Round 4 (chapter 2)

Round 4 presents some challenges but not ad hominem ones

This chapter expands on much of what went before rendering some of my comments above redundant. She expands on the history, and notes, ‘boxing clubs have a long history of engaging young men’ (p17). I agree it is not just grant-seeking behaviour but often altruistic or enthusiast led. Some of my motor projects were like that but once established the need for funds sometimes required redrafting aims and objectives or nomenclature to secure funding (sometimes whilst carrying on as before).

Much use of Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilising Process and mention of ‘muscular christianity’ (p21)!

We then move into the sport and masculinity literature with Sabo’s Jock: sports & male identity and much Connell.  She argues, and I completely agree, sport is, ‘a perfect starting point for investigation how individuals actively construct meaning around gender, power and masculinity’ (p24). Let’s hope this work and that of a few others will kick this off.

I am taken with her brief use of Dutton’s The Perfectible Body: The Western Ideal of Physical Development (who looked at bodybuilders and strippers) to say, ‘the masculine body moved from symbol of beauty to symbol of power’ (p25) as she also uses Fussell’s book on bodybuilding (p30). No citation to hand (if you know of one please let me know) but I’ve always thought (my personal male perspective?) that bodybuilders and male strippers, however muscly, are like male models, ‘to-be-looked-at’ and therefore seen to be passive like women subject to the male gaze and not active male gazers. Whereas the scrawniest of boxers or mixed martial artists may be granted the title, ‘manly’.

I don’t think she uses the term homosocial (not in index) but much of this seems to be about the problem of being largely in the company of men without being seen to be gay. I think we are are on the same page here as she quotes Messner thus, ‘being out there with the guys - being friends … [having] some kind of closeness’ (p27). She goes on to use him to argue that the ‘less skilled, less competitive boys’ could become alienated from the sport that might have shored up their masculinity. My joyriders were not sporty (other than illegal motorsporty) and tended to the ectomorphic rather than the traditional mesomorphic athlete/criminal.

Have to pull out this quote as I take it to be important:

I am still convinced that combat sports sport provides an arena in which men can deny vulnerability, disavow anxiety and thus distance themselves from the intimate feminine other and subsequent marginalised male (p32)

But add that video-games and e-sport now offering ways to fight and joyride digitally and even these may involve virtual and real offending. Gamergate gives no hope that these nerdier/wimpy men (hypomasculine?) are ready for disavowal. We shall see if she can flesh out the ‘how’ of this.

See I’m cited (p35) in the section on sport as pro-social along with the cheerleaders for sport and social control theorists. Thought I’d done a better job than that of covering the field from biological to post-modern takes on sport and crime as cause/cure. Rightly lots of Nichols (2007) and Meek (2018) and others but reviewing the literature Deborah finds, ‘little evidence that participation in sport offered new peer networks’ (p38) and, ‘the argument that an attachment to role models in the form of trainers or coaches immediately reduces delinquency is a common misconception’ (p39).  Agreed.

On sport as potential cause we have Trimbur (2009:263) noting, ‘One can be an accomplished drug salesman and Golden Gloves champion’ (p40) and Kreager (2007:708) ‘attests’ (p41), ‘by applying lessons learned from sports, athletes may perceive violence and intimidation as acceptable means of achieving of-field goals’. And boxers and participants in other ‘power sports’ may have a higher probability of being involved in violence (Edreson and Olweus, 2005).