Becoming a Channel swimmer: embodiment and identity in an extreme sporting culture
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Karen Throsby (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Throsby K
(2013)
'You can't be too vain to gain if you want to swim the Channel': Marathon swimming and the construction of heroic fatness
in International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Throsby K
(2013)
'Must I seize every opportunity?' Complicity, confrontation and the problem of researching (anti-) fatness
in Critical Public Health
Throsby K
(2013)
'If I go in like a Cranky Sea Lion, I Come out like a Smiling Dolphin': Marathon Swimming and the Unexpected Pleasures of Being a Body in Water
in Feminist Review
Throsby Karen
(2016)
Immersion: Marathon Swimming, Embodiment and Identity
Throsby, K
(2015)
Unlikely becomings: passion, swimming and learning to love the sea
| Description | "I might be fat, but my body is amazing..." : English Channel swimming and rethinking the sporting body |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk was given to a "Well Now" group in Coventry, organised and run by the social enterprise, Well Founded - a organisation that promotes Health At Every Size. I talked about Channel swimming, and about how it had changed my attitude towards my own (fat) body. This was followed by a discussion about people's experiences of sport, and of swimming, and the following week, two of the members gave a presentation on their own recent entry into open water swimming. Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | "If I could bottle this feeling..." : Channel swimming, pleasure and positive deviance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was the first talk I gave based on the swimming research. It was hosted by the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at the University of Warwick, and in the talk, I explored people's accounts of pleasure while swimming, as opposed to the more common representations of suffering that define the sport. This raised substantive questions about the field of study, but also methodology questions, particularly in relation to auto ethnography. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | "If I go in like a cranky sea lion, I come out like a smiling dolphin" : marathon swimming and the unexpected pleasures of being a body in water |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave this paper at a one-day seminar I organised on "Endurance Sport" to mark the end of this research project. It was held on 11 September, 2012, and in the paper, I explored the changes to sensory perception that are produced through training, and make a case for the sensory as a means of thinking differently about embodiment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/centres/gender/research/pastresearch/channelswi... |
| Description | "Man up" : marathon swimming and the gendered body |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This paper was given as part of a series on Gender and Sport, organised by the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at Warwick University. In the paper, I argue that although there is very little overt sexism within the swimming community, gender is constantly present, and hierarchically ordered in relation to masculinity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | "We cannot let up until our sport is purified": marathon swimming and the troubled boundaries of authenticity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This paper was given as part of a seminar series run by the School of Applied Sciences at Durham University on 9 May, 2013. Using social worlds theory, the paper addressed the ongoing debates within the marathon swimming community about what 'counts' as authentic swimming, and explores how those boundaries are contested and policed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | "You can't be too vain to gain if you want to swim the Channel" : marathon swimming and the war on obesity |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This paper was presented at the ISSA World Congress of Sport in Glasgow on 16 July, 2010. The paper explores the ambivalent relationship between the swimmers and the body fat they have to cultivate in order to swim. In the talk, I develop the concept of 'heroic fatness' to explore this ambivalence. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Becoming a Channel Swimmer magazine (lay summary) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This was a short magazine-style publication which summarised the key findings of the research and which was aimed primarily at the swimming community. Over 500 hard copies were mailed out internationally; it could also be downloaded from the project website. This drew more people to the website, leading to engagement and discussion on online forums. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/centres/gender/research/pastresearch/channelsw... |
| Description | Becoming a Channel swimmer : training, technology and marathon swimming |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This paper was presented at a symposium called "Superhuman", organised by the Wellcome Collection (28 Sept, 2012) as part of an exhibition on bodily enhancement technologies. My paper aimed to bring a more 'fleshy' and social perspective to the very high-tech focus of the day, challenging what is conventionally included when we think of 'technology'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/30/man-progress-adding-technology |
| Description | Dreaming of jelly babies : English Channel swimming and the challenges and comforts of food |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a light-hearted talk given during the drinks reception at the annual conference of the BSA Food Study Group, held at the British Library on 2-3 July, 2012. My aim in the paper was to encourage people to appreciate the 'comfort of small things' in relation to food, but also, to offer some entertainment after a full day of conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited talk, PCS, Bath University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I presented a paper entitled "Making it count: marathon swimming, quantification and the 'realness' problem". This explored the ways in which technologies of quantification made a sport that occurs largely out of sight visible and authentic to others. This talk was video-recorded and posted online (see below). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIbkPHU9AA0 |
| Description | The pleasures of marathon swimming |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This article was written for the newsletter of the Outdoor Swimming Society (circulation approximately 14,000). I was invited to write this piece following the release of the magazine-style summary of the project findings. Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/index.php?p=news#341 |
| Description | Who are you swimming for? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | This paper was given at the School for Nursing and Health Sciences at Dublin City University on 2 July, 2013. The paper explored the normative pressure for prospective English Channel swimmers to 'swim for' a charity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | You can't be too vain to gain if you want to swim the Channel: marathon swimming, ethnography and the problem of heroic fatness |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This paper was presented at the fourth and final seminar of an ESRC-funded seminar series (for which I was a co-applicant, but not an organiser of this particular event): Fat Studies and Health at Every Size. The event was held in Bath on 5-6 May, 2011, and was on the theme: Researching Fat Studies and HAES: Working with / as fat bodies. This was one of the first talks I gave on the research, and was a first attempt at writing about the issue of swimming fat. The paper argued that some of the very negative talk about fat (and gender and sexuality) that I encountered whilst doing the research created a dilemma for me both as a researcher, and as as a feminist and as a fat woman. After the talk I was contacted by several audience members asking for copies of the paper. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | video podcast, University of Leeds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The aim of the podcast is to showcase the research taking place in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, and to disseminate the key findings of the research to an audience outside of the university. This has currently been viewed by over 1000 people. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7cvwQDAw00 |