The recent
World Cup highlighted how traditional masculinity is still highly valued in the
sports world, especially in Latin America. While researching to write this
blog, I was surprised to find that many articles regarding an incidence of
violence failed to criticize the player or delve deeper into the topic. During
a game against Italy, Uruguay striker Luis Suarez bit another player and was
suspended from soccer for four months. He has been in trouble for similar
incidents before but still attempted to appeal the decision.
Sports
matches seem to bring out the most stereotypical of masculine behaviors in both
spectators and players, from aggression, anger and yelling to violent behavior.
Suarez’s behavior highlights what is often referred to in the US as machismo,
which Kilmartin describes as a “stereotype of the Latino male” that is “the
display of strong and aggressive masculinity” (117). Machismo consists of both positive
qualities such as courage and respect for others, and negative qualities such
as strength and superiority over women. There is no way of knowing what the real
motivation behind Suarez’s actions, whether conscious or unconscious, but it
highlights an issue about acceptable behavior in the machismo mindset and
sports in general.
While the
Uruguay football club complained that ban was too harsh, another former player
named Mark Lawrenson felt differently, as he stated in an interview with BBC
sport.
"Say my boy was about 11 or
12, how do you explain to your lad who's a football fan exactly what Luis
Suarez keeps doing?" he told BBC Sport. "He is now a persistent
offender and I thought actually the ban would have been much harsher."Lawrenson makes an interesting point about how violent behavior is portrayed as being positive and acceptable in sports, which can be very influential on boys. I believe that we should be more concerned about kids participating in sports involving physical contact at a young age and carefully explain how acts of violence seen in sports games are not acceptable forms of behavior, emphasizing consequences players face for such actions.
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