Girl Fight: Apologetic Behaviors among Female Mixed Martial Arts Fighters as a Reaction to Social Stigmatization, Stereotyping, and Labeling of Sports Participation Janet Martin Department of Sociology

My research explores apologetic behavior among female participants in MMA. I suspect that female MMA fighters perform apologetic behaviors due to high levels of stigmatization, stereotyping, and sanctions surrounding participation in a male-centric full-body contact, combative sport. Contemporary researchers argue that apologetic behavior among female athletes is situational and a female athlete will employ more apologetic behavior when she feels ‘most at risk.’ This research compares the use of apologetic behavior in sport-related public performance to the use of apologetic behavior in intimate and public social interactions. I hypothesize that female MMA fighters engage in apologetic behavior in sport-related public performances more than in their public/intimate social interactions. This research also compares the rate of apologetic behavior among experienced female MMA fighters to the rate of apologetic behavior among less experienced female MMA fighters. I hypothesize that female MMA fighters with less than three years of experience will have higher rates of apologetic behavior overall than those with more than three years of experience. I further investigate the use of apologetic behavior and explore themes of apologetic behaviors to address the following research questions: (1) Do female fighters work to create a collective identity contradictory to hegemonic femininity/heterosexuality? If so, how?; and (2) Does this identity of ‘heterosexy-fit’ serve as an updated version of emphasized femininity that utilizes new apologetic behaviors such as defensive othering, identifying with dominants, normative identification, and/or propping up dominants?

The goal of this research is to investigate whether, and if so how and why, female athletes who participate in MMA engage in apologetic behavior. Date collection entailed a mixed-methods approach including an online questionnaire, informal interviews, field observation, and content analysis.

Davis-Delono et al., examine apologetic behaviors among female athletes using a questionnaire that moves beyond previous ideologies of role conflict as the precipitant of apologetic behavior among female athletes. This questionnaire “ensure[s] that only feminine behavior that is undertaken in response to stereotypes counts as apologetic behavior” (Davis-Delono, et al. 2009:137). The researchers utilize a five-stage process in their questionnaire development which includes (1) reviewing published literature from 1974 through 2008 pertaining to apologetic behavior in the context of sport, (2) compiling a list of inclusive apologetic behaviors from the North American Society of the Sociology of Sport, (3) employing both open-ended and closed-ended questions to collect responses, (4) establishing content validity through the input of scholars of sport and gender, and (5) collecting data regarding apologetic behaviors of female participants from three college teams by administrating their questionnaire (Davis-Delono, et al. 2009).

This research utilizes the Davis-Delono et al. questionnaire with modifications. I utilized the existing questionnaire items that were applicable to the research hypotheses and the research questions I posed. I changed the existing questionnaire by eliminating the transition “because of stereotypes” utilized by Davis-Delono et al. to begin each of the statements used to solicit responses from their subjects. I expanded the closed-ended items to include responses to situations that a female MMA fighter who competes individually, and not as a team member, might experience (Davis-Delono et al. examine only female athletes who participate in team sport). I also included additional open-ended items so that subjects could share personal experiences and expand upon engagement in apologetic behaviors.

Following the format of the existing questionnaire, first the research subjects were asked to name negative and positive stereotypes of female athletes, and then subjects read a script describing stereotypes of female athletes. The questionnaire then asked subjects to respond to statements of behaviors regarding stereotypes of female athletes and the pressures surrounding their participation in sport (see Appendix B). The questionnaire asked subjects whether they engage in apologetic behaviors, soliciting responses via a five-point Likert scale that ranges from ‘never’ to ‘always.’ I also modified the Davis-Delono et al. instrument to solicit qualitative responses/comments on groups of related questions based on the subjects’ personal experiences as a MMA fighter. Subjects were asked to consider their responses based on their experiences in sport-related public performances such as competition, training, public weigh-ins, locker room usage, public sport appearance, fan recognition, and sport related media events. Subjects were then asked to respond to the same statements pertaining to their public/intimate social interactions such as spending time with friends and family, working with others, and engaging in everyday social events. Subjects are given the opportunity to share any additional comments regarding the material in the questionnaire when they exit the questionnaire.

I modified the Davis-Delono et al. questionnaire to include statements about criticism of females who do not appear feminine, negative labels that female athletes directed toward opponents, and the treatment of female MMA fighters by spectators. I also asked the subject to respond to similar statements in the context of sport-related experiences in comparison to general social interactions, which is not an aspect of the Davis-Delono et al. questionnaire. I requested demographical information.

The research population is female MMA fighters 18 years or older. The questionnaire was administered online so I do not have specific geographical boundaries. I used nonprobability sampling methods to identify subjects for my research. The research website (www.womensmmaresearch.com) was advertised extensively on www.facebook.com through sidebar advertising on the Facebook pages of females 18 years or older who had selected MMA as an interest or ‘like’ as part of their Facebook information/status. I also had website links on www.tbasanctioning.org and www.midwestfighter.com. A female MMA fighter would follow the link to the research website and choose to complete the questionnaire. I utilized purposive sampling since a sample frame of female MMA fighters does not exist; female MMA fighters are a specialized population. In addition to relying on networking aspects of Facebook and MMA-related websites, MMA internet communities, and fighter social networking to sample female fighters, I gained access to research subjects through snowballing sampling, and conducted on-site data collection (utilizing my questionnaire in a written format) at a female-only martial arts event in the Midwest in February of 2011. (At the midwestern martial arts event, subjects completed the questionnaire in a private space provided by the tournament director and data were collected.)

Subjects were able to voluntarily participate in my research by logging onto my website, created for the purpose of my research. Subjects were given information regarding consent to participate in research (see Appendix A) including an introduction to myself and my research, purpose of the research, procedures, potential risks and discomforts, potential benefits to subjects and/or society, confidentiality and secure storage of all research material, voluntary participation and withdrawal, and rights of the research subjects. Each subject was asked if she understood the procedures described. Each subject was given contact information for myself and my faculty supervisor and asked if any questions needed to be addressed prior to her agreement of participation. A subject would agree to voluntarily participate in my research by checking a box on the website indicating the affirmative. Upon agreement, each subject gained access to the questionnaire portion of the website.

I focused on developing reliability by making use of clearly conceptualized constructs of apologetic behaviors among female athletes developed by Davis-Delono et al. and other peer-reviewed, published researchers in the field. I formally and informally pre-tested my research website and questionnaire. I conducted a formal pre-test of my instrument with the adult female students of the Asheville Academy of Taekwondo after receiving IRB approval prior to uploading my website to the internet. I revised minor components of my research instrument for clarity and organization to increase reliability and validity of data.

I also conducted field research through observation of MMA events including a national televised pay-per-view male-only MMA event, a southeastern regional event that included a female professional MMA fight, a midwestern local female-only martial arts tournament, and a nationally-televised cable channel MMA event that included a women’s professional MMA fight. I gained access to these public events via the established gatekeepers of the events. I used a verbal consent script introducing myself and my research, confidentiality and secure storage of all research materials, procedures, consent, and voluntariness (see Appendix C) for entry into the field site and informal interviews. I collected observational data of the physical surroundings, spectator reactions to female MMA fighters, and apologetic behaviors among female MMA fighters via jottings and interviews in the field and extended field notes written after exiting the field sites. Included and indicated in my observational data are thick description notes, jargon, direct quotes of participants, personal inferences of social meaning, and analytic and theoretical memos to myself for future observation. All written and recorded data were secured in a locked home office in a fire-safe and locked file cabinet and on a password and biometric secure computer to be accessed only by myself or my faculty supervisor.

To provide content analysis on apologetic behavior among female MMA fighters, I conducted context analysis of resources pertaining to female participation in MMA. To better understand the variation and examples of apologetic behavior, I viewed DVDs of past female MMA fights, read MMA magazines and books, and investigated the content of MMA-related websites and social networking.

Data Analysis

Research Participants

The participants in this research (N=100) were female MMA fighters. Of the 100 participants, 99 identified their gender as female and one participant identified as transgender (and presents herself as female). All participants identified their sexuality: 76 are heterosexual, 15 are bisexual, and 9 are homosexual. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 55 years old.

I utilized SPSS to quantitatively analyze 36 closed-ended items in the questionnaire to. To examine my hypotheses and research questions statistics were computed to determine the proportion of the sample who reported never engaging in a particular behavior (a response of 1 on the Likert scale) in comparison to engaging in apologetic behavior at least occasionally (response of either 2, 3, 4, or 5). In addition, means, standard deviation, and chi square for responses to each item were calculated. The amount for overall engagement in apologetic behavior, apologetic behavior related to sport, engagement apologetic behavior related to public interactions, and engagement in new apologetic behaviors were tallied based on responses to specific items of apologetic behavior. Responses of at least occasionally (response of either 2, 3, 4, or 5) per item were counted as engagement in apologetic behavior. Based on the count of responses, each subject was given a score of 0 for no engagement in apologetic behavior, 1 for low rate of engagement of apologetic, 2 for moderate rate of engagement, or 3 for high rate of engagement.

Qualitative data from opened-ended items of the questionnaire were examined inductively using open, axial, and selective coding to identify any emergent themes. Once data were organized into emergent themes, I determined the percentage of participants who provided responses pertaining to each theme. I concluded that if at least 33 percent (roughly one third of the participants) wrote responses associated with a particular theme, that theme was labeled as common.

Findings and Discussion

Part one of the questionnaire asked participants to name negative stereotypes of female athletes. The role of stereotyping is undeniably central to understanding the experiences of female athletes. Although all women experience devaluation and stigmatization by virtue of being female (Schur, 1984), some women occupy roles or engage in behaviors that make them even more susceptible to stereotyping/labeling. One group of women judged to violate multiple categories of gender norms, and thus subjected to various forms of stereotyping and stigmatization, is female athletes. Since the behavior of female athletes is often interpreted to challenge gender norms, female athletes such as female MMA fighters, may be subject to various forms of stigmatization resulting from negative stereotypes.

Three negative stereotypes were commonly articulated by research subjects. The majority of respondents acknowledge that female athletes are negatively stereotyped as masculine. One respondent stated, “people think that female athletes are more manly than other women.” Other respondents had similar ideas about body-type structure and muscularity of female athletes being considered masculine. Many respondents associate this stereotype with the word ‘butch’ as a male/masculine/manly attribute, as we see in the following quotes:

[People think] we are butch and want to be a guy. Female athletes who compete in a typically male sport are considered butch. We are seen as being butch or more manly than male MMA fighters.

The respondents’ comments suggest that female MMA fighters recognize the association of themselves with stereotyped masculine attributes such as muscularity, aggression, and competitiveness. In a society that traditionally equates athleticism with masculinity, women who participate in sport are often viewed as masculine, unladylike, or manly (Willis, 1982).

A second stereotype identified by a large number of respondents is that female athletes are lesbians. As one respondent observed, “a negative stereotype of female athletes is that they are gay.” Another respondent wrote, “good female athletes are homosexual.” Over half of the respondents included ‘lesbian’ in their list of negative stereotypes of female athletes. Another respondent explained, “women can be called lesbian if they are seen as aggressive.” In the context of sexually-based negative stereotypes of female athletes, many respondents used the word ‘butch’ to describe an overtly masculine lesbian sexual identity. One respondent’s list of negative stereotypes read “manly lesbian-butch.” Another asserted, “female athletes are butch lesbians that grew up as tomboys.” An additional respondent reiterated this stereotype, “[female MMA fighters are thought to be] a lesbian dyke who is anything but feminine.” Blinde and Taub argue that labeling female athletes lesbian is so common as to constitute a “societal blanket covering all female athletes” (1992b:524).

The final common negative stereotype noted by many of the research respondents was that female athletes are inferior to male athletes, especially in regard to strength and competition, but also in regard to not being as tough, and being more emotional. Several respondents indicated that female athletes are inferior to male athletes; respondents noted that:

Females are unable to compete with men. Female athletes can’t compete with the boys. We are not as competitive as male athletes. We are looked at like we do not belong in competition.

Many responses indicated that women are not as tough as or are weaker than men, such as the following:

Females are weaker than males. We are weaker and/or delicate. Females are weaker, less driven, and can’t handler much pain. We have no true skill, not tough, and pretty girls can’t fight.

The notion that female athletes are more emotional was expressed by a few respondents. One respondent wrote, “women are more afraid of getting hurt.” In regard to female MMA fighters, another respondent explained the emotional inferiority stereotype by saying “women can’t fight, because if she loses she will probably cry (sic).” Another respondent made reference to emotional inferiority, “women’s mood swings interfere with their ability to perform at sports.”

These stereotypes are on display at MMA events. The common negative stereotypes of female athletes were reinforced by my observation at a local MMA event and a national MMA event that featured a female MMA match. Male and female spectators shouted stereotypical phrases during the matches that referenced gender, sexuality, and athletic stereotypes. One middle-age male cheered, “nobody wants to see a couple of butch dykes fight.” A male spectator in his mid-twenties yelled at one female fighter, “you are so manly, where do you hide your dick?” A female in the audience jeered when a female fighter was struck in the face, “she hit you in the face, whatcha gonna do about it, cry?”

The societal linkage of sports and masculinity increases the likelihood that female athletes will be the target of negative labeling, stereotypes, and stigmatization based on gender, sexuality, and ability. Blinde and Taub conclude in their research that “responding to stereotypes directed at women in sport, female athletes utilize a variety of stigma management techniques” (1992b:531). As Goffman suggests, stigma management is associated with the control and management of information and perceptions (1963). Female athletes adopt strategies to manage stigma especially apologetic behaviors.

The quantitative results of my questionnaire indicate that a significant number of respondents engage in at least some apologetic behavior. A significant number of the female MMA fighters who completed the questionnaire indicated that they occasionally, sometimes, often, or always engage in at least one apologetic behavior. The largest group of respondents (n=60) engage in a moderate level of apologetic behavior (answering at least ‘occasionally’ to over 11 items on the questionnaire). All subjects (N=100) engage in at least one apologetic behavior. Twenty respondents engage in a high level apologetic behavior (with responses to 22-34 items of at least ‘occasionally’).

The majority respondents (n=60) engage in apologetic behaviors related to sports at a moderate level (see Figure 1). The number of respondents that engage in a moderate level of apologetic behavior related to public/intimate interactions totaled 67 (see Figure 2). Subjects’ the level of engagement in apologetic behavior in a sport-related context is similar to the level of engagement in apologetic behavior related to public/intimate interactions; over half of the subjects engage in apologetic behavior at a moderate level in both social contexts. My findings indicate different levels of apologetic behavior in sport versus public/intimate interactions, the majority engage in a moderate level apologetic behavior in both sport-related and public/intimate social contexts.

Figure 1: Engagement in Apologetic Behavior related to Sport Public Performance and Competition



Figure 2: Engagement in Apologetic Behavior Related to Public/Intimate Interaction

The relationship between experience and amount of overall engagement in apologetic behavior approaches statistical significance (p=.079) indicating the potential association of years of experience of a female fighters and if she will engage in apologetic behavior (see Table 1). Female MMA fighters with less experience engage in more apologetic behavior related to sport performance and competition (p=.027). These data suggest that female MMA fighters with less than three years of experience will engage more in apologetic behavior (see Table 2).