Gender arrhythmia and sportswomen's drinking practices during COVID-19

This paper describes the experiences of home drinking by Australian Women's Rugby League (NRLW) and Australian Rules Football (AFLW) players during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on Thorpe et al.'s concept of ‘gender arrhythmia’, our analysis identifies three ways in which sportswomen describe their drinking practices in terms of the ruptures in patterns, rhythms and routines of their social and sporting lives through the pandemic lockdowns. The first describes the relaxing of norms and rhythms of abstinence and surveillance, the second recounts the ruptures of drinking and identity loss and the third details the routines of secrecy, shame and despair. The sportswomen whose lives inform this paper disclosed deeply personal accounts of chaotic alcohol use through lockdown. Understanding the context in which this drinking occurred and its significant effects on health and well-being provides insight into the complexity of drinking and how it shapes gender, sports and social life.