Abjection in sports: An ethical approach

Abstract

In her essay Powers of Horror, Julia Kristeva investigates the concept of abjection. Essentially, the term means “the state of being cast off” and according to Kristeva it is a feeling of disgust, filth and humiliation, things we tend to reject for becoming subjects and protecting identities. But as I will argue here, by rejecting athletes who dissolve the culturally strict boundaries in sports, the sports organizations become abjects themselves, and consequently evade moral responsibility.