Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities

Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities examines the impact of a decreasing cultural homophobia among both gay and straight male athletes. It contends that hypermasculine notions of masculinity no longer dominate sport but that today’s youth increasingly value softer, more inclusive forms of masculinity.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Homosexuality.

Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities examines the impact of decreasing cultural homophobia on both gay and straight male athletes. It suggests that the study of sport, masculinities and sexualities emerged during a time of extreme homophobia— the 1980. Cultural homophobia declined, however, throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the new millennia. Consequently, this research argues that the way young men view homosexuality and masculinity has also changed, resulting not only in improved conditions for sexual minorities in sport, but it has also promoted a culture of softer, more tactile and emotional forms of heterosexual masculinities. The ten studies presented in this book reflect this shift in masculinities; highlighting the necessity of developing new ways of theorizing the changing dynamics between masculinities, sexualities and physical cultures in the next decade.

This book is based on the original special issue published in the Journal of Homosexuality.