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Homophobia
Homophobia in women's athletics is widespread. More than
half of female administrators surveyed said their involvement
in sports often led others to assume they were lesbian.
Fifty-one percent of women coaches agreed, as did 46% of
women athletes. All felt this homophobia was a hindrance
to attracting and retaining women in athletics careers.
Christine Grant, University of Iowa women's athletic director,
says homophobia in women's sports is "like the McCarthyism
of the 1950s. The fear is paralyzing."
As former basketball star Mariah Burton Nelson put it
in her book Are We Winning Yet?, "Homophobia in
sports serves as a way to control women, both gay and straight."
Whether a woman is lesbian or straight, homophobia in sports
and the society at large tends to discourage girls and women
from pursuing traditionally "masculine" activities such
as contact sports and team sports for fear of being labeled
a homosexual. "Female athletes in traditionally masculine
sports challenge the social dictates about proper behavior
for females; therefore, the reasoning goes, there must be
something wrong with them.
Focusing on sexual orientation unfairly denies women opportunities
in sports on the basis of personal preferences irrelevant
to athletic abilities. According to an article in Women's
Sports and Fitness magazine, homophobia is the cause of
4 women turning down scholarships at schools unfriendly
to lesbians; lesbians getting married and divorced to maintain
a heterosexual image; women terrified to reveal they were
fired as suspected lesbians; single women who are not hired
as coaches; heterosexual women declining athletic careers
for fear of being labeled lesbians. Many parents worry that
athletics might influence their daughters to become lesbians.
Many lesbian athletes are afraid to go public with their
sexual orientation for fear of losing corporate sponsorships.
Only one well-known woman athlete, Martina Navratilova,
has dared to be open. Even then, however, Navratilova lost
corporate endorsements because of homophobia.
Homophobia in sports not only causes discrimination against
lesbians; but it also hurts all women by perpetuating the
stereotype that sports are not feminine, thus preventing
some girls and women from enjoying athletic participation
and successful careers in athletics.
(Empowering Women in Sports, The Empowering
Women Series, No. 4; A Publication of the Feminist Majority
Foundation, 1995)
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