Homocentric Not Homophobic

Welsh rugby player Gareth Thomas should certainly be applauded for his courage in publicly `coming out of the closet` recently, as should referee Nigel Owens. Many commentators have been at pains to point out that it is time for the sporting world to stop `living in the 1950`s ` and shrug its muscular, manly shoulders with a nonchalant air of acceptance. Apparently any hardened sportsman who feels uncomfortable about a fellow athlete admitting to being homosexual deserves to be castigated for being a homophobic Neanderthal. However, anyone who promotes this simplistic view is fundamentally failing to understand the emotional complexities of the heterosexual male athlete.



Athletes such as John Amaechi (the former basketball player) and Gareth Thomas wait many years before `coming out`. Some, never admit to their sexual orientation, even after retirement.
Why is this? On a personal level, their close friends and family will have been accepting and offered unqualified support. The foolish banter of the occasional bigot is surely of no great significance to men who have achieved so much? So what is the problem?



At its purest level, male sport is about homocentric bonding. In other words, it is about people of the same gender getting together within a team environment. This links back to primitive times when our forefathers would put their lives on the line (as a team) to ensure the survival of the tribe. To hunt with your fellows involved placing total trust in those around you. Without their committed, unrelenting support the group would fail and the consequences, for the whole tribe, would have been dire indeed. Men would risk their very lives for eachother and the eventual success of the group. Consequently a very powerful bond would be formed between these male individuals; an intimacy which (while stopping short of a sexual commitment) could be described as love.



These primitive instincts remain inside us all. Within the committed `team player` it is particularly strong. Successful sports` teams thrive on male bonding. Heterosexual males display enormous affection for eachother through a whole range of physical gestures that confirm the unity of the group. The more aggressive and physical the sport, the more demonstrative the individuals become in their expressions of affection for their teammates.



However, most do not regard the closeness of the team bond as homoerotic. As a result, when it is revealed that a member of their intimate society is gay, some of the `hunters`may become less confident about expressing their feelings for them through macho physicality. When looked at from a liberal, 21st Century viewpoint these feelings can seem absurd. However, this is to misunderstand the context.



Could it be that instinctive sportsmen such as Amaechi and Thomas subconsciously felt that the unity (not to mention the continuing success) of their respective teams could have been threatened if they had `come out` earlier?



We live (thankfully) in a far more enlightened society these days. We happily accept a range of lifestyles. However, the recent revelations by Gareth Thomas and the consequent articles written in our newspapers, help to bring into focus the emotional complexities of a homocentric team environment. It is too easy to dismiss the defensive views of some sportsmen as "the rantings of a bunch of homophobes." What we have here is an opportunity to explore the fascinating group dynamics at play when a team of males bond together in search of sporting excellence.

Eye Of The Tiger - Feet Of Clay

At the last count eleven women have now come forward claiming to have slept with Tiger Woods. No doubt a whole plethora (I`m not sure of the collective noun for over-sexed publicity seekers) are, even now, preparing their own lurid press releases. And do you know what?......the public will `lap it up`, lick their collective chops and look around for more.





Why should we care? Why is it news that some guy who can swing a mean seven iron has an appetite for more than sinking the occasional putt? Ever since the notion of `celebrity` was invented (whenever that was) the Media of the day has enjoyed nothing more than building up the image of a `clean cut hero` so that (whenever he or she finally slips up) they can bring them crashing to earth with a resounding thump that is soon echoing around the steel walls of said celebrity`s swiftly emptying bank vault.





What does the depressing success of each juicy `shock/horror` tabloid scandal actually demonstrate about the voracious appetite for sleaze endemic in our society? It should not surprise any of us that young men thrust into the probings of an international spotlight of fame should fall prey to the temptation of engaging in a little thrusting and probing of their own. These guys are only human for Pete`s sake! What should surprise us however is the large numbers of (supposedly) well adjusted, `ordinary` people who enjoy nothing better than finding out the gruesome details of yet another randy celebrity`s fall from grace.





While it makes sense to enjoy a little crafty schadenfreude at the downfall of any celebrity who has based their commercial success on the shameless promotion of an obviously false wholesome family image (no names no pack drill) .... why should it surprise us to discover that our heroes (`All American` or otherwise) have flat, clumsy feet of clay? What makes us so superior? And who made the Media the guardians of public morality anyway?





Programmes on television such as `The X Factor` have, for some time, been doing their level best to reduce all music to the level of a glorified Karaoke competition, suggesting that a pretty face, a suitably cheesy `back-story` and the ability to sing like an ever so slightly tone deaf Mariah Carey is enough to ensure musical immortality.





Soap operas inevitably suggest that it is perfectly acceptable to scream like a scalded cat when your best friend offends you and hurl dog`s abuse at them , secure in the knowledge that all will be forgiven by the time the pressing need for a fresh storyline comes along.





While,to a point, it may be true to say that we get the Media which we deserve - isn`t it about time that these self appointed arbitrators of public taste set out to furnish us with some genuinely positive images? Don`t create artificiality and then try to pass it off as `reality`. Don`t continue to brainwash the great British public with the assiduousness of a mad scientist in a bad 1950`s science fiction movie. Above all, don`t place actors, musicians and sportsmen on deceptively solid pedestals only to enjoy rocking their stability and eventually to bring them crashing to earth with all the grace and beauty of a pile of bricks.





Maybe Tiger Woods deserves all of the bad publicity and bad jokes. Maybe he has placed commercial marketability above his sense of what is right and what is wrong. However, this latest scandal says far more about those of us who revel in these tawdry revelations than it could ever say about him. In particular, it says most about those exploitative reptiles who make a living out of wading up to their necks in slime and then encouraging the rest of us to join them in a refreshing dip in the murky waters of human fallibility.

Birth of A Blog

Somehow, in some mystical fashion that I don`t yet fully comprehend, the words will come..........I hope......I really hope......