IRE researchers reveal the great distance between reality and the perception of queer and non-normative characters in sports series in an article in Palabra Clave

The study analyzes how audiovisual narrative perpetuates clichés that distort the reality of the LGTBIQ+ collective in the field of sport

The research of professors Anna Tous, Natividad Ramajo and the PhD student Elena Fedotova (UAB) and professor Raquel Crisóstomo (VIU), confirms the lack of visibility of non-normative identities in contemporary serial fiction. The research team examined a total of 208 characters from 15 series from Europe and the United States to measure the degree of real inclusion. Quantitative data reveal that the presence of queer characters was minimal, representing only 1.5% of the total and being mostly relegated to secondary roles. These figures show that, despite the apparent openness of the media, sports fiction still maintained a strongly heteronormative and white structure.

To deepen the impact of these representations, focus groups were made to collect the perceptions of the audience. The results showed a striking contradiction: while the data confirmed the under-representation, the participants expressed a sense of over-representation of LGBTIQ+ characters. This gap shows a cultural resistance and a biased perception that clashes directly with the scientific postulates of gender studies.

According to the research, the Les series of hockey or Ted Lasso stand out as positive references that promote acceptance and combat homophobia. However, the research concluded that most plots continued to use non-normative characters as one-off dramatic resources rather than organically integrating them. Once the results were analyzed, the need for new narratives that definitively broke with the clichés and the invisibility of the collective became clear.