Women Athletes’ Experiences of Empower and Oppression through Bikini Fitness

The aim of this study is to analyze empowering and oppressesing aspects of bikini fitness in women athletes lives. In our study, we used phenomenology, one of the qualitative research methods. We collected data through in-depth individual interviews with ten bikini fitness athletes selected according to the criterion sampling method and analyzed them with thematic analysis method. Research findings show that the body of bikini fitness women is built around gendered norms. However, in this construction, it is understood that the athletes have different empowering practices against the control mechanisms of power on the body. When analyzing bikini fitness norms with Foucault s (1977, 1980) conceptual tools that he used to describe modern power, we discussed the experiences of bikini fitness athletes in the context of normalization and resistance to power practices.