Power Sport and Masculinities 05 19 2010 Topic 1 The structure agency debate and the de naturalized body The Key Sociological relationship Society structures institutions norms rules and ideologies Individual experience identity and values The Ontological Questions Structure Agency Determination Autonomy Constraint Freedom Society Individual The Society Individual relationship interactions between individuals Marx s Dialectic Ontology Society structures institutions norms rules and ideologies is made up of the social Individuals are thus both the products constituents and producers constitutors of society In other words people make their own lives individuals do actively pursue their lives there is a degree of human agency however their ability to shape their lives in particular ways is constrained by their social location within the society in which they live structure plays a role in shaping individual s resources experiences and opportunities C Wright Mills Social imagination Having focused on the macro issues of the social structures and processes shaping contemporary sport in the Module 1 we now turn to micro Specifically we focus on the active bodies their practices form identities and politics which exist and operate within contemporary society The active body is not natural it is a physical and social constructions The active body is shaped by as it helps to shape the social context environment in which it is located Topic 2 Unpacking sex and gender Sex a system of classification determined by biological structure and function In terms of culture language we only have two categories with which to understand sex differences male female hence we live our lives by falling into these loose approximations Gender a system of culturally determined roles expectations and identities associated with the There is nothing natural or essential about gender differences rather they are learned cultural norms and conventions through which our gendered selves experiences identities and bodies two sex types are created Gender a cultural binary The roles expectations and identities of males and females have through historical and social forces come to be understood as the gender opposites of masculinity and femininity Patriarchy a system of unequal gender roles identities and experiences which privilege the position of men Patriarchal institutions work in such as way as to assert Men and masculinity as being associated with social leadership power and authority Women and femininity as being associated with social support care and nurturing Topic 3 Sport and gender difference Perhaps more than any other social institution sport physical culture plays a central role in the constitution and advancement of our gendered beings Sport a gendered and gender differentiating culture of learnt physical practices bodies and identities Sport as a social institution is both gendered and gendering It is structured in dialectic relation to the dominant gender order and gender practices and gender identities within society Hence individuals become socialized into the gendered selves experiences identities and bodies through their particular involvement or lack of involvement in sport Organized sport is considered to be a male oriented social institution because as its 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 Violence Many organized sports are structured around particular attributes which are social expectations normal for males and social exceptions abnormal for females So males tend to be at a sporting advantage because within organized sport they are performing embodying the masculine norms they have been exposed to learnt through their experience in wider society among girls as well as boys Of course and 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 thereof As children mature socially and culturally as much as physically particularly 11 plus they learn and are channeled into gender specific physical cultures bodies and identities Gendered and sporting gendering ideological formations values beliefs ideas Ideological assumptions Women by the very fact of them being women are physically inferior to men Being more physically able and adept men are better suited to excelling in sporting practice Sport is a predominantly inferior women to its detriment Contemporary sport s gender binary This binary may be on extremes however elements of it continue to pervade most elements of contemporary sport culture Thus through sport the active and aggressive body became synonymous with the male body and Whilst through sport the female boy and femininity is further ties to expressions of creativity masculinity and passivity Topic 4 The hyper masculine center of American sport culture Sport could be said to be a patriarchal institution because it privileges males and both the attributes and practices traditionally associated with masculinity Hyper masculine sport performances Physical strength and stamina Physical toughness and bravery Capacity for physical violence Assumed compulsory heterosexuality Unemotional pragmatism could be viewed as follows 1 Violence against other athletes 2 Violence against themselves 3 Violence against outsiders capable of effective physical violence problems Topic 5 Sporting masculinities Clearly violence is a core and anticipated element of the hyper masculine sport performance Messner 2002 characterizes this as the triad of violence men s sport the dimensions of which Hyper masculine sport performance demand a body which is large muscular strong quick and So while hyper masculine organized sport culture may provide some benefits to participants there is little doubting that it also can lead to some very real physical psychological and social As Judith Butler 1990 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 Crucially there is no single masculinity Rather there are culturally and historically specific and oftentimes competing masculinities What is learned and expressed through mainstream sport culture tends to be the dominant understanding of masculinity within contemporary society Hegemonic masculinity the commonly