“Keep the petulant testosterone off the court!”: A critical discourse study on the (re)production of sports machismo in social media

• Main Author: Marie Claire Duque-Cruz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Santo Tomas 2019-12-01
• Series: Asian Journal of English Language Studies (AJELS)
• Subjects: basketball; critical discourse study; machismo; sociocognitive approach; sports discourse
• Online Access: https://ajels.ust.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2_%E2%80%9CKeep-the-petulant-testosterone-off-the-court%E2%80%9D_A-critical-discourse-study-on-the-reproduction-of-sports-machismo-in-social-media.pdf

This paper examines how machismo is negotiated and enacted between and among men in competitive sports (i.e., basketball), and how it is (re)produced in social-media discourse. By employing van Dijk’s (2016) sociocognitive approach to critical discourse study, the polarization strategies and the ideologies built in the norms and values in discourse were subjected to micro- and macro-analysis. This paper addresses the gap in research as most critical studies in gendered language in sports are centered on male domination over females, and less academic attention is given to the materializations of machismo between and among men. This paper reveals significant and interesting findings on how the social constructions of masculinity become problematic, especially when men are placed under public scrutiny.