“A whole stadium full”: Lesbian community at women's national basketball association games
- 1 February 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in The Journal of Sex Research
- Vol. 42 (1), 74-83
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490509552259
Abstract
Using qualitative interviews with lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual female Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) fans, I argue that the (perceived) large lesbian attendance at WNBA games enables the construction of a lesbian community by lesbian and bisexual fans in a site qualitatively different from traditional locations of lesbian community. Because the WNBA is not an explicitly lesbian or queer space, the process of speculating about which players, coaches, and fans are lesbians is a meaningful part of being a WNBA fan for many lesbian and bisexual fans. Fantasizing a large lesbian presence enables lesbian and bisexual fans to actively and interpretively create lesbian community at the games. The women socialize and connect with lesbian and bisexual women, construct lesbian ownership of WNBA games, and define WNBA games as a unique space that is different from lesbian bars and other traditional “gay‐only” spaces.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- Lesbian Living SpacesJournal of Lesbian Studies, 2000
- Family and Friendship Relationships After Young Women Come Out as Bisexual or LesbianJournal of Homosexuality, 1999
- ‘Stay queer!’‘Never fear!’: building queer social networksWorld Englishes, 1998
- The Formation of Gay and Lesbian Identity and Community in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, 1900-1970Journal of Homosexuality, 1997
- THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF AN ELECTRONIC BARJournal of Contemporary Ethnography, 1995
- THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S MUSIC FESTIVALJournal of Contemporary Ethnography, 1995
- "I Can't Even Think Straight" "Queer" Theory and the Missing Sexual Revolution in SociologySociological Theory, 1994
- Differences and Identities: Feminism and the Albuquerque Lesbian CommunitySigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 1993
- Cowboys and Indians: Perceptions of Western Films Among American Indians and AnglosAmerican Sociological Review, 1992
- The Lesbian Community:Journal of Homosexuality, 1986