Inger Eliasson1 & Jesper Fundberg2
1 Dept. of Education, Umeå University;
2 Dept. for Police Work, Malmö University
The purpose of the study was through a case study to analyze the staging and experiences of an educational intervention carried out with team sports active boys in Sweden, which aimed to change a problematic masculinity in Swedish society. The case study is ethnographic in nature where an authentic educational process is followed and studied through observations, interviews and documents. The empirical material consists of observations of 14 intervention sessions with 100 boys (10–14 years of age), interviews with in total 17 participants; ten boys, three coaches, two educators and two operations managers. This article problematizes how intentions to change problematic masculinity is expressed through interventions with boys within the framework of team sports in Sweden. New knowledge is created about how different forms of masculinities are presented, negotiated, and challenged in education of boys in a sports locker room context. The results show that with different views on the problems among those involved, the intervention, as a solution to problematic masculinity, risks becoming counterproductive, which is reinforced if the content is not relevant to and adapted for the young target group. We argue for a more nuanced views on problematic masculinity, especially in relation to interventions-based education of young boys in sport as a solution which is in focus in this study.
INGER ELIASSON, PhD, is an associate professor in Education at the Department of Education and Umeå School of Sport Sciences, Umeå University, Sweden. Her research focuses on behavioral processes associated with upbringing and socialization in children’s sport, children’s rights, the abuse of children in sports, and gendered and generational issues within children’s sport and sport coaching.
JESPER FUNDBERG has a PhD in Ethnology and works as an Associate Professor at the Police Program, Malmö University. His main research interests center around power relations, masculinity and structural racism in sports and in police work.
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