24 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — JUNE 1998 __health 8: wellbeing MAGGIE F RAMPTON MSW ACSW LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER PSYCHOTHERAPY - CONSULTATION ADULTS - ADOLESCENTS PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIAL MONTPELIER, VT (802) 229-5071 802.660.8396 Diane M. Felicio, Ph.D. constructive conflict resolution with an emphasis on encouragement, clarity, and support. mediator relationships organizations higher education Sari K. Wolf, RN, CCRN, IMP, CAP, Reiki lll Happily announces the opening of her new office with a giftof 10% ofi’ your first visit! g ,Massage/ Myofascial Therapy Aromatherapy Acu-Pressure call for appointment 802-223-47 l 5 Michael Gigante, Ph.D. Psychosyn thesis Cormseling 8‘ Therapy (802) 25~1-8032 15 IVII/rile Street, Brattleboro VT 05301 Kl:-L‘.t;‘;-lit-1' 2 29-522? '3‘ Burlington 860- 6360 }(f._)S1E JUHASZ, 31.9.. Lic. Psychologist - Master GOYETTE, M.s.. M..-x. Lic. Clinical Mental Health Counselor W Cc.3I,..r.\r.s’,EI.INc, ClZN’l'Elt or NOnTI~IEIiN VERMONT SW3“? fee scale insurance accepted Carol L. Thoyer, M.D. :"'.1fTl‘l‘_c I7’l""-,'Sl-Iiltlfi p E R M34. N E N 'I"I?; - Community Q Health Plan .o_IvIsIo_rg Isl‘-iii" é‘-‘-‘Va ' PC/USER I"?-.!?!\d.‘\l"JE.N’lC _NOR‘l'llF.AS‘I‘ Georgia Health Center RRJI2, Box H60 Fairfax, VT 05454 Tel.‘ 802/524-9595 .154;-. 502/524-2867- VI.’ .. Lesbians and Sports Until recently, there was little open discussion about les- bians in sports. The media fo- cused on Billie Jean King's "palimony" suit, Martina Navratilova’s break—up with her romantic partner, and the , »"lesbian presence” in profes- sional golf. Of course, lesbian sports fans could give you the names of lesbians athletes, coaches, and media sports re- porters—but these women were very, very closeted. Now Pat Griffin has writ- ten the book Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Ho- mophobia in Sports. "l’ve been a » lesbian athlete and coach my- self so a big part of this book comes from my own experi- ence” she told me in a recent interview, "and over the last 15 years or so I've taken on this topic as a semi- crusade.” Pat herself played sports in high school and college, and then went on to coach high school and college students. She lived‘ with her lesbian lover but dated the high school wrestling coach for "cover." As she writes in her book: "I re- member a teacher evaluation meeting I had with the princi- pal of the high school where I taught and coached. He complimented me because ‘I presented such a good image for physical education, not like some of the other women P.E. teachers and coaches in the country.’ Though he never ex- plicitly mentioned being a les- bian, I knew exactly what he meant and cowered further back in my closet.” . Later on, Pat began to come out, first by attending lesbian events and then by speaking openly about ho- mophobia at women athletic conferences. After a lifetime as an athlete and coach, she is currently professor at the Uni- versity of Massachusetts in Amherst in a program on so- cial justice education. "I see myself as an educator/ activ- ist,” she told me, "and a lot of that comes from my sport and physical education back- ground. I have coaches in my classes now, and some of what I say blows their minds, par- ticularly when I talk about heterosexism. In athletics, this topic is so silent.” Strong Women, Deep Clos- ets focuses on the fact that ho- mophobia doesn't just affect lesbians, but all women ath- letes andcoaches. The lesbian 18.5.81 :is V.u.ss-d, to }in.t-iI.I1i<;‘i.ate by Esther Rothblum‘ women. "The main message that I'd like women to get is how lesbians are demonized in sports, and how that works. to the detriment of women's ath- letics in general,” said Pat. "There is so much divisiveness among women in sports—het— erosexual women are afraid of being called lesbians and they resent lesbians and blame them for having caused this ‘image problem.’ I want ‘women in sports to realize that it's to their advantage to work together against that kind of intimidation—that’s how women's sports is going to grow. It's not going to grow by women being embarrassed by the lesbians and insisting that the lesbians be closeted, or be- ing defensive about their own femininity. Whenever women put energy into that, they're taking energy away from being strong women and being the best athletes and coaches they can be.” "I wish there were more lesbians that could come out," Pat continued. "Some of it is in- ternalized homophobia. Some of it is the nature of athletics-— athletes and coaches are often not particularly political. Coaches don't want to do any- thing that is controversial, es- pecially at the Divi- sion I col- lege level where it could hurt their re- c r u i ti n g efforts.” Pat finds that Divi- sion II or III coaches are often in 0 r e o p e n a b. o u t their lesbi- a n i s m . " T h e y d o n ’ t have that public scrutiny and they're less dependent on recruiting." Even lesbian fans are in- visible. A recent article in The Advocate was entitled "Phan- tom fans: Nobody wants to admit they're there, but the les- bian presence at professional women's basketball games is obvious." Of the two profes- sional women’s basketball leagues, Pat Griffin has found the ABL to more openly wel- coiriiiigto-Iesbilanlfans than the DYKE SYCHE WNBA. She says this reflects the fact that the WNBA is con- trolled by the male NBA. Increasingly, though, les- bians in sports are coming out. In its November 1997 issue, Out Magazine reported on Di- vision I coach Karen Weaver, who was fired as field hockey coach from Ohio State Univer- sity. Now she is suing for anti- lesbian discrimination. Les- bian filmmaker and Oscar nominee Dee Mosbacher has produced the film Out for a Change (WomanVision Produc- tions) about lesbians in sports. As Pat writes in the conclusion of her book: "In my vision, women will take pride in our athleticism without apology. Women will not be constrained by socially constructed notions of femininity or compulsory heterosexuality. There will be no need to apologize about muscularity, physical compe- tence, or passion for and com- mitment to sport....In my vi- sion of sport, women will value our relationships with other women. We will not be self-conscious about loving teammates and competitors as friends or 1overs." Strong Women, Deep Closets can be ob- _tained from Human Kinetics, 1607 North Market St., PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61825- 5076. . « Esther Rothblum is Professor of Psy- chology at the University of Vermont and Editor of the Iournal ofLesbian Studies, and can be contacted at the Department of Psychology, Iolm Dewey Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, email e_rothbl@dewey.uvm.edu.. "Dyke- Psyche” is a monthly column. © Esther Rothblum _ -; .~x. '-