Heterosexuality as an Organizing Principle in Women's Sport

Abstract

This paper explores how heterosexual images structure representations of female elite athletes, and the different practices through which these are perpetuated, both by female athletes themselves, and by others. The focus is on how female athletes experience and reflect upon the relationship between being an athlete and conceptions of femininity with reference to the media, sponsors, fashion/sports clothing and the public. The data are drawn from in- depth interviews with 17 female elite athletes from four different sports in which female athletes perform particularly well internationally: athletics, cross-country skiing, handball and soccer. The findings suggest that the construction of heterosexuality as an organizing principle in women's sport is a complex process involving numerous factors. Female elite athletes are exposed to constraints and paradoxes in which the message is that they may participate in elite sports, but only as long as it does not weaken their hetero sexual attractiveness.