Biography
Dr Kim Toffoletti is a leading figure in the study of women, sport and physical activity.
Kim is internationally recognised for her interdisciplinary research on women, sport and media. Her research has advanced novel theoretical and conceptual frameworks for addressing new challenges arising from the increased attention on women's sport and leisure activities. She has pioneered the development of critical postfeminist, transnational feminist and social media analysis in the fields of sport sociology and feminist media theory.
Kim's research has been published in top-ranking academic journals, including The International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Feminism & Psychology, Gender Work & Organization.
Her latest book is Women Sport Fans: Identification, Representation, Participation (2017, Routledge). She is also the author of Baudrillard Reframed (2011, I.B.Tauris) and Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls (2007, I.B.Tauris), and co-editor of New Sporting Femininities: Embodied Politics in Postfeminist Times (2018, Palgrave, with H.Thorpe & J.Francombe-Webb) and Sport and Its Female Fans (2012, Routledge, with P.Mewett).
She is the Associate Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal, and sits on the editorial board of Communication & Sport journal.
Read more on Kim's profileResearch interests
- Representations of gender in media, sport, and popular culture
- Women sport fans, especially female supporters of Australian Rules football
- Women's use of social media for activites related to sport, physical activity and fitness
- The intersections of female athleticism, consumerism and brand culture
Affiliations
Professional associations
- Australian Women and Gender Studies Association (AWGSA)
- The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
- North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS)
Committee memberships at Deakin
- 2015 Faculty Student Misconduct Committee
- 2010 Faculty of Arts Equity and Diversity Advisory Group
- 2006 Access, Equity and Equal Opportunity Subcommittee
- 2005 Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Committee.
Teaching interests
Units taught
Trimester 1
- ASC207 Consumerism, Gender and Sustainability
Trimester 2
- ASC102 Introduction to Sociology B
- AST205 Sport, Bodies, Action!
Knowledge areas
Kim's interdisciplinary expertise spans the fields of:
- gender studies
- sociology
- feminist theory
- visual and media culture.
Kim's work has broken new ground in understanding women's participation in sport and physical activity in two key ways: 1) by taking account of the interrelated aspects of postfeminism, neoliberalism, globalisation and technology in women's experiences of sport and leisure; 2) by interrogating the production of feminist knowledge about sport at the nexus of global North/South relations.
Professional activities
- Associate Editor of the Sociology of Sport Journal
- Editorial board member for the journal Communication & Sport
- Book series co-editor (with J.Francombe-Webb & H.Thorpe) of New Sporting Femininities: Embodied Politics in Postfeminist Times (Palgrave MacMillan)
- Co-editor of two journal special issues: Sociology of Sport Journal, "Sport, Feminism and the Global South" (with C.Palmer & S.F.Samie); Journal of Australian Studies, "Women In Sport" (with C.Palmer).
- Executive member, Deakin WISE (Women In Sport & Exercise)
- Kim's reserach has been used to deliver societal benefits by addressing the problem of women's underrepresentation and marginalisation in sport environments. It has influenced strategic stakeholders in sport on a global level, including the US National Football League, and nationally through work with the AFL Sydney Swans' women's advisory committee.
Media appearances
Kim is frequently invited to offer expert commentary and opinion on topics concerning gender, athleticism and sport participation. Her insights are aimed at furthering community engagment and dialogue on issues arising from women's growing participation in sport and physical activity, through a diversity of media platforms.
She has featured on ABC national and local radio, 3CR community radio, The 7.30 Report, Fairfax and NewsCorp print articles and op-eds, online news sources like The Conversation, Crikey and Sheilas, sport podcasts including The Outer Sanctum, The Ticket, The Sportmedia Podcast and Pushing the Edge.
Research groups
I am a member of
- the Deakin Women In Sport and Exercise (WISE) hub
- Deakin University's Gender & Sexualities Studies network
- The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) thematic groups - Sport, Media, Genders & Sexualities.
Projects
Current
- Collaborative investigations into female athlete social media use with Associate Professor Holly Thorpe (U.Waikato, NZ), and women's use of social media for sport and physcial activity with A/Prof H.Thorpe, Dr R.Olive (UQ) and Dr A.Pavlidis (Griffith).
- Ongoing conceptual, theoretical and methodolgical advancements in the study of women's sport participation as fans worldwide. This project builds on prior qualitative research conducted by Kim Toffoletti and Peter Mewett, which explored women fans of the Australian Football League.
HDR supervision
Kim supervises a number of PhD projects, all of which are centrally concerned with gender identity, relations and politics. She brings to these projects expertise in the study of media (in particular, digital and social media), a deep knowledge of feminist theory, and methodological skills in qualitative research and textual analysis.
Kim welcomes supervision inquires from doctoral students working in the knowledge areas of gender, feminism, popular culture, digital media, sport and leisure.
Publications
Renae Fomiatti, Kim Toffoletti, Kiran Pienaar
(2023), pp. 009145092311549-009145092311549, Contemporary Drug Problems, C1
Kim Toffoletti, Holly Thorpe, Rebecca Olive, Adele Pavlidis, Claire Moran
(2023), pp. 1-19, New Media and Society, London, Eng., C1
Critical encounters with social media in women's sport and physical culture
K Toffoletti, N Ahmad, H Thorpe
(2022), Vol. 15, pp. 29-47, Sport, social media, and digital technology : sociological approaches, Bingley, Eng., B1
Katharine Jones, Stacey Pope, Kim Toffoletti
(2022), pp. 145-153, Routledge Handbook of Sport Fans and Fandom, London, Eng., B1
Madison Magladry, Kim Toffoletti, Holly Thorpe
(2022), pp. 93-109, Digital wellness, health and fitness influencers : critical perspectives on digital guru media, Abingdon, Eng., B1
A Pavlidis, K Toffoletti, K Sanders
(2022), Vol. 46, pp. 103-123, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, C1
K Rahikainen, K Toffoletti
(2022), Vol. 39, pp. 251-260, Sociology of Sport Journal, C1
Addressing Gender Inequity in Sport Through Women's Invisible Labor
Katherine Sveinson, Elizabeth Taylor, Ajhanai Keaton, Laura Burton, Ann Pegoraro, Kim Toffoletti
(2022), Vol. 36, pp. 240-250, Journal of Sport Management, Champaign, Ill., C1
M Sakowska, K Toffoletti
(2022), pp. 1-5, ANZ Journal of Surgery, London, Eng., C1
K Parker, L Gould, M Nand, J Rawstorn, A Contardo Ayala, R Maddison, K Toffoletti
(2022), Vol. 22, pp. 1-12, BMC public health, London, Eng., C1
Katherine Sveinson, Kim Toffoletti
(2022), pp. 1-14, Journal of Sport Management, Champaign, Ill., C1
Self-Representations of Women's Sport Fandom on Instagram at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
K Toffoletti, A Pegoraro, G Comeau
(2021), Vol. 9, pp. 695-717, Communication and Sport, C1
Bodies, gender, and digital affect in fitspiration media
K Toffoletti, H Thorpe
(2021), Vol. 21, pp. 822-839, Feminist Media Studies, C1
Doing feminist physical cultural research in digital spaces: reflections, learnings and ways forward
K Toffoletti, R Olive, H Thorpe, A Pavlidis
(2021), Vol. 13, pp. 11-25, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, C1
K Parker, R Uddin, N Ridgers, H Brown, J Veitch, J Salmon, A Timperio, S Sahlqvist, S Cassar, K Toffoletti, R Maddison, L Arundell
(2021), Vol. 23, Journal of Medical Internet Research, Canada, C1
K Toffoletti, H Thorpe, A Pavlidis, R Olive, C Moran
(2021), Leisure Sciences, C1
K Sveinson, L Hoeber, K Toffoletti
(2019), Vol. 22, pp. 736-747, Sport management review, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, C1
Sport, alcohol and women: an emerging research agenda
C Palmer, K Toffoletti
(2019), Vol. 43, pp. 103-117, Journal of Australian studies, London, Eng., C1
Sporting females: power, diversity and the body
J Francombe-Webb, K Toffoletti
(2018), pp. 43-56, The Palgrave handbook of feminism and sport, leisure and physical education, London, Eng., B1
Mothers, scholars and feminists: inside and outside the Australian academic system
K Toffoletti, P Bueskens
(2018), pp. 13-22, Lived experiences of women in academia : metaphors, manifestos and memoir, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Sumaya Samie, K Toffoletti
(2018), pp. 87-110, New sporting femininities : embodied politics in postfeminist times, Cham, Switzerland, B1
Sport, postfeminism and women with disabilities: female paralympians on social media
K Toffoletti
(2018), pp. 253-276, New sporting femininities : embodied politics in postfeminist times, Cham, Switzerland, B1
Femininities, sport and physical culture in postfeminist, neoliberal times
K Toffoletti, Jessica Francombe-Webb, Holly Thorpe
(2018), pp. 1-19, New sporting femininities : embodied politics in postfeminist times, Cham, Switzerland, B1
Kim Toffoletti, Holly Thorpe
(2018), Vol. 28, pp. 11-31, FEMINISM & PSYCHOLOGY, London, Eng., C1
K Toffoletti, H Thorpe
(2018), Vol. 18, pp. 298-316, Journal of consumer culture, London, Eng., C1
Women sport fans: identification, participation, representation
K Toffoletti
(2017), New York, N.Y., A1
K Toffoletti, C Palmer
(2017), pp. 337-347, Routledge handbook of physical cultural studies, Abingdon, Eng., B1
K Toffoletti, C Palmer
(2017), pp. 286-294, Routledge handbook of physical cultural studies, Abingdon, Eng., B1
New approaches for studies of Muslim women and sport
K Toffoletti, C Palmer
(2017), Vol. 52, pp. 146-163, International review for the sociology of sport, London, Eng., C1
Advertising the 2015 Cricket World Cup: representing multicultural female sports fans
K Toffoletti
(2017), Vol. 5, pp. 226-244, Communication & sport, Thousand Oaks, Calif., C1
Sexy women sports fans: femininity, sexuality, and the global sport spectacle
K Toffoletti
(2017), Vol. 17, pp. 457-472, Feminist media studies, London, Eng., C1
Feminism, celebrity and lifestyle in the Australian digital news site Mamamia
H Garden, K Toffoletti
(2017), Vol. 36, pp. 1-20, Outskirts: feminisms along the edge, Crawley, W.A., C1
H Thorpe, K Toffoletti, T Bruce
(2017), Vol. 41, pp. 359-383, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Thousand Oaks, Calif., C1
Women Academics and Work-Life Balance: Gendered Discourses of Work and Care
K Toffoletti, K Starr
(2016), Vol. 23, pp. 489-504, Gender, Work and Organization, C1
K Toffoletti
(2016), Vol. 33, pp. 199-207, Sociology of sport journal, Champaign, Ill., C1
Baudrillard, postfeminism, and the image makeover
K Toffoletti
(2014), Vol. 10, pp. 105-119, Cultural politics, Durham, NC, C1
Iranian women's sports fandom : gender, resistance, and identity in the football movie offside
K Toffoletti
(2014), Vol. 38, pp. 75-92, Journal of sport and social issues, Thousand Oaks, Ca., C1
Muslim women and sport: participation, consumption, representation
K Toffoletti, C Palmer, P Mewett
(2014), pp. 1-14, TASA 2014: Challenging Identities, Institutions and Communities : Proceedings of the Australian Sociological Association 2014 Conference, Adelaide, South Australia, E1-1
Oh yes, he is hot : female football fans and the sexual objectification of sportsmen's bodies
K Toffoletti, P Mewett
(2012), pp. 99-114, Sport and its female fans, New York, N.Y., B1
The place of scandal : Lara Bingle and Brendan Fevola
K Lonie, K Toffoletti
(2012), Vol. 26, pp. 1-12, Outskirts : feminisms along the edge, Crawley, W.A., C1
Baudrillard reframed : interpreting key thinkers for the arts
K Toffoletti
(2011), London, England, A1
K Toffoletti
(2011), pp. 203-211, 110 per cent : great Australian sporting speeches, Camberwell, Vic, B1
Doing what your big sister does : sex, postfeminism and the YA chick lit series
E Bullen, K Toffoletti, L Parsons
(2011), Vol. 23, pp. 497-511, Gender and education, Oxon, England, C1
Finding footy : female fan socialization and Australian rules football
P Mewett, K Toffoletti
(2011), Vol. 14, pp. 670-684, Sport in society, Abingdon, England, C1
Voices from the margins? Women at the footy
P Mewett, K Toffoletti
(2010), Vol. 3, pp. 1-1, Intergraph : journal of dialogic anthropology, Hull, England, C1
Terminal indifference : the Hollywood war film post-September 11
K Toffoletti, V Grace
(2010), Vol. 14, pp. 62-83, Film-Philosophy, London, England, C1
K Starr, K Toffoletti
(2010), Geelong, Vic., A6
Gender relations in football : female football fans discuss player misconduct
K Toffoletti, P Mewett
(2009), Vol. 34, pp. 126-127, Alternative law journal, Melbourne, Vic., C1
Rogue men and predatory women : female fan's perception of Australian footballers' sexual conduct
P Mewett, K Toffoletti
(2008), Vol. 43, pp. 165-180, International review for the sociology of sport, Munich, Germany, C1
Gossip girls in a transmedia world : the sexual and technological anxieties of integral reality
K Toffoletti
(2008), Vol. 18, pp. 71-77, Papers : explorations into children's literature, Victoria Park, W.A., C1
The strength of strong ties : how women become supporters of Australian Rules Football
P Mewett, K Toffoletti
(2008), TASA 2008 : Re-imagining sociology : the Annual Conference of The Australian Sociological Association, Melbourne, Vic., E1
Cyborgs and Barbie dolls : feminism, popular culture and the posthuman body
K Toffoletti
(2007), London, England, A1
Transforming superheroics through female music style
K Toffoletti
(2007), pp. 307-320, Super/Heroes: from Hercules to Superman, Washington, DC., B1
K Toffoletti
(2007), Vol. 30, pp. 427-438, Women's studies international forum, Oxford, England, C1
All part of the hetero-normative? Women football fans` voices on players` sexual (mis)conduct
P Mewett, K Toffoletti
(2006), pp. 1-9, Sociology for a mobile world. TASA 2006 Conference Proceedings., University of Western Australia, E1
Who speaks on footballers and sexual assault? A gender analysis of sports reporting
K Toffoletti
(2005), pp. 1-11, Annual conference of The Australian Sociological Association : community, place, change, University of Tasmania, E1
Catastrophic subjects: feminism, the posthuman, and difference
K Toffoletti
(2004), Vol. 3, pp. 1-13, thirdspace : the journal for emerging feminist scholars, Victoria, British Columbia, C1-1
Screening Michael Jackson's face : reading Martin Bashir's living with Michael Jackson
K Toffoletti
(2004), Vol. 37, pp. 49-61, Southern review : Communication, politics & culture, Melbourne, Vic., C1-1
Funded Projects at Deakin
Other Public Sector Funding
Effective anti-racism approaches for women and girls in community sport
A/Prof Kim Toffoletti
Office for Women in Sport and Recreation Change Our Game Research Grants
- 2023: $22,500
Industry and Other Funding
Gendered online harassment of professional and elite women's sports athletes.
A/Prof Kim Toffoletti
Gender Equity Victoria (GEN Vic)
- 2023: $40,957
- 2022: $2,213
Supervisions
Timothy Boots
Thesis entitled: New to the game: AFLW, Twitter and the circulation of new fan publics
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Neena Balwan Sachdev
Thesis entitled: Trauma, Desire and Hope in Contemporary Novels of Sexual Abuse
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Denise Ann Mcnulty Norton
Thesis entitled: The pure father: reconciling individual autonomy and childhood dependence in Hollywood family films
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Janet Watson
Thesis entitled: Re-Visioning Bisexuality: Rhizomatic Cartographies of Sex, Gender and Sexuality
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Elsher Lawson-Boyd
Thesis entitled: Under the Skull: A Study of Embodied Trauma in Neuroepigenetics
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Allison Maplesden
Thesis entitled: Toxic Celebrity
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Brenda Fitzpatrick
Thesis entitled: Rejecting Sexual Violence in Conflict:Significant Progress; Ongoing Challenges
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences