Você está na página 1de 12

Call Us Dykes on Spikes

Rachel Nugent

Femininity + Homosexuality? IMPOSSIBLE

Homosexuality was originally thought of as the reversal or inversion of the two accepted genders. So
lesbians were masculine women.

The idea of a woman being attracted to another woman went against the accepted social norms and so
they understood it as a woman expressing masculinity.

This idea extended into the early 1900s and similar thoughts exist even today (for example, the Butch
Lesbian stereotype).

Women in sports? Why would we want that?


The first Olympics were held in 776 BC and there were no women
allowed.
In 1900, women compete in the Paris Olympics but only in golf, tennis
and croquet.
1924: Figure skating is the only sport available to women in the first
Winter Olympic Games.
1928: Women finally compete in track and field events in the
Olympics.
Women and men compete together in equestrian events at the 1952
Olympics.
In 1984, the first womens Olympic marathon is held.
The U.S. sends more female athletes than male for the first time in
Olympic history in 2012.

Some Stereotypes

Girls who play sports are tomboys


A lesbian is just like one of the guys
Girls who play sports are only interested in/good at sports.
Female athletes are all gayor at least most of them.

So, why?
Its my goal to find out why these stereotypes exist today.
Some of my preliminary research has lead to being able to
somewhat see how they originally formed, but with such an openminded generation, its odd to see that these stereotypes are still
so prominent.
People say that stereotypes exist because theyre based in truth
but a study concluded that the estimated number of gay people in
sports mirrors that of the entire population (so, between 2 and
10%).

Implications
The idea of connecting female homosexuality and female athletes
with the link of masculinity seems to be an attempt to say that if
women are successful in sports, its because they are more
masculine.
Because women cant just be good at something without men.
That wouldnt make any sense at all.

What about forced femininity?


So I made that term up.
Basically, Im thinking of forced femininity as the idea that
because people think of these women as masculine, there is a
desire to try to force femininity upon them through the media.
Most female athletes on the covers of magazines are not actively
participating in their field.
They look more like this

How does this affect student female


athletes?
This is the ultimate goal of my research. I would like to see how
student female athletes feel about the stereotypes that they are
part of (are they offended, amused, indifferent?) and how the
medias image of professional female athletes can influence their
own personal image of themselves.

Methods
Gather statistics on professional female athletes
Research more thoroughly the link between female homosexuality,
sports and masculinity
Draw conclusions about why these stereotypes are still so present
today
Look into the medias portrayal of female athletes
Talk to female student athletes about how they feel about the
image that female athletes have in the media and create some
sort of presentation that represents the information theyve given
me.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

Suggestions
Queer people in sports (larger population)
Comparing small proportion of men who come out with the female
athletes
It sounds too broad, maybe focus on specific sports like basketball
or whatnot
Stereotypes of men in traditionally feminine sports
Look at teams and practices and see if theres anything that
supports the stereotypes

Você também pode gostar