MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Sports are one of the best teachers of conflict, resolution, team work, and strategy. Many parents enroll their children, boys and girls alike, in team sports at a very young age to teach them said lessons and hope that they have fun in the process. Many children stick with at least one sport in their more formative years and develop actual skill that will bring them through high school, and possibly college. After college, the opportunity for playing professional sports is such a small percentage that most people stop playing altogether or play for weekend bar leagues, just for fun.
For women, the stigma for softball players is that they’re “lesbians.” While a decent percentage of the women who play on female-only softball teams are homosexual, there is still a small percentage of players who are not gay. Going back to little league and high school ball, if one was to examine a team picture and mark down who’s a lesbian and who isn’t, the percentages would be switched – mostly straight young women with a small percentage of homosexual women. Where did the straight women go? Why don’t they play ball anymore? At what point during the onset of adulthood did the desire to play ball disappear? Or is it still present, but they don’t want to be associated with the lesbian stigma attached to softball? This paper will examine current women’s softball teams, mainly bar leagues that play competitively every week. Players will be interviewed about their upbringing and the driving forces that kept them playing ball throughout their lives. Ex-softballers will also be interviewed – women who played up until high school and then gave it up. In both cases, homosexual and heterosexual women will be examined. Upbringing will be the key to this research.