Week 13 - Trujillo

Sports have almost always been about who is the strongest, the fastest, or the most skilled. However, sports have become much more than that. In fostering this type of environment, sports have (unintentionally) become a way of building up a masculinity mindset. As Nick Trujillo points out, sports coverage has built up this idea of “hegemonic masculinity,” portraying athletes as the ideal, uber-masculine male figures within our society.

Trujillo begins by defining what he means by the “hegemonic masculinity.” He cites other definitions of the term, which defines it as “the culturally idealized form of masculine character.” After going into further detail about this definition, Trujillo points out that there are several factors in which this mindset is conveyed through sports coverage. These features include: (1) physical force and control, (2) occupational achievement, (3) familial patriarchy, (4) frontiersmanship, and (5) heterosexuality.

Trujillo then goes on to talk about media coverage surrounding former MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan. Trujillo argues that media portrayal of Ryan best exemplifies the idea of hegemonic masculinity and these five features. He then goes on to describe in detail how media portrayal of Ryan buys into this masculinity mindset, even if it is on an unconscious level.

He first describes how Ryan is seen as a specimen of physical force. He points out that all of the coverage surrounding Ryan is all about his ability to throw the fastest fastball, which in the sport of baseball, represents strength and dominance. Coverage also glorifies his body, retelling how publications have said that his arm – not necessarily the player himself – belongs in the Hall of Fame. Coverage surrounding Ryan also exemplifies the occupational achievement feature, as his dominance in baseball is a form of his achievement. Many articles talk about his record-setting amount of no-hitters, which is the ultimate accomplishment for a pitcher in the game of baseball.

Along with these, Ryan is portrayed as someone who is a father figure not only to his family, but to his teammates. Media portrays Ryan as a loving father with the beautiful trophy wife, playing into the stereotypical gender roles. But this portrayal extends further than his family. Ryan is portrayed as a father figure to his teammates, as articles reference his father-like presence on the team and how multiple teammates have named children after him. Ryan also exemplifies the frontiersmanship feature, as he is depicted as the “Texas cowboy” dominating the West. Clearly this is an exaggeration, as there are many pitchers in the league who were also successful, but Ryan’s depiction was similar to John Wayne or any other “manly men.”

Finally, media’s depiction of Ryan played into his heterosexuality. As mentioned before, articles played into the stereotypical gender roles of the husband and wife, but his depiction was more than that. Ryan worked with several companies as a spokesman, acting as a pseudo-sex symbol in many of them. Several sportswriters even talked about how handsome Ryan was, further playing into this role.

While Trujillo used Ryan as an example in this particular case, the same could be said for many athletes in the world of sports. There are plenty of athletes that get similar coverage, which further plays into this idea of a hegemonic masculinity. Until the media changes these depictions, sports and athletes will – willingly or unwillingly – continue to build up masculinity as the only acceptable role in sports.