“That’s Not the Only Reason I’m Watching the Game”: Women’s (Hetero)Sexual Desire and Sports Fandom

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 498-518
Author(s):  
Katelyn Esmonde ◽  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
David L. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Desire ◽  
Sexual Attraction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sports Fans ◽  
Spectator Sports ◽  
Male Athletes ◽  
Sports Fandom ◽  
Heterosexual Attraction ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Women make up increasingly large proportions of fan bases of the most popular spectator sports in the United States and are recognized as a viable marketing segment. Despite their growing cultural and economic presence, scholars have noted the stereotypical assumptions women sports fans routinely experience, particularly with regard to the widely held assumption that women’s interest in men’s sport is primarily motivated by heterosexual attraction to male athletes. Recently, feminist scholars have begun to investigate the role of heterosexual desire in shaping the experiences of women sports fans. Building on this literature, we examine the role of heterosexuality in women’s fandom of men’s sports, bringing to our research the feminist articulations of contradiction and a both/and ethos. In doing so, we empirically interrogate popular understandings of the role that women’s heterosexual sexual desire plays in the consumption of men’s sports through an examination of the lived experiences of women fans. Drawing on qualitative semistructured interviews with 11 self-identified women sports fans, we found that the participants navigated the marginalization of women’s heterosexuality in sport fandom in four ways: by positioning the sexualization of athletes as antithetical to fandom, by challenging the exclusion of women’s heterosexuality in the fan cultures surrounding men’s sports, by discussing their own experiences of sexualizing athletes with guilt or ambivalence, and by downplaying the role that sexual attraction plays in their own fandom. We conclude that the marginalization of women sports fans’ heterosexual desire within the institutional center of sports denies important facets of their experience and thereby upholds normative understandings of gendered sexuality that underpin masculine hegemony in sport.

History of Sport Psychology in Cultural Magazines of the Victorian Era

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 376-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Brett King ◽  
Brittany L. Raymond ◽  
Jennifer A. Simon-Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Sport Psychology ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spectator Sports ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Magazines ◽  
The 19Th Century

The 19th century can be characterized as a time of avid public interest in team and spectator sports. As diverse and challenging new sports were developed and gained popularity, many articles on a rudimentary sport psychology began to appear in cultural magazines in the United States and Great Britain. Athletes, physicians, educators, journalists, and members of the public wrote on topics such as profiles and psychological studies of elite athletes, the importance of physical training, exercise and health, and the detrimental effects of professional sports to the role of age, gender, and culture in sports. Although a scientific foundation for such observations was largely absent, some of the ideas expressed in early cultural magazines anticipate contemporary interests in sport psychology.

The Role of Gender and Sensation Seeking in Film Choice

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita C. Banerjee ◽  
Kathryn Greene ◽  
Marina Krcmar ◽  
Zhanna Bagdasarov ◽  
Dovile Ruginyte
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Sensation Seeking ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Positive Mood ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Happy Mood

This study demonstrates the significance of individual difference factors, particularly gender and sensation seeking, in predicting media choice (examined through hypothetical descriptions of films that participants anticipated they would view). This study used a 2 (Positive mood/negative mood) × 2 (High arousal/low arousal) within-subject design with 544 undergraduate students recruited from a large northeastern university in the United States. Results showed that happy films and high arousal films were preferred over sad films and low-arousal films, respectively. In terms of gender differences, female viewers reported a greater preference than male viewers for happy-mood films. Also, male viewers reported a greater preference for high-arousal films compared to female viewers, and female viewers reported a greater preference for low-arousal films compared to male viewers. Finally, high sensation seekers reported a preference for high-arousal films. Implications for research design and importance of exploring media characteristics are discussed.

Confronting the Problems of Professional Sports: A Public Policy Response to Franchise Relocation and Stadium Subsidization

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor F Brinkman
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
The United States ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Sports Organizations ◽  
Sports Leagues ◽  
Sports Finance ◽  
Sports Venues ◽  
Benefits And Costs

During the past decade, forty-six professional sports venues were constructed in the United States, while only 16 expansion teams were created by the major sports leagues. Nearly two thirds of these newly built stadiums and arenas were funded with public tax revenues, despite substantial evidence showing no positive economic impact of new sports stadium construction on local communities. In reviewing the economic literature, this article investigates the role of professional sports organizations in the construction and public subsidization of new sports venues. Franchise relocation and public stadium subsidization is a direct result of the monopoly power of professional sports leagues, whose franchise owners extract large subsidies from their host communities by threatening to relocate to viable alternative locations. After explaining how the most common methods of stadium subsidization project a disproportionate allocation of the benefits and costs of hosting a professional team to local community interests, this article outlines several considerations for local policymakers who seek to reinvigorate public discussion of equity concerns in professional sports finance.

After Victory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. John Ikenberry
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
World Order ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
The Cold War

The end of the Cold War was a “big bang” reminiscent of earlier moments after major wars, such as the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the end of the world wars in 1919 and 1945. But what do states that win wars do with their newfound power, and how do they use it to build order? This book examines postwar settlements in modern history, arguing that powerful countries do seek to build stable and cooperative relations, but the type of order that emerges hinges on their ability to make commitments and restrain power. The book explains that only with the spread of democracy in the twentieth century and the innovative use of international institutions—both linked to the emergence of the United States as a world power—has order been created that goes beyond balance of power politics to exhibit “constitutional” characteristics. Blending comparative politics with international relations, and history with theory, the book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the organization of world order, the role of institutions in world politics, and the lessons of past postwar settlements for today.

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