The Athletic Patriarchy

" McDonough explains that Michael Sam came out as gay, and the coaches and NFL spokesmen were less than thrilled. Many of the spokesmen responded with extremely homophobic comments, including one that stated being gay is not acceptable in the world of NFL because "it'd chemically imbalance an NFL locker room and meeting room" (McDonough). Michael Sam was originally in the first round to be picked for the draft, but after coming out, he dropped all the way to the seventh round. Because he was no longer a representation of Collective Dominant Masculinity, Sam's status was ruined. On the other hand, when a female athlete comes out, it is never as big of a deal. In Sam Borden's article, "Female star comes out as gay, and sports world shrugs," he explains that the basketball player Brittney Griner casually came out as a lesbian in an interview, and the media's reaction was just as casual. In fact, the story about a rumor that an NFL player was going to come out had ten times the audience of Griner's coming out article. It is a much bigger deal when a male athlete comes out, because he has the higher status in the sports world. This idea is also known as Conflict Theory in athletics. There is a power inequality built into the social structure of athletics that maintains female oppression. Therefore, male athletes are a representation of society's ideas of masculinity, and when a player does not confirm to these ideas, there is an uproar. This is a culture that does not want to be changed, and as long as we condemn those who speak out, this homophobic locker culture will never cease to exist.
             Another example of how masculinity dominates our society stems from athletics that encourage violence, such as Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA. These men are paid to engage in violent activities and are encouraged to exhibit aggressive qualities to maintain the masculine image. The ways these men act and are expected to act to achieve dominance and power are also known as hegemonic masculinity.