Talk:Homosexuality in women's sports

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I believe that it is a misguided view to suggest that this article verbally attacks men and those who don’t identify as a lesbian. Sometimes it is hard to hear and accept the reality that equity has not yet been reached among the sexes, especially in sport. Sport is discussed by M B Nelson as a microcosm of the greater society where the societal pressures are simply intensified as though each person is placed under a magnifying glass. This means that pressures such as defying gender boundaries are highly scrutinized in the context of sport. One such pressure is the lesbian label; it has been cited as a significant deterrent to women’s participation in sport because it not only questions their sexual orientation but also their gender. Pat Griffin, author of Strong Women, Deep Closets clearly outlines the pressures that lesbian coaches and athletes must face each and every time they choose to participate in sport. Regarging gender equity in sport, the difference is clear when one examines mainstream media and compares the number of men’s sporting articles to women’s. One might come to the conclusion that sport is not as equitable as the public might think. Since we have not reached a utopian state of gender equality in sport more work is needed. It is therefore important to continue to highlight the fact that stereotypes, heterosexism, homophobia, sexism, and blatant discrimination of all kinds still exist in sport. Failing to do so supports misogynistic views of women and does nothing to address dreadful state of women in sport.

[edit] POV and Refs

This article conveyed to me that it's saying 'everyone that is not female and lesbian feels that all females who are athletes are also lesbians'. This is simply not true. It needs to have a more neutral point of view as it comes off sounding like someone is on a soapbox vice being neutral and encyclopedic. One example: 'The stereotyped figure of a lesbian athlete is now part of an everyday cultural knowledge.'...Who says so? Written as is, it comes off as opinion. Which leads me to my next point--While several references are listed, none are linked to sections of the article. See Wiki footnotes on ways to do this. Rlevse 17:42, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

This is a ridiculous catagory to begin with. It doesn't belong on Wikipedia.

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I concur. The article comes off almost as a rant against men. And, quite candidly, I don't even understand the purpose of the entry.

If the author wishes to offer peer-reviewed statistics on this topic as a paragraph within the title IX article, or in an article about homosexuality in women's sports in general, then her research is worth inclusion.

This piece however, reads like an opinion piece or journalistic article that has been pasted onto wikipedia. It should be marked for deletion. The author also seems to be anonymously writing in her own defence on this talk page, which is rather bad form.

Men now coach the majority of teams because athletic directors do not want their teams labeled as lesbians so they hire male coaches. ? Common, thats pathetic. Endos 02:06, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

"Heterosexual women need to fight the label of lesbianism because not all players are lesbian and those who are not should not be labeled." I'm confused. On one hand you are saying that lesbian players should not be labeled, and then you call on "heterosexual women" to fight the label. Aren't you then labeling heterosexual women? Further, this is like a call to arms. I've seen LGBT pamphlets with less of a POV than this. OK, I haven't...but that's only because the idea behind them is to have a POV - a Wiki article is not. This article should be made NPOV and added to a broader discussion on sports/sexuality. slibbidy 09:22, 2 November 2006 (EST)