Publisher Description

This is the first text to examine women and sport in Italy during the period 1861-1945. To qualify and quantify the impact of fascism on Italian Women's sport, the author first of all examines the pre-fascist period in terms of female physical culture. The text then describes how during the fascist era, women moved strictly within a framework designed by medicine and eugenics, religious and traditional education. The country aspired to emancipation, as promised by the fascist revolution but emancipation was hard to advance under the fascist regime because of male hegemonic trends in the country. This book shows how the engagement of women in some sporting activity did promote and support some gender emancipation. The conclusion of the book demonstrates how, in the post-war period, women found it hard to advance further on, for a number of reasons.

Back Cover

This is the first text to examine women and sport in Italy during the period 1861-1945. to qualify and quantify the impact of fascism on Italian Women's sport, the author first of all examines the pre-fascist period in terms of female physical culture. The text then describes how during the fascist era, women moved strictly within a framework designed by medicine and eugenics, religious and traditional education. The country aspired to emancipation, as promised by the fascist revolution but emancipation was hard to advance under the fascist regime because of male hegemonic trends in the country. This book shows how the engagement of women in some sporting activity did promote and support some gender emancipation. The conclusion of the book demonstrates how, in the post-war period, women found it hard to advance further on, for a number of reasons.

Author Biography

Gigliola Gori

Table of Contents

Chapter 0 Preface; Chapter 1 Fascism as a Cult of Virility and the Duceas its Political Athlete; Chapter 2 Model Women and Physical Training before the Fascist Era; Chapter 3 Fascist Models of Femininity; Chapter 4 Sports Medicine and Female Athleticism under the Fascist Regime; Chapter 5 The Education System and the Fascist Youth Organisations; Chapter 6 Girls and Young Women at Health Resorts; Chapter 7 The Accademia Nazionale Femminile di Educazione Fisica; Chapter 8 Spare-Time Activities in the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro; Chapter 9 Sportswomen's Contests and Displays; Chapter 10 Fashion, Aesthetics and the 'True Woman'; Chapter 11 Sportswomen of the Fascist Era; Chapter 12 Women's Emancipation through Sport under Fascism and after;

Details