Exam 2 Study Guide Topic 5 Theme 1 Power Sport and Masculinities De naturalizing the body and sex gender differences o De naturalizing look at the body and understand how gender differences are created and perpetuated o The active body is not a wholly natural entity It is a physical and social construction Body shape meanings size practices style identities and images all are influenced by society Social construction of the individual o Ideological formations institutional structures cultural practices and cultural texts form out experiences identities and bodies Sex system of classification determined by biological structure and function o Sex is a biological continuum Gender system of culturally determined roles expectations and identities associated with the two sex types Gender as corporeal performance o There is nothing natural about gender differences They are a learned behavior o Men are taught to occupy space while women are taught to take up little space Butler there is no gender identity behind the expression of gender identity is performativity constituted by the very expressions that are said to be its results o There is no innate expression of gender Everything we do that are normal masculine feminine activities we are reproducing said norms Video Clip 1 Judith Butler on Gender o Gender is preformative Preformative creates effects Gender is a phenomenon we play into it and are affected by it No one is a gender from the start We become our correct gender by the social constructs around us o Gender is culturally formed and we are policed into these genders Theme 2 Gender The Gender Binary and Patriarchy Gender A cultural binary o Binary There are two set genders that everyone fits in to Traditional gender binary Male o Leader o Aggressive o Powerful Female o Strong o Calm o Pragmatic o Subject o Superior o Follower o Passive o Powerless o Weak o Emotional o Romantic o Object o Inferior These create a hierarchy o Creates a patriarchy Patriarchy position of men Men hold the leadership positions o Where does this come from o A system of unequal gender roles identities and experiences which privilege the Males gained their social power and dominance through their relative physical strength aggression and violence Theme 3 Sport and Preformative Gender Difference More than any other social institution sport plays a central role in the constitution and advancement of our gendered being Sport is both gendered and gendering male attributes o Organized sport is considered to be male oriented thus normalizing and advancing Sport at a young age shows that there is little difference between male and female performance o Once you hit around 11 ideologies institutions practices and texts change the way that males and females perform and are expected to perform Ideological assumptions o Women are physically inferior to men o Men are more suited to excelling in sporting practices o Sport is predominantly male preserve where men are able to go be men and women are infiltrating that space Gender Binary is reflected in sports o Through sport the active and aggressive body is tied to the male identity o Traditional Male sports Football Hockey Basketball Boxing Baseball o Traditional Female Sports Volleyball Tennis Gymnastic Swimming Softball o Which are more popularly televised Theme 4 The hyper masculine center and performance of American sport culture The big 5 American sports baseball hockey boxing basketball and football are highly masculine are the highest publicized enjoyed Peripheral sports are not aggressive Hyper masculine embellished form of masculinity Masculinity is understood in relation to physicality o Sporting prowess o Physical aggression o Sexual conquest Sport is a patriarchal institution Messner o Gendered institutional center of American sport o Gymnastics o Golding o Tennis Hyper masculine sport performances o Physical strength and stamina o Physical toughness and bravery o Capacity for physical violence o Assumed heterosexuality o Unemotional pragmatism of the game Messner triad of violence o Violence against other athletes o Violence against themselves Normalization of playing through an injury No real emotional attachment to hurting someone on the field because its part Clip 2 Aussie team going to smash up the other team o Violence against outsiders Learned performance of masculinity if you are not masculine enough you could be socially rejected o Clip 3 British TV show showing that men can t be accepted without being masculine 0 watching soccer drinking beer etc Theme 5 The Sporting Performance of Hegemonic Masculinities Judith Butler fender is a performance on and through the body constructed and displayed through our bodily dress posture and structure Sport is hyper masculine o Physical strength and stamina o Capacity for physical violence o Assumed compulsory heterosexuality o Physical toughness and bravery o Unemotional pragmatism Hegemonic Masculinity What it means to be a man o Dominant way to look at masculinity Clip 4 o The commonly accepted and seemingly natural ideals of male form and male function o Men can take anything except the taste of Diet Cola o They are forced to show masculinity in this case being repeatedly injured only to say I m good Mosaic Masculinity their own o The process by which men negotiate masculinity o The way men are constantly working with and against the idea of masculinity to create Theme 6 Expressions of Sporting Hegemonic Masculinities Clip 5 MTV Ryan Harris football player Tells about how he constructs his own masculine physicality i e disciplining and modifying his body for performance Clip 6 Amateur body builders modifying bodies for function instead of performance What the male physic should look like Socio pyscho physiological problems o Reverse anorexia men seek out highly masculine bodies and in the process they are hurting themselves Exercising Masculinities the corporate body fit and healthy bodies have come to play an increasing role in the informal expression of masculinity for the professional male Why men want muscles o They are literally the embodiment of social power authority and control The embodied expression of hegemonic masculinity Expression of the norm masculine body Exercising is a way to fit into the traditional gender ideology which is a way to reinforce the dominant ideas of what it means to be a man Clip 7 The Tough guy idea Representative Masculinity being male by consuming spectacles of
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