Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Research Paper

First Advisor

Kathy Barlow

Abstract

Women have made great strives to receive the same opportunities as men and rise above subordinate positions - in sport, the workplace, and society as a whole. Women's participation in sport has been examined frequently in most areas of individual and team sports, yet little research has been conducted on professional Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Existing evidence and social theories indicate that as a greater number of female fighters participate in the sport of MMA without giving into stereotypical gender roles there will be a decrease in the effects of societal expectations such as: male gaze, subordinate roles of women, the importance of femininity and appearance within sport, and the monopolization of media on Mixed Martial Arts. Drawing on Bissell's research (2017) in the field of female MMA fighters, this study used both qualitative and quantitative methods by developing nine open-ended questions to ask professional male and female fighters. the survey link was sent to 191 individual fighters through direct messaging on the platform of Instagram: 67 UFC male fighters, 12 smaller organization male fighters, 66 Invicta female fighters, 43 UFC female fighters, and 3 smaller organization female fighters. Out of the 191 distributed surveys, 20 male fighters and 22 female fighters completed the survey fully, making it a combined total of 42 respondents.

Comments

WSP Major: Entertainment Media Management

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