Examples Of Masculinity

Throughout my life I have had many experiences, obstacles, and people that have somehow affected me along my journey as an athlete. Sports might seem like just a game to some, but it is in fact much more than that. The obstacles I have gone through and lessons that I have learned in sports has shaped me into who I am today. I honestly cannot say that when I was very young, that I came to any realization that sports would be such an enormous part of my life. It was more like I had always known, and I never thought to question it. I was exposed to sports from the very beginning. The decoration of my room was sports related, I had basketball doorknobs and pillows. My dad always watched sports games and highlights on ESPN. So, sports was something

Although gender never caused me to miss out on sport, it had an influence on me. Growing up a males there is this sense that playing football, basketball, or baseball is masculine. In Sports and Images of Masculinity its says “Boys’ sport has been cited as a testing ground for uncomplicated admission into adult society. As West (1995) claimed, “Perhaps some forms of sport are the initiation into manhood” (p. 9).”, this is an example of how society betrays masculinity in sport. I grew up with the thought process that females did not care to play football, mainly because I never knew any that asked to or tried. I was taught that girls did not belong on the football field and that it was a man’s sport, the common term “you throw like a girl” is the worst trash talk you hear growing up. There is the belief growing up that if you play football you are “tough”. Participating in a male dominant sport gives you this sense of pride and makes you feel manly. For me this was not something I thought much of, nor was it the reason I played. Race or ethnicity was not a major deciding factor in what sports I participated in growing up. The teams I played on where always open to someone of a