Flying free : Risk and regulation in recreational flying trapeze

Journal article


Alexander, Amanda. (2024). Flying free : Risk and regulation in recreational flying trapeze. Australian Feminist Law Journal. 50(2), pp. 207-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/13200968.2024.2412349
AuthorsAlexander, Amanda
Abstract

Legal and regulatory theory has been fascinated by the relationship between law and other forms of regulation in a differentiated society. While some scholars have pointed out the benefits of local regulation, especially when managing the risks of modern society, others have seen regulation in Foucauldian terms as discipline, the dark underside of liberal society. Law, in a Foucauldian approach, is usually understood as another form of constraint. There have, however, been recent suggestions that an enabling law could contain possibilities for openness and agency – much like Foucault’s concept of ‘technologies of the self’. At the same time, sociologists have used the technologies of the self to describe voluntary risk-taking, or ‘edgework’, as a form of escape from the disciplinary society. In this article, I examine these possibilities by investigating the operation of law and regulatory techniques in flying trapeze. Recreational flying trapeze is the kind of risky activity that was facilitated by the enabling law of the 2002 tort reforms. Recreational flyers, who are usually women, appear to experience a moment of freedom. Yet flyers are subject to local regulations and their own practice of self-regulation. As such, this activity provides a practical opportunity for examining the intersection of law, regulation, and the technologies of the self, and considering what they mean for the possibilities and limitations of freedom.

Keywordsregulatory theory; risk; Foucault; regulation; torts law; legal reform; sports law
Year2024
JournalAustralian Feminist Law Journal
Journal citation50 (2), pp. 207-230
PublisherRoutledge
ISSN2204-0064
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13200968.2024.2412349
Scopus EID2-s2.0-105003395474
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range207-230
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online05 Nov 2024
Publication process dates
Deposited11 Jun 2025
Additional information

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Permalink -

https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/91z01/flying-free-risk-and-regulation-in-recreational-flying-trapeze

Download files


Publisher's version
OA_Alexander_2024_Flying_free_Risk_and_regulation_in.pdf
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 21
    total views
  • 7
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month
These values are for the period from 19th October 2020, when this repository was created.

Export as

Related outputs

Revolutionary War and the Development International Humanitarian Law
Alexander, Amanda Elana. (2023). Revolutionary War and the Development International Humanitarian Law. In In Cuddy, Brian and Kattan, Victor (Ed.). Making Endless War: The Vietnam and Arab-Israeli Conflicts in the History of International Law pp. 112-144 University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12584508
Filling the gaps : The expansion of international humanitarian law and the juridification of the free-fighter
Alexander, Amanda. (2023). Filling the gaps : The expansion of international humanitarian law and the juridification of the free-fighter. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies. pp. 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1163/18781527-BJA10075
The ethics of violence : Recent literature on the creation of the contemporary regime of law and war
Alexander, Amanda. (2023). The ethics of violence : Recent literature on the creation of the contemporary regime of law and war. Journal of Genocide Research. 25(2), pp. 235-251. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2021.1985809
Narrative contingency and international humanitarian law : Crimes against humanity in Cixin Liu’s post-humanist universe
Alexander, Amanda. (2021). Narrative contingency and international humanitarian law : Crimes against humanity in Cixin Liu’s post-humanist universe. In In Venzke, Ingo and Heller, Kevin Jon (Ed.). Contingency in international law : On the possibility of different legal histories pp. 351-369 Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898036.003.0021
Lenin at Nuremberg : Anti-imperialism and the juridification of crimes against humanity
Alexander, Amanda. (2021). Lenin at Nuremberg : Anti-imperialism and the juridification of crimes against humanity. In In Greeman, Kathryn, Oxford, Anne, Saunders, Anna and Tzouvala, Ntina (Ed.). Revolutions in International Law : The legacies of 1917 pp. 56-82 Cambridge University Press.
"The Good War" : Preparations for a War against Civilians
Alexander, Amanda. (2019). "The Good War" : Preparations for a War against Civilians. Law, Culture and the Humanities. 15(1), pp. 227-252. https://doi.org/10.1177/1743872116651224
New histories and new laws : Crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Alexander, Amanda. (2019). New histories and new laws : Crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Leiden Journal of International Law. 32(4), pp. 801-818. https://doi.org/10.1017/S092215651900044X
International humanitarian law, postcolonialism and the 1977 Geneva Protocol I
Alexander, Amanda. (2016). International humanitarian law, postcolonialism and the 1977 Geneva Protocol I. Melbourne Journal of International Law. 17(1), pp. 15 - 50.
A short history of international humanitarian law
Alexander, Amanda. (2015). A short history of international humanitarian law. European Journal of International law. 26(1), pp. 109 - 138. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chv002