This is a 3 page book review of Michael A. Messner’s “Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity”. Michael A. Messner’s 1992 text “Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity” is one of the first sociological studies which observes the social role of sports in the development of masculinity and how that role has been affected by the feminist movement throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Messner’s study is based on his interviews with thirty former male athletes from different high school, college and/or professional leagues. Messner’s text is important in its feminist look at the masculinity in sports and in addition to the reinforcement of homophobia which has also been challenged with the acceptance of gays within organized sports.
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observes the social role of sports in the development of masculinity and how that role has been affected by the feminist movement throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Messners study is
based on his interviews with thirty former male athletes from different high school, college and/or professional leagues. Messners text is important in its feminist look at the masculinity in sports
and in addition to the reinforcement of homophobia which has also been challenged with the acceptance of gays within organized sports. Messners "Power
at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity" (1992) is based on a study Messner conducted in the mid-1980s based on his interviews with 30 male former athletes. Messner, a
sociology professor at the University of Southern California, interviewed male athletes who have been involved in organized sports in either high school, college or professional leagues (Messner, 1992; Publishers, 1992).
The main issue in regards to Messners study was the examination of masculine identities in the field of sports which has due to the increase in female participation in sports
and the growing acceptance of gay athletes has begun to challenge the traditional idea of games and sports as "macho" activities (Messner, 1992; Publishers, 1992). Some of Messners more compelling
observations is that sports changed with the introduction of females and acceptance of gay athletes as traditional male sporting events were not only "macho" in essence but also contained elements
of sexist and homophobic activities. Messner also suggests that "the feminist revolution of the 1960s and 1970s may have stimulated a burgeoning interest in pro football, the most violent of
American sports, on the part of threatened males" (Messner, 1992; Publishers, 1992). Messners study and text is considered important in relation to the gendered nature of sport and how