Violence Intrinsic Throughout Structure of Sport
How have sports become a sanctioned space for violence? Intrinsically woven in the structure of sports is a warrior culture in which you (be it a player or spectator) get to battle – to do what you need to do in order to win. The intensification in sport is synonymous with the intensification of experience of battle, and promotes a masculinity that is self-sacrificing. Players are encouraged to “shake it off” when they’re hit hard, this kind of exhortation built into the structure of sport normalizes violence between men; what’s more is that we identify with and idealize these players participating in the hyperbolic arena. In this way, sports become a sanctioned space, the last remains of warrior competition which allows us to participate in violence when we otherwise cannot in our everyday lives. Indeed, violence is “denounced and disallowed in the rest of our lives, [but in sport] it remains a primal pleasure” (Allemang, 2012).
Steve Nash, posted from 5 Quick Thoughts on Manhood and Sports, (Credit: Harry How, Getty Images)
Societies “moral outrage about sports violence comes and goes in fits and starts,” says Kevin Young, professor of sociology at the University of Calgary.
“We like to think we’re living in a society where violence is increasingly an anathema. So it might seem inconsistent with where we’re headed in a civilized culture for us to pay athletes to hurt other people and knock them out of the game. But that kind of reaction is just naive: This is what conventional, orthodox North American sport has always been about.” (QTD Allemang, 2012).
Penalties and Padding – Implications of Equipment in Sport
The sports orchestrated conflict that we see on the field in terms of penalties and padding are acknowledgements that violence will happen – a defenseless player will get hit, so we need to put into place a structure that allows for that to be managed. Through the use of penalties and padding we structure violence both in and out of particular games.
Taking a look at hockey, the heavy padding and written penalties such as fisticuffs (called when players drop their gloves and throw punches) structure violence directly into the game. With minor, major, and misconduct penalties taking a player off the field for 2, 4, or 10 minutes at worst (first penalty), we perpetuate a narrative of taking one for the team. In fact, hockey teams are known to have players for exactly this reason – to sacrifice their time on the ice to ruff up an opposing player for the greater good of their team.
Contrastingly, violence has been structured out of soccer, with little padding and expulsion from the game without opportunity for substitute (a red card) given for violent behavior, bad language, or a second caution from the referee. Acts such as tripping, pushing, and charging can result in a direct or indirect free kick; a penalty kick if called within the penalty box. Statistics here showed that only 27.9% of games across all major leagues of Europe ended with a score over 3.5 goals. With an 84.6% success rate of penalty kicks scored in the European Championships, the stakes are high for players to avoid being charged.
“An official stands over a ‘Brazuca’ ball prior to a corner kick during the 2014 FIFA World Cup”, posted from Getty Images, (Credit: Laurence Griffiths)
Of late, additional penalties have been added to sport in order to account for and control what could otherwise become overly violent. In response to traumatic brain injuries that have occurred from taking big hits to the head and neck area, the NFL has released new rules for the 2015-16 season about illegal hits and the penalties attached to them.
Rivalization of Masculinity
The warrior culture has not only shaped the course of our sports, but has defined our view of masculinity. What we think we’re watching is the rivalization of sport, when what we are really watching is the rivalization of masculinity. There’s an undeniable identification within sports between us, often people in a similar geographic area, our sports team, and the celebrity status of our players. A comradery in the warrior culture to which our children look up to, therefore promoting and normalizing violence and rivalization in what it means to be a man.
“In this Oct. 28th, 2011 file photo, Chicago Blackhawks’ Bob Probert, left, and Boston Bruins’ Andrei Nazarov mix it up along the boards during a first period fight in Chicago. Enforcers, goons, whatever you want to call them, players like Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard made careers from dishing out and taking punishing hits. That job is sure to come under added scrutiny after the sudden death of Boogaard, five months after he suffered a season-ending concussion” (Allemang, 2012), posted from Sports Violence is Within Us All, (AP Photo Fred Jewell)
There’s a disconnect in sports between what we say we value in our athletes, what we do, and what our athletes actually look like. We say that we value fair play (not violent play) and the following of the rules, when what we actually value is just enough violence (and rule breaking – penalties) to get the job done without seriously injuring the other opponent; all to often, though, the other opponent does get seriously injured and we carry-on anyways. Similarly, we say that we value teamwork, when what we really value is teamwork (comradery) in so far as to mess the other guy (rival fan, player, or team) up.
The idealization of sport in American culture and the idolization of our athletes as celebrity figures leave our children, young men, and adult men alike directly susceptible to the normalization and idealization of the rivalization of masculinity through violence.
Sport as a Transgressive Space (No Girls Allowed)
If sports are a publicly sanctioned space for violence, and women are to be excluded from both violence and the public eye, how do women have a place in sport? Historically, women have been excluded particularly for this reason; with violence sanctioned around a certain ideal of masculinity, the presence of women in the sports arena was a transgression of gender norms and a violation of social boundaries. The sports arena has disavowed everything that is soft (read: feminine), and has instead been a place for the promotion of hyper masculinity.
Michel Foucault, a French philosopher, talks extensively about the anxiety around disciplining the female body for anything other than a domestic purpose. For a woman to have a commitment to anything that wasn’t family oriented – that was not in the service of having or taking care of a family, was an exceptional transgression. Furthermore, having a commitment that not only fell outside of the domestic sphere, but was competitive and violent in nature, and played in a public, outdoor space – well, that was the antithesis of femininity!
We have come an undeniably long way, but womanhood remains marked by motherhood and domesticity to a certain degree. Shortly following the 2012 Olympic Games Turkish Columnist Yuksel Aytug’s piece Womanhood is Dying at the Olympics remarks of athlete’s Rebecca Adlington and Jessica Ennis (see below), “their breasts – the symbol of womanhood, motherhood – flattened into stubs as they were seen as mere hindrances to speed” (Aytug, 2012).
Rebecca Adlington (left) and Jessica Ennis (right) at the 2012 London Olympic Games, recipients of criticism for overly masculine bodies, posted from The Olympics Have Destroyed Womanhood
While the piece provoked a storm of criticism, it showcased the fear that still remains when women are participating in a space which has historically read as the antithesis of femininity, and when they’re paying attention to their body in a way that’s not in the interest of men. While these larger discussions may seem to have little place in the 21st century, they are still being cited in the discussion of women in sports.
Aimee Bonnain
Articles
Allemang, John. “Sports Violence Is within Us All.” The Globe and Mail. 20 Apr. 2012. Web.
Strachan, Owen. “On Football, Warrior Culture, and Manhood.” The Gospel Coalition. 8 Dec. 2013. Web.
Author unknown. “The Olympics Has Destroyed Womanhood: Columnist Provokes Storm of Criticism after Attack on ‘chestless, Manlike’ Competitors.” Daily Mail. 8 Aug. 2012. Web.
References
Burstyn, Varda. The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics, and the Culture of Sport (pp. 163-191). Toronto: U of Toronto, 1999. Print.
Cahn, Susan K. Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-century Women’s Sport (pp. 187-206). New York: Free, 1994. Print.
Washington, Robert E., and David Karen. Sport, Power, and Society: Institutions and Practices: A Reader (ch. 31 & 33). Boulder, CO: Westview, 2010. Print.
Images
Sports Violence Is Within Us All. Digital image. The Globe and Mail. Web. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/sports-violence-is-within-us-all/article4101632.
The Olympics Has Destroyed Womanhood. Digital image. Daily Mail. Web. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185510/Newspaper-columnist-provokes-worldwide-outrage-saying-Olympic-Games-destroying-female-figure.html.
5 Quick Thoughts on Manhood and Sports. Digital image. Patheos. Web. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thoughtlife/2013/12/5-quick-thoughts-on-manhood-and-sports.
American Culture 