Sports Toxic Masculinity - Being a Man 24/7 (5)

Growing up in the 21st century is confusing, let's face it. Social media has changed the way we see and understand life as we know it. We have all of the information we need at our finger tips, but sometimes that information is mis-construed. This creates confusion and questioning about what is true and what is put on social media for bad intentions.

Photo Credits: https://www.gcmvp.com

In sports, it is easy to find the newest gossip and most recent game scores on social media, but it is also a place where athletes can interact with their fans. Sometimes, these interactions end up hurting our beliefs about how think of our beloved athletes. This includes displaying their abuse of power for the world to see.

For example, Ray Rice, the running back for the Baltimore Ravens, tweeted about how he bribed an officer with an autographed photo to get out of a ticket for his tinted windows. This cultivates to viewers that athletes have power and they can choose when to use it for good or bad.

Not only can athletes self-incriminate themselves via their own accounts, sports media can also use social media as well to display the toxic masculinity found in sports. Toxic masculinity is still the shaming of men for acting in any kind of "feminine" way. Being so, this holds athletes to the "alpha male" standard, but the 21st century has been known to break down these norms.

But, sometimes the media gets in the way and wants to keep the old and turn down the new ideals brought to the sports world.

Photo Credits: Patrick Semansky

For example, Ray Rice (again) was caught on camera beating up his finance in an elevator. A lot of people were shocked about the event, but some people in the sports industry were not very surprised. This is because the media has loved his power hungry and strong mindset that has allowed him to be so successful in football.

The media has influenced many athletes to continue their masculine mindset and to "not be a pussy" off the field, court or track. With everyone being able to see everything an athlete does 24/7, they feel like they have to keep up their image all of the time, not just while they are playing their sport.

Toxic masculinity is not only shown in the media, but it cultivates the idea that athletes have to be masculine and physically dominate all of the time. And the media does not care about the person the athlete wants to be outside of competing in their sport, they just care about who is going to get them the most ratings that week.

Media has progressed and changed over time, but the underlying truths about masculinity have not really changed. Through-out history, toxic masculinity has been about keeping emotions in, being physically and mentally strong and not displaying any kind of femininity to the public. This being said, the definition of masculinity in Ancient Greece is almost the same as it is today. The only difference is how the media platforms have changed the way they are cultivating this to the public, the message has stayed the same.

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