{"id":2167,"date":"2011-02-24T23:52:39","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T04:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2011-02-24T23:52:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-25T04:52:39","slug":"bedside-manners-fallen-gridiron-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2011\/02\/24\/bedside-manners-fallen-gridiron-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"BEDSIDE MANNERS: Fallen Gridiron Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have said it\u00a0before about sexually transmitted diseases and HPV vaccines<\/a>, and now I will say it again about brain trauma and football — men’s health is a feminist issue<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in 2007, a NYT article covered “Wives United by Husbands’ Post-N.F.L. Trauma<\/a>” whose activism motivated the NFL creating the “88 Plan<\/a>” to provide dementia benefits.\u00a0 Then, in\u00a02008, a LA Times op-ed proclaimed, “The NFL’s in denial about depression<\/a>.”\u00a0 This week, the\u00a0NYT article “A Suicide, a Last Request, a Family’s Questions<\/a>” added yet another tragedy to the\u00a0growing number of media stories about the physically and psychologically devastating consequences for NFL players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I\u00a0read it, I found myself flashing back\u00a0to when I was an undergrad and first read sociologist Michael Messner<\/a>‘s academic article, “When bodies are weapons: Masculinity and violence in Sport<\/a>.” What does it mean for boys and men — and for all of us — when\u00a0 \u00a0not only normalize but also\u00a0reward boys and men for using their bodies as weapons?<\/p>\n

Check out the\u00a0abstract (bold font added for emphasis):<\/p>\n

This paper utilizes a feminist theoretical framework to explore the contemporary social meanings of sports violence. Two levels of meaning are explored: first, the broad, socio-cultural and ideological meanings of sports violence as mediated spectacle<\/strong>; second, the meanings which male athletes themselves construct<\/strong>. On the social\/ideological level, the analysis draws on an emergent critical\/feminist literature which theoretically and historically situates sports violence as a practice which helps to construct hegemonic masculinity<\/strong>. And drawing on my own in-depth interviews with male former athletes, a feminist theory of gender identity is utilized to examine the meanings which athletes themselves construct around their own participation in violent sports<\/strong>. Finally, the links between these two levels of analysis are tentatively explored: how does the athlete’s construction of meaning surrounding his participation in violent sports connect with the larger social construction of masculinities and men’s power relations with women<\/strong>?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mainstream U.S. society continues to validate a very narrow construction of socially acceptable masculinity.\u00a0 When I teach the Sexuality and Society<\/em> course at CLU<\/a>, I ask my undergrad students to tell me the traits of an “ideal” man.\u00a0 Each time, a new group of students generate basically the same list which includes being\u00a0heterosexual, tall, muscular\/physically strong, and a “protector.”\u00a0 With this clear and consistent construction of masculine bodies, it’s not a surprise that the NFL continues to attract players who are willing to sacrifice their health and fans who enjoy the spectacle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lure of\u00a0the N.F.L. — the glory of hyper-masculinity — masks the still unmeasurable damage that these players (and their families) endure.\u00a0 Their sacrifices allow ‘armchair athletes’ to vicariously revel in battles on the gridiron.\u00a0 These\u00a0warriors, ill-protected by\u00a0sports gear masquerading as armor, are paying steep prices for embodying\u00a0unrealistic and unhealthy ideals of what it means to be a man in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As\u00a0research studies work to document the ways in which\u00a0this\u00a0sport consistently results in life-changing injuries (and sometimes life-ending conditions), we owe it to\u00a0boys and men to challenge the status quo.\u00a0 But, how can we hope to\u00a0do\u00a0this if,\u00a0as one political science blogger suggested,\u00a0“Americans have begun to construe access to football spectating as a social right<\/a>“?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have said it\u00a0before about sexually transmitted diseases and HPV vaccines, and now I will say it again about brain trauma and football — men’s health is a feminist issue.\u00a0 Back in 2007, a NYT article covered “Wives United by Husbands’ Post-N.F.L. Trauma” whose activism motivated the NFL creating the “88 Plan” to provide dementia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1918,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21094],"tags":[2397,245,21387,1976,876,133,100],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bedside-manners","tag-boys","tag-feminism","tag-gender-studies","tag-masculinity","tag-men","tag-violence","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1918"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}