I did not participate in this activity before due to many reasons which include gender stereotypeing and leisure constraints. I was born and grew up in Vietnam where bowling was not so popular and the majoritiesy of bowlers were men, because under my traditional view, bowling was considered as a sport for men. Being influenced by my culture, I was not interested in bowling but instead I chose other leisure activities that were more feminine for women such as cooking, singing, and so on. In addition, I did not feel comfortable playing in front of many people because I felt shy and inappropriate to play a male-dominated sport. I believe that I haved intrapersonal constraints that made Ime feel self-conscious and resulted in a lack of interest in bowling participation (Raymore, Godbey, Crawford, & von Eye, 1993). Another reason that prevented me from participating in bowling was interpersonal constraints due to a lack of companions. It was true that my male friends did not ask me to join them when they went play bowling, because they assumed that I was not interested in male sport. Similarly, I could not go with my female friends because we all had the same perception that bowling was not for us as women.
Living in America has changed my point of view and I am more open to try bowling, twhatich I considered was for men when I was in my country. The activity is very interesting and challenging because I need to learn how to hold and throw the balls straightly to hit the pins. It seems easy, but it is not, and I get many gutter balls. I felt relaxinged and joyful while I played bowling;, especially when I hit the pins and challenged myself to get better results. Also, I no longer feel embarrassinged playing in public as I did before. The insight into leisure that was gained for gender differences between men and women was gained is that women and men have equal rights to choose and participate in any activities if these activities are in their best interest. Also, there should not be limitations for both genders regarding their leisure choices;, especially for women. We all live in a modern society and we should be more open to accept and noto have no gender stereotypes against each other. Even though the project is dconmplete, I still participate in the activity at least once a week because I fouind it interesting and fun. It also is a good exercise that can benefit my health mentally and physically. Moreover, I want to prove to my culture that as a woman, I can play bowling as a man does.