"A whole stadium full": lesbian community at women's national basketball association games.

   [Washington, DC] is a funky city because in this city. the
   women's community is actually not cohesive. This city cannot
   support more than one lesbian bar, more than two lesbian bars to
   save its soul.... This city was unable to sustain a women's
   bookstore. You know, I think that there's just a lot of
   fragmentation in the women's and lesbian communit[ies] in this
   city. I think that the WNBA brings everybody out, you know.
   There are all kinds of women that come to those games, and
   they're all coming together just to have a good time. (Kristin,
   lesbian Mystics fan)

Establishing a community with other lesbians has historically been a vital yet challenging goal for lesbians (Bonfitto, 1997; Correll, 1995; Eder, Staggenborg, & Studderth, 1995; Elwood, 2000; Franzen, 1993; Gilmartin, 1996; Kennedy & Davis, 1993; Lockard, 1986: Oswald, 2000). Gay bars (Gilmartin, 1996; Kennedy & Davis. 1993) and music festivals (Eder et al., 1995; Lockard, 1986) have traditionally been sites for lesbian community building. A more recent site explored ethnographically by Correll (1995) is the "electronic bar," a computer bulletin board system that allows lesbians to socialize via the Internet. Not surprisingly, the stereotypical association between women's sports and lesbianism has served to attract lesbians to women's sports. (1) Ironically, while the lesbian stereotype has mostly been considered negative for women's sports, there is historical evidence that women's sports in the U.S. have enabled the formation of lesbian communities (Cahn, 1994; Griffin, 1998). While researchers have typically paid more attention to lesbian athletes, there is some evidence that lesbian fans attend games to form communities with other lesbians (Cahn, 1994; Griffin, 1998). Writing about the U.S. in the early- to mid-20th century, Cahn explains, "In a day when there were few gay bars or other social institutions, sports opened up a space in which lesbians could gather and begin to forge a collective culture" (p. 189). Lockard (1986), Franzen (1993), and Gilmartin (1996) describe how (particularly working-class) lesbians in the mid-20th century formed communities through their involvement with softball teams.

In this research, I use qualitative interviews with lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual female Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) fans to argue that the (perceived) large lesbian attendance at WNBA games enables the construction of a lesbian community by lesbian and bisexual fans in a site qualitatively different from traditional locations of lesbian community. Because the WNBA is not an explicitly lesbian or queer space, it is not identical to more traditional sites for community building. In fact, two important developments in lesbian and gay studies and queer theory have reshaped the concepts of lesbian community: critiques of community organized around identity and Stein's (1992) discussion of the "decentering" of lesbian feminism. Alexander (1999) and others (e.g., Jagose, 1996) critique "the older notion of 'community,' centered around maintaining a particular kind of identity" (Alexander, 1999, p. 310). Alexander criticizes traditional identity politics and argues for replacing them with a more queer-oriented, Foucauldian "politics of value," meaning "a culture built around the exchange of new values" (p. 308). He argues that organization around values such as flexibility, fluidity, openness, and compassion is more fruitful than organization around identities. Kidd (1990) and Pronger (1990) discuss community in the context of sports in terms of shared meanings among participants. Pronger (1990) argues that gay culture is not limited to formally gay institutions or locations but instead is "the world in which gay people meet--socially, intellectually, artistically, emotionally, politically, sexually, spiritually, and athletically. Gay culture can be expressed where there are gay people" (p. 147). Indeed, while WNBA games are not a formal gay institution, they are a place where lesbian and bisexual women meet and at least perceive the presence of other gay people. Queen (1998) uses the concept of communities of practice to acknowledge that community among queer people is often built around shared knowledge and "'the assumption of shared queerness."

Lesbian community at WNBA games is not subject to traditional "identity politics," since identity is ambiguous and never confirmed; rather, identity as lesbian or bisexual is interpreted, subject to context, and based more on assumptions of queerness than any kind of essential

queer, lesbian, or bisexual identity. Unlike Munt, Bassett, and O'Riordan's (2002) finding that "coming out" narratives are prominent in the construction of lesbian identity in an online community, this is not the case at WNBA games. WNBA fans rarely confirm their speculations about the identities of other women at the games or officially come out. One lesbian or bisexual woman may find that a WNBA game feels no different from an NBA game. Another lesbian or bisexual woman may attend the same WNBA game, spot 3,000 other lesbians and bisexual women, and really feel she belongs to the community. As Erin, a bisexual woman from the Washington, DC, area, put it, "Because usually if you just see two girls going to the movie together, you are like, they're just friends. But if you see the exact same girls at a WNBA game, you're like, they're not just friends." Lesbian and bisexual identity and community are interpretively constructed in this way at WNBA games.

Stein (1992) discussed what she called the "decentering of lesbian feminism." Informed by queer theory and post-modern critiques of identity, she argued that compared to 1970s lesbian community organized around lesbian feminism, lesbian identities and communities of the mid-1980s and early-1990s were more decentered, that is, lacking a hegemonic project with clear political goals and still reeling from challenges to lesbian feminism from lesbians of color and so-called "pro-sex" lesbians. Not disappearing entirely, Stein argued, lesbian communities had become "placeless" and dispersed. No longer centered in a bookstore or women's center, "lesbian influence had become in some respects nowhere and everywhere" (p. 34). Over the 13 years since Stein's essay, this decentering has clearly continued. Controversies and disagreements over sexual identities, politics, and even what labels to use (e.g., lesbian vs. bisexual vs. queer) demonstrate the lack of a coherent lesbian community, united across sexual identity. Indeed, queer theory and politics of the 1990s (Jagose, 1996: Warner, 1992) have moved us further away from the now surreal 1970s vision of a Lesbian Nation.

But what does this decentering and fragmentation mean for lesbians today? Despite the fragmentation of lesbian identities and communities discussed by Stein, I argue in this paper that WNBA games, at least for the mostly White, middle-class lesbians and bisexual women I interviewed, are perceived as a moment of "centering" for the lesbian community. (2) Unlike many 1970s lesbian feminists who wanted to smooth over (i.e., ignore) race, class, and sexual differences in order to build (and appear as) a unified movement (Jagose, 1996; Stein, 1992), the women I interviewed recognize these differences at the same time that they experience WNBA games as a coming together of lesbians and bisexual women in a place that belongs to them) lf lesbian communities have become so dispersed that they are difficult to locate, Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics games are a good place to start. At the same time, the very meaning of lesbian community is not the same as it was 30 years ago, in part because the meaning of lesbian is not the same (due to changes in understandings of identity, as described above).

I emphasize that lesbian and bisexual WNBA fans actively build lesbian community at WNBA games rather than passively belonging to it. Given the decentering of lesbian community, the women I interviewed construct community interpretively, through their identification of and with other lesbian and bisexual women at games. WNBA games are a unique site for lesbian community because they are a place where lesbians perceive other lesbians, and based on this perception the shared experience of being a lesbian fan is heightened. Unlike other communities , participation in the WNBA lesbian community is transient and may be temporary. Different fans are present at every game, and most do not share a history or know each other well outside of their lives as fans. WNBA games are neither all-lesbian nor defined (at least not officially, as we will see below) as specifically gay events. Furthermore, WNBA games are contested space, constantly negotiated between on one hand, lesbian and bisexual fans, and on the other hand, the league, which wants to construct WNBA games as a space for heterosexual families and their kids. (4)

I propose that the process of speculating about which players, coaches, and fans are lesbians is a meaningful part of being a WNBA fan for many lesbian and bisexual fans that contributes to the (perceived) large lesbian presence at WNBA games. This presence enables lesbian and bisexual fans to actively create lesbian community at the games by socializing with lesbian and bisexual women they already know; by connecting with other lesbian and bisexual women; by constructing lesbian ownership of WNBA games; and by defining WNBA games as a unique space that is different from lesbian bars and other traditional "gay-only" spaces.

METHOD

This study is based on 56 in-depth, qualitative, semistructured interviews with adult female fans of the WNBA. The interviews were conducted face-to-face, in and around two cities that have WNBA teams--Detroit, MI (WNBA team the Detroit Shock) and Washington, DC (WNBA team the Washington Mystics)--in 2001 and 2002. Thirty of the interviews took place in the Washington area, and 26 took place in the Detroit area.

To be eligible for participation in the study, the women had to have attended at least two WNBA games and to self-identify as a WNBA fan. The women were recruited by passing out fliers at WNBA games in each city and subsequently by word of mouth. I asked the women about their sexual preference at the beginning of each interview on a short questionnaire along with other demographic questions. They circled either "lesbian," "bisexual," or "heterosexual." Thirty-five (62.5%) of the women identified as lesbian (22 in Washington, 13 in Detroit), 2 (3.57%) identified as bisexual (1 in Washington, 1 in Detroit), and 19 (33.92%) identified as heterosexual (7 in Washington, 12 in Detroit). (5) The women ranged in age from 19 to 65, and the average age was 41 years. Most (44 of 56) of the women identified their racial-ethnic backgrounds as White or Caucasian. Seven identified as Black or African American. (6) In terms of occupations, the women's jobs reflected mostly middle-class backgrounds. Most identified professional jobs, several were retired, and there were a few college students among those I interviewed.

I asked a broad range of questions about the women's experiences at WNBA games. A question about stereotypes of female athletes almost always led to a discussion of lesbians at WNBA games. Several other questions asked about lesbians or sexuality directly. The majority of the questions were addressed to all of the women, regardless of their self-identified sexual preference. However, I asked lesbian and bisexual women a few additional questions regarding their experiences being out at WNBA games and their participation in lesbian events or lesbian venues such as gay pride and women's music festivals.

The interviews were tape recorded and later transcribed. After cleaning the transcripts and reading through each several times, I began coding the interviews. Based on a detailed reading of about five of the interviews, I created a number of codes. I then went through the interviews and coded line-by-line, using these codes and creating new codes as necessary. Coding was conducted using NVivo computer software. As I coded, I also read for themes that emerged from the interview data. I wrote memos on a variety of themes that appeared promising. Based on these themes and my reading of the literature, I organized the data into arguments and began to write the larger project, of which this paper is a part.

RESULTS

WNBA Games as a Community Event: Socializing and Connecting

Lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women go to WNBA games and call themselves fans for many of the same reasons. When asked "Why are you a WNBA fan?", most informants answered that they support women's sports; the WNBA is an opportunity for women and they want it to succeed; they are basketball fans; and they play or have played basketball or other sports themselves. However, one major difference in the women's experiences emerged from the interviews: WNBA games are a social, community-oriented time for lesbians and bisexual women but not for heterosexual women. Twenty-three of the 37 lesbians and bisexual women I interviewed explicitly expressed the feeling that WNBA games are a social event. Only 3 of the 19 heterosexual women mentioned the social aspects of being a WNBA fan. (7) Lesbians and bisexual women interpreted the context of WNBA games as a time to socialize with their friends and to connect with the "lesbian community," even if sexual identities are ambiguous and based mostly on interpretation.

Lesbian and bisexual women tend to be part of social networks that include WNBA fans. Sara, a lesbian from the Detroit area, said, "Well I'm gay, and [the WNBA] draws a big lesbian crowd and most of my friends are lesbians. It can be like a little party." Anne, a lesbian Mystics fan, also described WNBA games as a "social outlet": "It's a part of our, around where I live and my friends and community, there's a social outlet I guess, so a lot of people, friends of mine, will go to those games just to be part of a social activity." Amy, a bisexual fan of the Detroit Shock, said games are a "meeting place" for her group of friends:

   It's like, "oh yeah, so and so's up there, she'll be down in a few
   minutes." You know, and "There's so and so, they'll be over
   later." And so yeah, they tend to come over and say hi and meet
   each other. And the friend that I'm sitting with knows where people's
   seats usually are. My hunch is we don't leave and go to them
   because [my friend] has a knee problem and can't walk to speak
   of. So she won't be traipsing around the whole [arena], but people
   traipse over to us. And there are probably now, about 30 people
   that t know in our little area. And they're not all lesbians, but
   the majority are.

Some of the women I interviewed are bigger fans than their friends (probably reflected in their willingness to be interviewed by me in the first place), but they still know many people who go to games and are interested in the WNBA. Cheryl, a lesbian from the Detroit area, went so far as to say that "Yeah, pretty much if they're my friend, they like [the WNBA]. Pretty much so." Some women said most of the lesbians they know are fans and vice versa. When I asked Deb, a lesbian Mystics fan, how many friends she has who are into the WNBA, she exaggerated: "I think there's one lesbian in the DC area that isn't interested in the Mystics." Jennifer, a lesbian Shock fan, initially said, "Of those friends that we do have who are lesbians, I can't think of one of them who does not like the WNBA." After a short discussion with her partner to verify this, she concluded that they do know one lesbian couple who is not into the WNBA, although she did not "think they like sports period." So for many lesbians, WNBA games are a place to spend time with their lesbian friends. The WNBA is a common bond shared by members of lesbian social networks.

Heterosexual women have fewer social networks with other WNBA fans, though many have (usually unsuccessfully) tried recruiting their friends to go to the games. Furthermore, the heterosexual women I interviewed said that if they do have any friends who are into the WNBA, most of them are lesbians. Jessica, a heterosexual Shock fan, said she knows about 25 people who follow the WNBA and most of those are gay. Similarly, Meredith, a heterosexual woman from the Washington area, told me most of her friends from work are big fans. Then she added, "And you didn't ask this, but most of them are lesbians. I can't really think of, I can't think of any of my straight friends that go to the games very much."

Rachel, a lesbian Mystics fan, said Mystics games are another kind of "meeting place" for lesbian fans: "It you want to get a date, go to a Mystics game. And I'm sure there are [lesbian] couples in this city who've met at a Mystics game. So I appreciate that. I think that's great..."

In addition to being a place for individual women to meet up and socialize with members of their friendship networks, WNBA games are also viewed as a place to connect with the larger lesbian community--lesbian and bisexual women the women I interviewed have never met. For many lesbians and bisexual women, WNBA games are a gathering place, a place to catch up with old friends and "see and be seen." Sally, a lesbian Mystics fan, said, "As I said in the beginning, we're almost only at the game to see who else is at the game. You know, like the sport sometimes becomes secondary. It's a huge social event." When I asked if she meant a specifically lesbian social event, Sally responded, "Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, specifically. I don't know what the rest of those people are doing there, but I know what we're doing there."

Margaret, a lesbian Mystics tan and mother, said, "Yeah, so I mean, that's part of going to basketball games is that it's part of, a way to connect with the community without going to bars. And it's at a decent hour of the evening." Comparing watching WNBA games on television with going to the games, Anne said she prefers the community aspects of being at the game: "I like to be out with my people, be out with the community, lesbians in the community. That's a good way to meet people and see people socially that I don't get on the TV in my living room." These women also described an emotional reaction they have to the lesbian presence at games. Catherine, a lesbian fan of the Washington Mystics, said, "I enjoy seeing [the lesbian fans] because they are members of my community. Like I said, that heightens the social aspect and the entertainment value."

Ownership

More than just feeling a part of a lesbian community at WNBA games, some lesbians and bisexual women expressed a sense of the WNBA belonging to lesbians. This feeling goes beyond the social and community aspects of the game and reveals a real sense of ownership of the WNBA. The feeling of ownership is rooted in a sense that, as Margaret explained, lesbians comprise the core WNBA fan base: "Well, I think that [lesbians are], you know, the anchor fan base actually. I think they're the ones who are buying season tickets. I think, you know, they are a real stable part of the fan base." The implication is that as the "anchor fan base," lesbian and bisexual women are the fans who really support the league financially and can consistently be counted on to support women's sports.

In a sense, ownership is constructed through an "us" versus "them" dichotomy. Some view the league as belonging to "us," meaning lesbians and bisexual women. When I asked Liz, a lesbian Mystics fan, what she thinks about the lesbian fans at the games, she said, "Well for one thing, [lesbians] finally have someplace to, or another place to go that they can cheer and have a good time. I mean we so support our women's sports, it's nice to see them all cheering." Joan, a lesbian from the Washington area, talked about her enjoyment of the lesbian presence at the games and the sense that the games belong to the lesbians:

   But it also, there's family there. (8) There's a lot of family
   there. And it's just a woman thing, you know. I mean this is our
   sports and we're women and we're lesbian women, in particular,
   and we need to get out there and support women's sports.

These women talk about "our sports" and "our league" because they feel that the lesbian fans, as part of the core audience, really own the league.

Other women construct lesbian and bisexual ownership of the WNBA by defining heterosexual fans ("them") as outsiders. When I asked what lesbian and bisexual fans think of the non-lesbian fans at the games, many expressed appreciation for heterosexuals' presence, but their words reveal a sense that non-lesbians are not the core audience and do not belong in the same way that lesbians and bisexual women do. For example, Tasi, a lesbian Shock fan, explained,

   I just think it's great when there's people there. So I guess I don't
   really have...I guess if I see a couple there, a heterosexual couple,
   that usually makes me more happy because I think, then it's bringing
   in more than what I think is coming to the game.

Tasi, who told me she worries about the WNBA appearing "too gay," is happy to see heterosexuals at the games because for her, their presence is exceptional. Margaret said she is actually "impressed" that non-lesbian fans go to the games because they do not let the large lesbian presence deter them:

   I'm really impressed [to see non-lesbian fans at the games]. I have
   to admit it. You know, it's not like thanks for doing us a favor, but
   thanks for not letting it get in your way because I think you're
   going to have a great time here. It is good ball and it's a fun time
   and you know, there's people just there to have fun.

Enid, another lesbian Shock fan, echoed Margaret's feeling:

   I'm glad [the non-lesbian fans are] there. And it's obvious that
   there are lesbians, and [straight fans are] still coming and they
   enjoy the game. I don't know if they talk about people when
   they're at the game, but who cares? They're at the game, and
   there's not been any fights or rioting or whatever. So I think it's
   cool that there are straight people that go.

Margaret and Enid acknowledged the necessity of fan support from heterosexuals to keep the league alive. However, their words reveal their sense that heterosexuals are visitors to a league that belongs to lesbians.

Finally, Jennifer, a lesbian fan from the Detroit area, humorously explained how she identifies the heterosexual women at the Shock games:

   You know, all you really need is a t-shirt and a pair of jeans [at a
   basketball game]. You don't need heels. How the hell are you
   going to climb up the damn stairs in the arena, you know'? Wear
   way too much makeup. You'd think they were going to be on TV.
   ... You can tell those who are straight pretty much from... I saw
   a woman at the last game I went to who had on these sandals with
   huge heels and baseball socks. It was hideous. You know, make
   up your mind. Put on a pair of tennis shoes. And then she was...
   She needed help coming up the stairs. You know. it was like. go
   home, you know.

In this case, it is the lesbian using stereotypical clues to identify the heterosexual women, but ultimately, Jennifer's rant about clothing establishes lesbians as knowledgeable about what to wear to a WNBA game, while heterosexual women are outsiders, clueless about how to even dress appropriately. By telling heterosexual women to "go home," Jennifer further claims the space for lesbians and even acts as a figurative gatekeeper, deciding who should be there and who should not. For these lesbian and bisexual fans, heterosexuals are appreciated guests, but outsiders nonetheless.

Speculating: Lesbian Fantasy at WNBA Games

It is in the context of this community and safety that lesbian and bisexual fans engage in one of the key forms of entertainment, which I call "speculating." Part of the feeling of lesbian community at WNBA games has to do with the sense among lesbian and bisexual fans of a large lesbian presence. I interviewed many lesbians for this project, and many of those lesbians know and meet up with women whom they know identify as lesbians at WNBA games. From this I infer that there are a substantial number of lesbian-identifying women who attend WNBA games. (9) However, many lesbian and bisexual fans also say they see lesbian players and coaches in the WNBA and identify lesbian and bisexual fans whom they have never met. Since at the time of the interviews there were no out players or coaches. (10) and because the league uses several strategies to highlight and emphasize the heterosexuality of the players, I argue that the process of speculating about the sexualities of WNBA players, coaches, and fans is a kind of "queering" (11)--making the WNBA more lesbian and more queer through fantasy. WNBA fans may talk as though they can accurately identify the lesbians, but ultimately, they use stereotypical appearance and behavioral cues to identify who is a lesbian and who is not.

Speculating is one of the reasons that Nena, a lesbian fan of the Washington Mystics, became a Mystics fan. She told me that now she is a WNBA fan because she really enjoys the game, but "that's not the reason I started out." She proceeded to tell a humorous story about what attracted her to the WNBA:

   Well, I'm not a sports person at all. I don't do sports. I'm not
   interested. I wasn't interested in sports. I just didn't like it.
   My family had nothing to do with sports. Poker was the closest we
   ever got to sports. So, but my partner is just the opposite. Her
   family, she was raised sports, sports, sports, sports. A lot of them
   participated in yadda yadda yadda. So she really wanted me to go and
   so to please her, I tried it out. Well, all these women. All these
   lesbians. A whole stadium full. It was so fascinating.

Nena was not a "sports person" before she went to her first WNBA game, but seeing "a whole stadium full" of lesbians made her a fan and was the impetus for her learning more about basketball. This speculating is a recurring theme in the interviews and is a vital part of lesbians' construction of lesbian community at WNBA games.

Lesbian and bisexual fans said they speculate for a number of reasons. Some said they speculate because it is part of the entertainment experience. Jeanie, a Detroit Shock fan, said she speculates because "it's part of the fun. Just something to do: 'She is, she isn't, no she's not.' Just entertainment." When asked if she speculates about players and coaches in the WNBA, Nancy answered in the following way, revealing the playfulness involved in speculating:

   Oh, definitely. Yeah, we do that all the time.... Almost like a
   little game. You know, it's like, "Oh yeah, who do you think?" Then
   somebody will say something like, "Oh, but she's married." And
   we'll say, "Oh, that's just a cover-up." Everything like that as a
   joke.

Others explained that identifying other lesbians is not unique to WNBA games but is something "natural" that they do in all parts of their lives. For example, Laura, a Mystics fan, said she and her partner speculate about the players and coaches because "we're lesbians and we wonder. I mean I guess it's natural." Similarly, Sara, a Shock fan, speculates "because I do that with everybody. That's part of my life.... Because I'm gay." Joan, a Mystics fan, put it simply: "Why do I do that? Because I'm alive. I'm a lesbian, and I'm alive." These women speculate in other parts of their lives and do not consider speculating at WNBA games any different. This sense that speculating is "natural" reveals that it is taken for granted by some women.

Other women said it is important to them that they can pick out lesbian players with whom they can identify. Anne said, "It's the same thing like if you go to a Suzanne Westenhoeffer [a well-known lesbian comedian] show or if you watch Martina Navratilova play tennis. You're kind of happy to see gay athletes. Acknowledgement is missing so we just plug it in sometimes." Kristin further contextualized this need to identify with other lesbians among the fans:

   I think it also has to do with a [lesbian] community that, for many
   generations, has been under siege. And the way that, the way that
   we have survived is by a certain type of solidarity. And I think
   that certain type of solidarity leads us to acknowledge and
   recognize a kinship even, even when we don't know each other. So
   because of that, again, I think we're more attuned to who is, who's
   family and who's not family.

Joan also placed the WNBA in a larger context and recognized that many lesbians do not have the same opportunity for building and experiencing lesbian community that she enjoys at WNBA games:

   We're here, we're queer and we got us a league. And you know,
   we can just sit there and enjoy it. And we see other people and you
   know, you are in family and it's great. How many people are in
   small towns that literally think they're the only lesbian in the
   town? And here you can go out and sit in the middle of 15,000
   people and look and see lesbians all over the place. Now how
   great is that?

In other words, the "acknowledgement [that] is missing" leads lesbian and bisexual women living in a homophobic world to "plug it in" by imagining other lesbians at WNBA games. While Kristin's and Joan's words imply a real recognition or ability to decode who is family and who is not, Anne's words suggest the constructive nature of the queering process. By fantasizing that they see other lesbians, lesbian and bisexual WNBA fans create lesbian community at WNBA games.

For those lesbians who said they do not speculate about other fans at the games, most said that it is because the lesbians are so obvious that they do not even need to speculate. Bonnie said, "Well you don't really have to [speculate], you know. That's the other really good thing, is alright, I'm here with 75,000 lesbians. Great!" Helen, a Mystics fan, concurred: "No, I don't speculate. I mean, you can pretty much tell."

In contrast, lesbians who do not speculate about the sexual preferences of players and coaches said they are too focused on the game and do not really care. JoAnne, a lesbian Mystics fan, said she speculates about the fans but not the players because "I would like to think because that's not important. When they are wearing their uniforms and they are on the court, I would like to think that that's what motivates me."

Notice that the women I have quoted above take for granted that they are able to identify the lesbians among both players and fans. In fact, this is the case for most of the lesbians and bisexual women I interviewed and even some of the heterosexual women. Those who do not speculate think that identifying the lesbians is possible; they just do not engage in it for one of three reasons: it is so obvious that active speculation is not even required; they do not care either way; or they prefer not to wonder about the sexual preferences of the players because that is less important than the game itself. (12) All of these explanations accept that it is possible to look at someone and know her sexual preference.

Although her response is not typical, Karen, a lesbian Shock fan, explained why she does not speculate about WNBA players and coaches:

   I mean obviously there's some that you would dream that were,
   but no, because I think you can't, there is no such thing as a
   stereotype. I mean, as much as the straight community would love
   to believe, you can't look at somebody and know [they're gay]! I
   can't even know anymore. My supposed gaydar [a slang term for
   being able to "'sense" whether a person is gay] just sucks! I don't
   think it ever got tuned in or something 'cause I can't tell.

Karen's explanation resonates with critiques of queering by reminding us that speculating is based on a stereotype and an essentialized notion of lesbian. Her "gaydar" is not functional because she does not have a stereotypical picture of what a lesbian looks like. So how can she identify the lesbians? While I acknowledge the relevance of this critique, I argue that queering the WNBA is ultimately a queer fantasy used to construct lesbian community in a space that is ambiguous and contested. (13) Even Karen sees her inability to speculate as an individual attribute. Her gaydar never "got tuned in," but that does not mean other women cannot identify the lesbians. As is apparent in the women's words, the fantasy is taken with a sense of humor. Speculating both reinforces and challenges stereotypical notions of what it means to be lesbian in a spirit of humor, carnival, and fun.

In sum, lesbians and bisexual women queer the WNBA by speculating about the sexuality of players, coaches, and fans for several reasons: it is fun. it is natural, it is important to identify celebrities or well-known figures who are also gay, and living in a homophobic world leads lesbian and bisexual women to seek each other out and recognize a kind of kinship. Enjoyment and leisure, identification, and solidarity bring lesbian and bisexual women together to share WNBA games in a meaningful way. In addition, it is important that speculating is done in one's head but also is shared with others. Speculating about players, coaches, and other fans is based on an imagined shared knowledge (even if it is based on perception and never confirmed), a shared interpretation that fans interactively engage in at WNBA games. The experience of speculating results in the construction of lesbian community at WNBA games. As we will see in the next section, speculating that there are many lesbian players, coaches, and fans at WNBA games enables the women to construct a community that is temporary but meaningful and that heightens their feelings of safety and comfort in being "out" at games.

"Out" at WNBA Games: Safety in Numbers?

Interestingly, several of the lesbians and bisexual women I interviewed said that having more lesbians present makes them feel more at ease being out at WNBA gaines. In fact, the women distinguished between feeling comfortable and feeling safe. Some lesbians and bisexual women feel comfortable at gaines because they feel a sense of belonging and acceptance by the crowd. For example, Amy is a bisexual woman from the Detroit area who is not out to anyone in her life. Although she is not officially out at WNBA games either, she feels like she can be herself at the games, and because of this she assumes that people may speculate about her. Furthermore, she feels confident that if people at the games guess her sexual preference, they will not react negatively. She explained:

   I am bisexual, but nobody but the crowd knows it, the people that
   I sit around. So that's kind of like a homier feeling.... Well,
   nobody at work knows [that I'm bisexual], my kids don't know it,
   so there's part of me that's hidden if you will. And these people
   [at the games], they may not know it directly, but it's not a
   problem for them.

Margaret, a lesbian from the Washington area, said she feels comfortable being out at WNBA games because "It just feels like a very non-threatening crowd. Very positive energy." Marcia explained, "With the number of lesbians or bisexuals that go there [to gaines], it just makes for a far more comfortable place for me to be, and to enjoy the sport." Bonnie, another lesbian Mystics fan, agreed:

   I feel very comfortable [sit WNBA games]. And that's part of what
   makes it nice. I don't necessarily look around for other people's
   reactions so that they could be reacting, but I'm not noticing it
   and I don't see how you could be there and not realize you are in
   the company of many fabulous lesbian women if you weren't already
   a lesbian yourself. I mean and like I said, we've talked to men
   there, [and] they've been terrific.

Other women feel safe because they do not fear being physically attacked or harmed. Similar to Elwood's (2000) finding that lesbians feel safer in lesbian neighborhoods (despite the fact that there is often more reported harassment and violence in these neighborhoods: Elwood, 2000), many of those lesbian and bisexual fans who said they would or do feel safe being out at WNBA games attribute this feeling to the fact that there are "'so many lesbians" at the arena. For example, Erin, a bisexual Mystics fan, said she feels safe being out at WNBA games "because the numbers are higher. I think if we were gonna get our asses kicked, there would be other people who would help us. But I think it's just because you can look around and see you're not alone." Anne echoed these thoughts, saying, "I think if people were there and somebody was going to jump me, I think that I would have more people that would catch my back than if I were somewhere else ..."

Those lesbians who do not or would not feel sale being out at WNBA games explained that their sexual preference is not relevant in the public space of WNBA games. When asked if she would feel sale being out at a WNBA game, Melanie, a lesbian fan of the Detroit Shock, said, "No, it's still the public." Joan agreed and elaborated:

   No, not necessarily because you don't know who's around you, a
   skinhead or a nut. No, I wouldn't want to really wear a "Hi, I'm a
   Lesbian" shirt, but I wouldn't do that [anyway]. You know, that's
   my sexuality and it's nobody's business what I do in the bedroom.
   If you and I want to relate on a one-to-one basis, I'll be glad to
   tell you that I'm a lesbian, but I don't have any need to just
   portray who I am to everybody, every stranger on the street. I
   wouldn't feel safe doing that because you don't know who's out
   there. (14)

These women live in a culture in which harassment and violence against them because of their perceived sexual preferences are always a concern. No one feels completely safe and even those women who say they think the other lesbians present will "have their backs" acknowledge their awareness of the potential for harassment or violence. Still, many of the lesbian and bisexual women I interviewed feel relatively safe at WNBA games. Furthermore, many even feel comfortable showing affection to their partners and girlfriends (e.g., "hav[ing] my arm around my girlfriend") at the games. Feeling safe and comfortable at WNBA games is one of the tangible effects of the speculating process. The women believe they see many lesbian and bisexual women at the games, and this (perceived) large presence creates a space that feels comfortable and safe. In this setting, the women are energized to build community at WNBA games.

A Different Kind of Space

Finally, for several of the lesbians I interviewed, WNBA games are also meaningful because they happen in a unique space that is different from most gatherings of lesbian and bisexual women. For one thing, WNBA games bring women together in a setting outside of bars. Deb, a lesbian fan of the Washington Mystics, said, "You know, it's a place, another outlet that's not a bar, you know, that's not just a once a year pride march or whatever, you know. And if you don't get out that often, it's nice to have an event that brings lesbians together." Anne concurred:

   And as a lesbian I'm thrilled that there's an event that I can go to
   and there's a lot of family around. It kind of makes you feel more
   comfortable, and adds another social activity to the list that's
   outside of a bar. It's always nice to have a gay, happy event that's
   outside of the bar. because that happens a lot, a lot of gay events
   happen in bars.

Other women appreciate WNBA gaines because there are heterosexuals present too; these women enjoy the interactions they have with heterosexual fans in addition to other lesbians and bisexual women. For example, Nicole, a lesbian from the Washington DC area, said,

   For me, [WNBA games are] a very social time. Because there
   aren't a lot of places where lesbians gather on a consistent basis,
   I find this, the games are that for me. I see a lot of people. I see
   a lot of lesbians and [heterosexual] families and it's just a nice
   ... I feel really good being in that atmosphere with that many queer
   people and everybody else there. Just with a common interest, which
   is basketball. I hadn't really been a part of that before.

Nicole is aware of the decentering of lesbian community ("there aren't a lot of places where lesbians gather on a consistent basis"). WNBA games serve as a kind of centering of lesbian community for her, and at the same time, she enjoys the interactions she has with heterosexual families. Rachel also enjoys being social with lesbians in a space that is not officially "all-lesbian." She explained, "... and I think it's really valuable as a community to have things that aren't just generated by the community for the community but that are outside and serving the community really well." Most of the lesbian and bisexual fans i interviewed attested to very positive interactions with heterosexual fans at WNBA games. Perhaps this is in part a sense that WNBA games feel less marginalizing and more integrated because they are not gay-only spaces, even if as I described earlier the games are viewed as belonging to lesbians.

A few of the lesbian fans said WNBA games are more comfortable and have more of a "lesbian culture" sensibility than more mainstream (i.e., men's) sports. For example, Catherine, a lesbian from the Washington area, compared going to a Mystics game to her experience at a Washington Wizards (the men's National Basketball Association [NBA] team) game. She said, "Yeah, we did see a Wizards game, last year I guess.... But at that event there was not as much lesbian culture in evidence. So I didn't have that kind of expectation either." I asked Catherine if Wizards games are a different experience (compared to Mystics games) because there is less "lesbian culture." She answered, "Well slightly, because [the WNBA experience means] running into people that you know at an event like that and they happen to be other lesbians. It is just more of a social thing so it is a little bit enriched." Similarly, Deb, a lesbian Mystics fan, wondered if fans of men's sports experience the games in the same way that she experiences WNBA games:

   It makes you wonder about other athletics too, because I think of
   [the WNBA] as so much of a social experience, whereas prior to
   this experience, prior to the WNBA, I would have looked at other
   sports tot the sport. You know what I mean? ... It makes me wonder,
   are the other [sports], for a different sector of society that
   identifies with [them] ... a social experience for them? ... The
   mainstream sports, for baseball fans or you know whatever. Are
   they getting the same experience that I'm getting at the
   WNBA ...? I can go to a baseball game and still (in animated,
   higher-pitched voice), "Hey!" and feel part of the crowd, but it's
   a different, it is definitely a different experience.

For fans, the fact that WNBA games are outside the bars, include heterosexuals, and feel different from NBA games and other men's sports events heightens the women's enjoyment of the games and sustains the construction of lesbian community, because the space feels qualitatively different from other places where lesbian and bisexual women socialize. In this place, shared with heterosexuals, lesbian and bisexual women enjoy socializing and connecting with other lesbian and bisexual women and construct lesbian community that belongs to them.

DISCUSSION

In a context of the decentering of lesbian community (Stein, 1992), several aspects of the experience of WNBA games enable lesbian and bisexual women to actively and interpretively construct a temporary but meaningful lesbian community at WNBA games. At a most basic level, WNBA games are seen by many of the women I interviewed as a place where they and members of their social networks can meet up and socialize. A shared interest in women's basketball and an enjoyment of the WNBA social scene bring lesbians and bisexual women and their friends to the games. In addition to meeting up with friends, the women told me they feel more connected to a larger community of lesbians at the games.

The sense of ownership of WNBA games by lesbian fans is related to the large number of lesbians and bisexual women who attend game after game as well as to the historical relationship between lesbians and women's sports (Cahn, 1994; Griffin, 1998). Furthermore, the feeling that the WNBA belongs to lesbian and bisexual fans further cements the construction of lesbian community at WNBA games. Not only do lesbians socialize and connect at the games, they feel that the WNBA actually belongs to them.

This feeling of a large lesbian presence is based on both reality and fantasy. Many of the women interviewed know that their lesbian friends attend the games. At the same time, through the process of speculating, an even larger community of lesbians is created. The women give a number of explanations for why they speculate. Ultimately, speculating serves to create a space with enough lesbians to feel safe and comfortable being out. While WNBA games are not advertised as lesbian space, lesbian and bisexual women's speculating serves to transform it as such, even if only temporarily and interpretively.

Paradoxically, speculating is both liberating and essentializing. Identifying hundreds of lesbians gives lesbian and bisexual women the agency to actively create lesbian community at a game that is populated by heterosexuals and is marketed as a place for heterosexual families with children. Moreover, fantasizing that a heterosexual-identifying woman is a lesbian contests the notion that sexuality is fixed, challenges lesbian stereotypes of appearance and behavior, and can be revolutionary in a social context where being identified as lesbian is taboo. At the same time, like Esterberg (1996), I find that "spotting the dyke" is mostly based on styles of presentation that are "most classically considered butch" (p. 269). The process of speculating is heavily based on stereotypes of appearance that assume, for example, that lesbians have shorter hair and more masculine mannerisms, while heterosexual women are more likely to have longer hair, wear makeup, and dress to impress men. Speculating based on these stereotypical characteristics reinforces and reproduces the stereotypes.

Whether liberating or essentializing, it is important to lesbian fans that they see lots of lesbians at the games, both on the court and off. Griffin (1998) notes that lesbian fans of women's sports tend to especially support players and coaches they believe are lesbians. Moreover, some lesbian fans do not even need to know much about the sport they are attending if they believe they are seeing lesbian athletes on the court. For example, like Mystics fan Nena, who never followed and did not care for sports until she discovered "a whole stadium full" of lesbians at WNBA games, Cahn (1994) learned from one of her informants that "at least a few of the spectators cared little about sport but attended because they knew that the ball field or the gymnasium was a likely site for meeting other lesbians" (p. 189).

The meaning of cultural artifacts (e.g., romance novels, WNBA games) is not essential to or inherently located in the artifact itself (Radway, 1984; Shively, 1992). Rather, the backgrounds and histories of individuals lead them to interpret the same experience or object differently. Lesbian and bisexual WNBA fans interpret the WNBA differently from heterosexual fans. When lesbian and bisexual fans "read" the WNBA, they see lesbian players, coaches, and fans in large numbers. They fantasize that the WNBA is predominantly lesbian, even when players, coaches, and the WNBA itself work very hard to avoid that image. In other words, they queer the WNBA by turning what is ostensibly a sporting event into something that is by and for lesbians. For heterosexual fans who "read" lesbian players, coaches, and fans, the meaning of their speculating is different. For heterosexual fans, it means that lesbians play and coach sports and attend WNBA games in large numbers. For lesbian and bisexual fans, speculating is a key component of the construction of lesbian community at WNBA games. This interpreted community leads lesbian and bisexual fans to feel the WNBA belongs to them. The safety and comfort that result from the large (perceived) lesbian presence further enhance the meaningfulness of the games. Ultimately, WNBA games become unique, temporary moments of centering for lesbian and bisexual fans, a space where lesbian and bisexual women feel they belong and enjoy a connection to a community that otherwise feels fragmented and marginalized.

(1) Women's sports in the United States have long been associated with lesbianism (Cahn, 1994: Griffin, 1998). The lesbian athlete stereotype (female athlete equals lesbian) has served as a form of social control to limit women's participation in sports and to denigrate women's sports in comparison to men's. The women I interviewed are very familiar with this stereotype. Some of the older women who grew up before Title IX say the high levels of participation by women in sports today and the visibility of heterosexual athletes have helped dispel the old lesbian stereotype. Indeed, relative to 20 or more years ago, the landscape of women's sports has changed considerably (Griffin, 1998; Messner, 2002). However, while some women think the lesbian stereotype has mostly disappeared, most women still see evidence of this stereotype. Almost every woman I interviewed named "lesbian" and "'masculine" as stereotypes of women athletes today.

(2) Importantly, [ am not arguing that WNBA games have the kind of all encompassing worldview of 1970s lesbian feminism. Membership in the lesbian community of WNBA games changes from game to game and many women do not stay in contact with their "game friends" between games or between seasons. Still, though this centering is only temporary and does not include many women who may identify as lesbian or bisexual (especially women who do not reside in or near cities with WNBA teams and women who cannot afford tickets to attend the games), it is very meaningful lot the women who are present.

(3) Of course I am not saying that WNBA gaines are lesbian community, only that they are one (important) place where lesbians and bisexual women create and sustain communities across differences, based on a shared enjoyment of and sup port for women's sports. Most of the lesbians and bisexual women I interviewed described social involvement in a number of sites. I examined the WNBA as one such site and argue that it is uniquely different from these other venues.

(4) As I discuss below, the presence of heterosexual families with children at the games only enhances the experience of WNBA games as lesbian space.

(5) Because I only interviewed two bisexual women and since they were more similar to the lesbians than the heterosexual women I interviewed, I group the bisexual women together with the lesbians for the purposes of this discussion.

(6) One woman apiece identified as "Asian American," "Hispanic," "Cajun/French," "Caucasian and Middle Eastern," and "East Indian and British."

(7) The social aspects identified as important by these three heterosexual women were qualitatively different from those identified by lesbians who described the WNBA as a social event. One heterosexual fan is an assistant college coach and she enjoys seeing former players at the games and considers this a social time. The other two heterosexual women said that they are friendly with fans who sit around them but do not go to games to meet up with people they already know, as do many of the lesbian fans I talked to. These women also did not express the sense of WNBA games as a gathering place in the way that lesbian and bisexual women did.

(8) "Family" is a term used in everyday language by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people to refer to other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people.

(9) Though no formal statistics are kept, several newspaper articles estimate that lesbians comprise between 30% and 40% of the WNBA audience, clearly a substantial portion of WNBA ticket sales (Ackert. 2002; Carpenter. 2001: "Jockbeat.'" 2002). Additional anecdotal evidence supports the belief that lesbians make up a meaningful part of the audience. For example, Weir (2001) reported that the July 2001 Sacramento Monarchs game designated "Gay Pride Night" (played against the league-worst Detroit Shock) drew 1,507 more fans than the Monarchs' attendance average for the season and 1.001 more fans than the game 3 days earlier when the Monarchs played the Los Angeles Sparks. the team leading the Western Conference. Furthermore. Valerie Still, a heterosexual former WNBA player, claimed in an article in Seattle Weekly that more than half of the players in the league are lesbians (Azpiri, 2001).

(10) Since the interviews, Sue Wicks, a player for the New York Liberty, came out in the May 30-June 6. 2002. issue of Time Out New York (Ebiri, 2002). Wicks, since retired, remains the only WNBA player to publicly come out.

(11) I use the term queering with reference to queer theory's suggestion that "sexual categories shift and change" and are not fixed or essential (Esterberg, 1996, p. 262: cf. Jagose, 1996: Seidman. 1996 Stein & Plummer, 1994).

(12) This "sexuality blindness," the active not-seeing of sexuality, is commonly engaged in by lesbian and heterosexual fans who do not want the WNBA to become "too gay."

(13) In another part of the larger project, I found that the WNBA intentionally erases the current and historical association between women's sports and lesbians.

(14) It is noteworthy that even women like Joan who say they are not comfortable being publicly out at games still unabashedly engage in speculating. So although Joan is aware of the potential for violence from "skinheads" and "nuts" and does not think it is necessary to officially reveal her sexuality to "every stranger on the street." she thinks it is possible to identify the lesbians without any official coming out or declaration. The conflict many of the women may feel between being out and being safe is complicated but also eased by the speculating process, which never requires confirmation.

REFERENCES

Ackert, K. (2002, August 11). Progress report: Gays scoring points in fight for rights. Daily News, p. 56.

Alexander, J. (1999). Beyond identity: Queer values and community. Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity, 4, 293-314.

Azpiri, J. (2001, May 31). Gay-friendly Storm. Seattle Weekly, p. 15.

Bonfitto, V. F. (1997). The formation of a gay and lesbian identity and community in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, 1900-1970. Journal of Homosexuality, 33, 69-96.

Cahn, S. K. (1994). Coming on strong: Gender and sexuality in twentieth-century women's sport. New York: The Free Press. Carpenter, W. (2001, July 2). Storm cultivates loyal lesbian fans. Scripps Howard News Service.

Correll, S. (1995). The ethnography of an electronic bar. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 24, 270-298.

Ebiri, B. (2002). Liberty heights. Time Out New York Magazine, 348. Retrieved December 5, 2003, from http://www.timeoutny.com/hotseat/348/348.hotseat.html

Eder, D., Staggenborg, S., & Sudderth, L. (1995). The National Women's Music Festival: Collective identity and diversity in a lesbian-feminist community. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 23, 485-515.

Elwood, S. A. (2000). Lesbian living spaces: Multiple meanings of home. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 4, 11-27.

Esterberg, K. G. (1996). "A certain swagger when I walk": Performing lesbian identity. In S. Seidman (Ed.), Queer theory/sociology (pp. 259-279). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Franzen, T. (1993). Differences and identifies: Feminism in the Albuquerque lesbian community. Signs, 18, 891-906.

Gilmartin, K. (1996). "We weren't bar people": Middle-class lesbian identifies and cultural spaces. GLQ, 3, 1-51.

Griffin, P. (1998). Strong women, deep closets. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Jagose, A. (1996). Queer theory: An introduction. Washington Square, NY: New York University Press.

Jockbeat. (2002, August 13). Village Voice, p. 195.

Kennedy, E., & Davis, M. D. (1993). Boots of leather, slippers of gold: The history of a lesbian community. New York: Penguin Books.

Kidd, B. (1990). The men's cultural centre: Sports and the dynamic of women's oppression/men's repression. In M. A. Messner & D. F. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, men, and the gender order: Critical feminist perspectives (pp. 31-43). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Lockard, D. (1986). The lesbian community: An anthropological approach. Journal of Homosexuality, 11, 83-95.

Messner, M. A. (2002). Taking the field: Women, men, and sports. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Munt, S. R., Bassett, E. H., & O'Riordan, K. (2002). Virtually belonging: Risk, connectivity, and coming out on-line. International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, 7, 125-137.

Oswald, R. F. (2000). Family and friendship relationships after young women come out as bisexual and lesbian. Journal of Homosexuality, 38, 65-83.

Pronger, B. (1990). Gay jocks: A phenomenology of gay men in athletics. In M. A. Messner & D. F. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, men, and the gender order: Critical feminist perspectives (pp. 141-152). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.

Queen, R. M. (1998). "Stay queer!" "Never fear!": Building queer social networks. World Englishes, 17, 203-214.

Radway, J. A. (1984). Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular culture (Rev. ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Seidman, S. (1996). Introduction. In S. Seidman (Ed.), Queer theory/sociology (pp. 1-29). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Shively, J. (1992). Cowboys and Indians: Perceptions of Western films among American Indians and Anglos. American Sociological Review, 57, 725-34.

Stein, A. (1992). Sisters and queers: The decentering of lesbian feminism. Socialist Review, 22, 33-55.

Stein, A., & Plummer, K. (1994). "I can't even think straight": "Queer" theory and the missing sexual revolution in sociology. Sociological Theory, 12, 178-187.

Warner, M. (1992, June). From queer to eternity: An army of theorists cannot fail. Village Voice, Voice Literary Supplement, pp. 18-19.

Weir, T. (2001, July 24). WNBA sells diversity. USA Today, p. 1C.

Address correspondence to Susannah Dolance. Century College. Social and Behavioral Sciences Division, 3300 Century Avenue North. White Bear Lake. MN 55110: e-mail: [e-mail].

Susannah Dolance

Century College