According to Stephen Whitehead, the masculine subject is meant to capture the idea that everyone perceives and reacts to cultural discourses. There are two sides that Whitehead emphasizes when looking at masculine subjectivity, this includes: “1) Subjectivity of the individual and 2) Subject acted upon by cultural discourses” (Whitehead, 2002). Subjectivity is a practice, or an activity that involves masculine ontology. Masculine ontology is “the pursuit of being and becoming masculine by the masculine subject”(Whitehead, 2002). The ontological desire is the desire to have a self, and does not necessarily have to do with sexual desire. It is “the pursuit of being and becoming masculine by the masculine subject”(Whitehead, 2002). In pursuing …show more content…
In this specific case, focusing on the rejection of the other, we can turn to competitive sports and its connection to masculine heterosexual desire and the prominence on sexuality. Sport is a productive logic; it conditions the body to act a certain way. Sports gives us the idea that the way to go about living our lives is through this penetration, aggression and protecting the home front. The kind of ‘selves’ that are produced establish its wholeness by dominating space and excluding everything that gets rejected as the other. Pronger illustrates how sport colonizes desire and produces it in a narrower way, and gives us suggestions moving forward. He emphasizes that competitive sport is a discursive framework that produces particular kinds of bodies, selves and subjects. Pronger argues that such masculine learning begins when boys are initiated into male sport in which the phallic desire to penetrate and the anal desire to resist penetration are existent. “Boys raised on competitive sport learn to desire, learn to make connections according to the imperative to take space away from others and jealousy guard it for themselves”(Pronger, 382). This is specifically linked to the competitive sport of football. Pronger argues that
In the essay “Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain,” Don Sabo analyzes and opposes the patriarchal system that urge young men to live in agony and survive through the pain principle in order to have a place in society. Sabo opens up his case by telling the reader his personal bad experience with football and (82-83). He explains the reasons why he began to play football; he wanted to receive recognition and become someone to society (83). He then shifts to the pain he endured from playing football to prove himself to be a man (83). Sabo also mentions that women are starting to play football (82).
Many people have written articles about their experience with athletics, especially with high school and college-level athletics. Because athletics are so often intertwined with these formative moments in one’s life, as well as with normative ideals of masculinity, they are ideal contexts in which to write about gender identity. Thomas Rogers’ essay “The College Hazing that Changed My Life,” originally published on Salon.com in 2011, and Joe Mackall’s essay “Words of my Youth” both deal with athletics as a way into discussing gender identity. Although the essays are very different, they both deal with a very similar theme: how difficult it is to develop a masculine identity, particularly within a sporting context, in a world that is increasingly accepting of different gender identities.
One of the main ways that guys bond and prove their manhood is through the institution of sports. “Guys like sports because it is the easiest way to choose ‘guy’ over ‘gay’—and make sure everyone gets the right idea about them.” (128) Sports play a very important role in solidifying male camaraderie because it allows men to talk to each other without having to disclose anything personal
The article relates to sports because it refers to gender ideology because it identifies the “children as male and female” and the “roles of females and males in society” and this article describes how these children were treated according to status and gender (Coakley, 2015). This information coincides with information in our text. According to (Coakley 2015) organized youth sports children perceive them as a way “to enhance their status among their peers” robbing them of enjoying the sport because it is controlled by adults “that focus on the improvement which can
Transgendered people in America have made many great strides since the 1990s. They have encountered violence, lack of health care, and the loss of homes, jobs, family and friends. There have been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered in America over the years. The current phase we must be in now is equal rights. There are many variations of discrimination against the transgendered community. In our society we simply do not like what we do not understand. It is easier to discriminate than to try and understand. We are all created different and we should appreciate our differences. The change must come by addressing the views of the public. There is much justification in the unequal rights of transgendered peoples. The Human
fear of going home alone after play in the night deter them from participating. In situations where participants emigrate from countries where women are under constant attack in the night, they (participants or/and family members) still harbor fear of being attacked in the night although the participants say they are aware it is a safer environment for women in Calgary. Fear is due to past experience. For example, a women walking alone in the night is likely to be attacked in certain parts of the world. In this case, people are dressed as “bacha posh” (women are dressed as men) to avoid attacks. Such participants said since coming to Calgary, the disguise has been taken off so they feel exposed. Participants in situations like these will only
A sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Sports originated in early history as males only, and was often used to see which male was more dominant. In today’s society sports have a different meaning and is played by both genders, but still holds a mentality of superiority. In this essay, I will be arguing the Social Constructs of Masculinity in Sports in the language and the actions used when performing these activities through both genders and how some actions are acceptable for one gender and not for the other. Using Laurel Richardson’s article Gender Stereotyping in the English Language, and X: A Fabulous Child’s Story by Lois Gould. The article and story will help distinguish the use of words in our society and how they are incorporated in sport and how the actions of a person that does not fit the social standard faces repercussions for their actions.
When a person of a specific gender enters a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex, many social and moral issues will arise challenging that person involved in that particular sport. The intentions of the individual will be questioned as well as their personal interest in the sport. Before any of these questions are asked, there must be a redefinition of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity. In order for a person to enter a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex without being criticize about gender morality, society must set flexible definitions for femininity and masculinity.
Gay athletes have been deprived of jobs and opportunities ever since professional sports have been enacted. Some of these players are talented enough to play at the pro level, but the owners and commissioners have brought politics into the sports we love. Why is playing with gay athletes frowned upon? Even from a young age, boys are taught that playing sports with girls somehow makes you less of a man. These players have proven that they compete by playing at the collegiate level and they dominate. When it comes to draft day, nobody wants to be the team with the gay guy on their team. So, professional sports, why do you continue to judge players on their sexual orientation, rather than physical
Over the course of time, sports have come to signify masculinity; athletics such as football and basketball easily having come to deem where one fits in terms of societal norms regarding gendered bodies. One could argue that sports, in a modern context, have come to be synonymous with the idea of athletic and/or muscular bodies, which are those that are not regarded as the bodies of ideologically feminine ones given the intense and high pressure nature. In “Sports and Male Domination: The Female Athlete as Contested Ideological Terrain” written by Michael A. Messner in 1988 sheds light on the idea that traditional images of femininity have come to solidify male privilege through the construction and naturalization of gendered characteristics regarding women such as weakness, fragility and dependency .
In another research, Bryson (1987) found that sports have always been a construction of hegemonic masculinity. A sport such as football receives attention and is linked with masculinity where the use of force, violence or aggression can be seen. Women who attempt to do sport are merely challenging the hegemonic masculinity is already in place.
“Women who play men’s sport have constantly to negotiate their status in traditional cultural contexts of men’s power and privilege, and in a general discourse of femininity, patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality” (Craig & Beedie, 2008).
As the nation’s gender inequality continues to diminish, things like sports stereotypes, and labour force conflict cannot be understood without understanding the term of identity. Identity work is explained by Schwalbe and Mason-Schrock in 1996 as “anything people do, individually or collectively, to give meaning to themselves or others” (as cited in Ezzell, 2009, p. 1). I propose to examine inequality based on gender identity and in depth the process of stereotype issues, - how people construct stereotypes in gender inequality in the context of sport- among women Rugby. The academic literatures are based on gender identity/ inequality, where it provides many examples of individuals deflecting the norms “by ... creat[ing] a unique identity as heterosexy-fit— simultaneously tough, heterosexual, and conventionally attractive” (Ezzell, 2009, p. 14). With the intention of deflecting/ creating an exception to these norms, it only creates greater issues as not only does society view them in a certain way, but also the player themselves. The overarching goal of the proposal is to address the social issue and understand why society to this date gives harsh views towards women’s rugby with a common stereotypical view. As an illustration the views were described by Ezzell (2009) who conducted a personal communication with some female rugby players who stated that other views them as: “scary, butch lesbians,” “she-males,” “he-shes,” “lesbian man-beasts,” and “butch,
This study reveals much about the attitudes that persist in society today regarding sport and gender. Early on, sport was created to serve men, evolving as a celebration of maleness, valuing strength, power, and competition. It idealized, promoted, and rewarded successful, elite athletes, established “the dream” as a professional career in sports, and viewed mass participation in sport as a tool to weed out the weak (Hill, 1993). In contrast, women’s sports originated to “address the expressed need for healthful exercise” (Huckaby, 1994). Unlike the competitive warrior mode
There are many repercussions that are projected upon both men and women when they enter into a sport that typically isn’t thought of as gender appropriate. Some of those cultural and social stigmatisms may be abandonment by your peers, and friends questions regarding your sexuality, and even in some cases criticism as to how you are living your life. In some cases, it may lead to you not being accepted by either group, theone whose norems you are not following, of as well as the one with whom you are trying to get involved. This paper will address all of these issues and how these seemingly negative situations can, will, and are, leading to growth. It will also discuss how this is a situation where repercussions are