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Abstract
This essay examines the construction of masculinity through football in Spanish society. The results are presented from a study whose main objective was to investigate to what degree the changes that have occurred in the past few years with regard to the construction of masculinities can also be extended to the football setting. In order to carry out the research, qualitative interviews were conducted with fans, groups of fans, coaches, physical education teachers and youth and professional footballers. The essay concludes that Spanish football continues to be a space in which a hegemonic masculinity is reproduced, and this is due to the influence of various social agents who facilitate and induce the learning and representation processes of this hegemonic masculinity. We have called this type of masculinity, inductor masculinity.
Notes
1 This was referred to in the editorial of a recent monographic issue of the International Journal of History of Sport 22, no.2 (March 2005).
2 CitationGiulianotti, Football.
3 CitationVerdú, El Fútbol.
4 See a recent review of the social research on the transformation in Spanish society during the past three decades in CitationGonzález and Requena, Tres Décadas de Cambio Social en España.
5 CitationGil Calvo, Máscaras Masculinas, 49.
6 CitationGil Calvo, Máscaras Masculinas, 51.
7 See for example CitationSage, Power and Ideology in American Sports; CitationMessner and Sabo, Sport, Men and the Gender Order; CitationMessner, Power at Play.
8 CitationBadinter, XY La Identidad Masculina.
9 CitationMiedzian, Chicos Son, Hombres Serán.
10 CitationBonde, ‘Masculine Movements’, 87.
11 CitationMosquera and Puig, ‘Género y Edad’, 107.
12 Bonde, ‘Masculine Movements’.
13 This fact has been pointed out in various studies: CitationGarcía Ferrando, Aspectos Sociales del Deporte; CitationGarcía Bonafé, ‘Las Mujeres y el Deporte’; CitationPuig, ‘El Deporte y los Estereotipos Femeninos’; CitationPuig, ‘La Situación de la Mujer en el Deporte al Iniciarse el Siglo XXI’; Mosquera and Puig, ‘Género y edad’.
14 There have been some studies on the feminine practice of football. See, for example, CitationScraton et al., ‘It's Still a Man's Game?’, which compares the experiences of professional female footballers in various European countries. For a journalistic study in which the growing interest of Spanish women in this sport is shown see CitationOrúe and Gutiérrez, Locas por el Fútbol. On the role of women in football, see for example CitationLlopis, ‘Fútbol de Mujeres y Mujeres en el Fútbol’; and CitationLlopis, ‘Women and Football in Spain’. On the guidelines for associationism and belonging to groups of fans see CitationLlopis, ‘Women and Football in Spain: Some Sociological Considerations on Association and Participation’; and CitationLlopis, ‘Female Football Supporters’ Communities in Spain'.
15 CitationLinaza and Maldonada, Los Juegos y el Deporte en el Desarrollo Psicológico del Niño.
16 CitationLinaza and Maldonada, Los Juegos y el Deporte en el Desarrollo Psicológico del Niño, 179.
17 CitationDíez-Mintegui, ‘Deporte, Socialización y Género’.
18 Citationdel Campo, ‘Cuestión de Pelotas’, 67.
19 Citationdel Campo, ‘Cuestión de Pelotas’, 96.
20 For further discussion on these issues see CitationButler, El Género en Disputa and also CitationHaraway, Ciencia, ‘Cyborgs’ y Mujeres.
21 CitationConnell, ‘La Organización Social de la Masculinidad’, 31–43.
22 CitationConnell, ‘La Organización Social de la Masculinidad’, 40–3. As we pointed out, Connell describes the existence of two more types of masculinity: the subordinate masculinity and the marginalization masculinity. The subordinate masculinity deviates from the dominant heterosexual norm, so that its legitimacy becomes suspect, but is tolerated with certain indifference (the effeminate and homosexuality, for example). Finally, the marginalization masculinity includes both the deviant masculinities (pederasts, procurers, etc.) as well as those masculinities removed from the dominant norm and that stem from socially excluded ethnic groups.
23 CitationConnell, ‘La Organización Social de la Masculinidad’, 41.
24 Peñas is an informal Spanish supporter's association, involving groups of friends and fans who meet in order to watch matches involving their team. They generally meet in a bar, as only a few peñas groups have their own premises.
25 Messner, Power at Play.
26 Messner, Power at Play Applied to Spain, the proposal by Messner offers a reasonable hypothesis for understanding the phenomenon of the violent groups, as they usually brag about constituting a reserve of hegemonic masculinity based on which they extol everything that contributes to acquiring it and developing it, and they reject everything that can be considered suspicious of feminization. On the other hand, this proposal also offers a reasonable hypothesis for understanding the reasons football is still not a sports activity that interests Spanish women.
27 Expression in the Catalan language that can be translated as ‘leg cutter’.
28 The numbers of peñas that the main Spanish clubs have are as follows: 1,605 – Real Madrid; 1,508 – FC Barcelona; and 716 – Valencia CF.
29 We have dealt with this phenomenon in detail in Llopis, ‘Female Football Supporters’ Communities in Spain'.
30 The peñistas are the members of a peña.
31 Mosquera and Puig, ‘Género y edad’.