Gender Role Orientation of Athletes and Nonathletes in a Patriarchal Society: A Study in Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the gender role orientation and gender role classification of female and male athletes to those of their nonathlete counterparts. A total of 463 athletes and 378 nonathletes completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The findings indicated that athletes score higher on the masculinity and femininity subscales than do nonathletes. Men had higher scores on masculinity than did women, whereas women had higher scores on femininity than did men. In addition, both men and women athletes were mostly classified in the androgynous category. These findings are discussed in relation to the competitive sport environment and Turkish society.

Situational Malleability of Gender Schema: The Case of the Competitive Sport Context

“…We think that these principles act as social gender norms (Cialdini et al 1991) and individuals who deviate from are likely to be perceived negatively. As a whole, the perspective which followed from our results may appear less optimistic than Koca et al's (2005) conclusion according to which sport might have "the potential to reconstruct traditional conceptualizations of gender roles" (p. 223). Nevertheless, we know that sport domain is characterised by various ways to conceive, describe and play sports.…”

“…Another contribution of the present study is to directly question the cognitive link between competitive sport and masculinity, which has been only suggested by past research. Furthermore, the origins of the previously mentioned research suggesting a probable link between competitive sport and masculinity are North American (Clifton et al 1976;Harrison and Lynch 2005), Norwegian (Klomsten et al 2005), Swedish (Koivula 1995(Koivula , 1999, and Turkish (Koca et al 2005). Consequently, we think that this issue is not limited to the scope of France and may be important for readers from many countries.…”

“…However, they reported higher selfesteem when they participated in more noncompetitive sports. In Turkey, Koca et al (2005) noted that competitive sport environment requires assertive, competitive behaviors. They found that both female and male athletes exhibited higher masculinity scores than did nonathletes and suggested that it probably reflected an overlap in competitiveness.…”

“…The above issues are quite recurrent in studies published in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, be it the gender selfperceptions malleability (e.g., Miller et al 1997;Smith et al 1999), or the suggestion of a link between competitive sport and masculinity (e.g., Clifton et al 1976;Harrison and Lynch 2005;Klomsten et al 2005;Koca et al 2005;Koivula 1995Koivula , 1999. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, no study has coupled both of these issues in one research and investigated the implicit route between gender selfperceptions and social context by looking at response latencies.…”

Sex and gender identity differences in psychological job outcomes among salespeople

“…It is seen in literature that Bem's approach is widely used in studies regarding the gender identity in Turkish culture (Arslan, 2014;Bolat & Odacı, 2016;Koca et al, 2005;Özkan & Lajunen, 2005;Tanrıkulu, 2014;Tanrıkulu & Efeoğlu, 2015;Yağcı & İlarslan, 2010). Thus, Bem's approach is preferred in this study.…”