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In this ethnographic research of a college-based soccer team at a large liberal college in Northeast America, I document the existence of more inclusive versions of masculinity that contrast conventional understandings of male teamsport athletes. Using participant observation and 21 in-depth interviews, I show that these men demonstrate metrosexual and inclusive behaviors and attitudes. The styles of masculinity these men enact are more relaxed, liberal, and inclusive; they are well styled, well groomed, gay friendly, and they are emotionally and physically close to other men. They are far removed from the traditional orthodox sporting masculinities of previous generations. Symbolizing their difference, their gendered expressions also extend to the wearing of pink soccer boots (cleats), without homophobic judgment from teammates. I discuss the wearing of pink cleats as a symbolic sociological moment, revealing the changing nature of masculinities among this group of college-based soccer players.

In this article, we combined data from 145 interviews and three ethnographic investigations of heterosexual male students in the U.K. from multiple educational settings. Our results indicate that 89 per cent have at some point kissed another male on the lips which they reported as being non-sexual: a means of expressing platonic affection among heterosexual friends. Moreover, 37per cent reported also engaging in sustained same-sex kissing, something they construed as nonsexual and non-homosexual. Although the students in our study understood that this type of kissing remains somewhat culturally symbolized as a taboo sexual behavior, they nonetheless reconstructed it, making it compatible with heteromasculinity by recoding it as homosocial. We hypothesize that both these types of kissing behaviors are increasingly permissible due to rapidly decreasing levels of cultural homophobia. Furthermore, we argue that there has been a loosening of the restricted physical and emotional boundaries of traditional heteromasculinity in these educational settings, something which may also gradually assist in the erosion of prevailing heterosexual hegemony.

Despite decreasing homophobia, openly gay male athletes are still rare in organized, competitive teamsports (Anderson 2005). In this action research, we explore two aspects of homosexuality and sport: 1) the effect of a gay male soccer player coming out to his teammates; and 2) the effect of having an openly gay researcher in the field. This is therefore the first-ever first-hand account of an athlete's coming-out process with researchers in the field. Even though this is action research and therefore not generalisable, we highlight that this research contributes to the body of literature on sexuality and sport because we document the interactions of straight athletes with a gay player and a gay researcher among the heterosexual players at a small, Catholic college in the American Midwest. We use interviews to show that players were accepting of homosexuality before the beginning of this research, and show that discussions with these two gay men further promoted players' perspectives on homosexuality. This led to an increase in the team's social cohesion and a decrease in heteronormativity.

This article examines bisexual men's experiences of coming out across three age cohorts, and documents generational differences in the reception from friends and family regarding this disclosure. Drawing on in-depth interviews with an ethnically diverse sample of 60 openly bisexual men from the United States, we find that the oldest cohort of bisexual men encountered the most stereotypical views and prejudiced behaviour, while those of the youngest cohort expressed predominantly positive coming out stories. We attribute the cohort differences in these experiences to a decrease in cultural homophobia, alongside changes in the social organisation of masculinities.