Speaking of Cheryl Miller: Interrogating the Lesbian Taboo on a Women's Basketball Newsgroup

Our article examines the responses of a group of women's basketball fans to an Internet posting that questioned the sexual orientation of women's basketball star Cheryl Miller. Miller arouses speculation because she seems to play with cultural markers of gender and sexuality. She wears tie...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NWSA journal 2001-04, Vol.13 (1), p.1-21
Main Authors: Darcy C. Plymire, Forman, Pamela J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Athletes
Basketball
Electronic discussion lists
Female homosexuality
Females
Gay rights
Gender identity
Homophobia
Internet
Lesbianism
Lesbians
Newsgroups
Public Opinion
Responses
Sex Role Attitudes
Sex Role Orientations
Sex Stereotypes
Sexual orientation
Social aspects
Sports fandom
Supporters
United States
USA
Women in sports
Womens sports
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Our article examines the responses of a group of women's basketball fans to an Internet posting that questioned the sexual orientation of women's basketball star Cheryl Miller. Miller arouses speculation because she seems to play with cultural markers of gender and sexuality. She wears ties and suspenders while working as a coach and a broadcaster. The norms of women's sport demand that women perform their heterosexuality in order to diffuse the "gender ambiguity" caused by competence in a "masculine" realm. Our analysis of 77 postings reveals that while some respondents are homophobic and/or heterosexist, other fans have a more sophisticated understanding of the sexual politics of women's sport and are supportive of lesbian participants. The latter group includes heterosexual men and women who "came out" in defense of lesbians and against the systematic homophobia and heterosexism of sport. Our findings also support the contention that discussions of sexuality preclude discussions of race.
ISSN:1040-0656
1527-1889
DOI:10.2979/NWS.2001.13.1.1