SOC 0851 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Auto Racing, Masculinity
• Is Masculinity Bad for Your Health
o “oe of the ost asi atiities fo the tpial a i the Uited
States carry with them a great deal of potential danger and bodily
harm, including the all-American activity of playing football
o Boxing and auto racing are the most dangerous sports
o Football is the most profitable professional sport in the world, and its
prime-time games in the United States win the ratings competition
over every other sport
▪ One study estimated that an average of 13 high school football
players die in the United States every year, half from injury and
half from injury and half from overexertion (other estimates
put the numbers as high as an average of 40 deaths every
year)
▪ Football is a very dangerous sport, and yet for many men in
the United States, it represents the very epitome of what it
means to be a man
▪ Football players are expected to sacrifice their bodies for
victory and the team, to feel no pain
▪ Players frequently play through injuries, and they violate an
essential code if they use an injury as an excuse for a poor
performance
▪ At the core of the culture of American football is a belief in the
value of bodily sacrifice and the denial of any desire for self-
preservation and safety
▪ The masculine body exists to be put at risk, and this may be
one of the core ways in which gender norms contribute to
health outcomes for men
o Other risky behaviors in which men are more likely to engage than
women include habitual drinking to excess, drunk driving, high-speed
driving, drug dealing, sharing hypodermic needles, using firearms,
engaging in gang violence, and working in dangerous jobs
o Among those arrested for alcohol and drug abuse violations, more
than 90% are men
o Masculinity seems to encourage men to act in their bodies in ways
that frequently place their bodies at great risk of physical harm
o ‘oet Baos fou ules of ahood
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