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Singled Out: A Narrative Exploration Into Sexuality, Sport, and Masculinity

Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: At the present time, gay men in sport are still a largely unexamined group.Currently, Jason Collins of the NBA is the only openly gay male athlete competing in the four major professional team sports in the United States: football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.Much of the research that does exist is based on Connell's (1990) theory of hegemonic masculinity.This theory contends that society values a single form of masculinity over all others, and that sport in particular functions to reproduce this singular identity, valorizing traits such as strength, toughness, and aggression (Connell, 1990).This system creates hierarchies, with the most hegemonically masculine men at the top of the structure, and in a position to dominate over women and less masculine men (Anderson, 2005;Messner, 2002).Historically, homophobia has acted as the main tool to police the actions of men, especially in a sport context (Anderson, 2011;Pronger, 1990).Thus, it is an immense struggle for gay male athletes to come out and express their sexuality openly on their teams.New research is emerging that suggests the climate in sport is changing, and that greater social acceptance of homosexuality is making its way into the realm of sport.This qualitative, narrative analysis aims to provide a rich examination into the experiences and perceptions of gay male athletes.Eight current and former gay intercollegiate athletes were interviewed from a variety of sports.Through the use of a layered narrative approach, the participants' stories were placed at the forefront of the analysis, allowing for unique and valuable new insight into the changing relationship between sport, sexuality, and masculinity.
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2581645803
FWCI: 1.332
Cites: 32
Cited by: 2
Related to: 10