GRSJ224/ MasculinityandSportsInjuries

Hegemonic Masculinity and Sports Injury


Hegemonic masculinity is defined as an application that attempts to validate a society dominated by men and justifies the subordination of women and other different ways of being a man (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005). Although the inequality that women face is a larger issue in need of attention, men are also impacted. Society has expectations that men be brave, tough and even violent. These beliefs transfer over to many things, one of those being sports. Coaches, players, family and community members provide influence to live up to these standards causing athletes to play through injuries in order to preserve their masculinity and social status. 




Social pressures associated with Injury

Young and White believe that contact sports help establish a persona of toughness, generating a manly image while distancing the individual from being labeled as soft. Choosing to not participate in these sports will prevent the participant from being able to identify with idols while also risking alienation from other males, threatening their perceived masculinity. Messner describes a case of a popular multi-sport athlete in high school who had a season ending knee injury before the state championship game (Messner, 1990). This athlete’s identity and masculinity were heavily tied to his athletic ability and his injury started this all to fall apart. Coaches inquired if he was faking it, players called him a “sissy” and the community blamed him for his teams loss. This impacted his status in the community from a star to a disappointment. In team sports, players are expected to be a team player, putting the team before themselves. In many cases this mentality promotes masculine behaviour as mental and physical toughness and bravery is deemed heroic as players risk injury of further injury for the sake of the team (Anderson, 2018). If an athlete decides not to participate in competition due to non-serious injury, it is frowned upon. Not only can this cause separation between the injured individual, the coaching staff and other team members, but questions regarding masculinity. In today’s society, masculine men are portrayed as heroes who can overcome insurmountable odds to save the day even if they’re risking their own well-being. Many players who attempt to compete through injury risk chronic pain in the future as one shining moment can cause a lifetime of pain.





NFL Athletes



Professional athletes face similar expectations regarding masculinity and injury except it can destroy their careers. Professional teams want to draft players into their organizations who display toughness and can fight through adversity no matter the obstacle. As teams pursue championships, teams will do whatever it takes to garner wins to help solidify their position within the organization. In the NFL, concussions have been a issue of huge concern as traumatic brain injuries. Football is a game ruled by physicality and violence as masculinity runs rampant upon the football field as crushing hits are celebrated by arenas overflowing with fans. A recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 110 out of 111 deceased NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is a degenerative brain disorder linked with repetitive head injuries (Mez et al., 2017). As football is a contact sport, head on collisions are bound to happen causing various degrees of concussions. Unless there are serious symptoms, many players play through these brain traumas because “it’s a part of the game.” If players refuse to play they can miss out on contractual bonuses, disappoint fans and teammates, and can seriously impact future contract negotiations. The NFL has 16 games per season and if a player consistently misses games due to injury, no matter the severity, his durability and toughness will come into question. This can alter their image causing them to not be considered masculine or tough so many play through pain in search of their next big pay day. 






Solutions



In order for change to occur regarding the linkages between injuries and masculinity there needs to be a societal shift. Masculinity should not be defined as your ability to endure pain, especially when it can lead to injuries that can plague you for the rest of your life. Injury awareness is improving but has a long way to go before it’s at an acceptable place especially regarding concussion protocol in sports like football. As much as sports are about teamwork and comradery, players should never have to experience pressures from anyone that would make them do something that could hurt their future. Society sets expectations way too high on all genders to conform to standards that are unachievable and damaging to their own self-worth and identity. Telling athletes to "man up" and "walk it off" won't do anything to help society grow collectively. If we can change the way we view masculinity without it being viewed with a such a narrow scope of physicality and violence, the world would be a better place.

References

Anderson, E. (2018). Masculinity and Sport-Induced Head Trauma. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/masculinity-today/201210/masculinity-and-sport-induced-head-trauma-1 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].

Connell, R. and Messerschmidt, J. (2005). Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept. [online] Sage Journals. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0891243205278639 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].

McKay, J., Messner, M. and Sabo, D. (2000). Masculinities, Gender Relations, and Sport. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Incorporated.

Messner, M. (1990). When bodies are weapons: Masculinity and violence in Sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 25(3), pp.203-220.

Mez, J., Daneshvar, D., Kiernan, P., Abdolmohammadi, B., Alvarez, V., Huber, B., Alosco, M., Solomon, T., Nowinski, C., McHale, L., Cormier, K., Kubilus, C., Martin, B., Murphy, L., Baugh, C., Montenigro, P., Chaisson, C., Tripodis, Y., Kowall, N., Weuve, J., McClean, M., Cantu, R., Goldstein, L., Katz, D., Stern, R., Stein, T. and McKee, A. (2018). Clinicopathological Evaluation of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Players of American Football. [online] Jamanetwork.com. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2645104 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].

White, P. and Young, K. (1994). Body Talk: Male Athletes Re ect on Sport, Injury, and Pain. [online] Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.919.9101&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].