Hegemonic Masculinity, Mental Health and the Media

Perpetuates Stoicism

Harm

"Men don't cry"

Harm

This ideology creates a space that is not open to discussing struggles that are considered un masculine.

Studies find that men who align with these norms are less likely to seek Mental health help due to fear of the stigma

Sadness and Disappoint are "unmanly"

Reaction

The public was very supportive of Love and it spurred many athletes to come forward about their own struggles

Within the Sports Industry

Kevin Love

Kevin Love

Many sponsors and supporters distanced themselves from Love over concerns about signing a player with confirmed mental health issues

In 2018, Kevin Love opened up about his struggles with mental health.

This spurred changes within the NBA, in regards to mental health help that is avaliable to players

The Media

Media coverage, even that written by Love himself, shied away from terms like "mental illness" "depression", and "anxiety" due to the negative connotation

Similarly stories connected to genetic or enviornmental factors rather than illistrating the complexity of mental health

DeMar DeRozan

Royce White

In 2018, a month before Love's revelation, DeMar DeRozan, posted on twitter citing issues with depression, he was relucant to open up until he was persuaded by journalists, after his story was released he decided to become an advocate for those who suffer from the same issues

In 2013, Royce White, was drafted by the Rockets, he had diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder, which resulted in an intense fear of flying, making it very difficult for White to particpate with the team.

He peitioned the NBA to make mental health care more readily avaliable for athletes, this never happened, and White would only play 3 games in the NBA

Demar DeRozan and Royce White

Conclusions

Demar DeRozen and Royce White

Media with DeMar DeRozan

Media With Royce White

The difference between the coverages on White and DeRozan, signifys a media that is making an effort to be more inclusive and reject the hegemonic masculinity, but it also speaks towards a potential resentment for those trying to make changes to such powerful organizations like the NBA especially by someone who is in a minority group.

Both are Black NBA players who opened up about issues with mental health prior to Love and the reception they had was very different from that of Love

In a similar meta analysis, they found 3 common themes across DeRozan's articles, Awareness (73.8%), breaking the stigma (76.2%), mental health (73.8%). These results are significantly different from White's, which could potentially be because DeRozan was not trying to make waves within the NBA.

In a meta analysis done on news articles written about White they found 3 common themes, the media blaming White, claiming he had always been troubled (72.4%), supporting White, more focused on how the team supported him (63.8%), and citing issues White had with teammates all the way back to high school (58.6%)

Hegemonic Masculinity, puts African American men at a disadvantage because they don't fit the ideology

Exclusion causes an increased chance of mental health issues

Negative media representation of mental health and African American men in media

Negative impacts of Hegemonic Masculinity, Black Men and Mental health

Negative Impacts

Stigmatization of mental health, which is exceptionally high in the African American community

Negative impacts on women

Negative impacts

Women who violate their "roles" in accordance to both hemgemonic masculinity and hegemonic feminity, puts unfiar social pressures on these athletes, which commonly manifests in depression anxiety and eating disorders, especially in sports that are considered feminine

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka and the Media

In 2021, Osaka pulled out of the French Open due to mental health struggles that she was facing, she's one of many female athletes that have opened up and/or pulled out of events in recent years

Naomi Osaka

Simone Biles -2020 Tokyo Olympics

When Osaka pulled out of the French Open she made a post on her social media discussing her struggle and pointed to the media, and their lack of care regarding athletes and this topic. This is the first time in history that an athlete explicitly drew a connection between mental health and the media, as well as the way they handle interviews

Serena Williams-2022

Liz Cambage- 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Themes

Acknowledging the intense pressure these athletes face

The impacts of COVID-19

A Study on Media Coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

Depicting the athletes as human rather than superhuman

Lack of specific diagnostic terms

Progress

The 2020 Olympics saw, multiple athletes choosing to take a step back to focus on taking care of themselves, so a study was done based around how the media handled coverage of these athletes and their stories

The study found common themes across the study, a majority of them were positive but some still showed the reluctance to go deeper into the issue