Rugby football is often considered by many participants as one of the last bastions of male contact sport. While women’s participation in rugby in the United States is one of the fastest growing areas of sport, and research suggests that more openly gay women are playing rugby then ever before, little research on the number of gay males engaged in rugby exists.
There are in the United States, for example, no exclusively lesbian rugby teams although research suggests many gay and bisexual players are on these clubs. All-gay male rugby clubs exist such as the San Francisco Fog and the Atlanta Bucks, and there are a few gay only rugby tournaments that attract only a handful of teams. But the number of openly gay men on otherwise exclusively heterosexual teams has been difficult to ascertain.
The purpose of this paper session is to explore the crossing of boundaries and borders established by heterosexist norms that have traditionally prohibited or limited gay male and females’ potential experiences in sport.
While the topic area is centered on rugby, all research dealing with gender identity in sport are welcome. Please submit your abstract here by June 15.
Ken Muir, Ph.D.
Dept. of Sociology
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-6388
