21st Century Jocks: Sporting Men and Contemporary Heterosexuality

Drawing on hundreds of interviews with 15-22 year old straight and gay male athletes in both the United States and the United Kingdom, this book explores how jocks have redefined heterosexuality, and no longer fear being thought gay for behaviors that constrained men of the previous generation.

"Drawing from a decade of research into young male athletes' heterosexuality, Professor Eric Anderson analyzes the dramatic shift in how today's jocks perform masculinity and heterosexuality compared to those of just a decade ago. Showing that they reject much of the hyper-masculine posturing of their athletic forefathers, in both the United States and United Kingdom, Anderson shows that jocks today celebrate their gay teammates and revel in their expanded notions of sexuality. They are having more, and more diverse, sexual encounters, and in what will shock many men over 30, this includes a great deal of physical intimacy with other men. Anderson shows that high school and university straight male jocks are kissing, cuddling and loving other jocks. 21st Century Jocks is therefore a must read have for anyone interested in sport, masculinity, or heterosexuality." - George Cunningham, Director of the Laboratory for Diversity in Sport, Texas A&M University, USA "21st Century Jocks is Eric Anderson's most recent book in a long line of research focusing on changing images and practices of masculinities among young men who play sport in both America and Britain. The results of his ethnographic investigations and quantitative surveys are both radical and provocative, demonstrating that both gay and straight jocks of the 21st century are emotionally supportive of one another and that they enjoy physical closeness and affection. His findings thus highlight huge transformations in male relations in the West." - Jennifer Hargreaves, Professor of the Sociology of Sport, Roehampton Institute, UK

Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport Studies at the University of Winchester, UK and an academician of the British Academy of Social Sciences. His previous publications include The Monogamy Gap and Inclusive Masculinity.