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Heterosexual (57.9%) students were also much more likely to have played, compared to LGB (38.5%) students and those unsure of their sexual orientation (43.7%). For example, initial signs of withdrawal can be seen in sport participation patterns from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System that indicated more male high school students (60%) had played on at least one sports team over the previous year than female students (49%). Yet there is evidence that women and LGBTQ people have often withdrawn from sport or organized their own sports as a response to hostility in many sports cultures. Still, many people across all gender and sexual identities love to watch and follow sports. This has been less true within women’s sports fan communities, although women’s sports are also characterized by a long legacy of homophobia. In contrast, sports cultures have often been unwelcoming spaces for women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) adults. Sports have also been used as sites where men could successfully “ prove” themselves to be heterosexual and masculine.
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Yet, historically, sports cultures have often been organized by and for heterosexual men as spaces for them to have fun and connect with one another as they watch and talk about sports. Prior research indicates that most Americans are sports fans. adults in a study published in Sociology of Sport Journal. Gender and sexuality are especially influential aspects of social structure that affect our aspirations, interactions, and identities.Īs sociologists who study such influences, we recently investigated the relationship between gender, sexuality, and sports fandom among U.S. This means that we are frequently directed to behave in a certain manner, embrace particular values, and think about ourselves in socially patterned ways. Our lives are socially structured in many ways. adults, 90% identified as being a sports fan to some extent, although there were important differences related to respondents’ gender and sexuality.