How Is the Myth of “Male Physical Superiority” Sustained?
Mechanisms of Gender Reproduction in a Junior High School Judo Club
2004 Volume 75 Pages 105-125
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2004 Volume 75 Pages 105-125
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the mechanisms for the reproduction and sustenance of the myth of “male physical superiority” through sport practice, using data from field research in a judo club at a junior high school. The myth of “male physical superiority” refers to the social belief that “males are superior to females in physical capabilities.”
The judo club is one of the best sport clubs of the school, and its training is the hardest. Unlike other sport clubs, boys and girls always practice together following the same practice schedule. However, during practice, it is found that they are always gender-segregated, and boy-dominated. That is to say, the gender equality of the practice schedule and gender segregation of the physical relationship are the gender systems of the judo club.
In the budo-jo(judo-training room), a fixed “borderline” can be observed between boys and girls. The practiced area for the girls is only a third of the size of that for boys. Girls occasionally try to pass across the “borderline, ” but the subversion is only transitory, and the boys' domination of the budo-jo never wavers.
Next, the paper analyzes boy-and-girl pairings for randori(technical training in pairs). When choosing a randori partner, weaker players must ask the stronger players. The boy-and-girl pairings seem like a subversion of gender segregation, but in reality a regularity can be seen in the pairing that does not subvert the male-dominated gender relations. For example, whereas a girl will ask a boy from the same year, boys will only ask girls who are their seniors.
Not only judo, but almost all sports have systems that segregate males and females, and prevents them from competing with one another. Gender systems in sport are utilized to sustain the myth of “male physical superiority.” The myth is reproduced by various sport practice, such as the ones observed in a judo club, which are produced from a gender-segregated sport system.
