Sport and Images of Masculinity: The Meaning of Relationships in the Life Course of “Elite” Male Athletes

Abstract

This paper is based on a research project that investigated the social construction of masculinity in sports. Elite level male athletes from the sports of triathlon, surf lifesaving, and bodybuilding were interviewed in-depth to develop an understanding of the phenomenon of what it is like to be a man involved in sport and how it influences and impacts on other areas of their lives. The paper highlights the way in which sport, men, and relationships are uniquely interrelated. Specifically, men's relationships with women, fathers, peers, and, finally, other men from different sports will be explored and discussed in relation to elite level sport. It will then be discussed further with respect to men in general and related to men throughout contemporary Western culture. Sport has long been perceived as a masculine domain and is one of the primary sites for the social construction of masculinity in contemporary Western society. Sport can offer its young male participants many pleasurable experiences. However, it can also create crises within their lives. Utilizing life course theory within a psychosocial perspective, this paper identifies some of the changes that emerge throughout sportsmen's lives and the effects these changes can have upon personal identity and subsequent relationships. By using sport to identify the problems associated with masculine identity, it provides a looking glass for the problems associated with the social construction of masculinity for men in contemporary Western society.

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