Speaker
Description
This study focused on female sport fans who participate women’s sport events, and to understand the experiences of female sport fans and their formation of identities. The participants were 20 female sport fans. The results revealed in three themes. Firstly, female fans engaged in women’s sports was influenced by the experience of participating in team sports, media exposure and friends and peers; secondly, the different patterns of fan behaviors presented was related to the connection of personal experience, social network and other aspects of life, and the identity as female fans were demonstrated though engaged in sport events and tournament regularly, tried to make connections and have interaction with female athletes and other female fans; lastly, the female fans did not have to confront the challenge and doubts from masculine world which is dominated by men while the female fans is in a same-sex environment; however, it was shown that female fans reveals the stigma of feminine fans and the attitude to distinguish the feminine fan who is not familiar with sports from other senior fans. Meanwhile, there were few female fans indicated the diverse patterns of female fans through personal experience sharing, and also embraced the different traits of being a female fan.
