Journal/ Article review

As you can imagine there are many labels and stereotypes of college athletes, but none other than masculinity and muscularity. In Drive for Muscularity and Conformity to Masculine Norms Among College Football Players, Jesse A. Steinfeldt talks about the many factors of why college football players have this endless desire to be masculine and muscular. So many times college athletes try to live up to the conceptualization of what they, as well as society, believes a male college athlete should look like, therefore leading to their specific behavior in the weight room and on the field. I found this intriguing  because so many people are confused as to why these athletes are acting the way that they do and why these athletes have this desire to live up to these expectations. The idea that I got from this article is that there are many influences on a male college athlete, and these many influences causes them to have this endless desire for masculinity as well as muscularity. These influences may include how their image is viewed through the eyes of society to how people on campus view them as well. Being a male college athlete myself, you feel as if you have to look and act a certain way or you won't be accepted. With that said these influences have a giant impact on why many male college athletes have this drive for masculinity and muscularity. The article also talks about how the image of muscularity is tied in with the conceptualization of being masculine basically entitling that if you are muscular, one should automatically assume you are masculine. this also comes with what the true definition of a man really is through the eyes of society.  I liked when Steinfeldt stated that "Conveying strength and power with the intent of causing others to feel intimidated and fearful is a beneficial purpose of muscularity for men." I like this quote because Steinfeldt says athletes strive for this image of being intimidating to others and that is why they have the drive to be muscular. This piece was one that I found to be most interesting within my research and definitely serves a big purpose within my writing. With the many ideas stated in this article I can relate it to why this desire for masculinity and muscularity is impactful for non-athletes in the gym.


   

Is masculinity a problem in college athletes?

After spending several hours observing specific behavior within the gym I decided to get the opinion of someone who also spends a chunk of his time in this setting. Participant 1, a 20 year old male sophomore from Florida, knows a thing or two about athlete behavior in the weight room as he was part of the staff in the spring and summer of 2015. When asked if there is a change in people's behavior while athletes are in the same setting, he noticed "men seem to be more cautious of the teams in the weight room more than women do." and that "women just go about their business, while the guys are sort of always looking over at the sports teams." This ties in perfect with why masculinity is so present in this setting. Whether it be lifting heavy weights, to wearing cutoffs to show their muscles, men are constantly trying to show their dominance to other men. When questioned if the environment changes when athletes are in the gym, participant 1 didn't hesitate to state "with the football and lacrosse teams, there is a big change in the environment just because there are so many players in the same setting at once and these teams are loudest of them all." With this factor in place, this aspect can make many intimidated. Masculinity is a big problem in these settings for non-athletes that don't live up to the ideal gym image regarding body type and muscularity, which ultimately makes it a disheartening environment for these people when they are working out around athletes.