While no one can deny the rich history of girls and women in sport, they continue to face obstacles to their full participation and representation in mixed-sex sport environments. Sex integration in sport is often contentious for those female athletes who participate in sports traditionally played by men, such as ice hockey. We do not know enough about the lived experiences of girls and women who navigate these gendered sport spaces. With this in mind, this study qualitatively explored how seven female ice hockey athletes negotiate their identities as female athletes, in such a way that focuses on the social constructions of gender and sexuality. Findings of this study highlight the tensions and contradictions of being a female athlete in a traditionally male sport and the rigid categories used by the women interviewed in negotiating their gendered and sexual identities while playing on male ice hockey teams.
