Indigeneity and the performance of corporeal masculinities in the Australian Football League

Abstract

Allegations of sexual misconduct in Australian sport are the stuff of tabloid and offensive commentary via the nation's mainstream media. The topic of alleged sexual misconduct in the Australian Football League (AFL) polarizes people, causing debate and heated exchange. These allegations have involved only a small numbers of Indigenous players, and the reality and/or myth of sexual misconduct in elite sports by male sporting stars has been with us some time, thus necessitates a conversation on masculinity, sexual gamesmanship, male violence and, I argue, ethnicity. I pursue the argument that gender, sexuality and ethnicity intersect in complex ways to reveal and hide the Indigenous male body in the AFL. Gender, sexuality and ethnicity are a proverbial three-way in the AFL where myths of Indigenous male corporeality and masculinity are constructed and challenged. Not limited to the football field, this has occurred historically and continues to occur in mainstream socio-politicking of everyday Indigenous identities.