LGBTQ+ Inclusion and Contemporary Masculinities in Canadian Men's Rugby

Abstract

Sport has not always been welcoming for LGBTQ+ individuals, an issue that persists at present. Participation in sport has also often been connected to limited ideas about gender, creating and maintaining limited ideas about men and masculinity and women and femininity. In this project, I explored LGBTQ+ inclusion and contemporary forms of masculinity in Canadian men’s rugby. The concepts of transformative inclusion and hegemonic masculinity were used to frame my study. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 rugby players, who were currently or recently active in men’s rugby in Canada. Informed by existing literature and my theoretical influences, thematic analysis of the interview transcripts led to the creation of four themes: (1) constructions of masculinity in the rugby context, (2) prevalence of problematic language, (3) problematic and promising actions and behaviors, and (4) towards better LGBTQ+ inclusion. Despite stated support for LGBTQ+ players and some evidence of inclusive practices on certain rugby teams, there was nevertheless evidence of a hypermasculine and heteronormative culture that established overt and covert expectations of players on and off the field of play. Education is required to ensure that men’s rugby does become more meaningfully inclusive of gender and sexually diverse players, education that must incorporate conversations about the still limited ideas about masculinity in the context of the sport and more broadly.