Hyper-masculinity in Schools

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

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 men off the field. A recent study showed that men who participated in sport were more likely to conform to traditional forms of masculinity (Gage 2008). Another study linked the

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