Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Self-Concept Gender Schemas of Women Practitioners of Culturally Masculine Sports

This study aimed to assess sexual orientation, gender identity and psychological gender profile of women athletes engaged in culturally masculine sports (soccer, futsal, Muay-Thai, judo, jiu-jitsu), then to compare sports in relation these three constructs. The sample included 193 women with a mean age of 22.80 ± 5.38 years, of which, 141 (74.21%) reported themselves to be heterosexual, and 99 (51.83%) as androgynous. The psychological gender profiles were 102 (52.85%) feminine heteroschematic. There are no association between gender constructs. The women differed in psychological gender profile dimensions, in which the most evident in masculine schema was audacity and in feminine schema social adjustment. It is concluded that the sexual identity of these female athletes in these sports does not have a predominance of lesbians, masculine nor masculine heteroschematic. However, there may be dimensions of masculinity and femininity of the gender schema that are necessary for women to practice these spots. Thus, the traditional stereotype applied to these women as lesbian does not have any scientific support.