If the assaults that have taken place in the world of hockey look like news items, it is not. These are indeed social facts. A group of 28 researchers also accuses “leaders and the sports industry (of having) accepted that sexual violence is widespread”1.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
Other sports will soon be in the hot seat, but in the meantime it may be worth asking what’s wrong with hockey, and the social sciences can shed some light.
The players’ room
Let us be guided by André Tessier, college professor and hockey coach, who sees hockey as the place where contemporary Quebec masculinity is formed.2.
He writes: “The fact of isolating oneself in a closed private space, reserved for men, coupled with a hasty exclusion of young homosexuals and even of those who question their sexual orientation, effectively creates a ‘bastion’ or a “refuge” of men”.
Strange refuge however, which arises from the exclusion of those who do not conform to the ideal of virility.
It is a form of violence that is at the heart of male socialization according to Raewyn Connell, an authoritative Australian scholar in the field of men’s studies3.
So-called hegemonic masculinity is defined by opposition to subordinate men (fiffs, queers and gays) and marginal men (disabled, fat, black or indigenous men, etc.). It benefits from the complicity of those who find an advantage in playing this gameif only so as not to know in turn the exclusion and the bullying. This system of coercion, based on subtle calls to order and the standardization of behavior, is very well described by a former player like Brock McGillis4.
And women ?
Hockey sees to the maintenance of a certain sexual polarization of society. It promotes a masculinity in ten points, again according to Tessier, which are very similar to the injunctions of the Man Box5. We can summarize this code as follows: stoicism, hypersexualization of male behavior and female bodies, solidarity between (some) men and rejection of anything that may seem feminine or gay.
It is possible, without extrapolating too much, to make a link between these descriptions and the very masculine relationship to limits. Limits, in the world of men, are not something that we respect, it is up to everyone to fight to defend them. The corollary, of course, is the accountability of the victims for their own aggression: it was up to him/her to defend himself!
Tessier also reminds us that seduction is at the heart of hockey, even in the minor leagues. Women are seduced there to appreciate each other among men.6. And if necessary, we call in a professional.
In this cultural universe, the female counterpart of the hockey player is a dancer or a groupie, not a hockey player.
Everything happens like in Rome, where the gladiator’s reward was not only ringing and stumbling, it was also flesh. And from the “reward” to the “due” that can be demanded, there is sometimes only one step, which is illustrated very well by the latest scandals that have appeared in the press.
The future of this sport
Manly injunctions are not only correlated with a decrease in women’s well-being and health. Producing real males has an exorbitant cost for everyone, including for hockey itself, which sees many of its talents never hatch, victims of bullying, repetitive concussions or struggling with legal issues.
Rather than making hockey a series of problems, the social sciences lead us to consider the recent revelations about this environment as an opportunity. Since this sport is one of the most spectacular in the world, it remains a source of meaning for thousands of young men in the country. The desired reform of hockey culture could have positive repercussions for society as a whole. It is up to its leaders and educators to show responsibility and courage, and to support this change.
2. Andre Tessier, Sport and masculinity, the case of senior hockey culture in Quebec2018, available on the website of the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences
3.Raewyn Connell, Masculinities, social issues of hegemonyAmsterdam, 2022
5. Brian Heilman, Gary Barker and Alexander Harrison, The Man Box: A Study on Being a Young Man in the US, UK, and MexicoPromundo and US-Unilever, 2017
6. In the words of Mélanie Gourarier, Alpha males, seduce women to appreciate each other between men, The Threshold, 2017