For many years now there have been studies conducted on feminism and it is developed through youth. But in the past two decade there has been more research focusing on the development of a masculine identity through throughout childhood and adolescence. There are many factors that effect the development of a masculine identity, but due to my childhood experiences I am especially interested in the role youth sports play in the development of a masculine identity.
Throughout my childhood I can remember playing tee-ball and youth football from the time I was six throughout my high school years, and I do feel like, especially during my high school years that sports were a big part of what made up my identity, and gave me an idea of what is socially expected of the male role in our society. In 1957 Hacker gave his own ideas on the male role and his definition of a sex role: Sex roles where understood as patterns of social expectation, norms for the behavior of men and women, which were transmitted to youth in a process of socialization.
In effect social behavior was explained as a massive display of conformity- which somehow seemed inappropriate in the 1950s. A great amount of thin paper and pencil research was produced around this idea. Nevertheless the idea of a male role also led to some intelligent studies of changing gender expectations for men, and difficulties faced by men and boys in conforming to the norms. By male role I am talking about the idea that men are supposed to be strong, powerful, violent, competitive, and victory oriented, all of which are embodied in the sports world whether it be in golf or football.
Robert Connell stated this in 1995 when he said In historically recent times sport has become the leader definer of masculinity in mass culture. And this is evident in the heroes young boys generally look at as role models and attempt to model themselves after in some way. Which leads me to ask, what is it about sports that males are drawn to? And does it really effect masculinity that much, or are other forces such as family or peer group the initiating factors that lead a child to play sports and become more masculine? Or could it be that sports have become a primary masculinity-validating activity (Dubbert 1979)?
From personal experience I can remember as a child playing for the shear enjoyment of the game and spending time with my friends. But as males age and continue to participate in sports the sports tends to change from a form of relaxation and enjoyment with friends to more of a career or business associated activity (Connell 2000). And with this comes the added pressure to perform and if the male is a talented athlete it can become and identity defining. But there are also other elements of sports that many young males could be attracted to.
For example, in Masculinities Connell (1995) gave the example of a young man by the name of Rios who came to the United States from Mexico after he had lost both his mother and father. Rios was only nine years of age and had no other family other than a grandmother that lived here in the United States, so while at school he attempted to make new friends and find a sort of close-nit group to fit into, he found this in the schools athletic program. And it helped to Rios to generate to some strong relationships that guided him through his adolescence and high school years.
But what about the young male that does not choose to play sports, does he become more feminine or does his decision to not participate in sports influence him to seek relationships with other males. In Connells book The Men and the Boys (2000) he interviewed a young man by the name of Adam (not last name given) who is works in the business industry, from the United States, and lived in a home in which he felt physically inferior to his older brother and father, and he also interviewed Steve Donoghue, who is a tri-athlete from Australia, and the opposite to Adam in terms of athletic interest.
For the interview in Connells book The Men and the Boys (2000) Adam was asked many questions that went in chronological order from his childhood to adulthood. Adam stated that he had a feminine childhood never had an interest in sports and throughout his early childhood he felt inferior to his father and older brother. While in secondary school, and beginning puberty, Adam had sexual explorations with both male and female classmates, and during this time of physical and hormonal changes he began to become more self-conscious about his feminine build, which he described himself as having big hips, a small chest, and jelly-like thighs.
He also noticed himself becoming attracted to the larger more developed males and masculine-acting males in his class, and while around them he felt inhibited and was ashamed to let the feminine parts of his personality to show (Connell 2000). Though Adam did say he felt a strong attraction to males he did have sexual explorations with females during his pubertal years, though he never mentioned one as being enjoyable.
He described several such as one time being caught kissing a girl and being seriously reprimanded and punished by his parents, and another time he talked about kissing and intimate petting with a larger frame girl and that he felt he was being smothered during this encounter. Adam also talked about his brother and father being athletic and watching sports together on television, an activity that he seldom took part in. He describes many instances where he would watch his brother and father through a ball in the yard and play basketball and he would feel too ashamed to play with them.
He reasoning for this was justified; he talks about being embarrassed to throw a ball in front of his father because Adam felt that he threw like a girl. This fear and feeling was confirmed when one day he threw a ball to his father and because a the way Adam threw the ball his father told him he threw like a girl and began to ridicule him for it. Thus causing Adam to feel more feminine and less a part of the athletic masculine culture he admired everyday.
Today Adam is working in the business field and still expresses no interest in sports, but does still seek out relationships. Though he has had several girlfriends in his adulthood he says that he still feels very feminine and is beginning to see himself as a totally homosexual male seeking a large and very masculine partner. In the same book that Connell (2000) interviewed Adam he interviewed a man by the name of Steve Donoghue. Steve is a very athletic person and epitomizes the stereotypical athletes life, and his early years were almost the complete opposite of Adams.
Connell asked Steve many of the same questions that he asked Adam and a marked difference was found when asking about Steves family. Steve was almost totally raised by his mother, something that would lead me to think that he would have more feminine characteristics, and would be less interested in sports. But this was definitely not the case, throughout his childhood he participated in any sport that he could and showed and an exceptional amount of athletic ability in football (soccer), which in Australia is a huge sport.
Steves ability in football brought also helped to bring him popularity and many male friends throughout high school. Steve talked about how much easy it was for him to make new friends and have sexual relationships throughout his secondary school years because of his athletic ability. And unlike Adam he never mentions feeling inferior to the other boys of his peer group, or having any kind of dissatisfaction with his body.
He instead talks about the exact opposite with other males of his age being intimidated and even jealous of him due to his size and athletic ability, along with the acceptance and attraction he received from the opposite sex. Even today Steves life turned out much differently than Adams. Steve Donoghue now competes professionally in triathlons and has formed a serious relationship with a young lady. He and his girlfriend live on the beach, where Steve spends most of his days training and competing. Interpretation and questions raised
Though these interviews do no show any statistical proof as the impact youth sports have masculinity or sexuality in young males, they do help to raise some thoughts and questions. Youth sports may not be causal to the development of a masculine identity, but is there a correlation? Did the life that Adam had as a child influence his decisions later in life? Did he feel inferior to his father and older brother due to his lack of participation in sports and therefore his lack of athletic development?
And as for Steve, did his athletic career throughout his childhood help him develop a masculine identity even the absence of a male role model in his home? All of the questions can be applied in a much broader context to encompass other children of other ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic status. I think it would be very interesting to see a longitudinal study of several young males with varying interest and participation in sports to shed some more light of the complexity of the development of a masculine identity.
