Having the balls, having it all? Sport and constructions of undergraduate laddishness

Dempster, Steven

doi:10.1080/09540250802392299

Cited by 43 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Participants" made" links" with" sport" and" alcohol," confirming" other" studies" (Gough" and" Edwards" 1998," De" Visser" and" Smith" 2006," Clayton" and" Harris" 2008," Dempster" 2009." Laddish" behaviours" included" misogynist" banter,"…”

mentioning

confidence: 55%

“…anxiety" (Dempster" 2009(Dempster" ," 2011." Indeed," this" was" seen" recently" in" a" Twitter" chat" curated"by"NUS"Scotland"and"the"White"Ribbon"Campaign"under"the"#ImNotThatLad" hashtag,"in"which"young"men"posted"their"objections"(NUS"Scotland"2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…gaining" a" great" deal" of" social" and" cultural" power" and" has" been" described" as" the" template" masculinity" for" young" British" men" (Dempster" 2009(Dempster" ," 2011," although" it" is" also"'socially"situated,"fluid,"and"contextually"bound'" (Dempster"2011,"p648,"see"also"…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Lad culture’ in higher education: Agency in the sexualization debates

Phipps

Young

2015

Sexualities

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This article reports on research funded by the National Union of Students, which explored women students’ experiences of ‘lad culture’ through focus groups and interviews. We found that although laddism is only one of various potential masculinities, for our participants it dominated the social and sexual spheres of university life in problematic ways. However, their objections to laddish behaviours did not support contemporary models of ‘sexual panic’, even while oppugning the more simplistic celebrations of young women’s empowerment which have been observed in debates about sexualization. We argue that in their ability to reject ‘lad culture’, our respondents expressed a form of agency which is often invisibilized in sexualization discussions and which could be harnessed to tackle some of the issues we uncovered.

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confidence: 55%

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confidence: 99%

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‘Lad culture’ in higher education: Agency in the sexualization debates

Phipps

Young

2015

Sexualities

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“…The club has its own ground and a clubhouse which is the centre of pre and post-match social activities. The decision to use this site, and to focus on Rugby Union, was supported by evidence from previous research which has shown that sporting sites are significant in the construction of masculine identities and lad cultures (Van Campenhout and Van Hoven, 2014;Dempster, 2009;Robinson, 2008;Connell, 2008;Mac an Ghail and Haywood, 2007).…”

Section: The Researchmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Current understandings of lads have been informed by both the specific British historical context, as well as contemporary depictions in the media which include 'lads on tour', and commodification of laddishness in popular television programmes and magazines (Willis, 1977). Previous research has shown that there are particular spheres of society in which lad culture is deemed to be more prominent than others, with institutions such as education, the workplace and leisure sites being key spaces in which lad cultures are frequently constructed and reproduced (Kidd, 2013, Dempster, 2009Schacht, 1996). Within such studies there has been recognition of the significance of place in enabling lad cultures to be practiced, with many men feeling more 'able' to behave in particular ways depending on the spatial context (Robinson and Hockey, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond ideas of laddism: conceptualising ‘mischievous masculinities’ as a new way of understanding everyday sexism and gender relations

Nichols

2016

Journal of Gender Studies

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This article engages with current debates on 'lad cultures' by questioning how we understand the term in the specific context of everyday sexism and within groups of men varying in age. Further to this, using a feminist and critical masculinity studies perspective, the article will explore how men do not necessarily comprehend their behaviour within the framework of lad culture or within the continuum of sexual violence (Jackson, 2006;Wheaton, 2000). Through discussion of ethnographic and interview data collected over a year at a site historically associated with lad cultures, that of a Rugby Union club in Northern England, an alternative way of conceptualising masculinity and everyday sexism, 'mischievous masculinities', is proposed.Men in the research practiced what I term mischievous masculinities, whereby they implemented 'banter' to aid in both the construction and de-construction of sexist ideas within the rugby space. Performing mischievous masculinity enabled men of all ages to both engage in and simultaneously challenge everyday sexism in ways they understood to be 'innocent'. However, the continual framing of banter as 'just a laugh' demonstrated that this form of sexism can be construed as problematic, due, in part, to its subtlety, in relation to more overt and violent sexist practices. A key difference between the men in my research and previous theorising of 'lad culture' is the recurring theme amongst older participants that 'I should know better', demonstrating consciousness of the sexist and problematic connotations which could be drawn from this interaction. This notion of mischievous masculinities then, in the context of a life course perspective, can be seen to challenge more established notions of an unreflexive lad culture, thus affording a more nuanced understanding of everyday sexism amongst more diverse groups of men than currently exists, as well as allowing for men's agency in a specific site.

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How do we defeat the ‘dark side’? Analysing a call to tackle lad culture at a UK university

Owen

2020

British Educational Res J

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Extensive feminist critique of lad culture has raised serious concerns about its role in the sexualisation and objectification of women; its association with 'pack-like' boisterous behaviour and pressured heavy drinking of alcohol; and its use of banter, irony and infantile humour to provide a protective shield for sexist and homophobic practices. These concerns have culminated in the National Union of Students calling for lad culture to be tackled on university campuses in the UK. This article analyses how the call to tackle lad culture was represented in a student newspaper and made sense of by groups of male students at one university in Southern England. The findings identify three interpretative repertoires, one aligned with feminist critiques, with lad culture constructed as a series of harmful and unacceptable social practices; the other two, critical of feminist-aligned critiques, deployed rhetorical strategies to distinguish a 'light' side of lad culture from a 'dark' side, and disavow the 'dark' side by claiming it was performed by individual 'bad people'. This article recommends future campaigns address these multiple repertoires together in one, non-judgemental debate space. This will include the acknowledgement of broader definitions of lad culture, and the facilitation of ongoing student debate about the 'light' and 'dark' sides of lad culture, and the 'grey areas' in between.

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Having the balls, having it all? Sport and constructions of undergraduate laddishness

Cited by 43 publications

References 33 publications

‘Lad culture’ in higher education: Agency in the sexualization debates

‘Lad culture’ in higher education: Agency in the sexualization debates

Moving beyond ideas of laddism: conceptualising ‘mischievous masculinities’ as a new way of understanding everyday sexism and gender relations

How do we defeat the ‘dark side’? Analysing a call to tackle lad culture at a UK university

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