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Essay Sociology in Football (FPP511)
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An essay on the impacts homophobia has on the English premier league.
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Discuss the ways in which homophobia impactsEnglish professional Football.
, Introduction
Homophobia in football has been a significant issue dating back to the industrial revolution, at a time
when the game was finding itself. As time has gone on, homophobia in society has continued and
the problem has therefore manifested itself into the game. Football culture and atmosphere can
often be quite hostile, it is from this where negative, outdated and offensive views come into place.
From fans belief of their duties to put off the opposition players, they feel it is acceptable to use
homophobic language as it’s ‘helping their club’. Reviewing literature on the topic and analysing
events on the topic will allow me to attempt to aid in my argument against the views of fans when it
comes to homophobia. By starting with a literature review, it will give context to opinions that are
already out there before diving into current events on the issue to give an overall summary of my
argument.
Review of Literature
After the Industrial revolution, football became a working class game where masculine values of
strength, courage, bravery, power and physical size became engrained in the lives of male sports
fans, so the economically and culturally marginalized boys and men needed a public platform to
exaggerate socially acceptable practices, including homophobia (Cashmore E. & Cleland, J., 2014).
This demonstrates the societal views within football, giving context from where the homophobia
originated from. Anderson states that society believe gay men expose the falsity of the notion that
femininity is weak (Anderson, E., 2009. P106) demonstrating, again, a clear societal problem. Thus,
backing up Cashmore and Cleland’s explanation on the need for masculinity and power.
Furthermore, it has been argued that boys and men aspired to one hegemonic archetype of
masculinity and by doing so were rewarded with the most social capital (Cashmore E. & Cleland, J,
2014) therefore displaying a clear dominance in masculine traits to be able to succeed in society.
However, Anderson also argues that it is the extreme homophobia that might initially drag closeted
men to team sport athletics (Anderson, E., 2009. P109) to act as a defence mechanism for not being
called out as gay. Cashmore addresses the problem at hand by explaining the wider societal context,
whilst Anderson draws in on the reasoning as to what players might do to avoid the ‘shaming’ from
society. As heterosexuals cannot socially prove their heterosexuality, men had to socially prove and
re-prove their heterosexuality by aligning their gendered identities with an extreme (orthodox) form
of masculinity, while simultaneously denouncing homosexuality (Anderson et al., 2016 p33.) this
could explain further why closeted gays may come into the sport. In addition to this, a survey was
conducted were 93 percent of 3,500 respondents have no objection to the presence of openly gay
players (Anderson et al, 2016 p61.) however, it seems very unlikely to me that all the participants
would answer honestly. Similarly, to the theory that closeted gay men come to team sports to hide,
the participants are equally as likely to lie about homophobic views, due to them not being socially
encouraged or accepted within the sport.
Cashmore and Cleland, through their qualitive survey research, found an interesting viewpoint,
comparing racism in the 1980s to Homophobia today. A Liverpool fan reflected that John Barnes
changed many perceptions of racist views as he was so good. Thus, if the player is good, they could
pave the way and be a pioneer in the acceptance of gay players (Cashmore & Cleland, 2014). This
comparison is particularly engaging as it offers a solution to help tackle the fear for footballers to
come out as gay, by saying that if a player is good enough then fans will not use derogatory terms
towards them. Furthermore, to try and understand why fans, who said they would be accepting to
openly gay players, do in fact join in with racist chants as they have established themselves as the
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