Homosexuality In Sports

In the sports world, homosexual athletes are often forced to hide their sexual orientation and to keep it as a private matter. This is mainly due to the hegemonic masculinity associated with playing sports. Homosexuality is considered the direct opposite of this and therefore is not associated with sports. Also the way athletes talk to each other in the locker room makes it more difficult for gay athletes to come out. Guys jokingly call each other homophobic slurs or pump their chest by talking about women to express their masculinity. Female athletes, unlike their male counterparts, are considered to be more free to talk about their sexual orientation. But, there still exists the misconception that women who participate in sports are assumed to be gay. In college and professional men’s sports it is beginning to become more common for athletes to be more open to talking publically about their sexual orientation. This brings up the question as to whether or not things are changing in our society so that the acceptance of gay athletes will be more common. More acceptance by our overall society as a whole will lead to more gay athletes – both male and female – feeling free to step forward and be open about their sexual orientation.
Hegemonic masculinity is the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. This ideal among other things includes the belief that men should be big, strong, and athletic. Sports, especially contact sports, reinforce this idea, as an athlete is seen as the ideal of what it means to be a man. The general belief associated with gay men is that they posses none of these traits and are thought to be feminine. These normative beliefs are not the case and are actually st...

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... the best or gives a team the best chance of winning will be rewarded. He is a standup, high character but his welcoming in the locker room will be based on his performance on the field. However even if he does not make a huge impact on the field his impact off has already and will help instill confidence into young people wanting to come out. We have openly gay politicians, actors, and athletes in individual sports so there is really no reason why we can’t have an openly gay male in a team sport. Jason Collins and Michael Sam are just the start. Michael Sam put it best when he said, “I may be the first but I wont be the last and I think only good things are gonna come from this.” As a society it is our responsibility to welcome in these first openly gay athletes to our team sports so that more will be comfortable to be true to themselves in the future.