Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to reveal the inner dynamics of women-only spaces, drawing on a visual ethnographic case study of the Kenwood Ladies Pond, Hampstead Heath, London, United Kingdom. Gender is a notion in constant fluctuation. What does it mean to have exclusive spaces based on gender identity?

Paper long abstract:

In the context of a national debate around the 2004 Gender Recognition Act update and its hypothetic impact on gender-exclusive spaces (e.g: sport competitions), academic research has the responsibility to provide information about the dynamics of those spaces. We need to address the problem by grounding the debate in the reality to give policy-makers the tools to reflect adequately on this sensitive, yet urgent, issue.

This is where my research stands. As a white, cisgender, female, I can access the Kenwood Ladies Pond. My purpose is to use my social position to explore this Women-Only space and hopefully reveals its inner dynamics. My aim is to show that a women-only space in a Western country survives because there is a demand for reinforcing a sense of community and safety.

How a space, having been traditionally identified according to a binary definition of gender, evolves in a society where this concept is constantly in flux?

My method draws on feminist qualitative research, grounded in second wave feminism and intersectionality. I take an ethnographic approach by going to the space and keeping a journal. Being a female swimmer, autoethnography run throughout my research. I will semi-structured interview up to ten swimmers. I will code my data with thematic analysis to highlights the issues that 'really' matter to my interviewees. Visual data (sketches, drawings, photographs) allows me and the reader to represent the subjective aspect of this space. Conducting the research in an art school pushes me towards visual representation of my research, such as displaying my visual documentation in an exhibition.