Jason Collins, Masculinity, and Sports

I always liked playing softball. I played every summer recreationally from when I was a kid living in Arizona through high school. When I played in my high school summers, it was probably the only place where it was normal not to wear makeup or jewelry. Makeup will just sweat off and jewelry (like earrings) could be caught or ripped off. Playing softball was probably the only time that I fit in because I don't wear makeup or jewelry.

I lead off with softball because we talked in class about gender in sports. Specifically the masculinity that partaking in sport imbues on its players. Sports is one of the few areas that I can think of where men can interact closely without the "gay" label placed upon them because of the perceived inherent masculinity of sports. This masculinity applies to not only men but women as well. And that's the reason why it isn't a big deal when women come out in sports.

When women come out in sports, it isn't unexpected. On the other hand, Jason Collins's coming out story will probably be the biggest sports news of the year. Of course, a part of this is due to the importance that the United States places on the Big 4 male sports (baseball, football, hockey, and basketball) because many others in different sports have come out over the years (here is even a top 10 list of those who came out last year) some during their tenures as professional athletes and a lot from after their retirements. But also, because being gay somehow clashes with the ideal of masculinity that is inherent in sports. This article gives a good breakdown of these ideals. This isn't to demean Collins's coming out or make it any less of a big deal, because it is a big deal. And I think that whenever a famous person comes out it will continue to be a big deal for a long time.

The inherent idea that to play sports you have to be hegemonically masculine is problematic. It prevents both men and women in sports from coming out. For men they are going to have to fight harder and play more aggressively to be seen as equally as masculine and capable as their heterosexual teammates and for women they have to fight to maintain an image of femininity.

The Persisting Fag Culture

Reading CJ Pascoe's Dude You're a Fag made me think a lot. In high school, I hung out with the theatre kids most of the time. They were just my crowd. And like the theatre kids in the book, I was pretty isolated from the "fag culture" that pervades a lot of high school. As I was reading the book, I was a little appalled at the behavior described and I was appalled by the behavior that teachers just allowed. But as I was reading it, I could imagine that if my high school experience wasn't so isolated from the normal high school crowd, if I didn't spend my time in the "smart" classes or if my extracurriculars consisted of more than theatre, math club, and scholar bowl, that I would have easily seen this kind of behavior. I would have been more exposed to the culture that Pascoe described.

But as I was reading, the one place that it really stood out to me is the residence hall I live in. Pascoe mentioned that females didn't carry out the fag discourse as often as males did, so it is a little surprising that where I see this behavior the most often is the all female dorm. And it is used very much in the same way. It isn't ever thrown at one resident to another, but most often it is used by the female residents when males come to visit. When a male jokingly imitates stereotypical behavior or hangs around like a love sick puppy dog, you can hear down the hallway "You're such a fag." Whenever, I am around, I attempt to stop this language (something that is very ingrained into us during our 1 week of intensive training), but it always strikes me as odd. I hear "fag" used offensively way more than I hear "gay" used offensively which really surprises me.

It goes back to what Pascoe said, it wasn't about being homosexual, it was about masculinity. Being called a "fag" reflects a loss of masculinity. As she says, you can still be gay and masculine (as one boy said, it doesn't stop you from being able to throw a football), but it is that loss of masculinity which really drives the fag discourse.

Again as much as I am surprised, at the very same time I am not. Most of these women were popular in high school. The students that they hung out with weren't the theatre kids, they were the jocks. They were the cheerleaders and they were the popular kids. In a way, they were the ones that most adhered to the stereotypical norms in regards to gender. It shouldn't surprise me that they enforce this idea of masculinity that arises from high school. I think what surprises me most is that I didn't see this around me until my senior year of college. Because there is no way that it hadn't been happening before.

Anyway, if you get a chance, I would recommend Dude You're a Fag, I might reference that book again sometime later (especially the chapter regarding female masculinity, which probably resonated with me the most), but for now this is all I have regarding it. Except, I will say, I wish that maybe she had talked a little bit more about how women partake in the fag discourse. I believe she mentioned that women were not nearly as involved in it, but at the same time, through my own observations, women are as embedded in the fag discourse as men. It would be interesting to observe how different women see and partake in the discourse. 

The BeyonceBowl...or Women and Power

All right guys, I am sure we all watched the Beyonce Bowl this past Sunday. Football game? Psshaw, who cares about the Ravens or the 49ers? I think that we can all agree, Beyonce was the true winner of the Super Bowl. In this day and age, having a post about Beyonce less than a week after the Super Bowl is still too late to really be a part of the cultural zeitgeist, but whatever. Let's be real, Beyonce is never culturally irrelevant. 

To start with, I am an RA in an all women's residence hall. So after the Super Bowl I asked like all of my residents about how they felt about Beyonce's performance (I was still on a super Beyonce high at that point), and obviously they all loved it (which is a good thing because I love all my residents dearly and it would be heartbreaking to have to disown one for not loving Beyonce). But what was interesting was that during our conversation they were struggling to find the word "power" and instead repeatedly came  up with "masculine." They knew that "masculine" wasn't the word they were looking for, but at the same time power wasn't something that immediately came to mind.

Both Prudence Carter and C. J. Pascoe discuss masculinity in their writings. About how masculinity is associated with dominance and power. And how for males, the idea of not being masculine is almost a sign of weakness. For females it is a different case. Showing typical traits associated with masculinity don't make a female weak, and Carter even mentions that females aren't supposed to seem to "soft" (that is, feminine) either.

So why is femininity such a sign of weakness? Why is power and dominance attached to masculinity while weakness and submissiveness attached to femininity? And why is it that those sometimes less desirable traits are the traits that are traditionally forced upon the women of society?

That's what I like about Beyonce though. She is somebody who is very classically beautiful, hot, and feminine  but at the same time she exudes power and dominance. She has obvious sex appeal but at the same time, it seems that her appeal is less for pleasing men and provocation, than it is a conscious display of power over her own image.

I feel like I got a little lost with some of my last statements, but I think it mostly makes sense. Whatever, chalk it up to writing at 2:00AM. Not sure what I am going to write about next, but I am guessing it is going to be some women in pop culture. But there is a possibility that something in Pascoe's book will inspire me to do something this week. I will leave you with this:

Articles Referenced:

Carter, P. "Between a 'Soft' and a 'Hard' Place: Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture in the School and at Home"
Pascoe, C.J. Dude, You're a Fag