Sport and a cultural shift away from homohysteria

Since the foundation of organised sport in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century within the Western world, sport has traditionally served as a masculine preserve through the regulation of gendered behaviours. It has maintained the purpose of turning young boys towards a hegemonic perspective of male heterosexuality; one distanced from femininity and homosexuality. The construction ofa dominating form of heterosexual masculinity was accomplished through multiple mechanisms, including socialising boys into the physical violence, sexism and homophobia indicative of organised, competitive sport (Anderson, 2009). Adams et al.(2010) add that to construct an esteemed and 'acceptable'masculine identity, it is notjust necessary to display one's heterosexuality, but also to 'police'the gendered behaviours of one's peers. Policing is conducted through specific discourses …