¶ … Straight

Inspired by feminism, Michael Messner hypothesizes that the institution of sports provides a social context for the development of masculinity as well as male identification with heterosexuality. In support of his hypothesis, and in order to encourage sports sociologists to "study up" on the social construction of heterosexuality in sport, Messner shares his personal experiences on how the extremely high levels of homophobia, which is endemic in boys' and men's organized sports, led to his "becoming 100% straight."

Messner builds a very convincing argument that "studying up" on the social construction of heterosexuality in sport will reveal deep psychological and social processes, which play a major role in an individual's development of gender and sexual identity. He achieves this through sharing his own memories, and by juxtapositioning the story of how sports became the proverbial closet for a gay former athlete, Tom Waddell. In addition, Messner also lends credence to his argument through correlating the stories he tells with the sexuality theories of Alfred Kinsey, Sigmund Freud, Adrienne Rich, Herbert Marcuse, and R.W. Connell. By integrating all these disparate elements, Messner effectively establishes that the homophobic world of masculine sports leads to the suppression of homoerotic desire in order to engage in hegemonic masculinity.

Messner's article serves as an eye-opener on how masculinized institutions play a role in perpetuating social values and sexual conventions. Indeed, it appears that Messner has a very valid point in calling for systematic studies on the social construction of heterosexuality. In fact, it can be argued that sports is only one such social context and that Messner's hypothesis probably holds true for other masculine social contexts as well. Thus, if a healthy sexual identity is key to the development of psychological well-being, it appears that sociology may well be able to provide some valuable insights on how conflicts caused by social processes can be resolved.

References

Messner, M.A. Becoming 100% Straight.