Softball Essay

The changing social and political landscape accompanying World War II allowed the concept of homosexuality to enter the public conversation, but rampant homophobia left many gays and lesbians struggling to develop a community identity. Southern lesbians in particular faced a unique set of challenges as they contended with not just the stigma of homosexuality, but also the strict gender roles pervasive throughout the South. Thus, it was important for these communities to have public institutions that supported them. Softball is often stereotyped as a lesbian sport, and this paper will discuss softball as an institution for lesbians, and in particular Southern lesbians. In the pre-liberation era, softball as a public institution was co-opted

This allowed for a lesbian community to develop through “interacting social networks and shared values and interests''. Working class lesbians dominated these sorts of public institutions, in part because World War II granted women more freedom by allowing them opportunities to enter the workforce. By this time, working class men were playing softball in industrial and city leagues, so it wasn’t long before working class women joined and all-women softball leagues were formed. While these women’s softball leagues were not lesbian-identified, there were typically “a few all-lesbian teams”. For example, the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) Omegas was an out-lesbian team that played in the Atlanta City League in the 1970s. However, even non-lesbian teams tended to have many lesbian players. Two of the Memphis narrators in Buring’s dissertation “Building Gay Community Behind the Magnolia Curtain'' remember that the players in their league “were almost all gay”. Although, they disagree on whether they were primarily butch, or if there were a combination of butch and femme lesbians playing softball. The prevalence of lesbians in softball leagues allowed them access to a wider social network of lesbians with whom they could build relationships with. One of the Memphis narrators, Nancy, says softball “was predominantly the meeting place for [her] and so many others”. This was especially important for closeted lesbians who still sought a way to meet other lesbians and “participate in the lesbian culture”. Softball presented a safe space for them to come out. Even the massive crowds that some games drew contributed to the community, as spectators, who were often also gay, possessed a “set of shared expectations about the meaning of softball” that reaffirmed and supported the lesbian community. Thus, while women’s softball