Last week we talked a lot about gay stigma and how men’s professional sport has almost set the standard for homophobia. Today I will be discussing the article “Full Court Press” by Griffin. This article goes in depth concerning the concept of the “lesbian boogeywoman” and the defensive responses to that concept, which are entitled “apologetic.” The apologetic consist of eight response typically used to deflect questions about the lesbian bogeywoman image, these responses include silence, denial, promotion of a heterosexy image, and attacks on lesbians (Griffin, 1998) This issue comes as a surprise to me, I was unaware that this issue existed in women’s sport, and like their male counterparts many lesbian choose to maintain their silence. However, do you think that a lesbian in professional sport would face the same type of public scrutiny as say a gay male in professional sports? This is an interesting question and I know from my personal appearances, I feel that a lesbian has a much better chance of being accepted than a gay male. Its mind boggling because female athletes face many of the same issues that male athletes face.
Discrimination against lesbians doesn’t just stop on the field; it can also affect coaches and employees in the front office. “Some athletic directors fire women coaches if they suspect that they are lesbians” (Griffin, 1998), its really no way for these fired employees to dispute the discrimination from fear of never being able to acquire another job in the sports field. I feel that sexual orientation has nothing to do with a person’s ability to do the job. I am sure if it came to light that Pat Summit was a lesbian Tennessee wouldn’t fire her, because she has made the school into a national power. With participation in women sports increasing so dramatically over recent years more and more lesbians are entering professional sports, and much like their male counterparts they choose to suffer in silence and refuse to reveal themselves to the public.
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I am glad that you can see that lesbian athletes face many of the same issues as gay male athletes, even though, as you suggest there may not be the same level of public scrutiny. Then again, that may be in part because female athletes do not generally garner the same level of public visibility (for team sports especially).
I do believe that the lesbian label works against women coaches and perhaps administrators--perhaps moreso than against lesbian athletes. You did a good job of explaining why that is the case. You made an insightful observation by saying that if it ever came to light that Pat Summitt was a lesbian, she would not be fired by Tennessee. That actually demonstrates what Leigh Steinberg suggested about gay male athletes--i.e., that it would take someone of the stature of a Jackie Robinson to come out, in order to make it acceptable to be a gay male in sport.
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