Homophobic Slur or Cultural Misunderstanding? Discourse Around #FIFAPUTOS

• In Event: LGBTQ Around the World: Global Settings

Abstract

The 2014 World Cup introduced the American public to more than just the excitement of soccer, it also introduced the word puto into sport vernacular. American media and equality activists criticized Mexican soccer fans over its use during broadcast games, claiming the word is a homophobic slur, while Mexican soccer fans stated it had no homophobic intent in their chants.
Twitter was utilized to investigate how Mexican soccer fans built discourse around the censorship of the word; specifically those who utilized the hashtag #FIFAputos, created purposely to voice public opinion. Overall, six themes organically evolved: Censorship is silly/freedom of speech, puto is rooted in heritage, the soccer stadium as a liminal space, FIFA is hypocritical, FIFA please learn the difference in meanings of the word, and gay undertone. The study also reinforces previous findings that homophobic slurs are used to reify hegemonic masculinities and racial/ethnic identities in machismo Latin culture.

Author

• Nathian Shae Rodriguez, Texas Tech University