A University of Auckland researcher is taking a closer look at the experiences LGBTI people have when it comes to women’s sport in the hope to better understand the rigid ideas the sporting world maintains in regards to masculinity and femininity. The initial findings of the research project, conducted by Sophie Sills, suggests that the problems in sport can often run deeper than traditional homophobia. Sills says “We see our country as very egalitarian, but this can mean that homophobia is sometimes very hard to notice unless you are living it. “If someone uses a homophobic slur or makes you feel uncomfortable, you are often faced with the choice of whether to rock that egalitarian idea by actually saying something about it. Often, we are worried that that trying to talk about some of the problems will cause too much of a fuss in the team, or will come across as us whinging and going about things that don’t seem like problems to other people. But nobody should have to choose between being accepted and being comfortable, especially when they want to be focused on a good performance,” she says. LGBTI people face significant barriers to participation in sport, as documented by leading researchers in 2015’s Out on the Fields report. The study mapped the experiences of over 9500 people across six nations and a range of sexualities, found that 80 per cent of people had witnessed some form of homophobia in sport, or had been targeted themselves. Furthermore, 84 per cent of people commonly witnessed homophobic jokes, and 78 per cent did not think it was safe to be LGBTI at sporting events. These results mirror previous research findings internationally, which suggest that sport maintains rigid ideas about what kinds of masculinity and femininity are enforced and accepted. Out on the Fields found that New Zealand’s LGBTI athletes are the least likely in the world to be open about their sexualities in sport. It is these kinds of statistics that University of Auckland researcher Sophie Sills is hoping to change. Sophie suggests that spaces like the upcoming Proud to Play sports tournament, where everyone can be celebrated for their sporting abilities, provide a really important experience where LGBTI athletes can just participate without having to be worried about these kinds of choices. “Hopefully we can get to the stage where homophobia just doesn’t exist in sport any more,” she says.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 27th December 2015 - 12:51pm