Masculinity: Expectations of Male Athletes

      A typical view of athletes in high school is the football players who tend to be classified as jocks. There is a stigma of what an athlete should be and that is normally a masculine football player who puts his all in the game. In the school setting there is a social hierarchy and the jocks are seen to be at the top. The kings, rulers of the school and typically the stars of their home towns. Parents believe that team sports will teach their sons to be team players and teach them moral character. High school athletes are also pressured by their peers to participate in sports because that would make them more accepted in the hierarchy. There is also a sense of higher self-esteem in student athletes though that could be because of their actual success or the glorification of male athletes in the U.S. (Anderson 262-264). These male athletes have the expectations of their entire lives being surrounded by their sport, and they are also supposed to be seen as faster, stronger, and better at their sports than their female counterparts.

      Male sports teams promote masculinity and feel that every team member should be giving everything they have at all times and those are the norms that should be followed. There are people who feel that being a part of a team that encourages this type of all or nothing masculinity promotes the loss of each team members sense of self. They lose who they are because these athletes are too focused on the benefits of the team. Athletes are told that their sport should be their top priority and if it isn't or if they refuse to make the sacrifices they are not team players. There is also a stigma that if they do not follow the rules of masculinity and being a strong and powerful athlete they are given a mark of shame. This is why many gay athletes tend to hide their sexual orientation until late into their athletic career or even as late as after they have retired. The higher up an athlete is in the hierarchy the farther they actually have to fall, which prevents those who may not want to follow the rules from actually speaking their minds. If an athlete does not follow the rules of masculinity he may be seen as weak or unsuccessful. One reason they do not want to be seen as different is because they do not want to be seen as failures because not being masculine enough is seen as not being athletic or as serious in the sport as everyone expects them to be (Anderson 261-268).

      Orthodox masculinity shows homophobia, sexist, and anti-feminine tendencies and is typically what we see in males who are athletes (Anderson 258). Though many high school games are typically only broadcasting locally, we also get to see a lot of male sports covered by major television channels and newspapers. There is more male coverage in sports than female sports teams covered whether it is professional sports or just a local town newspaper (Messner, Duncan, and Jensen 123). Men dominate the sports culture and are seen to be superior because of the fact that they are stronger and win when it comes to having bigger muscles (Messner, Duncan, and Jensen 121-122). This difference in strength is why there is a separation of men and women in sports. This segregation is said to be protecting the women from the violence of them men (Anderson 258). There is also a difference between how men and women are seen in sports. If a man succeeds it is typically attributed to his talent and strength whereas if a woman athlete succeeds she is said to be lucky. On the other hand a male athlete's failure is linked to the opponents success and strength while a female athlete's failure is said to be because she is unfocused or does not have her head in the game. Female athletes are also identified by their gender during television broadcast of their games while male athletes were never labeled by gender. This includes the females being called young women, ladies, or girls while males were typically only identified as men or young men never boys (Messner, Duncan, and Jensen 126-130).

      Sports have always had a stigma of promoting masculinity in one way or another, and there will also always be a difference between male and female athletics. If an athlete does not give their all during a game does not mean that they are not masculine. Men who do not prove to be masculine have people who view them as nonathletic. Masculinity does not make an athlete, there are many athletes out there who are aggressive on the field or the court but outside their sports they can be seen as feminine. The reason that male sports get more news time than female sports is because as a society we focus on the attractiveness of the strength and power of male sports and not just on the talent of the athletes.  

-Lyndsey

Works Cited

Anderson, Eric. ""I Used to Think Women Were Weak": Orthodox Masculinity, Gender Segregation, and Sport." Sociological Forum 23.2 (2008): 257-80. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb. 2013 <http://jstor.org/stable/20110264>.

Messner, M. A., M. C. Duncan, and K. Jensen. "SEPARATING THE MEN FROM THE GIRLS:: The Gendered Language of Televised Sports." Gender & Society 7.1 (1993): 121-37. JSTOR. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. <http://jstor.org/stable/190027>.

Lesbians in Professional Sport

     Today I will be discussing the stigmas that women face in professional sports.  "The image of women athletes as mannish, failed heterosexuals represents a thinly veiled reference to lesbianism in sport" (Cahn, pg. 343).  Typically, women that participate in professional sports are questioned about their femininity and sexuality.  There are stereotypes all throughout women's professional sports against women and the idea that they are all lesbians, when, in fact, this is not nearly true.  Though some female professional athletes, such as Martina Navratilova came out of the closet as lesbians, it would be unfair to say that this is true of all female athletes.  I believe that the ideas that the world have about femininity and masculinity affect the way that people view athletes, and as athleticism is generally viewed as a masculine trait, people assume that female athletes are masculine.  This leads into the question of homophobia against lesbians and more generally women in professional sports.  "Manifestations of homophobia in women's sports can be divided into six categories: (a) silence, (b) denial, (c) apology, (d) promotion of a heterosexy image, (e) attacks on lesbians, and (f) preference for male coaches" (Griffin, pg. 253).  There are many ways that homosexual women in sports have to (or choose to) hide their sexuality from others because they are afraid of public scorn.  As the previous quote shows, different women choose different ways of showing their sexuality in public.  Most generally they choose to remain silent about their sexuality until after they have retired from the sport that they played.

     There are many problems that women face when they are involved in professional sports.  If they are heterosexual, then they are questioned about their femininity from the public and may find it harder to find somebody to be with.  On the other hand, women in professional sports that are lesbians face a much different hardship.  Either they choose to hide their homosexuality from the public in order to avoid stereotyping, or they have to deal with the backlash and questions of people that do not approve of their sexuality or the scorn of other athletes that would not approve of being in the same dressing room if they are gay.

     I hope that one day our society is able to remove the stereotyping of homophobia in sports, both for women and for men.  I hope that one day people are allowed to be open with their feelings and sexuality without the worry that they will be criticized for how they choose to live their lives and how they see themselves as a person.  Maybe one day our society will evolve and we will not deal with these issues, but for now we need to continue to raise awareness and help our society move in the right direction.

--Andrew Novak

Works Cited

Cahn, Susan K. "From the "Muscle Moll" to the "Butch" Ballplayer: Mannishness, Lesbianism, and Homophobia in U.S. Women's Sport." Feminist Studies 19.2 (1993): 343-68. Print.

Griffin, Pat. "Changing the Game: Homophobia, Sexism, and Lesbians in Sport." Quest 44.2 (1992): 251-65. Web.

Women in Sports

Hello everyone! I am Elise and in these posts I will be discussing women's sports, women in sports, and the idea of femininity in sports. Typically, when one thinks of female sports they think things like gymnastics, volleyball, or even dancing and cheerleading. Most often, women are not widely considered in mainstream sports such as basketball or baseball, these sports are seen as predominately masculine and often women who participate in this sports are thought to be masculine themselves. In my posts, I will be discussing all women's sports from cheerleading to competitive weight lifting, and I hope to convey the idea that women who compete in athletics are not masculine and that they can bring their own strength and femininity into whatever sport they choose to compete in. I look forward to researching this topic and hope to see feedback!

Intro to Men, Masculinity, and Sports

Hello,
My name is Lyndsey Tollas. In my portion of the blog I will be discussing the views of men and masculinity in the sports world. When we hear the term athlete our minds almost always go to some type of male sports team. What makes us feel that sports are masculine activities. Most of the time when we hear the term sports teams we think of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, and college basketball. There are many other different sports leagues, but these are the ones that are typically in the media. We are all aware that some sports are seen as more masculine than others that are seen to be feminine. There are female athletes that take part in the sports that are said to be masculine, does that make these females masculine?

I look forward to discussing the aspects of the masculinity side of the athletic world. What makes sports masculine? Why are some sports seen as masculine but others are not? Why in society do we associate more with the male sports than the female counterparts? Why does participating in certain sports make people appear masculine? I believe that this will be a chance to see the cause and view of masculinity in the sports world.

-Lyndsey Tollas