Playing Like A Real Man: Conforming to Traditional Masculinity Norms On the Football Field

In the last semester of my undergraduate career at Rice University, I decided to take on an ethnographic research class in the Sociology Department. I learned more about the intricacies of "people watching" and how often people deviate from their words in their actions.

The papers below are one of the mini ethnographies and its corresponding interview analysis that I wrote in Spring 2024, under the supervision and guidance of Dr. Sergio Chavez. I was assigned to conduct a study surrounding the topic of gender, and I knew that I wanted to observe my lovely local pickup community in Houston. I discussed how the male football players in my pickup community may feel the societal pressure to "play like a real man" and adhere to traditional masculinity norms on the field.

P.S. : I have a lot of love for these guys. They may not know it, but I will always remember them as the ones who helped me fall back in love with football. I would like to thank them for that and for letting me to conduct the study. Also, special thanks to Abraham, Art, Brian, Frenchy, Messi, Rogelio, Santi, Palomo, Pastor, and Profe.

Playing Like a Real Man_ Conforming to Traditional Masculinity Norms on the Football Field.

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The Conscious Effort to Play Like a Real Man on the Football Field.pdf

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During this semester, I also wrote a final paper (written in Spanish) in my Spanish class regarding machismo in Latin American football and how it's slowly deconstructing in the region and the rest of the world as well. Since the paper relates to the two papers presented above, I would like to attach that paper to this post as well:

Deconstruyendo el fútbol machista en América Latina para incluir a las mujeres.pdf

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