This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by King, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Virtually Normal

Mark Bingham, the War on Terror, and the Sexual Politics of Sport

Queen's University, Ontario, Canada

This essay explores media narratives about Mark Bingham, the gay, rugby-playing Republican and successful businessman, who is believed to have played a key role in the struggle with the hijackers of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. The analysis reveals that, with few exceptions, both lesbian and gay and mainstream publications mobilized Bingham's story in ways that lent tacit support to the intensified militarism and imperialism that have characterized the post-9/11 period. By focusing on the deployment of narratives about Bingham's athletic abilities, the argument points to the ways in which antihomophobic and gay-positive discourses about sport participation and prowess can operate in ways that bolster regressive political agendas and reproduce, rather than challenge, exclusionary norms of subjectivity.

Key Words: Mark Bingham • war on terror • sport • gay athletes • homonormativity

Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 33, No. 1, 5-24 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0193723508328631


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?