Our Guys/Good Guys

Playing with High School Privilege and Power

Nancy Lesko

Main Ideas

• Masculinity is the idea of having the characteristics of a man, strength,

• Power, and bravery. The idea of masculinization is that every boy should be

encouraged to become a “manly man”—athletic, strong, confrontational, and well-built. This article separates these manly men from the “others”. Parents and teachers yell from the stands, “weak!” or “girl!” to separate these athletes from what they want to be from what everyone else is. Boys seek these masculine traits to be respected and to fit in.

Influences on Masculinity…

• Peers- boys may try to impress their friends by being more athletic, having bigger muscles to “fit in”.

• Media- boys will imitate the ads they see on TV that suggest beautiful women and sex.

• Coaches- boys will try to be the best on the team which means the strongest, the fastest, the quickest, the toughest which are all masculine traits and will be rewarded with a starting position.

• Teachers- collegiate level sports, athletes are often given a break because they are seen as more important than other students.

• Family- many fathers want to see their boy grow up to become an athlete so from an early age many boys are enrolled in several sports that they may not really want to play but are instead forced.

What about women?

• Women face the same problems in society today by trying to be what the media portrays to be the “perfect women.”

• Women have difficulty in trying to compete with near perfection, but sometimes these forces motivate women to go too far.

Pictures…

Discussion Questions:

• Lesko explains in this article how the socialization of athletes translates to behavior within schools. How does this socialization affect school culture? How are girls and non-athletic boys socialized to handle themselves within this environment? Do you think this atmosphere is present at Penfield?

• If you have played team sports, how have you personally experienced masculinization? Do female athletic teams experience any of the same phenomena?

More Discussion Questions…

• What does masculinity mean? What forces in society pressure men to become masculine? How?

• What do you gain by being “masculine” or “feminine” in society?

• Are you less of a man if you do not fit into the stereotypical masculine man?