Investigating media narratives of bisexual people in sport settings

Societal attitudes towards bisexuality have often been argued to be overwhelmingly associated with denial, erasure, and stigmatisation. Bisexual people are considered to be disadvantaged amongst other sexual minorities due to various complexities, such as its disruption to heteronormative ways of thinking in addition to harmful stereotypes that have come to be attributed to it over time. General bisexuality research up to this point in time have tended to focus on generalised bisexuality or have included bisexuality under the guise of LGB or LGBTQ+ etc. acronyms but without much focus on it as a separate entity. Moreover, media coverage of bisexuality sports athletes has also been found to be limited in comparison to other LGBTQ+ groups such as lesbian women and gay men in sport. This study takes the stance of a textual media analysis through which the narratives presented about bisexual people in sport were analysed and cross-examined with existing literature, in addition to theoretical lenses such as the work of Goffman and Gramsci to make sense of certain themes. A total of 44 texts were sourced from mainstream and LGBTQ+ specialist media outlets. Thematic analysis produced 5 overarching themes attributed to being bisexual in sport were identified: bisexual burden, bivisibility, mental health, intersectionality, and sporting environments. While the narratives confirmed aspects of bisexual burden already present in current literature, they offered some initial insights into various sociological structures and factors that also shape and contribute to how bisexuality may be perceived in sport, such as religion, culture, and sport-specific environments. Being openly bisexual in upper levels of sport is overwhelmingly framed as brave and a positive step in the direction of LGBTQ+ equality, however the components of bivisibility are also contested with regards to significance over talent. Finally, future areas for research have been identified to combat bierasure in sport academia.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Young, Jessica

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jakeman, John
• Whigham, Stuart

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/x8n3-ad68

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:566902f4-8380-4140-8d57-be3077dbc941:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1