Pretty Powerful? Self-Representations of Top German, British and Russian Female Olympic Boxers on Instagram  

For a long time, boxing clubs were exclusively male spaces, but this has changed in recent decades; women have taken up the sport and begun to establish themselves within its structures. However, there is a tension between their embodiment as boxers and the traditional embodiment of women. While researchers have long noted a ‘female apologetic’—that is, athletes feeling the need to compensate for their athleticism by emphasising their femininity—recent research shows that new notions of femininity are emerging that combine strength and elements of traditional femininity. Informed by Bartky’s theory, a visual narrative inquiry is conducted to examine Instagram accounts of members of the German, British and Russian national Olympic boxing teams. Five narratives are identified that are central for all three countries but also reveal national differences. The study shows that boxers have agency in terms of their self-representations and their conceptions of alternative femininities.