Queering school sport and physical education

Pringle, Richard and Landi, Dillon; Rodriguez, Nelson M and Mizzi, Robert C and Allen, Louisa and Cover, Rob, eds. (2023) Queering school sport and physical education. In: Queer Studies and Education. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 216-232. ISBN 9780197687031

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Abstract

Critical researchers have typically examined school sport and physical education (PE) via the notion that they are heteronormative and homophobic spaces. This chapter, in contrast, contends that school sport and PE spaces are always already queer and aims to promote alternative, more optimistic ways of understanding these complex spaces. The chapter begins by providing a brief historical sketch of the linkages between sport, bodies, genders, sex, and sexualities. It then critically reviews international research that has examined sexuality issues within school sport and PE to highlight approaches that offer hope for thinking and performing differently within these spaces. Drawing from interview data from a queer university student, who reflects on his high school experiences within sport and PE, the chapter then presents a narrative to illustrate how desires can disrupt and transform allegedly heteronormative spaces. Finally, the chapter suggests that it is the seemingly normative gender/sexuality framework that ultimately needs to be challenged if individuals are to “free” themselves of identity dilemmas.

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