Despite the increasing participation of midlife women in sports, and biomedical and consumerist discourses encouraging physical activity, research on intersections of age, gender, and the body in sports is lacking or fragmentary. Based on in-depth interviews with Israeli women aged 40–60 years participating in marathons, ultramarathons, and triathlons, we explore how they experience their participation and how these experiences correspond with normative socio-temporal assumptions about midlife transitions, gender, and the body. Findings reveal that endurance sports enable midlife women to challenge dominant discourses on the “decaying” and “menopausal” body by undoing age and formulating gender narratives that include new identities and negotiations of temporal orders. The interplay between undoing age and redefining gender operates through two mechanisms: “embodied experiences” that introduce the body as a material reality and a source of critical knowledge, and the liminality of mid-age as a life-course transition characterized by the absence of institutional and symbolic anchors. We make a twofold contribution to the critical literature on gender and life course. First, we develop the concept of embodied experiences as a vantage point for understanding the intersections of age and gender. Second, we highlight the potential of participation in endurance sports for negotiating temporal orders and formulate new narratives of femininity and aging.

中文翻译：

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消除年龄、重新定义性别和谈判时间：中年女性在耐力运动中的体验

尽管中年女性越来越多地参与体育运动，生物医学和消费主义话语鼓励体育活动，但对年龄、性别和身体在体育运动中的交叉点的研究仍然缺乏或不完整。基于对参加马拉松、超级马拉松和铁人三项的 40-60 岁以色列女性的深入采访，我们探讨了她们的参与体验，以及这些体验如何与关于中年过渡、性别和身体的规范社会时间假设相对应. 研究结果表明，耐力运动使中年女性能够通过消除年龄和制定包括新身份和时间秩序谈判的性别叙事来挑战关于“腐烂”和“更年期”身体的主导话语。消除年龄和重新定义性别之间的相互作用通过两种机制运作：“具身体验”将身体作为物质现实和批判性知识的来源，以及中年作为生命过程过渡的临界点制度和象征锚。我们对关于性别和生命历程的批判性文献做出了双重贡献。首先，我们将具体体验的概念发展为理解年龄和性别交叉点的有利位置。其次，我们强调了参与耐力运动的潜力，以协商时间顺序并制定女性气质和衰老的新叙事。以及中年作为生命历程过渡的临界点，其特点是缺乏制度和象征锚点。我们对关于性别和生命历程的批判性文献做出了双重贡献。首先，我们将具体体验的概念发展为理解年龄和性别交叉点的有利位置。其次，我们强调了参与耐力运动的潜力，以协商时间顺序并制定新的女性气质和衰老叙事。以及中年作为生命历程过渡的临界点，其特点是缺乏制度和象征锚点。我们对关于性别和生命历程的批判性文献做出了双重贡献。首先，我们将具体体验的概念发展为理解年龄和性别交叉点的有利位置。其次，我们强调了参与耐力运动的潜力，以协商时间顺序并制定女性气质和衰老的新叙事。