The sport and the physical activity as mediators of corporal models: Genre and sexuality in learning of the masculinities

Abstract

This article begins with an analysis of some theoretical contributions about the conceptualization of body in contemporary societies. These allow us to set a dialogue with the reflective experiences of a group of teenagers about how they learn masculinitiesi in their lives. Phenomenological and political emphasis on the body carried out by Feminists -with the notion of embodiment- have been essential in giving complexity to embodied issues such as gender, race, age, social class (dis)abilities, etc. which not only operate in a relation of power in our selves, but also as a locus of resistance and agency. Queer theory and its deconstruction of normative sexuality -with the concept of performativity- will be basic to understand the fundamental role that sexuality has in the construction of subjectivities. The accounts of teens will allow us to explore the paper that physical activities and sport have in their lives as mediators in the construction of their "masculine" subjectivities, many times as an oppressor space of their sexual and gender identity, and open an analysis of the hegemonic body representations that mediate not only physical education in schools, but also sport of competition and elite, and their representations in mass media.