Editorial on the Research Topic
Thinking and doing intersectionality in sociology of sport
Since the field of sport sociology was formalized in the 1960s, starting with the
International Committee for the Sociology of Sport in 1965 (now ISSA), proponents
of the field have sought to “promote, stimulate, and encourage the sociological study
of play, games, and contemporary physical culture” (1). Across diverse national contexts,
sociological research has sought to understand the legislation, advocacy, and activism
needed to create equitable and inclusive sporting structures and practices. Arguably,
these efforts have had meaningful impacts: for example, in 2016, the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized widespread sexual and psychological harassment
and abuse in sport (2), reflecting decades of work by feminist scholars to compel
decision-makers to take action (3). Much of this research has highlighted the role
of gender, sexuality, racialization, nation, disability, and class as systems of difference-making
and hierarchy that generate inequalities in and through sport.
Less attention is given to how these systems intersect in sporting contexts, with
consequences for whose experiences of oppression are made visible and become worthy
of sociological inquiry, despite sport demonstrably lending itself to intersectional
analysis (4, 5). Consider, for example, the unspoken Whiteness of the standard swim
cap, with a swim cap for Black hair rejected by the international governing body for
swimming as not fitting “the natural form of the head” (6).
We came together with the desire to amplify the concept of intersectionality and how
it serves as a tool to understand and redress social inequities in sport. We are self-identified
scholar advocates that use our scholarship to expose inequities and amplify practices
to promote social change. We have seen in both our work and lived experiences how
intersectional approaches are necessary to explain and address the forms of inequality,
exclusion, and violence that continue to mark the sporting experiences of many people.
The concept of intersectionality has become a defining paradigm for critical scholarship,
growing out of the legacy of Black feminist thought and efforts to hold White institutions,
White feminists, and civil rights movements to account for obscuring the experiences
and voices of Black women (7). At its core, the concept challenges a focus on singular
categories (e.g., women) or systems of difference-making (e.g., gender) as rendering
invisible those who find themselves multiply marginalized (e.g., women with disabilities).
Far more than a theory of individual identity, intersectionality conceptualizes the
structure of social life as a “matrix of domination,” in which systems of difference-making
and inequality are always co-present and mutually constitutive (8).
Yet, questions about the relevance and utility of intersectionality remain: has it
become a “buzzword” devoid of critical content (9), divorced from its Black feminist
roots and appropriated by White feminisms (10)? (How) can it be translated from theory
to a mode of inquiry and practice, given the complexities of operationalizing simultaneous
systems of difference-making and oppression (11, 12)? In the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic, the intensification of protest related to racialized and gendered injustices,
and growing institutional attacks on critical scholarship and teaching across numerous
countries, the moment is ripe to reflect on the concept of intersectionality and its
relationship to sport sociology.
We are excited to share eight works from scholars that employ an intersectional lens
to examine the reproduction of difference and inequality in and through sport. Two
articles offer the perspective of “outsiders within,” highlighting the voices of women
of color in the United States and Global South. Ajhanai Channel Inez Keaton examines
how five Black women who are Athletic Diversity and Inclusion Officers at US universities
perceive organizational inclusivity. Keaton shows how these women translate their
positionality as “outsiders within” predominantly White departments into a form of
expertise, which they use to challenge conditions of intersectional marginalization.
Nana Akua Achiaa Adom-Aboagye writes from her positionality as a Black African feminist
scholar, reviewing the sociological literature on women coaches to show how the experiences
of women in Africa are typically absent. So, too, are African scholars missing among
those who are frequently cited in relation to coaching. Adom-Aboagye calls on Global
North scholars to look to the African continent as a space of original knowledge production,
insights which are necessary to have a more complete understanding of women's coaching
experiences.
Three further articles also consider understudied intersections in sport sociology.
Laurent Paccaud examines the co-conditioning of dis/ability and gender, using an ethnographic
study of powerchair hockey to create a powerful account of the need to study the margins
in order to render visible the hidden workings of gender relations and inequality
in sport. Paccaud's article shows how gender ideology can be reproduced even in the
absence of (assumed) gender differences in sporting ability, while allowing powerchair
hockey to tell its own story as a study site in its own right. Griffin et al. offer
a social media analysis of the body positivity movement, illustrating how it has become
divorced from radical forms of resistance, co-opted by privileged women, and transformed
into a neoliberal, gentrified, and cis-heteronormative tool for reproducing the worthy
(White, able-bodied, “fit”) body. An article by Reynolds et al. focuses on spectator
behavior and youth sport, showing how gender and race mutually shape the actions of
parents in youth sport settings.
Three articles consider alternative structures and spaces of resistance. Symons et
al. offer a case study of the Outer Sanctum podcast, showing how this Australian sports
media platform has increased the profile of underrepresented voices, thereby contributing
to making Australian media coverage of sport more intersectional in its representation
and content. Bell et al. consider whether and how online fitness platforms could offer
LGBTQ2S+ people alternative spaces for creating community and engaging in physical
activity. They suggest that in addition to building intentional communities for the
LGBTQ2S+ communities, education programming is needed to ensure that coaches, fitness
trainers, and owners provide safe and inclusive spaces for diverse patrons. Emma Calow
reflects on how the sporting field and the sociology of sport classrooms can serve
as spaces of protest and transformation. Calow argues that athlete activism is always
already intersectional and that the sociological classroom is always already a space
of social justice action, with both offering allies the opportunity to advance intersectional
causes.
Combined, we hope that the contributions to this research topic will support reflection
and discussion in the sociology of sport community on the role of intersectionality
and how it can serve as a tool to understand and redress social inequities in sport.