I play american football for my high school, and know several players at high schools in our county, and they're all so hateful. Many are racist, almost all are extremely homophobic, and all the coaches preach respect and leadership yet their example is to make fun of the LGBT community. But kids I know in all the other sports in my school are so much more accepting. I don't understand how that seems to happen.
Well, whenever you bring a bunch of hypermasculine guys together, they tend to want to show that they're better than other guys in the room. That means they'll make whatever racist, homophobic, bigoted jokes they need to make to fit in.
Football (and other hyper-masculine) sports create a culture where men have to live up to the macho expectation. If they do not, then they are made aware of it somehow. So, many people conform to this expectation, and this creates that culture of hyper-masculinity.
I thought this thread was going to be about association football first, because really, European football fans can be pretty awful. The racism is excessive. I love football (soccer), but going to games can be unpleasant sometimes. I assume the same type of prejudice applies in American football.
In football you have to be a manly man, which unfortunately includes a racist and homophobic man too. People who do football are also involved in a much more violent sport, with much contact, if that changes anything. That's why I joined cross country; the kids there are the nicest, most academic, and most accepting!
Oh gosh i don't even want to go there lol and as long as your a jock it is ok to walk around the high school holding hands with a guy cause your joking around but if a actual gay guy does it is disgusting too many horrid memories
