| This dissertation addresses women's physical activities in Prospect Park, a 526-acre urban park bordering on several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York. Data include observations and semi-structured interviews with 41 women who regularly used the park. Interviewees described their use patterns, perceptions, and experiences of the park.; Prospect Park provided these women with opportunities for challenging and "smooth" workouts on its road, trails, hills, and stairs, in addition to support amenities, including drinking fountains and rest rooms. They also perceived the park as safer than surrounding streets in terms of traffic, but many expressed the sentiment that "cars should not be in the park." The park was moreover a place for experiencing nature, mental restoration, and carrying out meaningful activities on an everyday basis.; The park was also the setting for what might be described as an ethic of care, providing opportunities for physical activities with friends, acquaintances, and family members. These women described the park as "friendly," "neighborly," or "neighborhoody," where strangers became familiar and comfortable. However, they also reported concerns regarding safety and fears related to "isolated" times and places in the park, parts of the park associated with black and Latino neighborhoods, and men or boys whom they believed to be from those neighborhoods or whose behavior they perceived as erratic or "weird." Some of these women deconstructed this "female jogger" discourse of vulnerability in their claims about confidence, physical ability, and refusal to relinquish the right to use public space. Black women's claims also reflected a more specific understanding of danger in the park or a sense of racial identity, but most interviewees were white.; Finally, women spoke about team sports in the park in terms of "women's space," which they envisioned as less aggressive and individualistic than men's and boys' "street style" of play. Their descriptions may have reflected a male privilege in sport as well as tensions regarding racial privileges to public space. I discuss all of these findings and their implications for park planning, theoretical conceptualizations of public space, and frameworks for understanding gender, space, and physical activity. |
