The Politics of Minority Ethnic Women's Leisure Time and Physical Activity in Denmark

Politicisation of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) has increased across Europe. In Denmark, the relationship between ‘Muslim culture’ and ‘Danish’ culture in LTPA has led to debates and the introduction of progressively restrictive policies. Such debates are presented in binary terms and have also racialised space, labelling neighbourhoods with larger ethnic-minority communities ‘ghettoes’ within which parallel societies are presumed to exist. Consequently, activities which are considered to transgress ‘Danish’ practices, such as gender-segregated swimming, have seen negative political attention. Debates about the legitimacy of women-only swimming characterise participants as oppressed and to reside in racialised areas, of which the women-only swimming sessions are an extension. Such debates have led to increased regulation (and subsequent closure) of gender-segregated swimming in municipal pools during public hours. This chapter contrasts the lived experiences of participants with descriptions in the political debates and portrays their feelings of belonging both within and outside gender-segregated swimming spaces. For participants, such spaces were considered ‘safe,’ not from oppression from within their own community, but from the gendering and racializing majority gaze. Such findings highlight a complex interplay between politics and embodied experiences of LTPA in relation to both gender and ethnicity.