Double-trouble: Negotiating Gender and Sexuality in Post-colonial Women’s Rugby in Fiji

Although women’s exclusion in sport has attracted significant attention in the western context,
similar issues in relation to post-colonial societies have remained in the margins of the sociology
of sport. By analysing primary, interview-based evidence, in this article we explore the challenges
female rugby players face regarding gender and sexuality in Fiji; a male dominated post-colonial
society. In particular, we focus on participants’ resistance to dominant cultural practices and ways
in which they (re)negotiate gender norms and sexuality in a double-bind struggle against both
traditional and sporting male hegemonies. We argue that the case of Fijian women rugby players
illustrates an interplay between a multiplicity of power relations in sport in a post-colonial society
and the resilience with which the athletes negotiate and respond to them, as well as the dynamic
nature and the transformative potential of their everyday practices.