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Abstract
Although a considerable degree of research has examined the intersection of masculinities, sexualities and sport in the West, this is the first article to address male homosexuality in sport within a Muslim context. To analyze the intersection of sport, masculinities and homosexuality we interview Ghazi, 20, a competitive male bodybuilder in Tunisia. We utilize his narrative to illustrate the similarities and differences between the construction of stigma in both the West and that of Muslim culture in Tunisia. Primarily, we highlight the profoundly negative representation of homosexuality in Tunisia, and the broader Islamic social world, and how it affects the construction and development of masculinity for this Muslim, gay athlete. We utilize Anderson’s notion of homohysteria to help situate the relationship between the expression of femininity and social perceptions of homosexuality in Tunisian culture, comparing it to the Western zeitgeist three decades earlier.
Notes
1. ‘Désinformations dans l'affaire du Tunisien condamné pour “pratiques homosexuelles”: Un média accusé de diffamation’, HuffPost Tunisie, Par Monia Ben Hamadi, Publication 30/09/2015, http://www.huffpostmaghreb.com/2015/09/30/tunisie-homosexuel-media-_n_8215594.html.
2. Amnesty International (AI). 20 September 2012. ‘Tunisia: Amnesty International Regrets Rejection of Recommandations Regarding Decriminalization of Defamation, Non-discrimination Against Women and on the Basis of Sexual Orientation, and Abolition of the Death Penalty.’ AI Index: MDE 30/009/2012.
3. Ibid.
4. Mwabna is the plural term of ma'bûn: word used in the Tunisian dialect which means passive homosexual. This term is derived from the root ubnah that is often mentioned in Arabic literature (adab) to return to passivity or a disease subsided by penetration.