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Athletes needed
for body image study
How do
you decide what to wear when playing sport?
Do you
try to show off your body when going out with the boys? Or
do you find yourself trying to hide those extra pounds?
And why
do gay men seem to love jocks?
More
than just the topics of gay bar banter, those questions are
guiding new research in Australia about the lives and bodies
of gay male athletes. The project is being conducted by
Shaun Filiault, a doctoral candidate in human movement at
the University of South Australia, in Adelaide. He is
working under the direction of Eric Anderson, a longtime
Outsports contributor and pioneer in research in the area of
gays in sports.
Filiault
says his research topic was prompted by his own life
experiences in sport, the gay scene, and in gay research.
“The research on gay men’s body image states pretty strongly
that gay men are body obsessed,” Filiault says. While he
says he doesn’t doubt that research, he does think it is
over-simplified. “That past research also considers gay men
to be one big group without many individual differences.
That’s just not the case.”
And
that’s where Filiault’s experiences in tennis and martial
arts came in. “As a competitor, I know I thought of my body
as being important … but important to doing well,” he says.
All of this lead Filiault to question if gay athletes might
think about their bodies in ways that are different from gay
men generally.
To
answer that question, Filiault is looking to interview gay
men who are active in sport. Specifically, he is looking to
talk to men who are:
--Gay
--Out
to at least some people
--Between
the ages of 18 and 35
--White
--Have
been participating in the same sport for at least the past
15 months
--Have
played in at least a state-level competition in that sport
sometime in their lifetimes (high school and college teams
count)
--Train
at least 10 hours a week (including practice and general
fitness/cross-training)
-Live
in the U.S., Canada, the UK, or Australia
He
explains that the limitations aren’t to say other athletes’
experiences aren’t important. “I just needed to add some
clarity to what I’m doing,” he said. “Otherwise it might get
a bit un-manageable.”
Limiting
the study to only white men was necessary as prior research
on gay men's bodies has been predominantly on white men;
therefore, we are still unclear as to the impact of race
upon body image. While Filiault says that race question is
definitely an important one, it is outside of the scope of
his current project. He says he hopes to do more research on
race, gay men, and body image in future studies.
The
interviews are one-on-one talks, which are expected to last
about 90-120 minutes. Two weeks after the interview there
will be a brief follow-up survey on a special website.
Filiault says all the interview data will remain
confidential, and code names will be used in any write-ups
he does about his research.
This
area of research is exciting, Filiault says, because it is
so often overlooked. A lot of gay research is focused on
either coming out or HIV, he thinks. And, while he says
those topics are important, “There’s a whole lot more to gay
life!”
His
research may have implications for eating disorders research
and body image research. But the area Filiault is most
excited about is helping other gay men to get active in
sport. “If we know what has worked for other guys to feel
good about themselves and their bodies, maybe those
strategies can be used to help others. Sport has so many
positives, I think gay guys should definitely be encouraged
to get out there and play!”
If you
are interested in participating in Filiault’s research,
contact him
at
shaun.filiault@postgrads.unisa.edu.au
He will be
going to the U.S. in June and July, visiting the following
cities:
Boston: June 27 and 28, 2007
Denver: July 5-7, 2007
San Francisco: July 7-11, 2007
He is
planning to visit the UK and Canada in April and May 2008.
June 5, 2007 |
