Abstract
Travel to formal organised lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) sport networks and related events is a recent occurrence. This largely conceptual chapter focuses specifically on how alternative and lesser-known sport tourism events, such as the Gay Games, provide an opportunity to investigate masculinity. While much literature and research on sport and the Gay Games also relates to women’s participation, this chapter focuses on the implications of gay men taking part in this athletic event. The Gay Games potentially represent a significant transgressive and alternative space in the world of sport because they involve high levels of tourist and international mobility. The two theoretical frameworks that are used in this chapter to help understand masculinity debates related to the Gay Games are hegemony and queer theory. Hegemony theory is one of the most popular and fruitful strands of the neo-Marxist approach to the sociological study of sport, while the young roots and contested nature of queer theory offers a more contemporary consideration.
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© 2015 Nigel Jarvis
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Jarvis, N. (2015). Masculinity and the Gay Games: A Consideration of Hegemonic and Queer Debates. In: Thurnell-Read, T., Casey, M. (eds) Men, Masculinities, Travel and Tourism. Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137341464_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137341464_5
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