Male Boarding Bodies: Pleasure, Pain, and Performance(Review) Canon/logic/hegemony • Canon: established body of literature or way of understanding; considered important, enduring, timeless. • Sports canon: fit, young, male, team, traditional American sports. • Gender logic: Perspectives and ideas favored and promoted by dominant/powerful groups in society; seem to be natural or commonsense. • Hegemony: power or dominance of a value, belief, idea, norm, custom, etc.(Review) Binaries • Modern humans commonly think in terms of binaries—One part of the binary is thought to be positive while the other might be subtly or unconsciously understood as “pathological”— negative, weak sick, deviant. As time passes, pathologies change. It is not bad to think in binary terms, but we do need to be aware of what this binary thinking means in terms of how changing conceptions of self, gender, sub-culture, etc. are used to judge and understand others.• “Men’s embodied practices cannot be understood through binaries of domination and resistance, but rather involve more complex processes of investment and negotiation” (Thorpe, p. 190). • Masculine reflexivity in physical cultures is uneven and discontinuous; there is movement between social fields; sometimes within fields men reconcile dissonant experiences (paraphrased from p. 190).Snowboarding canon • “Traditionally viewed as an activity best suited to young, white, hedonistic rebellious males” (Thorpe, p. 169). • Hypermasculine, financial independence, partying, heterosexual prowess also combined to create cultural idea that appealed to adolescent males.Snowboarders in 2010 • 6.1 million • 67.2% male • ages 12-24: 57.7% • Percent who have household income of $100,000 or more: 44.5% • # of snowboard fatalities 12 M / 1 F • # of paralysis, serious head injuries 23 M / 7 F • http://www.statisticbrain.com/snowboarding-statistics/Rite of passage • An event, usually formalized, that marks the movement of a person from one status to another. • Across culture and time, rites of passage common that mark transition from child to adult; male rites of passage sometimes involve bodily marking, pain, or performance. • Modern developed society said to lack formal rites of passage for adolescents, thus use of driving fast, sport performance, alcohol, drug use, and other illegal activities as informal rites of passage. (Families and religion may have formal rites of passage).Agon motif • Agon motif – one theses about the origin of sport. This thesis says that sport is tied to human instinct to compete and to be the best among peers. Historically and culturally, this motif takes different forms and degrees. • Other sport origin theories: vegetation, funeral, catastrophic, ancient Greek, civilizingFratriarchies • Connected to agon motif in human culture. Groupings of (usually) young males in societies of same age range and interests; may undertake rite(s) of passage together. • Within a fratriarchy men “compete for prestige through demonstrations of physical prowess, courage, and gameness” (Thorpe, p. 178).Snowboarding fratriarchy • Fosters male domination by bringing men together keeping men together; works to put women down or exclude them. • The fraternal structure of snowboarding culture devalues women as part of a process to help men define their masculinity. Ridiculing and humiliating women helps strengthen fraternal bonds and reinforce male domination • Thorpe, pp. 180-182).Agon • agon • agones • agonistic • agonyAgon Motif • contest • Recurring phenomenon • Deeply embedded cultural formMajor types of agon • Warfare • Physical and verbal duels • Hunting • Athletic competitions • Any activity in life /culture in which people compete with their peers. • Zero-sum game: someone can win only if someone else loses • Non-zero sum game: all players can gain relative to their own starting pointsCharacteristics • Intense spirit of rivalry and competition • Strong stress on individualism • Extreme emphasis of the pursuit of fame, glory and honor • Contest is “between and among peers.” • “to be the first among equals” • Underlying ethical /moral framework • Not just a free-for-all • Agon may be physical but also “moral games”Specific do’s and don'ts codes of honor • One must possess certain personal qualities before being permitted to compete • Rules and regulations • Levels of competition • Certain rewardsHow rewarded? • Prestige • Gift mode of exchange: Players give something (athletic performance) in exchange for prestige, for being known as best, for monetary reward, etc.Sport • The most paradigmatic example of agon in contemporary life?Problems • Much stress on individuals • More likely to break the rules • The more successful a person is, the less secure and more endangered by her/his peers • The higher the ranking of the victor, the greater the victory over them. • Person at the top is never at ease. Must always prove oneself best• Becoming the best • Testing the best • Beating the best • Being the bestThorpe on masculinities and gender• Grommets, The Bros, The Old Guys • Snowboarding field (as used by Bourdieu) is site of struggles where various agents attempt to negotiate, transform, and preserve the legitimate meanings and use of the boarding body. Gender relations within it not fixed but inherently contested by those within the field (paraphrased from Thorpe, p. 191). • some men “experience conflicts between different concepts of order and ways of behaving that generate questions as to the naturalness of established gender practices” (p. 186). • (“This would not be accepted at my workplace, so why should it be ok on the mountain?” p. 187). • Traditional gender roles nullified, reinforced, and/ or transformed• What is sport? • Do humans have feminine and masculine natures that predetermine their actions and destinies? • Application of material studied to other sports and other cultural