Understandings and Experiences of Sports, Physical Activity and Related Digital Campaigning Among Saudi Young Women in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This thesis explores the way social media sports campaigning contributes to Saudi women’s understandings of physical activity and sports in relation to gender norms in Saudi Arabia. It also investigates how these campaigns are received by Saudi women who are exposed to these activist messages. Through eight focus group discussions with 32 female university students at King Abdul-Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this study explores the participants’ understandings and experiences of physical activity and sports. It also examines their views about digital campaigning. Furthermore, through 11 semi-structured interviews that used the scroll-back method, this study explores the participants’ personal experiences of social media use and of different forms of digital sports campaigns in relation to femininity and dress codes. The study identifies the role of place, Islam, traditions and society’s beliefs, family influence and structural issues, and the intersections of these issues in relation to Saudi women’s understandings and experiences of physical activity and sports. It suggests that the way in which Saudi young women understand physical activity and sports is not entirely dictated by these issues; rather they are exerting their agency in ways that enable them to counter or negotiate these influences. The study also shows how digital sports campaigning is significant for Saudi women at a personal and individual level. In particular, social media influencers, celebrities, and sportswomen seem to be critically important in contributing to the understanding of femininity and dress codes. The study overall is contributing to scholarship on intersectional feminism, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context. It illuminates the way intersectionality works in shaping experiences and understandings of digital campaigning in Saudi Arabia.