The Rites of Men: Manhood, Politics, and the Culture of Sport

Robert B. MacIntyre is head of the Centre for Relationship Therapy and
Education in Orangeville, Ontario.

The thesis of this heavily referenced book is that sport, broadly
defined, is a major factor in the development of a culture that
glorifies “hypermasculinity”: control, conflict, aggression, and
dominance. Business plans, stock markets, politics, wars and relief
actions, and even arts news seem to be presented and discussed in sport
metaphor and in terms of win or loss. The author traces this development
to the formalization of play into organized sport in the 19th century,
an organization designed both to allow expression of masculine
aggression and to control and direct it. Through the middle of the 20th
century, sport became more professionalized and commercialized,
eventually fusing with the large corporate entertainment industry to
become the dominant definer of masculinity and, by virtual exclusion,
femininity as well.

In supporting her position, Burstyn is strongest when drawing on her
own interview material and on magazine and news stories. Her historical
perspective draws heavily on secondary sources and other contemporary
critiques of sport and culture in general. Since many of these sources
are informed by a feminist and deconstructionist vision similar to that
of the author, they do not provide much range of opinion. At the same
time, the range of targets is so broad that it seems to include all
social and cultural activities (including film and magazines), whether
sport-related or not.

Burstyn suggests that she would like to see changes in the sport
culture she describes. As a result of its heavy scholarship, however,
The Rites of Men is more likely to be read by students of sport in
academic settings than by members of the sport culture.