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Conformity That Lead To Homophobia In Sports

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Homophobia in Sports Introduction Homophobia is a “dislike or prejudice against homosexual people” (Oxford, 2016). Homophobia can cause homosexual people to be bullied and ridiculed for their sexual preference. Although there is less homophobia being reported everyday in the news, homophobia is in many aspects of the world, including sports. The aim of this report is to explain through a sociological perspective, how conformity in sports leads to homophobia. Three main areas of conformity that lead to homophobia in sports, normative conformity, informational conformity, and internalization. Normative Conformity Normative conformity is how a person changes to fit a group's norms. To fit the group's norms a person will change …show more content…

The writer of the article “Andrew Shaw’s Slur sheds light on homophobia in sport” says, “He isn't the first professional athlete to use it, nor will he be the last” (Hine, 2016). On the ice many players from all over the NHL swear and don't always show respect to officials. Shaw, like so many other professional athletes, sees these people disrespect the officials, and change what they think is right to be seen just like any other athlete. This can cause these athletes to conform and start to make homophobic slurs because they get caught up in what is considered right by the …show more content…

One of the areas he identified as groupthink is self-censorship, this means that the an individual will not speak against what the group is doing because a fear of being left out or left behind. This is what is happening in sports. Groupthink is forcing people of all sexualities stay quiet for the fear of being ridiculed and left behind. It is not only players that fall under the homophobic bullying that causes them to internalize their sexuality. Internalization is yet another small reason why homophobia in sports exists. The environment in sports teams is not safe and athletes feel like they are not able to always be their true selves. Conclusion Homophobia is not talked about as much as it should be, especially in sports. Homophobia is prevalent in sports because of three main types of conformity: normative conformity, informational conformity, and internalization. Homophobia in sports is not going away anytime soon, but by showing athletes they don't have to do what the group is doing. By giving athletes enough information they need to make the right decisions about conforming and by making the environment safe for people to show thier true sexualites in is just a small step to ending homophobia in

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