Suchergebnisse

On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, Agnes Elling, one of the most productive and influential scholars on understanding gender inequalities in sport, considers the need to reintegrate quantitative methods in inquiry about gender and sport. In assessing a quantitative content analysis of IRSS articles concerning women's sport and gender issues, Elling reflects on how gender research in sport became both mainstream and increasingly qualitative, critical and contextual. A key challenge for research on gender and sport will be to embrace more diversity in theoretical frameworks and methodologies and to integrate better quantitative and mixed methods studies on gendered sport participation and governance. In the future, Elling argues that for the sociology of sport to continue to develop as an important field in helping to remedy gender inequalities it will need to overcome some of its normative (constructivist, qualitative) and repetitive tendencies; reintegrating inquiry with quantitative methods and linking action research to policy change will advance these goals.

In this article we present the results of a Dutch study about sport participation among self-identified homo/bisexual men and women, compared to a matched group of heterosexual men and women. It is argued that quantitative research can further enrich the existing knowledge in the field of sport and sexuality, which is mainly based on qualitative studies from a poststructuralist perspective. Findings both challenge and confirm stereotypical images of sport involvement by gays and lesbians. The results show that sexual `mappings' of different sports spaces do not only exist cognitively, but influence the actual sporting biographies of men and women with different sexual identifications. Gay men are underrepresented in mainstream club sports and traditional `masculine' team sports and over-represented in commercially based fitness sports. However, most non-heterosexual women and men have discovered mainstream sports spaces where they can participate without being confronted too much with homonegativity and heteronormativity. Simultaneously, many are reluctant to join `counter spaces', like LGTB sports organizations and reflect a certain compliance with heteronormativity.

Although the results of content analyses of television and newspaper sport coverage have shown quantitative and qualitative gender differences, such analyses do not reveal why some texts are selected and others not. Although this selection process is constrained by structural factors, there is room for agency since journalists decide what to include and how to write about that. Little scholarly attention has been paid to the ways in which agency is used in the discourses of sport journalists to describe the gendering of the selection process. The purpose of this study is to explore the discursive strategies and their gendered subtexts employed by Dutch sports journalists in explaining the selection process, especially the exclusion of women's sports coverage. The results show that the journalists conceal issues of gendered dynamics of power by using an ideology of neutrality. This strategy allows them to be misogynist and resistant to the coverage of women's sport while simultaneously allowing them to claim neutrality and fairness for themselves. We explore how their discourse is linked to a broader societal discourse and how it simultaneously strengthens that discourse.

The acceptance of gay males in sport is growing in various western countries. However, research also suggests that young males, including athletes, tend to engage in homonegative speech acts, often called microaggressions, that make it difficult for them to navigate practices of masculinity. We used solicited diaries or diary logs written by (non-)heterosexual young male team sport athletes (aged 16–25) to investigate how they experienced and heard expressions of homonegative and heteronormative microaggressive speech acts. We drew on Foucault's notion of discourse, Butler's conceptualization of performativity of heteronormativity and Sue's work on microaggressions to examine how microaggressive speech acts by young male athletes reflect current sexual and gender cultural norms. The results revealed how homonegative speech acts were embedded in a gay aesthetic and abject femininity and used to endorse a desirable heteronormative masculinity. We concluded that homonegative microaggressive speech acts contribute to the preservation of discursive heteronormativity in sport despite growing acceptance of non-heterosexual male athletes.

Si les travaux sur le sport gay et lesbien connaissent un essor important depuis vingt ans, ils ont porté peu d'attention aux difficultés rencontrées pour articuler une sous-culture de loisirs et un mouvement social. L'article s'intéresse à cette articulation problématique au travers de l'étude de discours autobiographiques de leaders du mouvement sportif homosexuel français et de leurs positions dans son bulletin officiel. Il montre combien le sport gay et lesbien, en cherchant à se dégager à la fois du mouvement de revendications juridico-politiques et de la sous-culture commerciale de loisirs gay et lesbiens, promeut une nouvelle forme de politisation. Celle-ci n'exclut pas la logique de loisirs et se fonde sur la mise en scène sportive du corps.

Elite sport is often regarded as one of the main vehicles for articulating national pride and stimulating national cohesion. In this article, we explore a variety of different notions of pride and nationality as related to success in elite sport. We present the results of a public survey, which measured some of the effects on national pride in the Netherlands, related to the men's European Football Championships, the Tour de France, Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in Beijing (all in the summer of 2008). The results suggest that a sense of belonging is a necessary condition that precedes rather than results from sport-related pride. This supports the notion of national pride being a rather stable characteristic of countries, notwithstanding specific situations (such as sport success) that may lead to minor and temporary fluctuations. There seems to be no empirical evidence for the — primarily quantitatively understood — concept of pride (as a 'bucket-notion'), which is often implicit to the political rhetoric used to increase sport funding with the aim of winning more medals to generate an increase in national pride.

In order to help talented athletes to attain the highest possible level in both their sport and education, Topsport Talent Schools (TTS) were founded in the Netherlands in 1991. This research aims to investigate the effect of attending a TTS on the sport and education performance levels of talented athletes. A retrospective study was conducted amongst 242 (former) talented athletes from six sport federations. Results indicate that attending a TTS did not influence the current and highest attained sport performance levels of talented athletes (at both junior and senior level). Neither were talents who had attended a TTS more satisfied about the combination of school and sport, nor were they more motivated for their sport. Furthermore, results indicated that talents who had attended TTS were less motivated to do well in school; also they attained lower educational levels in both their secondary school and further education.

Like many other countries, the Dutch government increased investments in elite sports in the last decennium, partly driven by the ambition to organise the Olympic Games in 2028 in the Netherlands. One of the most important legitimations for this ambition is that elite sports events and national achievements should foster national pride, social cohesion and international prestige. In this article we present and discuss the results of a study on the relationship between Dutch international sport achievements and the development of national pride. The outcome is based on 27 longitudinal measurements among the adult Dutch population in the years 2008–2010 in which European and world Championships men's soccer and a summer and winter Olympic Games took place. The results support the common belief that international sporting success of Dutch athletes contributes to the testimony and expression of national pride and belonging. However, the extent to which national pride can be increased by national sporting success seems to be rather limited. The data show that national performances in international sport events may lead to small, short-term eruptions in feelings of national sporting pride and well-being, especially among athletes, men and non-immigrants. However, the results indicate that national pride is a rather stable characteristic of national identification that cannot easily be increased by improving national sporting success and winning more Olympic medals.

Does elite sporting success have a lasting impact on national pride? .Like many other countries, the Dutch government increased investments in elite sports in the last decennium, partly driven by the ambition to organize the Olympic Games in 2028 in the Netherlands. One of the most
important legitimations for this ambition is that elite sports events and national performances should foster national pride, social cohesion and international prestige. In this article we present and discuss the results of a study on the relation between Dutch international sport performances
and the development of national pride. The outcome is based on 27 longitudinal measurements among the adult Dutch population in the years 2008-2010 in which European and world Championships men's soccer and a summer and winter Olympic Games took place. The results support the common
belief that international sporting success of Dutch athletes contribute to the testimony and expression of national pride and belonging. But the extent to which national pride can be increased by national sporting success seems to be rather limited. The data show that national performances
in international sport events may lead to small, short term eruptions in feelings of national sporting pride and wellbeing, especially among athletes, men and non-immigrants. The results especially indicate, however, that national pride is a rather stable characteristic of national identification
that cannot easily be increased by improving national sporting success and winning more Olympic medals.

A novel life stage, a fresh new sport? Life course transitions and their effect on starting a sport In this study we establish the effects of major life course events on the odds to start a sport and on the odds to start a competitive sport. To answer our research question
we employ retrospective life course data from the Dutch SportersMonitor2010 on 3.540 individuals. Event history analyses show that the chance to start a sport decreases at the moment people start living together or get married, and they have a first child. The chance to start a sport increases
when they start working, start living on their own, their children leave the parental home and when they retire. Finally, being active in competitive sport foremost is stimulated by the transition to paid work and leaving the parental home.

Elite sport success in international tournaments is supposed to play an important role in shaping national identity. In this article, we explore if and how this applies to the Iranian context. The current study made use of a Google alert with the title of 'Iran Men's National Football Team', and a general content analysis of Iranian national and sport media. The analytic focus was on media coverage of the Iranian national football team at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. All relevant newspaper articles before, during, and after Iran's matches were reviewed, coded, and analysed. We developed four main themes in the coverage expressing Iranian identity in the context of the aforesaid football events: 'united passion', 'determined and conscientious', 'oppressed but great', and 'emotion-ridden'. It was concluded that political and historical references used by Iranian media contribute to the invention and reproduction of Iranian national identity through the aforementioned sporting tournaments.