According to a 2009 study by researchers at the University of Northern Iowa: “High school athletic participation is associated with an array of positive outcomes, including high school GPA, college attendance, college completion, adult income and earnings, job quality, and beneficial health behaviors.”
But the same study found that: “Male high school athletes in particular report higher levels of alcohol consumption, drunk driving, sexist and homophobic social attitudes, gender related violent activity, and same sex violence (fighting).”
So the Rutgers incident, in its own way, once again shines a light on the broader, poisonous culture in which masculinity is narrowly drawn, where physical violence is an acceptable outlet for male emotion, and poor performance is categorically associated with femininity.
What are the effects of such warped reasoning, when boys groomed by jock culture must operate in a wider culture increasingly more accepting of gender and sexual identity variance, and more insistent on gender equality?
Do coaches like Rice strengthen the boys’ bodies but weaken their minds? I would submit that for some the answer is yes, and that this phenomenon is a continuing retardant on a more civil society.