"'No Tough Guys Here?': Hybrid Masculinity in a Boxing Gym". (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rabii, Watoii
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary ethnography. Volume 50:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 231
• Page End: 260
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: hybrid masculinities -- white-collar boxing; Sociology, Urban -- Periodicals; Urban anthropology -- Periodicals; 305.8
• DOI: 10.1177/0891241620985585
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0891-2416

Abstract

In this article, I explore manifest and latent discourses about masculinity in a predominantly white, middle class boxing gym. In this gym, the owner and coaches promote a discourse that emphasizes love, bridgework, and sparring with care. This discourse is part of the gym's white-collar boxing culture. A key part of this discourse is distancing themselves from other gyms, claiming they promote a violent masculinity. While on the surface the gym criticizes certain ideals and practices associated with American hegemonic masculinity, it still reproduces discourses, norms, and practices associated with it. Employees use a latent discourse that constructs a hybrid masculinity. I argue that employees and members construct a hybrid masculinity by perpetuating ideals and practices associated with American hegemonic masculinity.