Caroline Symons, The Gay Games. A History, London - New York, Routledge 2010, 302 s., ISBN 978-0-415-47296-8
Abstract
Although sport has a large influence on our notion of masculinity, femininity and sex, the relation between homosexuality and sport has not been analyzed enough yet. In 2010 the Routledge published a groundbreaking monography about Gay Games by the Australian expert Caroline Symons.
Symons has concentrated on researching the Gay Games since many years and as participant and one of the organizers of the games she knows this event better than someone else. However, this immersion into the mechanism of the games impeded her to see the theme critically.
The analysis of the sources, the stile and the structure of the book reveal a very biased and idealizing view on the Gay Games. Nevertheless, thanks to the interdisciplinary approach and new information "Gay Games.
A History" is a unique publication, which can provide some new impulses for the Czech historiography as well. In the Czech Republic the research into homosexuality and the history of sport is still at the beginning.