Learning masculinities in a Japanese high school rugby club

This paper draws on research conducted on a Tokyo high school rugby club to explore diversity in the masculinities formed through membership in the club. Based on the premise that particular forms of masculinity are expressed and learnt through ways of playing (game style) and the attendant regimes of training, it examines the expression and learning of masculinities at three analytic levels. It identifies a hegemonic, culture-specific form of masculinity operating in Japanese high school rugby, a class-influenced variation of it at the institutional level of the school and, by further tightening its analytic focus, further variation at an individual level. In doing so this paper highlights the ways in which diversity in the masculinities constructed through contact sports can be obfuscated by a reductionist view of there being only one, universal hegemonic patterns of masculinity

Field responsive mechanical metamaterials.

Typically, mechanical metamaterial properties are programmed and set when the architecture is designed and constructed, and do not change in response to shifting environmental conditions or application requirements. We present a new class of architected materials called field responsive mechanical metamaterials (FRMMs) that exhibit dynamic control and on-the-fly tunability enabled by careful design and selection of both material composition and architecture. To demonstrate the FRMM concept, we print complex structures composed of polymeric tubes infilled with magnetorheological fluid suspensions. Modulating remotely applied magnetic fields results in rapid, reversible, and sizable changes of the effective stiffness of our metamaterial motifs

"It is what it is": masculinity, homosexuality, and inclusive discourse in mixed martial arts

In this paper we make use of inclusive masculinity theory to explore online media representations of male homosexuality and masculinity within the increasingly popular combat sport of mixed martial arts MMA). Adopting a case-study approach, we discuss narratives constructed around one aspirational male MMA fighter, Dakota Cochrane, whose history of having participated in gay pornography became a major talking point on a number of MMA 'fanzine'/'community' websites during early 2012. While these narratives attempted to discursively 'rescue' Cochrane's supposedly threatened masculinity, highlighting both his 'true' heterosexuality and his prodigious fighting abilities, they also simultaneously celebrated the acceptance of homosexual men within the sport which Cochrane's case implied. Thus, we suggest that these media representations of homosexuality and masculinity within MMA are indicative of declining cultural homophobia and homohysteria, and an inclusive vision of masculinity, as previously described by proponents of inclusive masculinity theory

'It's a Form of Freedom': The experiences of people with disabilities within equestrian sport

This paper explores the embodied, gendered experiences of disabled horse‐riders. Drawing on data from five in‐depth interviews with paradressage riders, the ways in which their involvement in elite disability sport impacts upon their sense of identity and confidence are explored, as well as the considerable health and social benefits that this involvement brings. Social models of disability are employed and the shortcomings of such models, when applied to disability sport, are highlighted. The data presented here demonstrates the necessity of seeing disability sport as an embodied experience and acknowledging the importance of impairment to the experiences of disabled athletes. Living within an impaired body is also a gendered experience and the implications of this when applied to elite disability sport are considered

Sexual harassment and abuse in sport: The research context

This special issue of the Journal of Sexual Aggression draws on the contributions to a Symposium on ‘Sexual Harassment in Sport – Challenges for Sport Psychology in the New Millennium’, held at the Xth Congress of the International Society for Sport Psychology, Skiathos, Greece from May 28th to June 2nd 2001. The symposium, which was organised by the authors of this editorial, was intended to move forward the international research agenda on sexual harassment and abuse in sport and to examine professional practice issues for sport psychologists. It was clear from the attendance of over 60 delegates at that symposium that international interest in this subject is growing. Further evidence of this came from the attendance of 26 members states – from Azerbaijan to Sweden - at a Council of Europe seminar on The Protection of Children, Young People and Women in Sport, held in Helsinki in September 2001

Characterization of an alpha-L-fucosidase from the periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia

The periodontal pathogen Tannerella forsythia expresses several glycosidases which are linked to specific growth requirements and are involved in the invasion of host tissues. α-l-Fucosyl residues are exposed on various host glycoconjugates and, thus, the α-l-fucosidases predicted in the T. forsythia ATCC 43037 genome could potentially serve roles in host-pathogen interactions. We describe the molecular cloning and characterization of the putative fucosidase TfFuc1 (encoded by the bfo_2737 = Tffuc1 gene), previously reported to be present in an outer membrane preparation. In terms of sequence, this 51-kDa protein is a member of the glycosyl hydrolase family GH29. Using an artificial substrate, p-nitrophenyl-α-fucose (KM 670 μM), the enzyme was determined to have a pH optimum of 9.0 and to be competitively inhibited by fucose and deoxyfuconojirimycin. TfFuc1 was shown here to be a unique α(1,2)-fucosidase that also possesses α(1,6) specificity on small unbranched substrates. It is active on mucin after sialidase-catalyzed removal of terminal sialic acid residues and also removes fucose from blood group H. Following knock-out of the Tffuc1 gene and analyzing biofilm formation and cell invasion/adhesion of the mutant in comparison to the wild-type, it is most likely that the enzyme does not act extracellularly. Biochemically interesting as the first fucosidase in T. forsythia to be characterized, the biological role of TfFuc1 may well be in the metabolism of short oligosaccharides in the periplasm, thereby indirectly contributing to the virulence of this organism. TfFuc1 is the first glycosyl hydrolase in the GH29 family reported to be a specific α(1,2)-fucosidase

Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

Previous Western sociological research on Eastern martial arts has identified a tension between ‘traditional’ Eastern forms of practice and ‘modernized’ Western methods of training and competition. In particular, the ‘sportization’ of Eastern styles, where combat-centred arts based upon moral philosophies have transformed more or less into competitive activities following Western models of rationalized sport, has been an important theme. However, it is also suggested that Eastern martial arts hold special significance in the West for their seemingly esoteric nature. In this regard, such martial arts are considered significant because they are not ‘sports’, but rather disciplines, with fairly different connotations for practitioners. Drawing on interview data, this paper explores how Western practitioners of Eastern martial arts articulate this difference, principally by examining the place of martial artistry in British men's narratives of masculinity. Comparing themselves favourably to assumed, typical visions of Western sporting masculinity, such men draw upon the imagined uniqueness of their martial arts to construct a sense of moral superiority over other men. In so doing, they contribute to a rejection of what they believe to be ‘mainstream’ sporting Western masculinity, thus indicating the role that ‘alternative’ visions of physical culture can play in men's active constructions of gender

A tale of two capitalisms: preliminary spatial and historical comparisons of homicide rates in Western Europe and the USA

This article examines comparative homicide rates in the United States and Western Europe in an era of increasingly globalized neoliberal economics. The main finding of this preliminary analysis is that historical and spatial correlations between distinct forms of political economy and homicide rates are consistent enough to suggest that social democratic regimes are more successful at fostering the socio-cultural conditions necessary for reduced homicide rates. Thus Western Europe and all continents and nations should approach the importation of American neo-liberal economic policies with extreme caution. The article concludes by suggesting that the indirect but crucial causal connection between political economy and homicide rates, prematurely pushed into the background of criminological thought during the ‘cultural turn’, should be returned to the foreground

Biology ideology and pastiche hegemony

As knowledge about the biological foundation of the modern patriarchal gender order is increasingly challenged within late-modern social worlds enclaves persist in which men and women can attempt to recreate understandings of the "natural" basis of sex difference. Within "Power Gym," male boxers were able to symbolize their bodies and behaviors in such a manner. The language and logic of popular scientific discourses authored and authorized notions of an "innate" manhood. The ability to instrumentally deploy one's manliness in symbolically legitimate ways could then be represented and emotionally experienced as a man's biological right and obligation. Through scripted performances of "mimetic" violence and self-bullying, the boxers were able to experience this discursive naturalness and carve out a masculinity-validating social enclave. As such, they accessed a "patriarchal dividend" by securing a local pastiche hegemony in which discourses surrounding men's natural place as physically and psychologically dominant remained largely uncontested. Through the reflexive appropriation of "science," within appropriate subcultural codes, these men could negotiate taboos and restrictions that are characteristic of late-modern social worlds. When considered in this way, the power of "scientific" truth claims to explain and justify a certain level of violence, aggression, and behaviors coded as masculine, comes to the fore