Gender constantly changing therefore a social construction There is nothing natural or essential about gender differences A cultural binary Masculine and feminine traits tend to be opposites The binary truly matters because it establishes a hierarchy Places men and masculinity as dominant Masculinity and men are seen as superior to women and femininity This is solidified within the system of patriarchy Expects women to take subordinate roles to men o Institutionalized into families media sport finances businesses Where do patriarchal relations come from Why is it that in most societies men are viewed as occupying a position of power and authority Males gained their social power and dominance through their relative physical strength aggression and violence These traits granted men positions of leadership and authority over others Judith Butler famously noted gender is a performance on and through the body We construct and display our gendered selves through our bodily dress posture and structure Sport is one of the main institutions that helps constitute and reinforce gender meanings A gendered and gender differentiating culture of learn physical practices bodies and identities Organized sport is considered to be a male oriented social institution because at it s core are sporting practices which are based upon and thereby both normalize and advance personal attributes traditionally associated with males and masculinity strength toughness aggression and violence Many organized sports are structured around particular attributes with are social expectations or normal for males and social exceptions or abnormal for females o Men tend to be at a sporting advantage because they re preforming and embodying the masculine norms they have already been exposed to learnt throughout their childhood Of course any observer of youth sport at the lower age levels under 11 especially is likely to observe similar expressions of strength toughness aggression and violence or lack there of between boys and girls As they mature socially and culturally as much as physically they learn and are channeled into gender specific physical cultures Ideological Assumptions men Women because they are women are physically inferior to Being more physically able and adept men are better suited to excelling in sporting practices Sport is a predominantly male preserve infiltrated by physically inferior women to its detriment Gendered and Gendering Sporting Cultural Practices Lacrosse and Sex Gender Differentiation The game is structured in order to encourage men to play more aggressively and women to play more gracefully Through sport the active and aggressive body became synonymous with the male gender and masculinity As sport traditionally has been a practice through which males prove their masculinity sporting participation is closely linked to perception of one s sexual preferences