Table Of ContentFEMINIST APPLIED SPORT
PSYCHOLOGY
With an emphasis on women and transwomen athletes and exercisers of color,
Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice introduces the reader to
feminist,blackfeminist,andwomanistsportpsychology,offering analternativeand
powerful approach to working with athletes.
Covering core concepts, applied skills, and research methods, the book includes
useful features throughout, such as discussion questions and definitions of key
terms. It is organized into three sections covering, firstly, feminist theory, history,
movements, and their importance in applied sport psychology; secondly, the
intersection of race, class, and gender, and the integration of intersectional con-
siderationsinto sportpsychology; and finally, in-depth case studies offeministsport
psychology in action, each of which offers strategies for best practice.
Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice is important reading for
feminist-centred students and practitioners in performance and sports domains, and
exercise psychology and anybody with an interest in feminist approaches to
working with women of diverse backgrounds.
Leeja Carter is Director of the Performance Excellence in Applied Kinesiology
(PEAK) Program and Assistant Professor in the School of Health Professions at
Long Island University – Brooklyn (LIU), USA. Dr. Carter is a Fulbright Scholar,
author, and writer who currently serves as the Association for Applied Sport Psy-
chology (AASP)’s Interim Diversity and Inclusion Executive Board Division Head
and the Women in Sports special interest group coordinator and has previously
served as AASP Diversity Committee Chairperson. She sits on Long Island Uni-
versity – Brooklyn’s Gender Studies Board and is a member of the American Psy-
chology Association’s Division 47: Society for Sport, Exercise, and Performance
Psychology,Division45:SocietyforthePsychologicalStudyofCulture,Ethnicity,
and Race, and Division 35: Society for the Psychology of Women.
FEMINIST APPLIED
SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
From Theory to Practice
Edited by Leeja Carter
Firstpublished2020
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CONTENTS
List of contributors viii
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction 1
Leeja Carter
SECTIONI
Feminist applied sport psychology 5
1 What is feminism?: Where have we been and where are we
going? 7
Tanya Prewitt-White and Leslee A. Fisher
2 History of feminist sport psychology 19
Diane L. Gill
3 Yes, I am a feminist: My interwoven journey in sport and
feminism 36
Tanya Prewitt-White
4 Feminist sport psychology ethics 46
Erica Tibbetts
5 Feminist and sport research methods 58
Emily A. Roper and Leslee A. Fisher
vi Contents
SECTIONII
More than gender 69
6 Black feminist thought: Contextualizing black women’s
sporting experiences 71
Amanda D. Manu
7 Race, class and gender: Intersectionality in sport 85
Dawn M. Norwood
8 Mandating intersectionality in sport psychology: Centering
LGBTQ women of color athletes 97
Martez D. R. Smith, Cathryn B. Lucas, Erica Tibbetts, and
Leeja Carter
SECTIONIII
Essays on practice and research 107
9 “Is this where we tell our stories?”: Exploring black women’s
health experiences through storytelling 109
Leeja Carter
10 Asian Americans: The other white meat? Vacillating identities
and Asian American women in sport 115
Lauren S. Morimoto
11 A story of partnership built on indigenous and feminist
epistemologies and community-based participatory research 125
Heather J. Peters and Teresa R. Peterson
12 A life of paradoxes: Transwomen of color in sport 137
Derek Tice-Brown
13 This girl can fight 144
Reisha Hull and Rebecca Donnelly
14 Women of color in the box: Safe spaces in CrossFit and HIIT 151
Carlos Davila Sanchez
15 Teaching as transgression: The meta-autoethnography of a fat,
disabled, brown kinesiology professor 159
Lauren S. Morimoto
Contents vii
16 Healing old wounds and imagining new futures: Feminist
reflections from a straight, white cisman in sport psychology 169
Ryan Sappington
17 The unintentional feminist 182
Kensa K. Gunter
18 Recognizing I’m the elephant in the room: Whiteness,
feminism, and working with women of color 189
Tanya Prewitt-White
19 Breaking stereotypes and barriers to working with Muslim and
women of color 197
Latisha Forster-Scott and Heather J. Peters
20 Doing feminist sport psychology: A call to action 205
Leeja Carter, Carole Oglesby, Lauren S. Morimoto, Heather J. Peters,
and Teresa R. Peterson
Index 213
CONTRIBUTORS
Leeja Carter, Ph.D. is a womanist sport psychology practitioner and women's health
advocate. Her work addresses historical and contemporary representations of Black
women's 'strength,' culturally sensitive health and sport psychology approaches for
people of color, and gendered racism in sport. Dr. Carter is Director of the PEAK
ProgramatLongIslandUniversity–Brooklyn(LIU):anall-in-oneprogramthatcom-
binesresearch,appliedexercise,sport,andwellnessapproaches,andstudenttrainingfor
theLIUandBrooklyncommunities.In2018shewasawardedtheFulbrightSpecialist
ScholarawardtoserveasaVisitingScholaratLondonSouthBankUniversity(LSBU)in
their Sport and Exercise Science Research Center (SESRC) on the project titled,
"InterdisciplinaryMethodstoAddressingHealthBehaviorsAmongWomenandGirlsin
London." Dr. Carter has received external funding for several of her research projects,
presented talks, keynotes, and research presentations nationally and internationally, as
well as written papers and book chapters on topics related to racism in sport, sport
feminism,andwomanistapproachestohealth.Dr.Carter’sworkhasbeenpublishedin
The Humanistic Psychologist, Women & Therapy, Integrative Cancer Therapies, Professional
Psychology:ResearchandPractice,AthleticInsight,andTheJournalofMultidisciplinaryResearch.
Currently Dr. Carter is the Interim Diversity and Inclusion Executive Board Division
HeadfortheAssociationforAppliedSportPsychology(AAS),coordinatoroftheAASP
WomeninSportsSpecialInterestGroupandistheformerAASPDiversityCommittee
Chairperson. Dr. Carter received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Psychology from
Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Post-Master's Certification in Exercise Science from
CaliforniaUniversityofPennsylvania,andaPh.D.inKinesiologywithaconcentration
inthePsychologyofHumanMovementfromTempleUniversity.
Dakota Wicohan is a Native non-profit educational organization that seeks to
revitalize the Dakota language and lifeways in Minnesota. Founded in 2002 and
located in Morton, Minnesota, Dakota Wicohan works across tribal, state, and
Listofcontributors ix
political boundaries. Its primary programs include: Itancanpi (leadership) programs
training community youth leaders through mentor-based programs and Sunktanka
Wicayuhapi (we care for horses) program; Dakota Wicohanpi (lifeways) programs,
providing community training and workshops on cultural traditions (e.g., arts,
storytelling); and Waunspepi (outreach and education) connecting Minnesotans to
new knowledge and insights of Dakota language and lifeways through curriculum
and teacher training, family Dakota language, documentary screenings and train-
ings. Dakota Wicohan’s mission is to revitalize Dakota as a living language, and
through it, transmit Dakota lifeways to future generations.
CarlosDavilaSanchez,M.A.DevelopmentalPsychology,isanAdjunctProfessorat
LongIslandUniversityBrooklyn(whereheteaches Sports Psychology at the under-
graduateandgraduatelevel),JohnJayCollegeandBaruch(whereheteachesIntroto
Psychology), CrossFit coach at CrossFit 5th Ave, and group exercise instructor at a
boutique HIIT studio. He has been a part of both fitness and psychology focused
spaces for over 20 years. As a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, professor of
psychology, athlete, and avid exerciser, Carlos is acutely aware of the intersection of
thesespaces.Asbothathleteandcoach,specificallywithintheCrossFit/HIITspacefor
over10years,Carloshasabreadthofinsightintotheculturewithinthesespaces.Asa
feminist, Carlos is also highly cognizant of the various issues women (specifically
womenofcolor)havewithinfitnessspaces.Hispreviousresearchintomicroaggresions
withinsportingspacesandhisunderstandingofintersectionality,allowforananalysis
offitnessspacesfromavariedandmultilayeredperspective.
Rebecca Donnelly, MBE is a former World Thai Boxing Champion and later
English National Boxing champion. Founder and current CEO of Fight 4 Change
Foundation. The Fight 4 Change Foundation (registered charity 1143318) was
founded in 2009 to promote and deliver boxing and fitness activities as a pathway
for young people living in the most deprived inner-city areas in the UK. The
charity engages disadvantaged individuals and communities.
Leslee A. Fisher, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of the Sport Psychology and
MotorBehaviorGraduateProgramattheUniversityofTennessee.SheholdsaPh.D.
inSportPsychology(UCBerkeley),anM.Ed.inCounselorEducation(Universityof
Virginia), an M.S. in Education (University of Michigan), and a B.S. in Education
(University of Michigan). Leslee has published over 96 academic and applied articles
and has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Her research
focusesonfeministculturalsportpsychologyandcanbefoundinTheJournalofApplied
SportPsychology,TheSportPsychologist,InternationalJournalofSportandExercisePsychol-
ogy,InternationalJournalofSportsScienceandCoaching,WomeninSport&PhysicalActivity,
andtheJournalofSportandExercisePsychology.LesleeisaFellowintheAssociationfor
Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), served as AASP’s Secretary/Treasurer, is a Certi-
fied Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC AASP), a member of the American
Psychological Association, and a Registrant on the United States Olympic
