Serious Leisure Careers Among Whitewater Kayakers: A Feminist Perspective

‘Extreme’ or adventure sports continue to enjoy a great deal of media attention, which is matched by growth in terms of overall participation in these activities. As part of a larger research project examining high-risk leisure, this author has been conducting a study of the adventure sport of Whitewater kayaking in the Canadian Rockies since June 2000. This research project is exploratory in nature and makes use of Glaser and Strauss's (1967) grounded theory method to identify emerging themes. However, the project is framed by Stebbins' (1992) theory of serious leisure. Several themes have been identified with data collection and analysis ongoing in other phases of the project. This report of research findings concentrates on the career trajectory of Whitewater kayakers. In seeking to make sense of the different career trajectories, it is necessary to problematize the concept of serious leisure (Bartram, 2001a). This draws attention to the role of broader power relations and the effect of these on career trajectories. By using feminist analysis as a theoretical lens, it is apparent that Whitewater career trajectories vary according to important stratifiers such as age, class, parental status, athletic ability, and gender.