Homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Movement Sciences students: Implications for physical education teachers and coaches

Authors

  • Anna Lisa Amodeo Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
  • Cristiano Scandurra Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
  • Alain Giami Université Paris-Diderot; INSERM (Institut de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale)
  • Simona Picariello Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
  • Roberto Vitelli Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
  • Paolo Valerio Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
  • Giuliana Valerio Università Parthenope di Napoli

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/5380

Keywords:

sexual and gender prejudice, gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender

Abstract

Gender and sexual stereotypes and prejudices are pervasive in sport contexts and used to preserve male superiority, relegating what is not masculine to a lower status. These stereotypes and biases are firmly rooted in sport also because they are constantly renewed and reinforced by athletic trainers, who may teach, along with sports practice, the underpinning heteronormative ideologies and values as well. The current study was aimed at exploring knowledge, opinions, and attitudes on gender and sexual diversity in sport among 181 Movement Sciences university students compared to 169 university students attending Psychology, Medicine, and Sociology. Participants answered questions related to gender and sexual diversity, homophobia, and transphobia and data were analyzed through student’s t-tests and linear regressions. Results indicated that Movement Sciences university students had a lower level of knowledge about sexual and gender diversity, and this was associated with higher levels of homophobic and transphobic attitudes. The results suggest the need to introduce specific training in degree courses to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices around sexual and gender diversity.

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Author Biographies

Anna Lisa Amodeo, Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Naples Federico II. She has participated in and coordinated many European projects. Her research focuses on gender identity and sexual orientation, gender and sexual stigma, homophobic bullying, individual and psychodynamic counselling.

Cristiano Scandurra, Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

PhD in Gender Studies at the University of Naples Federico II. He carried out a training fellowship at the Summer Institute in LGBT Population Health at The Fenway Institute (Boston) and a visiting internship at the Columbia University (New York). His research focuses on transgender identity, minority stress, gender and sexual violence, and psychodynamic counselling.

Alain Giami, Université Paris-Diderot; INSERM (Institut de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale)

PhD in Social Psychology at the Université Paris-Diderot, Research Professor at INSERM (Institut de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale), Director of the team “Gender, sexuality, health”, Associate Research Professor. His research focuses on public health, social psychology, sexology, sexual and reproductive health, disability, HIV infection, ethical aspects of sexuality.

Simona Picariello, Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

PhD in Psychological and Pedagogical Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II. She has been a staff member in many European projects. She carried out a Visiting Internship at the School of Public Health of Miami University. Her research interests are: adolescence, psychodynamic counselling, gender issues, stigma. Roberto Vitelli. Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Naples Federico II. He is co-founder of the Gender Dysphoria Psychological Service at the University Hospital of Naples, fellow of the UK Sartre Society, member and co-founder of the School for Psychotherapy and Clinical Phenomenology (Florence). He is co-editor of several books and author of many scientific articles.

Roberto Vitelli, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Naples Federico II. He is co-founder of the Gender Dysphoria Psychological Service at the University Hospital of Naples, fellow of the UK Sartre Society, member and co-founder of the School for Psychotherapy and Clinical Phenomenology (Florence). He is co-editor of several books and author of many scientific articles.

Paolo Valerio, Univesità degli Studi di Napoli Federico II

Full Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Naples Federico II, Delegate of the Rector for students with disabilities, and Head of the SInAPSi Centre. Currently, he is Marie Curie Fellow. His research areas are: psychodynamic counselling; gender variance and gender dysphoria, disorders of sex development, and homophobic and transphobic bullying.

Giuliana Valerio, Università Parthenope di Napoli

MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, Parthenope University of Naples. Research activity is mainly focused on the positive effects of physical activity and physical fitness on health in children and adolescents.

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Published

2017-12-31

How to Cite

Amodeo, A. L., Scandurra, C., Giami, A., Picariello, S., Vitelli, R., Valerio, P., & Valerio, G. (2017). Homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Movement Sciences students: Implications for physical education teachers and coaches. La Camera Blu, (17). https://doi.org/10.6092/1827-9198/5380

Issue

No. 17 (2017): Sport contexts and gender perspectives

Section

The Topic

License

La camera blu is an open access, online publication, with licence  CCPL Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported