Abstract

“Yo! You Can’t Say That!”: Understandings of Gender and Sexuality and Attitudes Towards Homosexuality Among Male Major Midget AAA Ice Hockey Players in Canada


Cheryl MacDonald, Ph.D.
Concordia University, 2016

This doctoral research examines male Major Midget AAA ice hockey in Canada as a site for the changing perceptions of, and attitudes towards, homosexuality in boys’ and men’s hockey. Qualitative and quantitative surveys, interviews, and a social media content analysis were used to identify and analyze the ways in which gender and sexuality are understood amongst the players as well as how their attitudes towards masculinity and homosexuality are shaped and presented in their interactions with teammates and the individuals closest to them. Major Midget AAA is the most elite level at which youth between the ages of fifteen and eighteen can play before moving on to Junior hockey in Canada. This level is a unique site for an investigation of this nature because the players occupy a unique nexus through which they participate in a sport where homosexuality has been historically unacceptable, yet they are also considered members of a generation that is understood to be much more accepting of homosexuality than its predecessors because it is increasingly visible to them on television, the internet, and perhaps even amongst their families and friends.
The study situates itself within a contemporary body of literature that is divided regarding the current status of homophobia in sport. On the one hand, boys’ and men’s ice hockey in Canada is characterized in academic literature as encouraging stereotypically or traditionally masculine traits such as aggression, mental and physical toughness, defiance of authority, and anti-femininity. On the other hand, there is evidence that sport is not fully responsible for this kind of socialization and some scholars have begun to argue that male athletes are becoming increasingly open to other presentations of masculinity that diverge from the stereotypical and traditional ones, including a higher rate of acceptance of gay male athletes. The findings of the study occupy a position between these two camps, suggesting that although young male ice hockey players may not be entirely averse to the idea of homosexuality in ice hockey, some have reservations about the potential of having an openly gay teammate.