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Muted Masculinity as an Outsider Strategy: Gender Sharing in Ethnographic Work with Wives of Professional Athletes
Author(s) -
Ortiz Steven M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2003.26.4.601
Subject(s) - ethnography , masculinity , athletes , gender studies , professional sport , sociology , work (physics) , social psychology , psychology , anthropology , medicine , mechanical engineering , physics , league , astronomy , engineering , physical therapy
Using findings from a study of the world of the wives of professional athletes, this article explores the complex motivations for and displays of trust, rapport, and group acceptance during ethnographic research. Episodic exchanges between a male ethnographer and female collaborators revealed subtle issues of gender and perceived relative worth. This article proposes the outsider strategy of “muted masculinity” as a means of exploring ethnographic issues in which the boundaries between insiders and outsiders are uncertain.