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The Lightness Of Being `Gaie'

Discursive Constructions of Gender and Sexuality in Quebec Women's Sport

Université de Montréal, Canada, barbara.ravel{at}umontreal.ca

Geneviève Rail

University of Ottawa, Canada, genrail{at}uottawa.ca

In this article, we explore the narratives of 14 young Francophone women from Montreal (Quebec, Canada) competing in team sports and identifying as `gay', `lesbian', `bisexual' or refusing labels altogether. We seek to gain a better understanding of these young women's discursive constructions of gender and sexuality as well as of their performative acts in sport and in other milieus. We submitted their narratives to a thematic analysis which was followed by a critical discourse analysis inspired by poststructuralism. Our findings suggest that the participants generally positioned themselves as `gaie' (as opposed to lesbian or queer), which seems specific to Quebec. By emphasizing the lightness of being gaie in sport, the participants relied on an alternative discourse that tends to be positive towards gaie sexuality. Moreover, by constructing gaie sexuality as a more `feminine', less visible and consequently less disturbing version of lesbian sexuality, these sportswomen also articulated dominant discourses that reproduce lesbo/butch-phobic ideas. We also show the participants' unstable and changing subjectivity as we highlight the contradictions in their discursive constructions of gender and sexuality.

Key Words: discourse • gender • lesbian • poststructuralism • sexuality • women

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 41, No. 3-4, 395-412 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1012690207080239


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