Queen of Fights: Lesbians in Tunisian Sports

ABSTRACT

Sport within the Muslim context, including in the location of this study, Tunisia, remains an institution designed for the promotion of a heterosexual form of masculinity and the degradation of both femininity and women’s athleticism. Unlike recent advancements in the West, homosexuality remains viewed almost entirely negatively by the political, religious, and social debates in Muslim cultures. This overt hostility has almost entirely erased any visible gay culture within Muslim sports. It is within this context that this study finds importance. It represents the first-ever examination into the lives of lesbian Muslim athletes, in either a Muslim majority or non-majority state. Conducted on three lesbian athletes living in the Islamic country of Tunisia, we show that each is out of the closet to varying degrees but that homophobia within their sports—even on majority lesbian teams—remains rife. We discuss the coping strategies these athletes invoke to negotiate their sexual orientation in this highly homophobic nation and homohysteric sporting culture.     

A Changing Game: Ethnicity,Gender, and Nation in the US American Soccer Film

Both sport and film play a key role in contemporary US American popular culture. They are widely regarded as legitimate carriers and formative instances of social identities such as ethnicity, gender, or nationality, and they have capitalized upon one another with increasing success. Soccer and soccer films provide a case in point, as both the sport and its treatment in US American feature films are currently undergoing a change from a rather marginal position to a somewhat secure place within the cultural mainstream. This essay analyses five recent American soccer films with a particular focus on how they frame soccer as an ethnic, gendered, and ‘national’ game in a US context.     

Why do able‐bodied people take part in wheelchair sports?

Recently able-bodied people have taken up wheelchair sports. This paper aims to explore why people are taking up a sport which may be considered to 'belong' to disabled people and explore the impact of reverse integration. A questionnaire covering demographic details, experiences of wheelchair sport and perceptions of both able-bodied and disabled wheelchair athletes was distributed by e-mail via elite wheelchair athletic associations in the UK, Canada, The Netherlands and the USA. Twenty participants were recruited (11 disabled athletes, four female, and nine able-bodied athletes, three female). Able-bodied people initially became involved in wheelchair sports in order to share an activity with their disabled friends or family. Continuing participation was reinforced by friendship, challenge, achievement, the opportunity for good competition, development of the sport and to change society's perceptions of disability. Perceptions varied according to the policies relating to inclusion adopted by the sports governing body within the participants' countries.     

2008’北京奥运效应及其旅游影响分析

自第一届奥运会以来,每届奥运会的举办都为举办国带来了巨大的经济效益和社会效益。根据奥运会的影响作用,我们提出了"奥运效应"的概念,以此来分析奥运效应对举办国旅游业的作用,特别是对2008'北京奥运所带来的效应进行了探讨,在此基础上,提出了2008年北京奥运旅游最大化的开发战略。     

关于青海民族体育文化旅游业发展的几点思考

青海民族传统体育具有十分重要而独特的文化内涵。文章通过对开发体育旅游资源中的价值、意义及青海民族传统体育文化旅游资源的基本思路进行深入分析,目的在于探寻青海民族传统体育文化旅游业的发展途径,为西部民族地区的社会和谐发展开辟新途径。     

制约大众体育消费的社会因素及对策

改革开放20多年来,随着城镇居民收入水平逐年提高,人们对身体健康越来越关心,对体育消费的需求也在不断增加,但是居民用于体育消费方面的支出比例却很低。体育消费除了受到经济以及其它因素的影响,主要还受到居民预期收入的不稳定性、社会过分追求体育商品化、对群众体育投入少等方面的影响。     

体育院系体育教育专业设置体操类综合课程的构想--体操、健美操、艺术体操、舞蹈综合课程

目前,我国体育院系体育教育专业体操类课程存在的问题是:课程设置分化、教学内容重复等。针对这问题,本文提出设置体操类综合课程的构想。综合课程应以“健康第一”思想为指导,选择健身知识技能、终身体育价值大的内容,把课程中共性较多的、联系较大的内容相整合,实现课程内容的最优化。     

肇庆学院教工羽毛球爱好者运动损伤情况调查

对肇庆学院38名教工羽毛球爱好者进行了运动损伤情况的调查,共查出损伤66人(次),不同类型的损伤17种,损伤次数总计132次.多数伤者未采取有效的方法治疗,而仅依靠自然恢复.对此,应加强对运动者的指导,健全运动康复的手段,以达到科学健身的目的.     

Community mentors as coaches: transforming gender norms through cricket among adolescent males in urban India

Addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) through the medium of male team sport may be a promising strategy for addressing interpersonal violence and gender norms transformation in urban communities. Parivartan is a violence prevention programme in a large slum community in Mumbai, India, which works with men and boys to reduce violence and promote gender-equitable attitudes and beliefs via membership of a cricket team and mentoring from coaches. This article discusses findings from a recent evaluation of the programme.     

“It's Only Sport”—The Symbolic Neutralization of “Violence”

Within the commodified world of professional ice hockey, athletes sell their bodily performances in return for a salary. A central feature of this transaction is the very real risk of physical injury—a risk inherent within most contact sports, but particularly so within those that feature seemingly “violent” confrontations between competitors, as ice hockey is widely reputed to do. Yet, within the spectacle of sport, where physicality can be constructed as playful and unserious, it is possible for the consequences of such action to be concealed behind a symbolic, ludic veneer. Within this article, we explore this process with a particular focus on ice hockey spectators, for whom notions of sport violence as in some important way “mimetic” of the “real” enabled their propensity to both enjoy, and find moral validation through, potentially deleterious behaviors among athletes.