Abstract
Despite growing attention to the role of embodiment in sport and exercise psychology, limited research has examined how queer cis- and transwomen experience embodiment within physical activity (PA) contexts. This gap in the literature reflects a broader pattern of exclusion that renders queer women invisible in spaces that reinforce heteronormative and binary gender ideals. Understanding how queer women navigate the constraints of these norms is essential for designing inclusive PA and sport environments that promote embodiment and support gender and sexual diversity. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore how queer women experience, negotiate, and describe embodiment through PA in the context of both normative pressures and liberatory possibilities. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 participants (15 cisgender women, 1 transfemme nonbinary individual) and analyzed them using reflexive thematic analysis. Three overarching themes were constructed: (1) Reclaiming the Body captured how participants used movement to resist objectification, engage in gender-affirming practices, and cultivate self-connection; (2) Fitting In, Working Out explored how heteronormative PA spaces facilitated disembodiment, assimilation, and queer erasure; and (3) Sweating in Solidarity illuminated how collective visibility and queer-specific fitness spaces fostered joy, pride, and resistance. Findings demonstrate how PA can be both a site of marginalization and empowerment. Further, findings emphasize the importance of disrupting heteronormative frameworks that uphold rigid and binary constructions of gender. This study contributes to emerging conversations about queer embodiment and calls for the creation of inclusive movement spaces as well as intersectional, identity-affirming approaches in sport and exercise psychology.
