Books by Rory Magrath
This Advanced Introduction to the Sociology of Sport highlights the relationship between sport an... more This Advanced Introduction to the Sociology of Sport highlights the relationship between sport and violence, brain injury, social class, sexual minorities, gender, and race. Eric Anderson and Rory Magrath expertly draw on a range of scholarly evidence to outline how these issues intersect with contemporary sports culture.
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This book examines the phenomenon of athlete activism across all levels of sport, from elite and ... more This book examines the phenomenon of athlete activism across all levels of sport, from elite and international sport, to collegiate and semi-pro, and asks what this tells us about the relationship between sport and wider society.
With contributions from scholars around the world, the book presents a series of fascinating case studies, including the activism of world-famous athletes such as Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Raheem Sterling. Covering a broad range of sports, from the National Football League (NFL) and Australian Rules, to fencing and the Olympic Games, the book sheds important light on some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including gender, power, racism, intersectionality and the rise of digital media. It also considers the financial impact on athletes when they take a stand and the psychological impact of activism and how that might relate to sports performance.
It has never been the case that ‘sport and politics don’t mix’, and now, more than ever, the opposite is true. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the politics or sociology of sport, the politics of protest, social movements or media studies.
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Men and Masculinities is a research-informed textbook designed to introduce students to the lives... more Men and Masculinities is a research-informed textbook designed to introduce students to the lives of men and their changing masculinities. This is accomplished by examining primarily the sociological literature into the construction of masculinities, but also the psychological and biological. It is a bold and comprehensive scrutiny of masculinities in ways that other masculinity textbooks are not.
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Over the past two decades there has been a rapid transformation of masculinities in the West, lar... more Over the past two decades there has been a rapid transformation of masculinities in the West, largely facilitated by a decline in cultural homophobia. The significant changes in the expression of masculinity, particularly among younger generations of men, have been particularly evident in men’s team sports, which have become an increasingly diverse and inclusive culture. Drawing upon work from a wide range of established and emerging international scholars, this handbook provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary analysis of the contemporary relationship between masculinity and sport. It covers a range of areas including history, media, gender, sexuality, race, violence, and fandom, considering how they impact a range of different sports across the world. Students and scholars across many disciplines will find the unparalleled overview provided by these specially commissioned chapters an invaluable resource.
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In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes have received more media... more In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes have received more media attention than ever before. Declining levels of homophobia across the Western world has facilitated a greater acceptance of LGBT athletes among heterosexual teammates, fans, and the sports media. Consequently, academic interest in sport, gender and sexuality has also increased substantially. This edited collection combines studies of gender and sexuality with that of the sports media to provide the first-ever comprehensive academic overview of LGBT athletes in the sports media. It draws upon work from a wide range of international scholars to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of improved media coverage of LGBT athletes, as well as the numerous issues and barriers which continue to exist.
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Football has traditionally been an institution hostile toward sexual minorities. Boys and men in ... more Football has traditionally been an institution hostile toward sexual minorities. Boys and men in the sport have deployed high levels of homophobia for multiple reasons. However, the ground-breaking research within this book shows that intolerant attitudes toward gay men are increasingly being challenged. Based on unprecedented access to Premier League academies, Inclusive Masculinities in Contemporary Football: Men in the Beautiful Game explores these changing attitudes toward homophobia in football today.
Revealing a range of masculine identities never before empirically measured at this level of football, this book also discusses the implications for the complex and enclosed structures of professional sport, and extends our understanding of contemporary masculinity. It also offers fresh insights to the importance of “banter” in the development of relationships and identities. This culture of banter often plays a paradoxical role, both facilitating and disrupting friendships formed between male footballers.
As the first title in the Routledge Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities Series, this book is fascinating reading for all students and scholars interested in football and the study of gender, sexuality and the sociology of sport.
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Research has shown that since the turn of the millennium, matters have rapidly improved for gays ... more Research has shown that since the turn of the millennium, matters have rapidly improved for gays and lesbians in sport. Where gay and lesbian athletes were merely tolerated a decade ago, today they are celebrated.
This book represents the most comprehensive examination of the experiences of gays and lesbians in sport ever produced. Drawing on interviews with openly gay and lesbian athletes in the US and the UK, as well as media accounts, the book examines the experiences of “out” men and women, at recreational, high school, university and professional levels, in addition to those competing in gay sports leagues.
Offering a new approach to understanding this important topic, Out in Sport is essential reading for students and scholars of sport studies, LGBT studies and sociology, as well as sports practitioners and trainers.
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Journal Papers by Rory Magrath
Association football (soccer) fans are becoming increasingly liberal in their attitudes towards h... more Association football (soccer) fans are becoming increasingly liberal in their attitudes towards homosexuality. However, the continued presence of homosexually themed chanting – normally interpreted as evidence of homophobia by footballing authorities – has received little academic attention. Through 30 semi-structured interviews with 30 male football fans of various English football clubs, this article uses McCormack's model of homosexually themed language to investigate the prevalence, triggers and interpretation of this chanting. It highlights that, despite unanimous acceptance of homosexuality, all but five participants engaged in homosexually themed chanting. This was predominantly facilitated by the nature of sporting competition and matches involving rival clubs. Alongside a variety of perceived weaknesses, fans interpreted these chants as a way of attempting to benefit one's team. Accordingly, this research highlights a discursive gap between fans' inclusive attitudes and their practice of chanting homosexually themed language inside football stadia.
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This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message board... more This article analyzes 5,128 comments from thirty-five prominent football fan online message boards located across the United Kingdom and 978 online comments in response to a Guardian newspaper article regarding the decision by former German international footballer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, to publicly come out as gay in January 2014. Adopting the theoretical framework of inclusive masculinity theory, the findings demonstrate almost universal inclusivity through the rejection of homo-phobia and frequent contestation of comments that express orthodox views. From a period of high homophobia during the 1980s and 1990s, just 2 percent of the 6,106 comments contained pernicious homophobic intent. Rather than allow for covert homophobic hate speech toward those with a different sexual orientation, 98 percent of the comments illustrate a significant decrease in cultural homophobia than was present when Justin Fashanu came out in 1990.
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Following recent research evidencing that young men are redefining the essential components of wh... more Following recent research evidencing that young men are redefining the essential components of what it is to be a man, this paper draws on qualitative interviews with 22 elite-level, English Premier League academy level football (soccer) players to investigate their performances and understandings of masculinity in relation to decreasing homohysteria. Even in this gender-segregated, near-total institution, these working-class, non-educationally aspiring adolescents evidence an attenuated performance of ‘maleness’ and improved attitudinal disposition toward homosexuality. Congruent with insights developed by inclusive masculinity scholars, respondents maintained emotional closeness and physical tactility with male teammates and friends. These more inclusive attitudes and homosocial behaviours were, however, slightly more conservative than in other recent research. We close by explaining this variation with reference to theoretical apparatus’ provided by Goffman and Bourdieu to advance theoretical debates about social class and masculinities.
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Book Chapters by Rory Magrath
Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport, Sep 2017
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Routledge Handbook of Sport, Gender and Sexuality, 2012
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Routledge Handbook of Football Studies, Aug 2016
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Routledge Handbook of Sport, Gender and Sexuality, Apr 2014
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Since the formation of the English Premier League in 1992, tolerance and acceptance of homosexual... more Since the formation of the English Premier League in 1992, tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality in England has undergone a dramatic transformation. Gay men and women now enjoy more social and legal privileges than ever before. This is best evidenced by the recent introduction of equal marriage. However, sport has historically been slower to accept gay men than wider society. Indeed, senior figures in the game replicate traditional rhetoric that football culture is not ready for an openly gay player. But despite these claims, a plethora of contemporary research, on both fans and players, show football to be an inclusive environment for sexual minorities. While there are no openly gay footballers currently competing in the English Premier League, there are a growing number of professional athletes across the world coming out to celebration and positivity. Even in football, there are a handful of players who have come out in other countries and at lower levels of the game; notably Robbie Rogers (LA Galaxy), Anton Hysén (Torslanda IK) and Liam Davis (Gainsborough Trinity). We thus argue that, without evidence of elevated rates of homophobia compared to the general culture, it is prejudice to accuse the sport of football, and footballers, of being homophobic.
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Talks by Rory Magrath
Although football has long been viewed as a hypermasculine environment, there is little empirical... more Although football has long been viewed as a hypermasculine environment, there is little empirical research on the extent of homophobia in the game. Scholars who have previously undertaken research in other men’s competitive team sports found them to be hostile and unwelcoming environments for sexual minorities. These ethnographic studies have been assumed to be emblematic of wider homophobia, supported by the vilification of Justin Fashanu – the world’s first openly gay professional footballer when he came out in 1990. The lack of openly gay professional footballers in the contemporary game supports this presumption of homophobia. The British media’s continued fascination in revealing openly gay footballers also contributes to this furore.
However, recent empirical research emerging from all levels of the game has revealed inclusive attitudes towards homosexuality and challenging of overt forms of homophobia – among football fans and among amateur, semi-professional and academy-level footballers. The positive coming out experiences of Anton Hysen, Robbie Rogers and Thomas Hitzlsperger represents a marked shift from the reaction to the last openly gay professional footballer, Justin Fashanu. Ostensibly heterosexual footballers Anders Lindegaard and Mario Gomez have also claimed such a positive environment should inspire other gay footballers to come out of the closet.
This paper documents the changing relationship between football and homosexuality. It focuses on a growing body of literature documenting how the decrease in cultural homophobia has begun to parallel in football. Without direct access to elite-level footballers, we are left merely with speculation concerning the potential experiences of an openly gay Premier League footballer. However, current evidence suggests that professional football may no longer be the bastion of homophobia it once was.
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Books by Rory Magrath
With contributions from scholars around the world, the book presents a series of fascinating case studies, including the activism of world-famous athletes such as Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Raheem Sterling. Covering a broad range of sports, from the National Football League (NFL) and Australian Rules, to fencing and the Olympic Games, the book sheds important light on some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including gender, power, racism, intersectionality and the rise of digital media. It also considers the financial impact on athletes when they take a stand and the psychological impact of activism and how that might relate to sports performance.
It has never been the case that ‘sport and politics don’t mix’, and now, more than ever, the opposite is true. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the politics or sociology of sport, the politics of protest, social movements or media studies.
Revealing a range of masculine identities never before empirically measured at this level of football, this book also discusses the implications for the complex and enclosed structures of professional sport, and extends our understanding of contemporary masculinity. It also offers fresh insights to the importance of “banter” in the development of relationships and identities. This culture of banter often plays a paradoxical role, both facilitating and disrupting friendships formed between male footballers.
As the first title in the Routledge Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities Series, this book is fascinating reading for all students and scholars interested in football and the study of gender, sexuality and the sociology of sport.
This book represents the most comprehensive examination of the experiences of gays and lesbians in sport ever produced. Drawing on interviews with openly gay and lesbian athletes in the US and the UK, as well as media accounts, the book examines the experiences of “out” men and women, at recreational, high school, university and professional levels, in addition to those competing in gay sports leagues.
Offering a new approach to understanding this important topic, Out in Sport is essential reading for students and scholars of sport studies, LGBT studies and sociology, as well as sports practitioners and trainers.
Journal Papers by Rory Magrath
Book Chapters by Rory Magrath
Talks by Rory Magrath
However, recent empirical research emerging from all levels of the game has revealed inclusive attitudes towards homosexuality and challenging of overt forms of homophobia – among football fans and among amateur, semi-professional and academy-level footballers. The positive coming out experiences of Anton Hysen, Robbie Rogers and Thomas Hitzlsperger represents a marked shift from the reaction to the last openly gay professional footballer, Justin Fashanu. Ostensibly heterosexual footballers Anders Lindegaard and Mario Gomez have also claimed such a positive environment should inspire other gay footballers to come out of the closet.
This paper documents the changing relationship between football and homosexuality. It focuses on a growing body of literature documenting how the decrease in cultural homophobia has begun to parallel in football. Without direct access to elite-level footballers, we are left merely with speculation concerning the potential experiences of an openly gay Premier League footballer. However, current evidence suggests that professional football may no longer be the bastion of homophobia it once was.
With contributions from scholars around the world, the book presents a series of fascinating case studies, including the activism of world-famous athletes such as Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe and Raheem Sterling. Covering a broad range of sports, from the National Football League (NFL) and Australian Rules, to fencing and the Olympic Games, the book sheds important light on some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including gender, power, racism, intersectionality and the rise of digital media. It also considers the financial impact on athletes when they take a stand and the psychological impact of activism and how that might relate to sports performance.
It has never been the case that ‘sport and politics don’t mix’, and now, more than ever, the opposite is true. This is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the politics or sociology of sport, the politics of protest, social movements or media studies.
Revealing a range of masculine identities never before empirically measured at this level of football, this book also discusses the implications for the complex and enclosed structures of professional sport, and extends our understanding of contemporary masculinity. It also offers fresh insights to the importance of “banter” in the development of relationships and identities. This culture of banter often plays a paradoxical role, both facilitating and disrupting friendships formed between male footballers.
As the first title in the Routledge Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities Series, this book is fascinating reading for all students and scholars interested in football and the study of gender, sexuality and the sociology of sport.
This book represents the most comprehensive examination of the experiences of gays and lesbians in sport ever produced. Drawing on interviews with openly gay and lesbian athletes in the US and the UK, as well as media accounts, the book examines the experiences of “out” men and women, at recreational, high school, university and professional levels, in addition to those competing in gay sports leagues.
Offering a new approach to understanding this important topic, Out in Sport is essential reading for students and scholars of sport studies, LGBT studies and sociology, as well as sports practitioners and trainers.
However, recent empirical research emerging from all levels of the game has revealed inclusive attitudes towards homosexuality and challenging of overt forms of homophobia – among football fans and among amateur, semi-professional and academy-level footballers. The positive coming out experiences of Anton Hysen, Robbie Rogers and Thomas Hitzlsperger represents a marked shift from the reaction to the last openly gay professional footballer, Justin Fashanu. Ostensibly heterosexual footballers Anders Lindegaard and Mario Gomez have also claimed such a positive environment should inspire other gay footballers to come out of the closet.
This paper documents the changing relationship between football and homosexuality. It focuses on a growing body of literature documenting how the decrease in cultural homophobia has begun to parallel in football. Without direct access to elite-level footballers, we are left merely with speculation concerning the potential experiences of an openly gay Premier League footballer. However, current evidence suggests that professional football may no longer be the bastion of homophobia it once was.