Red Card to Silence
Gargee Dixit
FY Bsc
Source : Pinterest
When we think of sports, we generally think about companionship, teamwork and integrity.
We all were awfully exhilarated during the World Cup watching India win consecutively and the collective mourning when the team lost in finals. Swiggy and Zomato offered discounts, communal viewings were held in societies and the roads were sparsely populated, only occasional cheering from households illuminating the space. So what happens when something intended to produce “bhaichara” ends up being the thing women fear.
It is hard to say when sports were exactly invented or started but places all over the globe had their own different connotations. The most famous example we are familiar with are the Greek Olympic Games. But formal sports, in a way in which we recognise them today, were started in the 19/20th century. Though by then sports had transcended from being ‘just a game’. They were used to try to make peace between countries, increase soft power, as a means to boost one’s economy or bring societal change. Sports were no longer as an end in themselves but a means to an end. When sports have the power to influence society, incite emotions, make or break a nation’s heart, one cannot look at its societal impact in a more nuanced manner.
There seems to be a positive correlation between domestic violence and important sport matches. On days of important matches, domestic violence reports go up considerably. In the UK , domestic violence cases go up by 38% during football matches regardless of whether the English team wins or loses. The same thing was observed in the US, there was a 10% increase in domestic violence reports after the home team lost. And these are based on the cases that officially got reported. At first glance it seems simple. Men drink a lot during these sports games, and that leads to the increase in abuse. This was in fact what my friend said to me when I discussed this topic with her. But studies have shown there really is not a high correlation between alcohol and domestic abuse. A more damning factor to this phenomenon is how we view sports in society and what values it perpetuates.
The culture sports produces (especially contact/team sports) involve more sexist and conservative norms for gender and sexuality, they may also involve more violence-supportive attitudes. Tamed or controlled form of violence is allowed in team sports like hockey and football where you intimidate the other person by your stature and the existence of red/ yellow cards and their controversies is proof of that. Some toughness, some violence is shown by players themselves so such behaviour may get normalised among the spectators when they watch such conduct. There has been research into’ locker room talks’ which includes sexist misogynistic remarks between the players even to the extent of rape jokes. Sports often require and celebrate hypermasculinity. Students living in fraternities are three times more likely and student athletes are 77% more likely to commit sexual assault than non atheletes.This cannot be a coincidence. The culture around sports perpetuates a kind of misogyny and sexism which lead to behaviours like these
Male partners being more engrossed in sports can also be one of the factors. Generally sports are seen as a “manly hobby” or women who like traditional sports are branded as “tomboys”or “just like the guys”. This may also play some part in the social perception of sports and the male abusers feeling their female partners are somehow “less than them”. Sports and fan culture also tend to encourage male solidarity through negative attitudes towards women and in fact even other men.
Fanatic fans
Sports as an identity. It connects people. Sports fans treat players as family or even ‘gods’. When the team loses, they feel the loss as their very own, when the team wins they feel like they are on cloud nine. But this parasocial relationship often has a negative impact too. Frustration regarding the team losing may translate into domestic abuse against female partners.
Young children are impressionable too. 72% of children in a study said that they have athletes as their role models. If they see violent outbursts and improper behaviour towa women from their role models, their opinions regarding women may develop to become negative and harmful.
Abuse is dealt by women inside the sports industry too. On 22nd December 2023, Sakshi Malik quit representing India when Sushant Singh, a close associate of Brij Bhushan Singh, got elected as Wrestling Federation of India. Brij Bhushan has allegations of sexual assault against him and he is not the only recent case in sports where women have felt unsafe or have been taken advantage of. .This is not an isolated incident, nor is it prevalent only in India. In the US, there is a precedent for National Football League athletes to not face much consequences for domestic violence charges against them, i.e. it does not hurt their career to a noticeable extent. Domestic violence thus, even today is not considered a crime!
When behaviours like these are “accepted” on the field and in the athletes’ personal life, a sort of alternative moral code is formed in the minds of the spectators. When all of this further unfolds on screen, sports fans get influenced by such behaviours. They see the people they have idolised not caring about women and thus, form the opinion that they shouldn’t either.
It has been suggested that domestic violence operates at the nexus of a social constellation comprising alcohol, sport, and hegemonic masculinity . The three of them work together to lead to an increase in domestic violence cases during sport matches. We looked at how the culture and structure of sports breeds toxic masculinity but alcohol still is very much in the picture. While alcohol does not directly lead to domestic violence it can intensify what is pre decided. A paper from the Leeds Beckett University also points out how alcohol is used as a “shield” in some cases to forego the consequences of the perpetrator’s actions. To rationalise their crime trying to shift focus onto a well crafted lie that they are not inherently bad , alcohol somehow made them that way, which is a slippery slope to go onto
So what are we doing to change this?
In recent years several organisations have popped up to fight against domestic violence like ‘football united against domestic violence’, or NRL’s voice against violence . One such organisation is ‘Parivartan’,an organisation founded by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). They modelled this after Coaching Boys Into Men (CBIM) where they engage the coaches (teaching the boys) cricket or their mentors to raise awareness, courage, gender equality, and help spread these teachings forward. They have used the popularity of cricket to bring in young teen boys and had conversations about women rights and gender equality. They are using a beloved sport loved by many to raise attention for the abused.
Sports don’t occur in a vacuum. The same old statement of “we live in a society” applies here. I am not saying one should just disbar themselves from enjoying commercial sports, but one should definitely acknowledge the real impact it has on women. Sports should be something that are enjoyed by all, and should definitely not be a tool used to oppress some or enable others to oppress. Enjoying the collective wins and sharing the losses is what sports is all about, and we need to foster an environment of inclusivity, equality, and mutual respect in order for this to become a reality. Sports have the ability and potential to unite and excite people (that’s what they were made for) and we need to make sure it keeps doing that with a check on its negative consequences.