Menegosiasikan Femininitas Atlet Perempuan dalam Olahaga Beladiri Muay Thai dan Mixed Martial Arts di Indonesia

Ahmad Rithaudin, Prof. Dr. Heru Nugroho, Budiawan, S.S., M.A., Ph.D.

2026 | Disertasi | S3 Kajian Budaya dan Media

Partisipasi perempuan dalam olahraga tarung Muay Thai dan Mixed Martial Arts cenderung mengalami peningkatan, namun partisipasi tersebut dihadapkan pada permasalahan yang kompleks, yaitu cedera tubuh, benturan budaya dan agama, gender serta profesionalisme. Namun, perhatian terhadap pengalaman nyata atlet dalam menegosiasikan feminitas di tengah konteks yang saling bersinggungan seperti keluarga, agama, risiko tubuh, representasi media, dan olahraga profesional masih terbatas. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis negosiasi femininitas para atlet Muay Thai dan Mixed Martial Arts perempuan dan mengapa mereka menegosiasikan hal tersebut selama menjadi atlet amatir maupun profesional.

Metode penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan pendekatan fenomenologi. Data didapatkan dari hasil wawancara semi terstruktur terhadap empat atlet tarung perempuan,yang terdiri atas dua atlet amatir dan dua atlet profesional. Data dianalisis berdasarkan rujukan Moustakas yang meliputi transkripsi, pembacaan berulang, bracketing, horizonalisation, seleksi unit makna, penentuan tema esensial, deskripsi tekstural, deskripsi struktural, dan sintesis esensi pengalaman. 

Hasil yang didapatkan dari penelitian ini adalah atlet perempuan menegosiasikan femininitasnya dengan berbagai macam cara diantaranya adalah menegosiasikan penerimaan keluarga, mengelola tubuh antara kekuatan, cedera, dan penampilan feminin, membangun identitas profesional melalui representasi publik dan media. Negosiasi femininitas atlet tarung perempuan berlangsung sebagai proses rekonstruksi identitas dalam arena olahraga yang bergender (gendered sport), melalui praktik performatif yang memungkinkan mereka mengintegrasikan identitas sebagai petarung profesional dan sebagai perempuan di tengah tuntutan budaya serta logika postfeminisme. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa para petarung perempuan tidak sepenuhnya menolak norma feminin, tetapi menegosiasikannya melalui integrasi religiusitas, moralitas, dan profesionalisme. Tubuh petarung perempuan menjadi ruang di mana maskulinitas fisik dan femininitas kultural tidak saling meniadakan, melainkan berdampingan secara hybrid. Studi ini mengusulkan bentuk hybrid femininity di mana kekuatan fisik, moralitas religius, hubungan sosial, dan kemampuan profesional dinegosiasikan secara bersamaan. Temuan ini memperluas perspektif kajian post feminisme dan performativitas gender dengan menunjukkan bahwa agensi perempuan dalam konteks Indonesia tetap tertanam secara relasional dalam struktur keluarga, agama, budaya, dan profesional.

Women's participation in combat sports like Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts tends to be increasing, but their involvement faces complex issues, such as bodily injuries, cultural and religious clashes, gender, and professionalism. However, limited attention has been paid to athletes’ lived experiences of negotiating femininity within the intersecting contexts of family, religion, bodily risk, media representation, and professional sport. This research aims to describe and analyze the forms of femininity negotiation among female Muay Thai and Mixed Martial Arts athletes and why they negotiate these issues during their time as amateurs and professionals.

This study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with four female combat athletes, comprising two amateurs and two professional athletes. The data was analyzed based on Moustakas's model, including transcription, repeated reading, bracketing, horizonalization, selection of meaning units, determination of essential themes, textual description, structural description, and synthesis of the essence of the experience. 

The results of this study show that female athletes negotiate their femininity in various ways, including seeking acceptance from their families, managing their bodies between strength, injury, and feminine appearance, and building a professional identity through public representation and media. These negotiations are driven by the need to maintain family and religious acceptance, secure social legitimacy, and establish professional credibility. The negotiation of femininity among female fighters happens as a process of reconstructing their identity in a gendered sport arena, through performative practices that allow them to integrate their identity as professional fighters and as women amid cultural demands and the logic of post feminism. The conclusion of this article is that female fighters don't completely reject feminine norms, but they negotiate them through integrating religiosity, morality, and professionalism. The bodies of female fighters become a space where physical masculinity and cultural femininity don't cancel each other out, but rather coexist in a hybrid way. The study proposes a hybrid form of femininity in which physical strength, religious morality, social relationality, and professional agency are negotiated simultaneously. These findings extend postfeminist and gender performativity perspectives by demonstrating that women’s agency in the Indonesian context remains relationally embedded in family, religious, cultural, and professional structures.

Kata Kunci : Femininitas, atlet tarung perempuan, Muay Thai dan Mixed Martial Arts