Episode #3: Hate in the Locker Room?

You can listen to this post as well over at ELRC Radio.

Welcome back, everyone! I'm Korryn Mozisek and you're listening to The Talking Tomboy. In this week's episode, I want to discuss my excitement regarding recent developments in the NFL from Michael Sam's declaration that he is gay NFL hopeful and to Ted Wells' report on bullying in Miami. I'm sure all of you are wondering whether you heard me correct...my excitement? Yes, I want to discuss the possibilities and changes that may come from these two developments in the NFL. Why? Because each event challenges the masculine assumptions of the sport of football.

Mariah Burton Nelson, writes in her book, The Stonger Women Get, The MoreMen Love Football, that sports are an arena where culture clings to notions of dominance, brutality, and aggression even if that means pushing out weaker individuals in the process. Not strong enough? Take a hike. Not man enough? Hit the road Jack! Unlike other arenas where civil rights laws have worked to eliminate difference and disparity, sports are a space where male supremacy reigns. In many ways, it harkens back to a time before libbers pestered on about women's right to vote and equality. Nelson states, “Sports offer a pre-civil rights world where white men, as owners, coaches, and umpires, still rule. Within a sports arena, a man can express racist, sexist, and homophobic attitudes not tolerated in many other parts of society.” (p. 7) In contrast to sexual harassment charges or dismissal from your job, it seems the world of sports believes that such behaviors are a part of the bonding process of men. This continues a boys will be boys attitude where individuals who don't fit the manly, dominant, aggressive norm are objects for ridicule because they aren't behaving like a man. The result? One group faces contempt and a cycle of inequality continues.

You might be thinking, after all that pessimism, how can I be hopeful about the recent NFL developments? Well, I am hopeful and it is because of the ways that Wells' report and Sam's coming out shines a light on the racist, sexist, and homophobic attitudes of sport. The recent refrain seemed to be that X major sport (be it hockey, basketball, baseball, or football) wasn't ready for an open, homosexual male player. Why? Don't you know that player would be a distraction and harm team chemistry?! In the wake of Michael Sam's announcement, we heard that familiar line that football was not ready just yet for an out player. Maybe in 5-10 years, but as Peter King reported, many player evaluators thought such an announcement would harm Sam's draft status and that teams might stay away from him to prevent the distraction. But...players feel differently. Donte Stallworth, an individual who has made moral mistakes and been accepted back in the NFL, quickly responded to such rhetoric from front office's and sports pundits to state, that by arguing that if a team can't handle such a known situation as Sam's sexuality then they are a losing franchise to begin with. Stallworth's view was that it isn't because of their moral or political standing, but that if Sam's became a media distraction, then how is said team going to handle a playoff or Super Bowl run? It wouldn't and those are even bigger so called distractions. Yes, there was push back from some players, but many expressed acceptance of a player regardless of sexual orientation that helped a team win. And, a recent, confidential ESPN poll of players revealed that 86% of players did not care about a teammate's sexual orientation. The troubling findings from the poll: first, 62% of NFL players experienced teammates and/or coaches using homophobic slurs last season; and second, while players would be accepting of a gay teammate, their reticence is over where the “line” is in regards to joking.

This brings me to the Wells report. I won't go into great detail regarding the report – there are many online reports that you can read if you are interested. But the report expresses a concern regarding the world of bullying in locker rooms and in professional sports. The report notes the graphic and persistent nature of the bullying that would be unacceptable in any other profession. What makes the report interesting is that begins to shape the belief that the bullying that Nelson discussed earlier and that Martin and others were subjected to is unacceptable even in such an environment as professional football. After the report, Mark Schlereth, a former offensive lineman for the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos, wrote a piece expressing his frustration with the reports coming out of Miami. In the ESPN article, he states, “I despise the stories of bullying that came out of Miami. It breaks my heart that the good-natured ribbing that is a part of every locker room could get to a point that a young man felt his only option was to walk away from the game that he's worked his entire life to play.” Schlereth goes on to discuss the mythical “code” of the locker room and the sport. Importantly, Schlereth admits that there is sophomoric behavior as a part of the ribbing between teammates, but that leaders in the locker room need to be around to know when to tell a fellow teammate when a line has been crossed and that acceptance and love for one another is also a part of that locker room environment. The Wells report, then, has turned the spotlight on to delineating where the line of good fun ends and where torment and bullying begins. Of course, it also establishes the question as to whether such behavior is good for team bonding. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), a few Dolphins employees are losing their jobs over their behavior – nope, it wasn't just Richie Incognito as bully. This development indicates to me that bullying as a pastime in NFL locker rooms is coming to an end.

Rather than seeing the Wells report as a stain or Sam's announcement as headline news, we should them as proof of a changing culture where acceptance or at least tolerance are encouraged even in the most masculine of arena, the National Football League. I can only hope that Michael Sam's receives the same support in the NFL as he did from fellow Mizzou students when they created a wall to stand with Sam recently when the Westboro Baptist Church arrived to protest on campus. And, I can only hope that the Wells report will create a change in the culture of the NFL locker room. At the very least, the discussion of these two developments reveals that sports can no longer drag its feet and be behind the times with its slurs and derogatory language. In fact, the commentary from fans and pundits point to the fact that sports need to catch up to an increasing cultural acceptance of gays, lesbians, and even the emotionally (so-called) sensitive man. So yes, I will see these developments as positive because just maybe the acceptance and hilarity of racist, sexist, and homophobic attitudes in the locker room are on their way out. That's the ballgame for this week! Take care every one.