Taking Comfort in the Binary: Examining Language, Gender and Sexuality in a Sports Organisation

Abstract

Sport, like any social institution, plays a key role in shaping society. It has thus been a focus across many disciplines, including sociology and linguistics amongst others. Previous findings indicate a noticeable exclusion of the Rainbow community, with instances of homophobia, sexism and transphobia reported as widespread in most sporting contexts. To redress these recognised issues, sports organisations, as institutional guides in their respective codes, are increasingly expected to promote social inclusion by creating and enforcing diversity and inclusion policies and through leading by example in their own practices. As a sociolinguistic researcher, I investigate these everyday organisational practices through the lens of language, gender and sexuality. Using approaches from linguistic ethnography, in particular those developed by the Language in the Workplace Project, this research examines how wider social discourses are reproduced in a sports organisation. Working with a regional sports organisation in New Zealand over a period of five months, the analysis draws on a data set comprised of ethnographic field notes, workplace documents, and around 25 hours of audio-visual recordings of naturally occurring workplace interactions (e.g., office small talk and team meetings) alongside follow-up interviews with participants. By analysing talk in this setting, and by investigating interaction between society and language more broadly, we gain deeper understanding of how, and potentially why, discourses of transphobia, homophobia and sexism remain prevalent. The findings suggest that while the cooperating organisation makes a public commitment to inclusion in sport (e.g., by developing policies, publishing guidelines that emphasise inclusion, and investing in various inclusion initiatives), in their daily work practices they often revert to binary thinking in regard to gender, sex and sexuality identities. This leads to recurring discourses of exclusion and repeated microaggressions within the workplace, such as presupposing heterosexual relationship structures and using assumed pronouns. Despite talking the talk, this particular organisation is taking a few stumbles when trying to walk the walk.