Hyper-masculinity in School & Sport

From UBC Wiki

Overview

Hyper-masculinity is heavily encouraged in schools, yet is hardly addressed. Physical and Athletic prowess in school aged boys paves the way for social acceptance and success in the current system. Any young man will agree, those who are more successful in athletic endeavors, particularly heavy contact, aggressive sports like football or hockey have a much easier time earning acceptance in their respective communities. While those boys who choose not to or have little success at such hyper-masculinized activities have a much more difficult and unclear path to social acceptance in most school communities. However, normalized hyper-masculine attitudes have many heavy consequences of their own.


Masculine Social Norms

A jock in a varsity jacket bullying a nerd as popularized in many Hollywood films.

Masculine social norms are largely encouraged through organized sport. Win-at-all-costs attitudes, as well as the encouragement of aggressiveness in sport impose certain masculinity requirements that have negative effects for young men off the field [1]. A recent study showed that men who participated in sport were more likely to conform to traditional forms of masculinity [1]. On the field there is a natural hierarchy that takes place. Those that display high levels of aggression, competitiveness and dominance top these hierarchies [2]. In other words, organized sports cultivate an environment where those who adhere to masculine social norms in the highest degree are the most successful. The media encourages these norms as well by giving increased screen time to individuals who show high levels of aggression and intimidation. The media also gives increased screen time to "big hits" and "big crashes", thus encouraging high levels of violence in sport. As a result, there are many recorded incidences of an aggressive professional athlete taking their violence off the field: Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and Tiger Woods

School Bullying

Bullying is quite common in sports and has its negative effects in the school halls as well. Studies have linked a correlation between high school athletes and increased likelihood to engage in fights and binge drinking [3]. A common tradition of high school sports is Hazing.

Hazing embedded in sports culture

Hazing includes activities that are either humiliating, physically strenuous and or anything against the will of the individual. It is used as a passage of initiation to the team to promote team unity and respect for traditions. This tradition further promotes a harmful hierarchical system, where strong adherence to masculine social norms is strongly encouraged. High school athletes are often praised for their high levels of respect and discipline, but not much attention has been given to the potential harmful negative effects of such participation [3]. Successful athletes have a win at all costs attitude with a need to dominate their opponent and this carries off the field. This attitude is largely enforced by coaches [1]. In a 2005 study, 36 percent of coaches admitted to yelling at one of their athletes for making a mistake [4]. The combination of aggressive coaches, dangerous hierarchical systems, and encouraged violence and aggression has caused many high school athletes to take part in bullying, violence and sexual abuse.

Potential Remedies

Violence and aggression are deeply embedded in sport culture. It is largely overlooked, as high levels of aggression in sport are rewarded by fans and media with increased attention. The media can help reduce violence in sport, by reducing the hard hitting, rough playing replays and showing more and praising clean tactical play. Sports like football have begun to implement sharper punishments for unnecessary hits, particularly to the helmet and unsuspecting players [5]. Soccer has increased fines and upped the suspension days for off the ball acts of violence. Baseball is currently working to eliminate tactful and vengeful slides in to second base to stop double plays [5]. As the NFL, FIFA and MLB work to amend rules to reduce violence, it is suspected that the media and then the fans will view these acts as negative to the game [5]. This will trickle down to the younger players who should be taught from a young age to avoid unnecessary violence in games and practices. The next step is imposing sharper punishments on coaches that lash out at their athletes. They are in part responsible for perpetuating these win at all costs attitudes that have been harmful to athletes in their day-to-day lives. A recent law made New Jersey the first state to impose a no-nonsense sportsmanship law which is said to eliminate foul actions and chants from fans and players. However, coaches still remain impervious to the law [1]. The second step to reducing hyper-masculinity in school sports is to address this very concern. It has been shown through a study looking at abusive coaching techniques that yelling at athletes does not improve performance and in fact decreases a student athletes overall well-being. Finally, coaches need to not turn a blind eye to hazing and initiation of new members as well as the blatant bullying form members of the senior team to new comers. It is in this final area where real controversy lies and coaching philosophies clash.

Coach Kelly screams at Tommy Rees after a costly mistake in a college bowl game

Coaches work hard to create an element of team unity and mental toughness. They believe that and albeit have reason to believe that strong adherence to masculine social norms gives a young male the best chance to succeed at his sport. Football coaches in particular frequently yell at their athletes in negative ways. They often tell players to toughen up, play through the pain and instruct them to play recklessly in efforts to fire the team up [4]. By allowing the older members of the team to yell at and bully the new younger members, it takes some of the burden off the coach himself. In the coaches eye, some degree of bullying is seen as useful to the team. It is the first sacrifice that a younger member has to make for the team. He must endure harassment with fellow new members, which in a sense strips of him of his individuality and rebuilds his identity as a team member which encourages the dropping of his individual goals in place of those of the team. Secondly, bullying encourages mental toughness. It serves as a mediator to weed out the week under the belief that if you cannot take the bullying now then you will not be able to handle the stressors of this sport moving forward. Finally, it can serve as a punishment for making mistakes that the coach does not have to take the burden of addressing. Ultimately coaches allow bullying and hazing to occur for those reasons and most likely in part to their participation in the hyper-masculinized system of organized sport [4]. In addition coaches often have their jobs on the line based on the success of their team. The lack of job security of coaches encourages the win-at-all-costs attitude and increases their search for aggressive males who adhere to traditional masculine social norms. Coaches must be awarded job security based on athlete satisfaction rather than win percentage. This will encourage greater participation in sport, increase the number of top level athletes developing, prevent the deterioration of many student-athletes and ultimately the eradication of a harmful hierarchical system [2].

By amending crucial rules of contact sports, praising strategic clean play in media and enforcing stricter regulations on coaches at all levels, hyper-masculinity in male sports can be greatly reduced. This will decrease the amount of bullying in school, reduce acts of violence and aggression in school aged children and discourage risk taking behavior, such as binge drinking and drug use [6]. Hopefully, the reduction of hyper-masculinity in school and sport will prove to young boys that physical and athletic prowess is not the sole determinant of social acceptance and success. And that adherence to traditional masculine social norms does not predict your social status or ability in sport.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Flanagan, Linda. “The Real Bullies at School”. The Atlantic 2015. [1]
  2. 2.0 2.1 “The Effects of Bullying in Sports”. Sports Conflict Institute. [2]
  3. 3.0 3.1 Dailey, Kate. "Are Jocks Jerks? Kids, Sports and Life Lessons". Newsweek, 2009.[3]
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Brown, Michael. “The Relationship Between Ethical and Abusive Coaching Behaviors and Student-Athlete Well-Being”. American Psychological Association 2015. [4]
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 “Sports Violence”. US Legal-Sports Law. [5]
  6. Gardner, M., Roth, J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. “Sports participation and juvenile delinquency: The role of the peer context among adolescent boys and girls with varied histories of problem behavior”. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 341-353. 2009. [6]