Читать книгу Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy - Robyn Ryle - Страница 15

For now, cheerleading remains one among a small handful of gender-integrated sports. But research on the effects that being on a team with women has on male cheerleaders suggests that gender integration could be a very good idea. As researchers point out, in our current gender-segregated sports system, the organization of many men’s sports systems reinforces a toxic and hierarchical version of masculinity. Though not all men’s sports programs are like this, many encourage a version of masculinity that is both misogynistic (hostile toward women) and homophobic (hostile toward gay men and lesbian women).^[35]

This harmful version of masculinity is amplified by the fact that in team sports, men spend most of their time around men who are very much like them. This discourages the exploration of alternative ways of being masculine, and also limits men’s exposure and interaction with women. Research shows that male athletes in men-only team sports are more likely to objectify women by seeing them as sexual objects to be conquered.

But sport itself is not what leads men to have this sort of attitude. One researcher followed heterosexual male college cheerleaders who had played football in high school. Before they started cheerleading, the men reported holding misogynistic views about women as athletes and women in general. But competing with women overwhelmingly changed those attitudes. After cheering alongside women, the men perceived women as good athletes who were strong, capable, and skillful. One participant said, “I used to think women were weak, but now I know that’s not true . . . these women are athletes. They do stuff I’d never be able to do and I bet there are a lot of sports women can do better in.”^[36] This research suggests that when men and women play sports together, it can have an important impact on how male athletes think about gender.