Boys clubs and their Anxiety about Homosexuality
The Homosexuality Taboo in Boys Clubs
“The price for living my dream in the Bundesliga is very high. I have toput on an act and deny my true self.” Those are the words of a gay German
Bundesliga player who gave an anonymous interview in the magazine Fluter.
However, if you ask Mario Basler, there are no gay players in German football.
Coming out is still a taboo in a country, where even FDP (Free Democratic
Party) foreign minister Guido Westerwelle is openly gay. Chancellor Angela
Merkel at the time showed herself very concerned encouraging homosexual
football (soccer) players to take bold step into the limelight. Maybe she
envisioned them making a stand like Berlin’s mayor Klaus Wowereit. At a SPD
(Social Democratic Party) convention
ten years ago he stood up and proudly announced: “I am gay and that’s a good thing”. He made political history.
Remember Marcus Urban
or Justin Fashanu. Both were football players, both gay the first was German
and lost his job and the latter British and lost his life committing suicide.
Although there are various campaigns against discrimination based on your
sexual orientation, despite all the efforts it is still risky to be openly gay,
while trying to play ball, the former German football manager Rudi Aussauer declared
“those who out themselves end up busted”, therefore “we should spare them these
witch hunts”. In boys clubs around the globe being out of the closet could
quite easily put an end to your career and not just in Germany. The co-founder
of PFG (Paris Foot Gay) Pascal Brèthes explained in an interview: “Dans les
années 40, on traitait les Juifs de "youpins". Aujourd'hui, les
homosexuels ne sont que des "pédés". La discrimination est totalement
banale.” (In the 40s Jewish people were treated as Yids (pej.). Today, homosexual
people are just pédé (poofter, fagot). The discrimination is totally
trite.) The message is
still loud and clear, hide in the closest, that’s easier than being out in the
open. In a homophobic climate even a petit bisou between team mates,
like the French players Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Debuchy, will be picked
apart and analysed for a deeper hidden meaning. Is it a gender thing or a
stereotype?
Football is a tough
sport for virile men; it is the opportunity for macho macho men fuelled by
testosterone to prove themselves in a fight for dominance over the ball. The
idea of the stereotypical football player clashes with the cultural stereotype
associated with homosexuality and gayness. Outside of these categories life
goes on. Other sports are not as closeted, the public is almost disappointed to
hear of a heterosexual ballet dancer, speculating clandestinely about what is
wrong with him. Gender bias runs deep, although nobody is batting an eyelash at
openly homosexual female soccer players are, they will be confronted with the
stereotype that all female football players must be lesbians. The US Olympic
soccer player Megan Rapinoe is out and proud and among those lesbian football
players you can find on a neat list compiled by wikipedia. Same sex
relationships upset the conservative binary world view in boys clubs, even
heterosexual players, like Graeme Le Saux and Sol Campell, are not exempt from
the biased scrutiny and become victims of homophobia.
In 1972 Weinberg
defined homophobia as “the dread of being in close quarters with homosexual men
and women as well as irrational fear, hatred, and intolerance by heterosexual
individuals of homosexual men and women”. Researchers in the Psychology
Department of the Universtiy of Georgia published a study about homophobia as
an anxiety phenomenon, explaining the roots of homophobic behaviour lie in
repressed homosexual urges. They called it latent homosexuality. Sexual arousal
is the intrinsic response to homosexual stimuli, however, the feeling of
indulging in a guilty pleasure about this sexual interest often triggers an
overreaction, expressed in panic and fear. The question is why are they afraid?
And even more importantly what are they afraid of?
Granted, the most
fervent homophobes usually quote some passage in the Bible, arguing same sex
couples were unnatural, their love was a sin, a crime against God’s law. But
are football players really concerned with the Bible? For them its an us and
them thing coupled with misinformation and cultural stigmata like AIDS,
homophobia finds a fertile breeding ground. Is it the a religious thing? It’s
defiantly not a question of democracy. In Greece the cradle of democracy
homosexual relations between Erastes and Eromenos were not only culturally accepted
but also an honour, as evidenced in Plato’s The Symposium. Generally in
ancient times Romans, Indians (not native Americans), the Chinese were less
extreme in their rejection. In ancient Greek pottery mythological scenes, like
Achilles and his lover Patroklos, are depicted. And nobody could doubt Achilles
virility as a hero on the battlefield. Traditional Japanese art depicts not
only courtesans but also men and boys holding nothing back. Christianity is not
big on same sex couples. The triumphal procession of the Christian dogma
through the Western World rules in supreme hegemony despite equality doctrine
and diversity management. Therefore, gay marriage is just another of those hot
button topics for the US election. Romney is against, because the Bible says
so, and the current president famously advocated same sex marriage.
Football is not the
only boys club that has difficulties to accept homosexuality. The Wall Street makes no notable exception
and adopted a DADT policy. Your private life is private but demonstrations of
heterosexuality are more subtle, a wedding band, pictures of children on the
desk or horror tales of weekends with the in-laws. If necessary those bankers
and traders hide behind elaborate ruses, where photos of your best friend’s family
decorate the desk or female friends leave sexy messages on the voice mail.
Although Manhattan has the reputation of being diverse and liberal the
conservative boys club mentality prevails on Wall Street. Between testosterone
high and ritualistic hazing the queers hide in plain sight. In their
professional lives they play the role of the urban gentleman and in private
they benefit from the gay movement. In a culture that focuses excessively on a
narrow definition of family, husband and husband don’t risk their careers and
remain invisible. Although discrimination is officially banned from the floors,
among the economic elite sexuality is a taboo topic. Not only stateside gays
fear public reprisals.
Statistically 7 to 10 percent of the population is gay. The Dax boys
club does not make an exception, but of the 183 male managers not one is
officially gay. But in Germany the media doesn’t even discuss homophobia in
boys clubs. Its invisible and subconscious. Officially the infamous §175 was
abolished and homosexuality made legal in the 1970, yet fireman, managers,
police officers, soldiers and craftsmen are among those professional categories
where the coming out rate is lowest and often puts an end to your career. Maybe Merkel's suggestion of coming out en masse would be the solution?
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