Male Athletes and the Cult(ure) of Thinness in Sport

Although female emaciators and anorexics in sport have received considerable academic attention as a deviant population of athletes (Atkinson 2008 ——— . 2008 . “Triathlon, Suffering and Exciting Significance.” Leisure Studies 27 : 165 – 180 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Grieve 2007 Atkinson , M. 2007 . “Playing with Fire: Masculinity, Health and Sports Supplements.” Sociology of Sport Journal 24 : 165 – 186 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), researchers have only recently attended to the onset and development of self-starvation or weight minimization programs among male athletes (Hargreaves and Tiggemann 2006 Hargreaves , D. and M. Tiggeman . 2006 . “Body Image is for Girls.” Journal of Health Psychology 11 : 567 – 576 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Papathomas and Lavallee 2006 Papathomas , A. and D. Lavallee . 2006 . “A Life History Analysis of a Male Athlete with an Eating Disorder.” Journal of Loss and Trauma 11 : 143 – 179 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The bulk of academic literature on eating pathologies among male (or female) athletes fails to account for many of the complex sociocultural processes involved in learning an emaciator's habitus (Bourdieu 1984 Bourdieu , P. 1984 . Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press . [Google Scholar]; Elias 2004 ——— . 2004 . The Civilizing Process . Oxford , UK : Basil Blackwell . [Google Scholar]). Qualitative, open-ended interviews were conducted with 73 male athletes in 9 different sports to inspect the social–psychological genesis of the emaciator's habitus. Interviews focused on the role of exogenous to sport influences on eating behaviors and body attitudes, and endogenous influences on body regimen habituated as normative, rather than pathological, within specific sport cultures. Findings suggest that males who emaciate: (1) express rather socioeconomic and rational–scientific attitudes about the body as a site of controlled and disciplined work; (2) have life histories of, and phenomenological preferences for, being thin; (3) are socially insulated within sport cultures saturated by groupthink-replete nutrition ideologies; (4) attach significant cultural and personal meaning to social display inner-restraint and emotional control; (5) possess strong bonds with parents and coaches; and (6) generally express low thresholds of shame and guilt tolerance toward their risky behaviors.