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Copyright of Movement & Sport Sciences / Science & Motricité is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Society & Leisure / Loisir & Société is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

While women have been known to climb mountains since the nineteenth century, mountaineering is still perceived by many as a 'bastion of virility'. Yet, from the post-First World War period until today, French women mountaineers have discovered and organized a novel and atypical experience: climbing in manless rope teams to meet their unsatisfied social needs for independence, equal rights, and acknowledgment of their capacities. A socio-technical history of the innovative manless rope team reveals three distinctive periods, characteristic of the different waves of feminism. The history of this innovation illuminates how women mountaineers contributed to reducing a number of inequalities (access, treatment, and recognition) through the extension of a network of resources (human and material). From the rare, scattered, and invisible individual initiatives of the first half of the twentieth century to an attractive dynamic currently supported by alpine institutions and organizations (industry, media, politics), the recent success of the manless rope team is nevertheless paradoxical. It reflects both a change in society and compromises with the gender system that sometimes change the initial emancipatory project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key protagonist in French physical education at the end of the twentieth century, Annick Davisse stands out for her singular career path, the sheer number of public speeches she made and the specificity of her educational proposals supporting the cause of girls in PE. Based on an analysis of her oral interviews and her publications as a whole, the biographical journey of this former Regional Teaching Inspector, whose subversive power stemmed from the paradoxes she embodied, is examined. Her novel approach to the fight against gender inequality was backed by a dialectical stance on the frontiers between gender standards and various membership groups. On the pedagogical front, she proclaimed her independence from the dominant categories of thought in PE and developed an innovative perspective on the gender question, cemented by the duration of her commitment and the wide circulation and (re)appropriation of her proposals. Lastly, Annick Davisse simultaneously tackled the question of gender differences (understood as the 'differentialist' position) and that of the universal right to equality (understood as the 'universalist' position), regardless of the paradoxes this generated with respect to feminist thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of weapons has always been male-dominated both on the battlefield and in sport. Competitive fencing, born as mimicry of duels, developed throughout the twentieth century as a symbol of masculinity; an embodiment of the notion of manhood and an expression of men's virility. Surprisingly however, female fencing was accepted into the Olympic programme in Paris in 1924, before many other sports, as a result of an ambiguity in the regulations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Fencing Federation (FIE). The full integration of female fencing took much longer according to the diverse weapons used in the competitions. Although the individual foil event appeared in 1924, the team foil event was not recognised until 1960 and the other weapons even later. The female epée became an Olympic event only in 1996, the female sabre in 2004, after long discussions both within the FIE and between the FIE and the IOC.  The different stages of the recognition of female fencers by the sporting institutions are the focus of this paper. The analysis of the process, based on the archives of the FIE as well as on the specialised press, reveals the influence of three successive time contexts: the 1920s, the 1960s and the 1990s. The long resistance of the male fencing community to any challenge of the gender order has also been relevant. It is finally argued that, despite the explicit defence of women's sport by the leading sport institutions, women were still until recently the victims of the lengthy negotiations between the IOC and the FIE. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coeducation was established gradually in French secondary schools during the 1960's in the wake of the Berthoin reforms. However, physical education escaped these reforms. This article analyzes the journal 'Education Nationale' between 1959 and 1975 in order to explain the schools' resistance to coeducation as well as the dominant representations of its effect on the education of girls and boys. The study of physical education highlights the schools' discomfort concerning bodily encounters as well as the widespread conviction within the educational system that natural, emotional, physical, and social differences existed between the sexes.