Sociation Today Spring/Summer 2014

Boutfits: A Sociological Analysis of the Fashion and Symbolic Wear of Roller Derby Attire

by

John Paul

and

Sharla Blank

Washburn University

Introduction

This study examines the subjective meanings that female roller derby athletes give to their game uniforms (commonly called boutfits—a playful amalgam of an "athletic bout" and a "sporting outfit"). Using a general qualitative approach grounded by participant observation and semi-structured interviews, we query the symbolic meanings athletes give to their boutfits. Through this process we are able to identify not only the social processes inherent in expressing individuality and conceptions of strength, but also the conflicts that arise in how the boutfits (and athletes) are viewed, and want to be viewed, by "fans" and people external to the sport. We begin first with a brief description of roller derby and the role of the boutfit. Following this, we provide a scholarly review on the study of fashion and uniforms in sport. We then discuss our methodological guides and strategies of research engagement. Finally, the main analytical thrust of the article is taken up and we detail how derby athletes use and symbolically construct meaning around their sporting attire.

The Sport of Roller Derby and the Boutfit

Described as a game in which skaters simulate bumper cars, roller derby, when broken down to its basics, is a fairly simple game to understand. A roller derby "bout" (in this context, an athletic competition; a match) is composed of two teams. Each team has a "jammer," a player designated to race. Jammers earn points by successfully breaking through a pack of the rival team's "blockers." In terms of fashion, the jammer wears a starred "panty"– a stretchy cover on the skater's helmet—that signifies her as a potential scorer.

Figure 1: Jammer breaking through a set of blockers © Randy Pace.
Used with permission.

Gameplay consists of two 30-minute halves, during which each team fields five women at a time in shifts (called jams) that last up to two minutes. They skate counterclockwise around an oval flat-track, slightly smaller in circumference than a basketball court. There is one jammer per shift who scores a point each time she laps an opposing skater. After her first, non-scoring pass through the opposing team, the leading jammer also has the strategic option of ending the jam prematurely by tapping her hands to her hips to prevent the other team from having the opportunity to score points of their own. The other eight players skate in a pack and make use of their hips and arms to clear space for their jammer while stymieing the opposing jammer's efforts. Players are allowed to hit each other, hard, in shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip blocks.

While every sport has its own dramatic and artistic sensibilities, derby is unusual in that it has a highly institutionalized theatrical and costumed edge. Derby athletes often bout under a creative stage name and wear uniforms hybridized from traditional sport-like jerseys and feminine-punk clothing. Further, skaters often embellish their uniforms with hot pants, tights, and accessorize with make-up and uniform openings that show off body art. This ability to create unique sport identities and stylistic presentations is cited as a substantial factor of appeal to the athletes who play the sport.

Figure 2: Bout Play. Please note the variety of fashionable
expressions. (c) Randy Pace. Used with permission

Figure 3: Promotional Flier for the Capital City Crushers.
Image photograph by the authors.

The Symbolic Nature of Women's Outfits and Sporting Worlds

Aside from the aforementioned point, the prevalence of the academic literature on sport uniforms has highlighted the reality that female athletes are often sexualized and objectified in their uniforms and within broader cultural representations of sport. A substantial number of studies reveal a cultural world of sexism and objectification regarding women's sporting symbols. For example, studies have found that sporting objects have been designed to reflect patriarchal ideology (Storm 1987, Dworkin and Messner 1999) and male cultural hegemony (Craik 2005, Buzuvis 2007). Other works have explored the institutionalization of sexism in sport mascots and totems (Eitzen and Baca-Zinn 1989) as well as in broader cultural symbols that encode stereotypes of women's inferior athletic ability (Lee 1992, King 2007). Further, considerable research has also explored the tendency of the media to highlight voyeuristic and sexualized presentations of female athletes in "aesthetically pleasing motions and poses, emphasizing the erotic physicality rather than the strength of the female body" (Daddario 1992:51. See also Eastman and Billings 2000, Krane et al., 2004, Bissell and Duke 2007, and Kane and Maxwell, 2011).

Lastly, bridging the above, there is also research on the harmful symbolism that female sporting outfits create for the women who wear them (Feather, Ford, and Herr 1996, Wheat and Dickson 1999, McCullough 2007, Steinfeldt, Zakrajsek, Bodey, Middendorf and Martin 2013). In this regard, this research suggests that female athletes who are required to wear revealing sports uniforms report higher levels of body image concerns and feelings of dissatisfaction with their bodies.

But where does the boutfit fit in this sociocultural context? The boutfit and the derby aesthetic have been studied scholastically from a number of different perspectives. Specifically, the cultural and symbolic system or roller derby has been examined as a way to subvert and mock stereotypical images of femininity (Carlson 2009). It has also been considered as an alternative sporting (and fashion) venue that builds bodily confidence among persons historically estranged from athletic self-conceptions (Cohen and Montagne 2010, Pavlidis and Fullagar 2012), and additionally as a space to "show off" and celebrate different types of feminine bodies—older adult bodies, tattooed bodies, larger bodies, and transgendered bodies (Finley 2010).

So why, according to the literature, is a derby boutfit empowering, but a traditional sporting uniform disempowering? This reality may be due, in part, to what Gill (2003) has termed the shift from objectification to subjectification, which relies on a distinction between women being objectified versus women freely and "with agency" choosing their look themselves, at their own discretion and for their own purposes. Stated differently, the ability to freely choose and personify one's own look (rather than having a "look" imposed) may be empowering. We conduct this project, to explore this phenomenon and to see if our observations mirror or depart from the aforementioned literature in significant ways.

Methodology

    The authors conducted focused observations of numerous bouts and practices and held in-depth semi-structured interviews with select members of a roller derby team in a mid-western U.S. metropolitan city. While we did not approach the field with specific hypotheses, we did employ guiding, open-ended questions. For example, the first author, a sociologist, was interested in themes of organization (rules, structure of game play) and leitmotifs of art and symbolic expression. The second author, an anthropologist, explored interests regarding how skaters were recruited and enculturated as well as the sport's cultural organization of gender and bodywork. Our interview questions were continually modified based on field observations and experiences with our interviewees (see Strauss and Corbin 1990).

    In total, seven in-depth interviews were conducted with derby athletes. An additional in-depth interview was held with the rink owner and financial supporter of the team. Beyond this, we also collected insight from casual conversations (Labov and Waletzky 1967, Lambrou 2003) conducted with three scholars who also studied (and played or refereed) roller derby (Donnelly 2011, 2013a, 2013b; Carrier-Moisan 2013a, 2013b; Newsom 2013a, 2013b.). These conservations were used as a feedback loop restructuring and solidifying our themes and as a method of peer debriefing and data conformation (Erlandson et al 1993). Athlete interviewees were gathered through a variety of techniques. First, we traveled to various derby bouts and sought out athletes to be interviewed. Next, using snowball sampling we also asked players to recommend other players to be interviewed. In other cases, we used Facebook to contact athletes and asked them if we could interview them at a time and place most conducive to their schedules. All interviews were face-to-face and lasted between 1 hour to 2 and ½ hours, with the average interview being approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes long. All interviews were digitally recorded and later transcribed. Each participant was assigned a pseudonym (in many cases, their derby name) to preserve confidentiality.

    In terms of our specific research practice, we took photographs (or requested photographs from players and media) of bouts and practices to record unique presentations of body and dress for analysis (Spencer 2011). Further, we took notes during all bouts and interviews and we would confer afterward to review each other's observations and work to confirm, organize, and code themes and pertinent quotes into themes for further analysis. Consistent with qualitative methodology, data collection, analysis, and theory construction was done simultaneously (Glaser and Strauss, 1967, Strauss and Corbin, 1990, 1998). In the end, we grouped and analyzed players' responses by "ethnographic signposts," or their taken-for-granted ways of doing things and their insider language and worldviews (Pugh 2013) that marked the symbolic boundaries of "being" a roller derby athlete. For the purposes of this paper, we ultimately decided to focus on the symbolic meanings athletes attributed to the "uniformed body" as well as the challenges and feelings of empowerment embedded in dressing for derby.

Findings and Analysis

General Description of the Athletes

Because of the physical stamina and strength necessary to play roller derby, most skaters are young adults in their early twenties to early thirties (though several women on the team were mid to late forties). In turn, most are white, likely due to the general racial and ethnic composition of the community in which the team plays. However, beyond this, skaters are considerably diverse when it comes to sexuality, body type, political affiliation, and socioeconomic status. Thus, describing an "average" player is difficult. Further, women's reasons and motivations for trying out and playing are also diverse and disparate. Some women wanted to play because it was a continuation of an athletic identity and a resumed chance for athletic expression. Others played because they were denied the chance to play organized team sports when they were younger. Still others played derby because it provided an opportunity "to get into better physical shape." And some women with larger physical builds said it was "a place of entry" to a sporting world traditionally denied to them. Outside of these athletic expressions and explanations, other women said they were drawn to derby because they were bored and wanted to expand their social network. Regardless of motivations to play however, we did discover shared statements of appeal regarding the stylistic and artistic presentations offered through derby. We now turn to a broader examination of these themes.

Theme One: Fashion and Fashioning Gendered Critique

As Bordo states, "no body can escape either the imprint of culture or its gendered meanings" (1993:212). Yet in derby, players can wear cultural expressions that mock, celebrate, and challenge bodily and gendered meanings. In this regard, derby is unusual for it is arguably the only sport where the players make fashion (and the questioning and play of fashion and femininity) a key element of the sport.

This mocking can be observed through the development of the derby aesthetic and is often evidenced by a new name, exaggerated makeup, and costume-like clothing. As Carlson (2010:430) writes:

Derby athletes [have historically] dramatized feminine bourgeois markers such as facial make-up by hyperbolically wearing theatrical blush, eyeliner, and lipstick. As such, hyperbole became a technique with which to engage norms to indicate their flimsiness.

Indeed, in our observations, we felt that many of the players were jeering traditional ideals of femininity through the exaggerated wear of feminine markers such as tutus and the heavy application of make-up, blush, eyeliner, and lipstick which some of our interviewees described as "war paint." In this regard Corrigan (2008:5) reminds us that, "the social order is a dressed order: [that] sexuality and gender…are all announceable and readable through appearance." Further, Frédéric Monneyron (2001: 20,39,47) believes so much in the power of appearances to create reality that he grants changes in fashion the power to bring about change in society—that to change the appearance of the body is to change the expectations of what is possible for that body.

Ultimately, what derby athletes hope to accomplish via the mocking of femininity in fashion and appearance (while playing a physically aggressive sport), is the dismantling of the historical discourse that imagines women's bodies as inevitably weak, vulnerable, and inferior (Hargreaves 1994). Thus, in these small performative ways, our derby athletes attempt to disrupt the social order though exaggerated fashion performances and change and expand expectations of femininity.

Figure 4: Performing a "Booty Block." © Victor Chalfant. Used with permission.

Theme Two: Finding Strength and Beauty in the Uniformed Body

Czerniawski (2012:131) notes that "fashion often serves as a cosmetic panopticon, shaping norms and expectation of physical appearance…whereas this cosmetic panopticon values thinness and intensifies the horrors of a fleshy existence." In this regard, it is argued that women internalize the sense that fashion watches and judges them for their ability (or failure) to match the ideal aesthetic. Further, in the social and imagined process of being watched, Millman (1980:202) argues that all women are prone to disembodiment because, "they are taught to regard their bodies as passive objects others should admire."

Here again we find that derby and the derby aesthetic provides a counter to the cosmetic panopticon, as the costuming for the sport is purposed toward empowerment and is driven primarily by personal choice. While there is a standard sleeveless pullover affixed with the team's logo that all players must wear, each athlete nonetheless chooses how they want to be further represented. Some athletes choose to go sleeveless to show off muscular arms, or tattoos and other body art. Others will wear sleeves or tight body undergarments (e.g., Spanx shapewear) as a psychophysical mechanism to feel sleek and fast. Additionally, the athletes have complete freedom in how they choose to adorn their lower body with options that range from hot pants, to basketball type long-shorts, to tights, fishnets, etc. As noted previously, research suggests that female athletes who are required to wear revealing sports uniforms report higher levels of body image concerns and feelings of dissatisfaction with their bodies. The derby boutfit counters this, as it is a matter of choice for the derby athlete to cover or reveal her body in her own style and manner. As Gill (2003:104) notes:

It endows women with the status of active subjecthood so that they can then 'choose' to [produce and represent their own corporeal and sexual subjectivities] because this suits their 'liberated' interests...In this way, sexual objectification can be presented not as something done to women by [external forces], but as the freely chosen wish of active, confident, assertive female subjects.

Beyond this, uniforms also enable "enclothed cognition" – that is, a social-psychological influence on the wearer's mental processes (Adam and Galinsky 2012). Research suggests that when persons understand the symbolic meanings attributed to clothes and when this is coupled with the physical experience of wearing them – persons will take on the attributes attributed to the clothing. Thus, when a boutfit is symbolically ritualized with notions of empowerment, strength and aggression, it is suggested that the wearer will feel more empowered. Several athletes support this perspective:

derby has been a self esteem boost… you get to put on tight tights regardless of your body type and you can go out there and look awesome and you feel awesome and you play awesome… playing derby makes me feel better about my body…(Ruthless Benedict, Player Interview, 2013).

What I love about derby is the ability to create an alternative persona…in my day-to-day world I can not act like I do in derby (that is, be aggressive and outspoken)… but I love putting on my uniform and transforming into this other person… I feel like a badass in my [boutfit] (Deck-Her, Player Interview, 2013).

In this manner, derby athletes also say things like: In my boutfit, I feel "sleeker" "faster" … I feel "buff" and "strong." Interestingly, feminist scholars have long noted that women have historically been told that they should act small, restrict their movements, speak softly, and take up as little space as possible (Young 1990, Brace-Govan 2002). Being in uniform did counter these evocations and most said the boutfit improved their perception of their bodies. Here then, the wearing of the boutfit seemed to influence athlete's psychophysical states and stimulate positive bodily conceptions.

Figure 5: Derby Athlete. © Randy Pace. Used with permission.

Figure 6. In Bout Action. © Victor Chalfant. Used with permission

Theme Three: Objectification and Switching the Gaze of the Audience

As research indicates, female athletes are often looked at as sex objects whether they want to be seen that way or not, and unfortunately female athletes are typically judged more by their appearance than athletic performance (Eitzen 2012, Weber and Carini 2012, Crouse 2013). Likewise, this is (more or less) true regarding our observations of derby. Initially, the venue seemingly represents a repository of heterosexist male values that perpetuate gendered inequalities and puts bodies on display for the gaze of the audience. Yet derby athletes attempt to use this to their advantage to flip the script—to seduce viewership not just through the "revealed body" but also through athletic play. In pre-bout actions, the derby athletes exist in space where they act (and are perceived) more like "derby girls" -- where traditional notions of femininity are "on display" and the girls "perform" gender for the gaze of the audience. But once a bout has begun, they transition from being "girls" (and perhaps sex objects) to derby women/athletes where these traditional gendered notions are challenged through aggression, strength, and explicit demonstrations of power.

Figure 7. Pinup Pose © Jessica Vallia.
Used with permission.

Figure 8. In Bout Action. © Victor Chalfant. Used with permission.

The act of dressing sexily and engaging the fantasy gaze of the audience has been described by some of our interviewees as a "bait and switch" technique. As one interviewee stated, "Come for the babes, stay for the beatings [the athletic completion]." She continues:

Dressing sexy, I think, is the reality and effort of having to get 'butts in the seats'… emphasizing this sexy femininity is a technique to get people out to see 'hot chicks' beat on each other… but the hope is that they stay because they see that these girls are real athletes (Rink owner, Interview 2013).

Several derby athletes seemingly give support to this philosophy:

I want to look hot for my husband and for the crowd… but dressing sexy is [ultimately a function] of needing to be sleek and athletic… I mean when you get done, you look like ass…I do not feel very sexy during a bout… I am out there being aggressive and doing anything I can to win (Seam-Rip-Her, Player interview 2013).

Before a bout you are thinking about "your look" and what you plan to show off—like your tattoos or other aspects of your body… but once the game begins, you are thinking only about strategy and the game itself…and I hope that the people who come to a bout see it as a sport. How could they not? We are out there [engaging] in a really challenging and physical sport, you know being physical and tactical (Ruthless Benedict, Player interview 2013).

Obviously, the meaning of roller derby players' eroticized presentations is dependent on the viewer's interpretation and reception context. Here we are suggesting that female athletes actively perform, to various degrees, sexualized images of femininity in order to put "butts in the seats" (this has also been suggested by Malik 2012). However, through the mere nature of game play, the skaters hope to flip the script, showing that women can be physically powerful and engaging athletes. This finding is akin to research by feminist scholars who have addressed the ways in which women accommodate and manipulate cultural norms of beauty to achieve empowerment. Bordo (1993), Davis (1995), and Weitz (2002) for example suggest that women are savvy to cultural pressures about the body and may use this awareness to expand their access to power within male-dominated professional spheres. They may, for instance, embrace hairstyles, makeup, and even cosmetic surgery, in concert or contrast with social norms for the purpose of gaining recognition and accessing networks of power, however limited that power may be.

Again, in our observations, this technique seemed somewhat successful—but this is something that deserves additional investigation with direct audience engagement. If nothing else this reminds us that derby skaters (like female athletes in general) often feel pressure to exploit sexuality as one of the forms of power available to them and it retells the old and complex story of the contradictory norms surrounding gender and female athleticism.

Theme Four: The Future of the Boutfit - Professionalization Versus Individualism

In her work on derby, Malick (2012) finds that the message of athleticism is often lost on spectators, due to the carnival-like atmosphere and exaggerated spectacle of derby. As a result, she writes:

[Players] are beginning to notice a trend of not being taken seriously by spectators and other athletes, and many feel that this is leading to a misinterpretation of why the carnival exists. Therefore, [players] are currently making conscious efforts to conform to professional sport expectations (p.86)….and changed their uniform standards to correspond with the general uniform requirements of mainstream sports (p.87).

While we did not query audience members regarding their perception of professionalism among derby players, several of our interviewees did express a desire to wear more traditional sporting gear. For instance, Scarlet O' Scare Ya, expressed that while she enjoyed the performance-aesthetic of the sport, she felt having team uniforms might make it easier for others to perceive them as athletes. Similarly, Young-Gun noted that the movement away from individualized costumes-to something like jerseys-would make it easier for outsiders to call it a "legitimate sport." (1)

In this regard, our colleagues who also study derby (Carrier-Moisan 2013b, Donnelly 2013b) have noted that players have started to adopt standardized team uniforms and have begun to use their legal names rather than create a theatrical persona. The goal, they note is the desire to evolve derby to a new era of professionalism that focuses chiefly on athleticism, skill and strategy. This can be viewed as ironic given that as of this writing, several professional men's sport teams are experimenting with individualized jerseys to create a more playful atmosphere and connect more intimately with their fans. For example, the National Basketball Association is considering having various teams wear "nickname jerseys" during the 2013-14 season (NBA 2013).

This move toward the professionalization of derby however is not universally accepted and getting athletes to agree on standardized uniforms is a challenge for many. In fact, Newsom (2013c) notes, that one of the teams he studied broke up and split into two over this issue. Several members felt the move toward professionalization would compromise their ability to express their individualism and destroy what they loved about derby. For others however, this move made sense, since several were investing significant time and money into athletic events, and wanted to be recognized and taken seriously as athletes.

Conclusion and Discussion

Derby is a fast-growing consumer sport, and one of the challenges of growth is that the game is rapidly professionalizing as it gains popularity. As the sport begins to change its framework to fit a more traditional framework of institutionalized sport, we wonder whether or not derby will continue to exist as a unique venue for women who wish to express alternative visions of femininity and sport itself. Roller derby has been a space for women to express unique personal, gendered, and athletic expressions without restriction—something that has set it apart from all other sports. But as women's flat track derby becomes a more conventional and entrenched sport, it must be recognized that women will be afforded less freedom to mock, satirize, and challenge social conventions and still be seen as serious athletes (Eitzen 2012). As Barbee and Cohn (2010:222) write:

[The] conflicting notions about the future of the sport will spark dangerous rifts among the derby community. We fear what might happen if, as it has in the past, television comes calling and morphs derby into a commercialized product, devoid of the spirit that gave birth to its current incarnation.

But this said, it is also important to remind reader that derby's 70-odd-year existence has been a strange and colorful one. Roller derby has been refashioned many times—from a depression era marathon-style race, to a televised spectacle of faux-violence, to a contemporary grassroots movement whose participants have successfully turned derby into a popular community sport that promotes women's empowerment (Breeze 2010). Perhaps this next phase of derby is the promise of professional sporting careers and the attainment of competitive athletic identities for women who wish to pursue it – and that too would be a worthwhile accomplishment. For now we only offer this prediction: that even in the face of professionalizing, derby will continue to exist somewhere as a subculture that allows women the space to transgress conventional aspects of sport, culture, and fashion. Derby, in some form or another, will remain a liberating venue in which women find a place to defy everyday norms of behavior, emotions, and dress.

In closing, the authors attempted to explore these transgressive and liberating acts by focusing specifically on the derby boutfit. Here, we found that women use their sport uniforms not only to challenge traditional notions of femininity but also to refigure body image concerns to obtain increased bodily satisfaction. However, despite this, we also found that select athletes felt pressure to use their bodies and uniform accouterments to entice the "gaze" of the audience and grow attendance. Lastly, we highlighted diverging attitudes regarding the future of sport and of the derby boufit. We noted contrasting visions, emphasizing the conflicting path of professionalizing the sport and accompanying uniforms, versus the desire to maintain a high degree of personalization and fashion uniqueness. In the end, we thank the athletes for their participation, and for the enjoyment they brought us in their athleticism and trangressive cultural expressions.

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(1) End Note

Female athletes in more "institutionalized" sports often confront this same reality: they wish to build legitimacy in their sport solely around athletic ability, but often feel pressure to encourage spectatorship with spectacle and sexuality. Please consider the following:

The International Volleyball Federation recently required that female athletes wear bikini uniforms (i.e., the uniforms could be not exceed 6 centimeters in width at the hip)...and only changed the rule in response to pressures from countries whose religious and cultural customs prohibit such uniforms. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) instituted a rule that women must wear skirts, and an American Deputy President of the BWF defended the rule by claiming, 'We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular'...When the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) League re-launched in 2009, it appears they valued style over (athletic) substance as they hired Project Runway winner Christian Siriano to team with PUMA to design the uniforms. Further, they hosted a fashion show in New York City in which players walked a runway to showcase the new uniforms, designed specifically for a sense of fashion, flair and femininity...There is no evidence of similar fashion shows for the unveiling of new men's sport leagues, or even new uniforms for existing men's leagues! ... Sadly, the cases noted above provide just a glimpse into the constant barrage of (hyper) sexualization of female athletes and women's sport (Fink 2010:52).

In the end, it might be tempting to think of roller derby athletes as mere "performers" rather than athletes. However, as the above quote identifies, many female athletes feel the pressure to engage in spectacled (and sexualized) performances to draw viewership.