Sports, Representation, and Doping Behaviors

I am fascinated by how athletes–women in particular–have been and continue to be represented in various forms of media, including advertising, television, and newspapers. I am especially interested in how these athletes’ gender intersects with their race, class, sexual orientation, and other aspects of their identity. More recently, I have begun to examine athletes’ doping behaviors and attitudes.

Examples of publications on this are:

Ho, Michelle H. S. 2024. Queer and Transgender Sport in Japan: Seitekishōsūsha (Gender and Sexual Minority) Athletes and Their Sporting Experiences.” In Handbook of Sport and Japan, edited by Helen Macnaughtan and Verity Postlethwaite, 160-173. Tokyo: Japan Documents. (Invited chapter).

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Hiromi Tanaka. 2023. “Following Naomi Osaka and Rui Hachimura on Social Media: Silent Activism and Sport Commodification of Multiracial Japanese Athletes.” Social Media + Society. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/20563051231211858.

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Hiromi Tanaka. 2022. How Nissin Represented Naomi Osaka: Race, Gender, and Sport in Japanese Advertising” in Communication & Sport 10(4): 594-615.

Ho, Michelle H. S. 2017. “Tracing Tears and Triple Axels: Media Representations of Japan’s Women Figure Skaters,” in International Journal of Cultural Studies 20(6): 620-635.

Ho, Michelle H. S. 2014. “Is Nadeshiko Japan ‘Feminine?’ Manufacturing Sport Celebrity and National Identity on Japanese Morning Television,” in Journal of Sport and Social Issues 38(2): 164-183.

Asian Sporting Masculinities: Elite Figure Skating in Media and Performance

Since 2020, I have been collaborating with Dr. Wesley Lim (Australian National University) on a project tentatively titled, “Asian Sporting Masculinities: Elite Figure Skating in Media and Performance.” Our project explores Asian masculinities in the performances and media representations of elite male figure skaters, such as Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu. Based on this project, we are currently drafting a book manuscript.

Image source: Reuters

Funding in support of this project include:

2025
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Writing Fellowship, National University of Singapore (NUS)

2023
External Visitor Funding, Research School of Humanities & the Arts (RSHA), Australian National University

Presentations from this project are:

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Wesley Lim. 2023. “Asian Masculinities in Figure Skating.” A roundtable hosted by Australian National University (ANU), Research School of Humanities & the Arts (RSHA), Canberra, Australia, July 20.

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Wesley Lim. 2022. “Asian Sporting Masculinities in Figure Skating: Media Representations of Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu as Rivals.” International Communication Association Annual Conference, Paris, France, May 26-31.

Lim, Wesley and Michelle H. S. Ho. 2021. “Hyperathletic Artistry: Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu Performing Asian Masculinities.” Ice (St)Ages: Icy Imaginaries in Science, Arts and Spectacles Conference, Virtual, July 28-29.

Publications from this project are:

Lim, Wesley and Michelle H. S. Ho. 2023. “Hyperathletic Artistry: Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu Performing Asian Masculinities.” Dance Research 41(1): 1-18. 

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Wesley Lim. 2023. “Asian Sporting Masculinities in Figure Skating: Media Representations of Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu as Rivals.” Media, Culture & Society 45(3): 561-577.

Think Pieces from this project are:

Ho, Michelle H. S. and Wesley Lim. 2024. “Masculinity and the Asian Turn at the Olympics.” Olympic Analysis Report. (Invited contribution).

Publicity on this project include:

“Re-thinking Media Representations of Asian Masculinities in Sport – An Interview with Dr Michelle Ho and Dr Wesley Lim.” 2023. The Asian Australian Review (TAAR). Invited interview by Dr. Indigo Willing.

Keeping Sports Clean? Understanding Doping Beliefs and Behaviors Among Student-Athletes in Singapore

Since 2025, I have led a new project “Keeping Sports Clean? Understanding Doping Beliefs and Behaviors Among Student-Athletes in Singapore.” Funded by a 2024 Social Science Research (SSR) Grant (Tier 3) from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), this project explores the beliefs, attitudes, and awareness of doping among student-athletes in Singapore, notably those at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Conducted by an interdisciplinary team, including Co-Investigator Dr. Go Mei Lin (Honorary Fellow, Department of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, NUS), our research draws on qualitative and quantitative methodologies, such as online surveys and one-to-one in-depth interviews.

Interested to be part of our study? 
We are currently recruiting research participants to help us understand more about student-athletes’ beliefs, attitudes, and awareness of doping in Singapore.