Artistry Versus Athleticism

Through the visual aspects of figure skating with costumes and rehearsed choreography, figure skating has found itself positioned as an artistic sport. Labeling a sport as artistic brings assumptions that less athleticism is required in the practice of it. Officials and the governing bodies of figure skating have acknowledged these assumptions and have been fighting against the public’s perception and association of figure skating with dance. Yet, ladies’ figure skating and men’s figure skating seem to each differentiate in terms of athleticism and artistry.

Governing bodies such as the ISU push for ladies’ figure skating to be perceived as more artistic, another example of how structurally, figure skating perpetuates the delegitimization of female athletes and reinforces hegemonic masculine ideals and views female athletes as weaker and less capable than men. In terms of men’s figure skating, the ISU and other agencies and officials have been pushing for men’s skating to be viewed differently than ladies’ skating. They want to position men’s skating as more athletic, to repel assumptions that male skaters are dancers. Adams writes,

Skating’s requirement for ‘artistic impression’ positions skating as akin to dance and is, therefore a large part of what puts figure skating outside the bounds of normative masculine behavior…Those concerned with the reputation of men’s figure skating have taken the same rhetorical route, playing up the athleticism of skaters, trying to present skating itself as dangerous and difficult

Adams 2011, 162-163

Not only are these efforts for the repositioning of men’s figure skating specifically are coming from the governing bodies of figure skating, but other agencies as well. “In 2009, marketers for ‘Skate Canada’ talked to the press about the need to ‘rebrand’ the sport by playing up its risk and athleticism” (Adams 2011, 163). It’s almost as if ladies’ and men’s skating are two different sports versus one sport like soccer that have a women’s league and a men’s league – where there are observable gendered differences, but these differences don’t change the sport’s rules at large. There is again, another stunning double standard for men’s skating to be perceived as more technical, requiring more athleticism and risk, while ladies’ skating is positioned as a beautiful artistic sport,  requiring ladies to be elegant and graceful while men should be seen as incredibly athletic, and impressive for being able to do such difficult combinations.