Women-Only Kickboxing Rana Jasmijn
In the Netherlands, girls and young women are increasingly active in women-only kickboxing. The general assumption, in the Netherlands and in western Europe more broadly, is that women's sport is a form of secular, feminist empowerment. Muslim women's participation would then exemplify the incongruence of Islam with the modern, secular nation-state. Punching Back provides a detailed ethnographic study that contests this view by showing that young Muslim women who kickbox establish agentive selves by playing with gender norms, challenging expectations, and living out their religious