ABSTRACT
Earlier chapters within this collection have pointed to the specific traditions of physical education and in particular to the highly gender differentiated nature of these. These markedly conservative traditions have had a deleterious impact not only on the teaching and nature of the subject but also on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. This has contributed to a situation whereby damaging myths and stereotypes specifically about the participation of women and girls in physical education and sport have largely gone unchallenged. These prejudices centre on issues to do with the athletic body, heterosexuality and physicality. This chapter consequently seeks to raise issues around sexuality and physical education. It focuses attention on Section 28 of the Local Government Act (1988) which sought to prohibit the promotion of homosexuality within schools, and thereby illustrates attitudes towards sexuality and the impact that these have had on the educative system. Biographical research which endeavoured to make sense of the life stories of lesbian physical education teachers within the English schooling system is utilised to explore the effects of heterosexual discourses on their professional lives. Although the focus is largely on the experiences of lesbian physical education teachers it is crucial to acknowledge the impact that heterosexism and homophobia has had on boys and men and gay teachers in physical education and sport. Heterosexism
refers to the system of beliefs, attitudes and institutional arrangements which reinforce that everyone is, or should be heterosexual; that heterosexuality is the only valid and worthwhile form of sexual expression; and that relationships between people of the opposite sex are vastly superior to any other lifestyle whether lesbian, gay, bisexual or single.
