Samuel Friedman, staff writer, says YES.
We all know a good game strokes a man’s ego, especially if he gets the lucky goal.
Part of this ego comes from constant reinforcement of their maleness by teammates and coaches.
Coaches train their male athletes to believe that degrading women is okay when they tell them not to be a “sissy” or “throw like a girl.”
The media, for their part, glorify violent behaviour among male athletes, leading to an acceptance of violence within sports culture.
Take the Devils vs. Rangers line brawl back in March of 2012 for instance. The announcers could barely hold back their excitement, describing the fight in full detail, saying things like, “Here we go,” and “There are buckets of adrenaline, and angry stares.”
Sometimes, this emphasis on male dominance and general acceptance of violence can take a turn for the worse.
Because athletes are taught to think less of women, some end up believing violence against women is okay, like in the case of the two Ohio high school football players accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl.
Early this month, a string of videos featuring The Big Red, Steubenville Ohio’s high school football team, surfaced online with a few of the players admitting to raping the unconscious victim.
According to an article in The Raw Story, players allegedly drugged the girl, carrying her body from party to party, raping, humiliating, and urinating on her before dropping her home. The boys then posted pictures of the incident on Instagram while updating their statuses on Facebook and Twitter.
In Out of Bounds: The Truth About Athletes and Rape, Jill Neimark argues this trend of violence against women among athletes is nothing new.
From June 1989 to June 1990, at least 15 alleged gang rapes involving about 50 athletes were reported.
The University of Arizona surveyed 530 male students, and the results showed that those involved in sports were more likely to disrespect women than non-athletes were.The survey also found that regular alcohol consumption and nicotine use increased the level of sexual aggression.
According to these findings, there seems to be a link between men’s aggression on the field and aggression in their relationships with women.
As long as the violent culture of sports is encouraged, many athletes will feel violence against women is acceptable.
Aileen Ormoc, Sports Editor, says NO.
Whenever something tragic happens, people like to point the finger at something or someone.
In the case of the Ohio high school gang rape, sports became the scapegoat.
Don’t get me wrong. When I heard news of this story, I was horrified. It disgusted me that teenage boys were capable of such a crime. But one image of a protester’s sign that said, “Rape is not a sport” struck me as odd.
It’s awful what happened to that 16-year-old girl, but being on a football team wasn’t what caused it to happen.
When you’re on a team, you learn how to work together, and respect one another, even if that means shaking your opponent’s hand.
And sometimes, a female is thrown into an all-male team where male athletes are taught to respect women and treat them as equals.
Rather than focusing on how sports could have driven these boys to commit such a crime, maybe we should focus on their individual upbringings.
What values do these boys have? What are their parental figures like? Why were they at an unsupervised party?
Saying that sports is the reason they sexually assaulted this girl is like saying video games are the reason why the Columbine High School shooting took place.
It’s obvious these boys need some direction and a better understanding of their priorities.
In one video, fellow team member Michael Nodianos gloats about the two other players who raped the young girl. He laughs hysterically as he says, “She was deader than a doornail,” and, “She is so raped right now.”
Instead of putting the spotlight on sports, we should use this incident as a reminder of why we need to spread awareness about consensual sex, and respecting women in general.
