Masculinity, Language, and Culture
The readings for this week show how masculinity and ethnocentrism of "whites" are socially constructed. The article about why men love sports implies that it is one of the few socially acceptable ways for men and boys to express themselves and bond. Our society has constructed a definition for masculinity through sports play. Masculinity can be defined in relation to sports, as the author suggests, including agressive and competitive behavior, "being tough in the face of adversity, and dealing with injuries and pain." These characteristics are associated with masculinity in terms of typical gender roles as well. This leads me to believe that the concept of masculinity is socially constructed through social interactions, which sports provide. However, these interactions between men, competition through things like wrestling, have occurred before the term "sports" was created. In that way, masculinity seems to define sports.
As far as women in sports, I can see how male gender roles and asserting masculinity has kept women out of the sports realm. Socially, the two identities of femininity and masculinity are to be separate, where women in sports perhaps cross a socially constructed gender role, going against what is seen as "normal" exhibiting agression and competition.
The other articles dealt with language and culture. It is easy to see why racism persists in a "white" dominated society. The main idea is that "language shapes thought." It is quite disturbing how easy it is to lessen the weight of a word or just use a different word to shift the blame, as in the use of "economically disadvantaged" for poverty. This just allows one to ignore the issue rather than act on it. It is easier not to take responsibility. The study of words in the context of the article is the kind of information all teachers should be aware of in educating youth, especially those in history classes. I found the article about Chicano Spanish to be interesting as well. It is wrong that people who can relate to other groups, such as Americans and Mexicans in this case, but still have their own, unique identity are not fully accepted by the other groups.
Discussion Questions
1. In your opinion, is masculinity socially constructed primarily through sports or are there other things that provide its definition? What would be an effective change to allow for more socially encouraged female participation in sports?
2. How does the fact that "language shapes thought" play into the English-Only Movement? Is there anything that can alleviate the struggle faced with having an identity that doesn't "fit in" to a defined group, as in the Chicano Spanish struggles between Americans and Mexicans?
Comments
I believe that both masculinity and femininity are socially constructed through many forces that are not limited to sports. It is constructed by any social interaction. I think that each culture creates their own definition of a way a man and woman should behave, and people enforce it through the division of work, entertainment, and “appropriate� hobbies. In a thesaurus, synonyms for masculine are things like: bold, muscular, audacious, strong, courageous, gallant… Many of these things are typical characteristics expected out of men in our culture. In my opinion, masculinity has not only taken its definition through characteristics designated to “manliness�, but to oppose femininity. I am not sure why, but it seems that these words have gained enough social importance that they are nearly interchangeable with man and woman. In that sense, if sport are directly related to masculinity, (and therefore men) a woman in forced to give up part of a feminine identity to partake in the activity. Many of the adjectives desired in a good athlete are adjectives applied to masculinity. Eventually I think that the terms will be more loosely defined as women take on some of the same roles as men and vice versa.
Posted by: Christa Nicols | February 19, 2007 11:26 PM
I agree with the above comment that boith masculinity and feminity are not limited to sports. In our society, you can find gender segragation almost everywhere... from a public restroom to occupations. Men are dominated in certain jobs such as firefighters whereas women are usually related to "nurse". As the thesaurus says on the above comment, masculine is strong, bold, and muscular, which are the characteristics suitable to become a firefighter. A similar analogy is applied to femininity.
I do not sure that masculinity is constructed through sports. In my personal thought, besides being strong, bold, and muscular, it also means wealthy and intelligent, so they can actually have the ability to protect and provide a good enviornment for their women and children.
Posted by: Nhien Chau | February 20, 2007 10:56 AM
In response to how should socially encourage more female participation in sports, I think we should dress little girls up in jerseys and baseball hats.
Seriously, though, why does there have to be such an emphasis on sports? Why are sports so important? I know that the mainstream population thinks that everyone follows and loves and cares about sports, but how about placing less of an importance on sports? If you look at the way sports are treated on a college campus, you'll see that universities are paying for the education of college athletes. Something about the way that our society places sports on such a high pedastal makes it difficult to change the way that we view sports and gender, or even sports and race (if we are looking at issues with mascots). Sports have such an underlying class and status problem that go along with gender and race problems that it makes it difficult to change anything, because in order for one problem to disappear, the other must be addressed. Once we place less emphasis on the importance of sports, however, maybe it will become more equal for females, and more socially acceptable.
Posted by: Molly Kay | March 1, 2007 12:00 AM