Walking It Off: How Hegemonic Masculinity Overlooks Sports Injuries

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 3: Gender and the Body

Abstract

High contact collision sports can cause increased risks of injury and long-term health issues, but they are still valued highly in society as being beneficial physically and socially. This paper analyzes whether experiencing an injury from sports has an association with recognizing the potentially harmful impacts to one’s health from collision sports from a perspective of hegemonic masculinity. Drawing from the National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS) with a sample size of 3,993, I use ordinal logistic regression modeling to analyze for a correlation between sports-related injuries and opinions of health benefits of collision sports with consideration to indicators of hegemonic masculinity to include education, socioeconomic status, religion, age, gender, race, sexual orientation, and political beliefs. I find a significant and positive relationship between injuries and views that collision sports can be harmful to one’s health, although this association does not extend to injuries considered serious. My results also suggest that people who identify as male, younger, middle-class, Christian, heterosexual, or more conservative are more likely to view collision sports positively towards improving health. This research offers a large-scale analysis of opinions regarding the benefits of collision sports in relation to sports injuries, hegemonic masculinity, culture of risk, and social status.

Author

• Giona Picheco, University of Massachusetts-Boston