(SOS1) Sport and Violence Against Women: New Sociological Directions

Why is it that professional male combative sports remain a bastion for rape culture and violence against women? What are the conditions that allow for a culture of toxic masculinity to persist despite awakenings elsewhere in society? What is the path forward, and how do we make league officials, coaches, and athletes accountable? The main objective of this session to provide new progressive sociological answers to these questions. Tags: Sport, Violence

Organizer: Walter DeKeseredy, West Virginia University; Chair: Walter DeKeseredy, West Virginia University

Presentations

Lauren Dormer, University of Alberta

Exploring the experiences of women hockey coaches in grassroots hockey: An investigation on the challenges and barriers within the hockey coaching community in Canada

Hockey is a key component of Canadian culture, yet it still reflects hypermasculine ideologies throughout all levels of participation. It has become abundantly clear that the toxic culture of hockey is intrinsically formed upon systematic gender inequity and inequality. The power imbalance within the sport is found amongst the many levels of participation including playing, coaching, officiating, spectating, or administrative roles. This paper addresses the impacts of gender-based inequity for women hockey coaches, an area of the sport where they are widely underrepresented. As other sport organizations continue to claim that they are taking steps to move forward with gender inclusivity initiatives and campaigns, certain gaps within the discourse are widespread. Gender inclusivity within sport has to include a variety of areas of participation, which make it even that more difficult to comprehend. Increased numbers of women and girls in sport is often described through player participation statistics, leaving out a large portion of other areas in which women and girls are underrepresented. This creates a large gap within both the academic literature and the broader sporting community. Women’s advancement in masculine dominated labour markets has increased over the last few decades, yet women still remain underrepresented in positions of leadership. Positions of power in hockey (ex. head coach positions, assistant coach positions) reflect this trend, as it is still dominated by white heterosexual men. Grassroots hockey is typically the start to any hockey-coaching career and there is currently no data or literature on women coaching at the grassroots hockey level, leaving women - especially women of colour - invisible within this particular labour market. The paper will investigate the hockey coaching culture as experienced by women through an intersectional approach. Using interview data from 30 women coaches in Canada, this paper focuses on both the experiences of women in coaching. The data collection is still on going at this time. This paper highlights the challenges and barriers to women in coaching by focusing on the general coaching experience, coach recruitment experiences, coach retention, and coach mobility within the sport. I argue that although there are increased numbers of women participating in hockey and increased opportunities for women in hockey (ex. the Profession Women’s Hockey League), not all hockey spaces are still not safe for women to participate in. Highlighting the experiences of women in hockey coaching, the aim of this study is to include women voices in hockey and coach scholarship, while also serving as a medium to inform sport organizational policies and practices as they relate to gender equity policies and practices. [Note: This is paper is part of my thesis dissertation (in progress)“Women, Race, and Coaching: An Intersectional Investigation of Problematic Coaching Culture in Grassroots Hockey”].

Mila Tucker, University of Calgary

Muscle Worship and Masculinity: Unmasking Heteronormativity in Bodybuilding Gyms

Bodybuilding gymnasiums have been critiqued as institutions that reiterate the discourse which asserts mens physical dominance over women in society (Klein, 1993). Adding weight to this critique is the observation that a substantial 70% of gymnasium ownership is held by men (Debas, 2022). The concept of biological determinism advocates that men are biologically stronger than women, justifying their positions of power, while women are relegated to categories of passiveness and submission (Nicholson, 1994). Emerging from 1970s feminist movements, female bodybuilding has become a prevalent sport for self-identifying women (Scott, 2011). However, bodybuilding women are frequently subject to critiques of their gender and sexual identities due to the alignment of strength, power, and domination with normative masculine descriptions (Mottier, 2002). Muscle worship, which is often referred to as sthenolagnia in fetish communities, is a form of BDSM which involves the erotic admiration of muscularity, typically focusing on the defined physique of a professional bodybuilder. This activity, which frequently does not lead to full copulation, encompasses activities such as fondling, kissing, or licking muscles; flexing, wrestling, and verbal humiliation. Heterosexual men, often referred to as "schmoes" in this community, are willing to pay female bodybuilders large amounts for the opportunity to covertly engage in muscle worship with them (Chare, 2011). This desire to be dominated by another person has been theorized as a means of challenging traditional gender roles and heteronormative expectations within a controlled and consensual setting (Chare, 2014). Despite a variety of awakenings regarding the defiance of heteronormative sexuality in these kink spaces, the pervasive culture of toxic masculinity continues to be maintained within bodybuilding gymnasiums. Through the lens of Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, this paper will critically review how “schmoes” preform to appease the hegemonic assumptions of masculinity in their “frontstage” (Goffman, 2016), while quietly subverting traditional gendered stereotypes in their “backstage” (Goffman, 2016). Through the utilization of impression management tactics such as ingratiation, intimidation, exemplification, supplication, and self-promotion, “schmoes” generate a façade which is congruent with the societally acceptable definitions of masculinity, while subtly challenging conventional gender stereotypes in spaces where they feel as though they are free from societal critiques. Overall, this research seeks the answer to a fundamental question: How do individuals engaged with muscle worship negotiate their masculinity while subverting traditional gender stereotypes behind closed doors, and how does this practice contribute more broadly to the nuanced dynamics of gender, power, and the perpetuation of toxic masculinity within bodybuilding gymnasiums? This critical analysis will address the ways in which toxic masculinity is able to pervade the world of bodybuilding in the public sphere, despite these aspects of heteronormative defiance happening surreptitiously. Additionally, this paper engages with both feminist literature and with BDSM perspectives to provide a comprehensive understanding of the gendered dynamics that exist within bodybuilding gymnasiums. This research will facilitate a more profound conversation surrounding the existence of toxic masculinity, gender dynamics, and power structures within the institution of sport, contributing to breaking down societal expectations of masculinity in these areas and fostering an enriched discourse on these complex issues.

Leah Oldham, West Virginia University

Violence, Secrecy, and Culprit: The Power of a Coach

Coaches may be potential perpetrators as research demonstrates coaches are abusers of athletes, but also provide observers of violence as coaches have the capacity to intervene directly or indirectly, but fail to do so (Adams et al., 2010; Young et al., 2017; St-Pierre et al., 2022; Volkwein et al., 1997; Kirby et al., 2002; Moore and Shah, 2021). Many sports enthusiasts believe that coaching is an art that should be exhibited through flexibility and creativity as opposed to rigid adherence to predefined criteria. However, the absence of theoretical foundation and practical skills, preventing coaches from handling the complexities of coaching, creates an environment where women are abused and physically abused. Because our society has not yet defined coaching as a legitimate profession with clear expectations and regulations, coaches are able to continue their misconduct and violence without fostering accountability, ethical standards, and continuous professional development due to a lack of deterrent.

Stu Cowan, Montreal Gazette

New Sociological Perspectives on Male Athletes' Violence Against Women: The Contribution of Investigative Journalism

Rich sociological empirical and theoretical work on male athletes violence against women is slowly growing, but most of the current data on this harm, in fact, comes from North American journalists. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate how the woman abuse data in SportsWorld generated by journalists, especially the results of case studies, can make major contributions to the development of new sociological ways of knowing about male athletes online and offline abuse of women in intimate relationships and in other contexts.

Walter DeKeseredy, West Virginia University

Male-to-Female Violence in SportsWorld: What We Know and What We Don't Know

There was a vibrant surge in the 1980s and 1990s of social scientific investigation into hypermasculine male athletes and their abuse of women. However, this wave receded over the past two decades and eventually disappeared. Even highly seasoned violence against women scholars and activists have not been fleet of foot in dealing with the offline and online abusive acts committed by a sizeable portion of men who play the most popular and profitable sports. Buttressing this claim is the fact that DeKeseredy et al.’s (2023) Skating on Thin Ice: Professional Hockey, Rape Culture, and Violence Against Women is the first sociologically informed book on the specific relationship between sport and woman abuse published since 1998. It is thus time to go back and examine this topic again. The main objective, then, of this paper is to, from a feminist perspective, what we currently know and dont know about male athletess online and offline violence against women. Suggestions for further empirical and theoretical work are also featured in this piece.