The Spectre of the Female Hockey Player: Representations of Gender in the Professional Women Hockey League's Social Medial 2023-2025

Abstract

This work focuses on identifying the visual themes present in the representations of female hockey players in the Professional Women’s Hockey League in the 2023-2024 season and the 2024-2025 season, with a particular focus on how this thematic representation creates a controlled image avoiding connotations of female masculinity. The Instagram presence of the Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost and the PWHL League are qualitatively examined to better understand the homogenous identity portrayed, as an attempt to avoid a monstrous image of female deviance. In this study 290 photographs were coded. A remarkably lack of diversity was discovered in the variation of appearance in grooming styles between players. I posit that a grooming policy is enforced across the league, highlighting the discomfort with gender non conformity. Examining this phenomenon is part of understanding the role media plays in female athletic achievement by bringing into sharp contrast the conditions under which women are allowed to achieve success, particularly in a society that heavily moderates the viewing of women’s bodies outside of a sexualized role.