Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
theme in more detail. Rodgers (1977) documents the wide discrepancy in male versus
female participation in sport as a form of recreation within a European context where for
every 100 females engaging in sport, there were 188 male participants in Britain, 176 in
Spain, 159 in France, 127 in Belgian Flanders, 127 in Norway, 116 in the Netherlands
and 111 in former West Germany. While definitions and the variations in data sources
may in part explain the variability, the presence of a gender gap is prominent. More
recent analyses informed by cultural geography have suggested that different types of
body with gendered, classed, aged and sexed meanings may encourage or discourage an
individual's participation in specific forms of leisure. In other words, it illustrates the
importance of theorising the setting for leisure as spaces which individuals engage in
through both body and mind. The examples of geographical research on leisure from this
cultural and gendered perspective is admirably demonstrated by the research of Scraton
and Watson (1998) and Mowl and Towner (1995). In terms of sexed meanings, Pritchard
et al. (2002) examined the example of Manchester's gay village as one such setting.
Age also exerts a strong influence on participation in recreation, with Hendry et al.
(1993) describing adolescence as the peak time of leisure needs. Therein lie two key
explanations of participation and constraints. Stages in the life course present a useful
concept to explain why women with young children appear to have fewer opportunities
for recreation than adolescents. Likewise, physical vigour and social energy are
traditionally explained in terms of a decline in the later stages of adulthood resulting in a
decline in active recreation throughout later life. The Greater London Recreation Survey
of 1972 (Greater London Council 1976) identified some of these traits in that
• activities exist where participation markedly declined by age (e.g. energetic sports like
football)
• activities occur with sustained participation through the life cycle (e.g. tennis and indoor
swimming)
• some activities exist where participation increased as a person got older (e.g. golf and
walking).
In fact these results illustrate not only the importance of age (and to a degree gender), but
also the need to consider the significance of the life cycle in relation to changes or
'triggers' (Patmore 1983). One such trigger is retirement, and while it is sometimes
interpreted as a stressful life event, J.A.Long (1987) found that for 58 per cent of male
retirees there was no change in their leisure activities, while 8 per cent undertook
education, 3 per cent developed an interest in photography and 3 per cent partook of
sport. What Argyle (1996:63) emphasises from studies of retirement are that 'people
carry on with the same leisure as before, though they are more passive and more house-
bound, and do not take up much new leisure'.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF FEAR IN RECREATION AND LEISURE
SPACES: GENDER-BASED BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION
Since the 1980s, there has been a growing interest in the role of fear, personal safety and
the spatial implications in the urban environment (e.g. Fyfe and Banister 1996; Koskela
and Pain 2000). There has also been an accompanying interest in the gender dimensions
