‘It used to be brutal, now it’s an art’: Changing Negotiations of Violence and Masculinity in British Karate

Abstract

In most western (and indeed eastern) cultures, fighting is seen as an ultimate symbol of masculinityan embodied display of dominance, control and violence (Bourdieu, 2001). As a space legitimizing and praising performances of mimetic violence (Dunning, 1999), combat sports provide an arena where the virtues of dominance and power at the heart of conceptions of orthodox masculinity (Anderson, 2005) or hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 2005) can be symbolically presented by men through bodily displays of strength, physical aggression, and the taking and overcoming of pain (Bourdieu, 2001;Messner, 1990;Wacquant, 2004). Yet, over the last 20 years the focus of karate in Britain has been perceived to shift from aggressive acts of 'hitting hard' to developing and displaying controlled, acrobatic and technically precise movements. Drawn from a nine-month ethnography and seven semi-structured interviews, this chapter explores how British male karate practitioners re/negotiate ideas of masculinity and embodiments of a masculine identity in the context of karate's changing emphasis on, and practices of, 'violence.' This paper suggests that a 'civilizing' shift (Elias & Dunning, 1986) in the competition rules and increases in women's participation in karate complicate the use of violence as a symbol of praised masculine identity within British karate. A praised masculine identity is crafted by carefully blending traits conventional deemed feminine such as technical precision, elegance and agility alongside displays of strength and dominance. Such performances challenge conceptions of an orthodox sporting masculinity and notions of hierarchical gender distinction. 'It used to be brutal, now it's an art': Changing negotiations of violence and masculinity in British karateAt the heart of constructing sport as a male domain has been the positioning of sport as an arena to perform mimetic physical violence (Dunning, 1999), and of such violence as central to, and a reflection of, masculine identity and men's superiority over women (Connell, 1990;Messner, 1990). Fighting in particular has been historically represented as an exercise of power expected of men and imagined to be innate to men (Bourdieu, 2001;Hatty, 2000). As such, combat sports, on the face of it, present arenas where the virtues of dominance and power.These virtues are at the heart of conceptions of hegemonic masculinitya dominant form of masculinity constructed in hierarchical comparison to femininity and subordinated masculinities (Connell, 2005); and orthodox masculinitya conservative form of masculinity that, whilst not necessarily hegemonic in a given field, is centered around compulsory sexism, homophobia, and stoic bravado (Anderson, 2009). Within contact and combat sports, dominance and power can be symbolically presented by men through bodily displays of strength, physical aggression, and the taking and overcoming of pain (Bourdieu, 2001;Messner, 1990;Wacquant, 2004).Karate is a martial art and sport centered on the development of combative and defensive tech...

Fighting through emotional trials: exploring the role of karate in emotional reflexivity

“…As such, the expression and legitimacy of men's emotional expression in sport is socially negotiated in relation to past and present teammates, opponents, spectators, officials, and coaches. Examples of the ways in which men can legitimately express emotion in sport include displaying anger or aggression towards an opponent, the opposition's fans, or the athletic task to be defeated (Young, 2019), expressing care for team mates or training partners (Maclean, 2020), jumping with euphoric joy when scoring a point or winning, and crying when the team they support wins or loses (Bairner, 2014).…”