Sport, Sexuality, and the Production of (Resistant) Bodies: De-/Re-Constructing the Meanings of Gay Male Marathon Corporeality

Abstract

Placing the sporting body and Michel Foucault’s technologies of power and of the self at the center of our research inquiry, this article explores the ways in which 12 Canadian gay male marathoners discursively construct their bodies within and beyond the marathon context. Thematic analysis of the research materials (gathered through guided conversations, written stories, and the first author’s research journal) revealed four main themes: self-governed bodily practices, body modification, the marathoning body as resistant to dominant representations of male corporeality in gay culture, and transformative potential. Following Foucault, materials were further submitted to discourse analysis through which we uncovered the appropriation of and resistance to dominant discourses. This analysis suggested the subjects’ discursive constructions as “hybrid” creations located both within, and sometimes in contest to, dominant discourses of physical activity, running, and the male body in gay culture. Our research explores the experiences of gay male athletes through a sociological lens that differs from the present literature, which has largely drawn on hegemony theory. It also adds new insights into distance running as a social phenomenon.