Sports Role Models In Sports

Introduction

There is currently a widespread opinion in society that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people are underrepresented in mainstream sport. Furthermore, sport is considered a field where sexual prejudice is palpable (Gill et al., 2006). Thus, many young LGBT individuals may not have access to LGBT sporting role models, defined as a person that someone observes, models behaviour, and in turn inspires and increases self-esteem (MacCallum & Beltman, 2002) and this may affect their participation in sport. This is a topic that has not been directly researched before, but this review will demonstrate the importance of role models for young LGBT people by examining past research on: LGBT peoples’ participation in sport, the

Kivel and Klieber (2000) posit that the media is a very important source of information for LGBT youth, as they discover what it means to be LGBT and also discern potential role models. Moreover, Boon and Lamore (2001) conducted a survey on 79 students (after an initial screening) and found that participants reported their beliefs, ideals and traits had been affected by their celebrity role models. Therefore, if young LGBT people possessed a sporting role model, they may positively affect their sporting beliefs and ideals and increase the likelihood of participating in sport. However, the researchers only studied students who had medium or higher attraction to their role models. The strength of attraction to a role model may not solely determine the effect of the role model on the person and those who indicated a lower attraction level to their role models could have still been influenced by them. The current study will include students with diverse levels of interest in sport and may or may not have role models, with the purpose of gaining (more accurate data) on the influence of role models on sport

The increased availability of role models in the media for young LGBT people has been shown to benefit them greatly. Gomillion and Giuliano (2011) surveyed 126 Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual individuals and found that the media contributed to their coming out and identity formation by supplying LGBT role models. Furthermore, they interviewed 15 LGB people and found that these role models in the media supply self-esteem, inspiration and reassurance. Therefore, LGBT sporting role models may increase young LGBT peoples’ participation in sport because they may provide inspiration, be a source of pride and may help with coming to terms with their sexuality. However, the participants were all from Austin, Texas and both studies focused on the media in general, and did not indicate whether sport was included. Thus, the experiences of these individuals with media role models may be specific to their area and the results of this study may not indicate the influence of sporting role models in the media. Therefore, the current study will ask respondents to focus on sporting role models in the media to ascertain whether a similar result is