Women are often asked to conform to a rigid set of heteronormative ideas of femininity within a culture that values women based on appearance. Historically, the female aerialist’s muscularity challenged traditional stereotypes of female inferiority, displaying nuanced representations of femininity. Current research in social circus indicates that participation in circus activities can increase participants’ self-confidence and self-belief. This participant-based research explores a group of eighteen to thirty-five-year-old women’s experience of learning and performing aerial circus skills integrated with training in digital media production within a social circus context. As a circus performer and instructor this research emerged from over ten years of practitioner experience. The central aim of the article is to explore participants’ experiences of aerial circus training with a focus on strength, muscularity, pain and bodily markings as having the potential to challenge traditional notions of femininity, and ideas of embodied trust and capacity as a result of developing an informed relationship with one’s body. The article draws on participants’ voices and experiences based on observation and interviews. The findings add to our understanding of female experience of social aerial circus. Participants spoke of increased self-confidence as a result of what their body can achieve as opposed to focussing on self-perceived lacks. Working within participants’ concept of empowerment, aerial circus training offered participants a notional form of liberation, where through physical practice they were able to explore changing gender roles and embody ideas of self-reliance.

女性经常被要求遵守一套严格的异性恋女性气质观念，这种文化基于外表来重视女性。从历史上看，女性空中飞人的肌肉发达挑战了女性自卑的传统刻板印象，展现了女性气质的微妙表现。目前社会马戏的研究表明，参与马戏活动可以增加参与者的自信心和自信心。这项以参与者为基础的研究探讨了一组 18 至 35 岁的女性学习和表演空中马戏技能的经验，这些经验与社交马戏团环境中的数字媒体制作培训相结合。作为一名马戏表演者和教练，这项研究源于十多年的从业者经验。本文的中心目的是探讨参与者在空中马戏训练中的体验，重点是力量、肌肉、疼痛和身体标记，因为它们有可能挑战传统的女性气质观念，以及体现信任和能力的想法，因为与自己的身体建立一种知情的关系。本文基于观察和访谈，借鉴参与者的声音和经验。这些发现增加了我们对社交空中马戏团女性体验的理解。参与者谈到，由于他们的身体可以实现的目标，而不是专注于自我感知的缺陷，他们的自信心增加了。在参与者的赋权概念范围内，空中马戏训练为参与者提供了一种名义上的解放形式，