“Legless Aphrodite” and “Hercules in a wheelchair”—About Disabled Women and Disabled Men Practicing Sport

Abstract

Sport is one of the areas of social life where patterns of femininity and masculinity are defined. The body plays a basic role there, and competition almost always takes place with division into the sexes. Therefore, in the article I will raise the notions related to the non-standard bodies of a sportsman presented in the social space, with consideration of the division into the sexes. The sport body is a subject of interest as a product of socio-cultural practices. Hence, special attention is paid to the creation of particular categories and the relationships between them. The article raises the notions of changes that take place in the life of a physically disabled person which are caused by their engagement in a sports activity. The text is devoted to the problems of experiencing one’s corporeality, with division into the female and male body, and it serves to expose the similarities and differences of the sexes in sport for the disabled. Qualitative data are used in the research, collected through the technique of in-depth free interviews and observations conducted among the disabled who practice sports. Analysis and interpretation of the research material is performed in accordance with procedures of grounded theory.