No Fear? Lesbians in Sport and Physical Education

Abstract

In the following discussion, I will critically review selected research on lesbians in sport and physical education. This is not intended as a comprehensive coverage of every publication on the issue, but rather an overview of trends in research and literature since the 1970s.1 I will begin by examining how the broader issues of gender and sexuality have been taken up in sport literature, and then turn to work that focuses on lesbians’ experiences of homophobia and heterosexism in sport, historically and in the last two decades. A discussion of physical education will follow, and finally, literature on softball will be reviewed as a case study of a sport that is arguably more successful than most in celebrating a lesbian presence.