That’s the assertion that openly gay sociologist Eric Anderson, whom most of us affectionately know as Coach Gumby (right), makes in a new study. He talked to 47 (apparently masculine) cheerleaders at American universities, all of whom played football in high school. Nineteen of them said they had had sexual contact with another man. All of them were 18-23 when Gumby interviewed them. Maybe most interestingly, they said overwhelmingly that their “social status” did not change because they were affectionate with men. The cult of masculinity, it seems, is changing.
I spoke to Gumby today about the study. He said the study doesn’t claim to be proof of the number of athletes having homosexual sex, but rather it points to a shift in how our culture sees homosexuality: Guys can kiss each other, be tender with one another, even have sex, and it no longer culturally means they’re gay. He said the headlines that some Web sites have run (UK Gay news has “Third of Former School American Football Players Had Gay Sexual Relations”) are misleading; that is not what his study claims to say.
I’ll be very interested in seeing his full report when it’s published in January. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
on Oct 31st, 2007 at 3:23 PM
So, they were football players… and then they had sex with men… and then they turned into cheerleaders?
Hmmmm….
on Nov 2nd, 2007 at 9:11 AM
This is hype. The report of Anderson’s research is to be published in January. So Anderson’s bosses at the University of Bath put out a press release and the UK media – straight and gay- ran the story. After all, the press release was immaculately timed for when the NFL circus was in town for their first-ever league game outside the US (not to mention the disaster of ruining the turf at Wembley Stadium where England have a vital Euopean Cup qualifier in a few weeks time)
It’s all hype … and a survey of a mere 47 former school American football players …
on Nov 5th, 2007 at 4:33 AM
I think that the study does show something, although the group that he was looking into has a diffrent view of homosexuality as one would put it. See my older brother is a former cheerleader and does music for many diffrent people in the industry to this day and when i came out to him he was a little scared but he also said that he deals with gay guys all the time being a cheerleader. And i have meet many of them and so the females and the males in the sport are more likeley to just except it because they are use to it. while others outside of it only figure they are gay just based on simple steriotypes ( i know i spell like crap). like my dad always says ” numbers dont lie, you can make them dance your own tone but they still dont lie”
on Nov 30th, 2007 at 3:13 PM
My research represents ethnographic field work, where I grew to know the men of the teams I studied very well (two years of data collection on multiple teams). These men, all ex-high school football players found cheerleading after failing to make their university squads. The reserach highlight the changing acceptability of same-sex sex, as being compatible with heterosexuality and that is is considerably less stigmatized. When the reserach is released, you will find that much of the influence came from their female teammates, who basically won’t stand for homophobia.
The press release coincided with an NFL visit here, which was independent. I even took serious heat for it. Yet, at the point of the release, the NFL’s visit was top-secret. I, nor the press release office, knew about the NFL.
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by ‘hype.’ But I deserve a little more credit than that. I’m open to an intellectual discussion of my research, but please do not dismiss it as hype.
Eric Anderson
on Mar 31st, 2008 at 6:17 AM
gay or not gay …where is it the difference in a champion or also in a simple sportsman? You are talking about a no sense
on Jan 9th, 2009 at 12:30 PM
You all are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stupid ! ! !