“Boyhood, Organized Sports, and the Construction of Masculinities” written by Michael A. Messner discusses the sense of identity placed upon boys at a young age that coincides with sports. Messner interviewed former professional athletes to understand the masculinities of sports on a more micro level. His article argues that organized sports are gendered institutions that are only there to make boys more masculine. This article argues that point very well though displaying the experiences of the retired athletes and how they became interested in sports, though his study may be considered a bit outdated in this day and age. Messner’s research from 1983 to 1985 came to the concussion that most American men did not considered boys men until
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The article “Media and Modern Manhood: Testing Associations Between Media Consultation and Young Men’s Acceptance of Traditional Gender Ideologies” by Soraya Giaccardi, L. Monique Ward, Rita Seabrook, Adrianan Manago, and Julia Lippman highlights more of the stereotypes the American society sees when they consume media, mainly movies and television shows. Although, one issue with this article is that in a few years it will be considered too outdated due to the fact of how fast our media production is changing. In the article, Giaccardi found that in the past thirty years of teen-oriented films, the male characters were responsible for eighty-six percent of the aggressive acts. It is no coincidence that in those movies males are considered to be more aggressive and at the same time they also do more aggressive activities like play sports. In the same way that Messner’s article explains that sports are institutions, media is also an institution so both hold power in assigning the social norms among a society. Seeing the correlation between both Messner’s and Giaccardi’s research is very reassuring that not only is Messner’s work still relevant to this day and age, but that these issues do not just stay in one …show more content…
When given the chance, I go to a game with him and I watch overly tall men bounce a ball to other overly tall men and try to figure out the rules of the game. While I know there is such a thing as female basketball teams, I have never been to a game. The female basketball players do not get as much attention as the men do. In the National Basketball Association, the all-male teams get cheerleaders, whereas the Woman’s National Basketball Association does not. This shows one of the points that Messner made about only men being pushed into sports at a young age, so only the sports centering around men are popularized. This can be equated to women being treated unequally because the sport has been very male orientated for so long. Messner’s conclusion of men being conditioned to enjoy sports from a young age still seems to be true after all this time. Sports are so conditioned into our society, mainly to straight, white, cis-gendered males, that it is next to impossible to get rid of now. Although there are cases of women breaking down those gender norms, it is only a hope that women will continue to break them
The article “Media and Modern Manhood: Testing Associations Between Media Consultation and Young Men’s Acceptance of Traditional Gender Ideologies” by Soraya Giaccardi, L. Monique Ward, Rita Seabrook, Adrianan Manago, and Julia Lippman highlights more of the stereotypes the American society sees when they consume media, mainly movies and television shows. Although, one issue with this article is that in a few years it will be considered too outdated due to the fact of how fast our media production is changing. In the article, Giaccardi found that in the past thirty years of teen-oriented films, the male characters were responsible for eighty-six percent of the aggressive acts. It is no coincidence that in those movies males are considered to be more aggressive and at the same time they also do more aggressive activities like play sports. In the same way that Messner’s article explains that sports are institutions, media is also an institution so both hold power in assigning the social norms among a society. Seeing the correlation between both Messner’s and Giaccardi’s research is very reassuring that not only is Messner’s work still relevant to this day and age, but that these issues do not just stay in one …show more content…
When given the chance, I go to a game with him and I watch overly tall men bounce a ball to other overly tall men and try to figure out the rules of the game. While I know there is such a thing as female basketball teams, I have never been to a game. The female basketball players do not get as much attention as the men do. In the National Basketball Association, the all-male teams get cheerleaders, whereas the Woman’s National Basketball Association does not. This shows one of the points that Messner made about only men being pushed into sports at a young age, so only the sports centering around men are popularized. This can be equated to women being treated unequally because the sport has been very male orientated for so long. Messner’s conclusion of men being conditioned to enjoy sports from a young age still seems to be true after all this time. Sports are so conditioned into our society, mainly to straight, white, cis-gendered males, that it is next to impossible to get rid of now. Although there are cases of women breaking down those gender norms, it is only a hope that women will continue to break them