Doing Heterosexuality, Creating Homophobia: Managing the Lesbian Stereotype in Softball

• In Event: 090 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Gendered Identities

Abstract

The increased participation of women in athletics has engendered the assumption that women are producing an influential and progressive impact on society by entering arenas that have been historically male-dominated. Many believe that this development chips away at the oppressive normative gender structures that have long maintained an imbalance of opportunities between men and women. Current research, however, has discovered that some women athletes engage in “apologetic behavior” and over-exaggerate their femininity in order to apologize for engaging in behaviors that are culturally considered masculine. Researchers argue that apologetic behaviors unintentionally reinforce stereotypes and heterosexism (Ezzell, 2009; Festle, 1996). I contribute to this understanding of the interplay between managing femininity and heterosexuality in women’s athletics by conducting an ethnographic and interview-based study of a collegiate women’s softball team and analyzing their apologetic behavior. Specifically, I examine how team members engage in elaborate heterosexual performances to combat the lesbian stigma they believe arises from their association with softball. I demonstrate how these heterosexual performances become rituals the team uses to strengthen their collective identity. I argue that the team coerces its members to adopt an all-encompassing identity centered on projecting the team’s heterosexual image that not only reinforces heteronormative values, but also strengthens these values by creating an unconscious environment of prejudice and homophobia.

Author

• Samantha Hobson, University of Chicago