The Dark Side of Sports (eBook)

Chapter 1

Athletes’ Exhibitionism, Deviant Masturbation, and Bodily Discharges

Hearing words like male exhibitionism, deviant masturbation and bodily discharges stirs up thoughts of sinister older men with mental health issues who appear in dark alleys wearing long overcoats. Now ask yourself if such reactions would be the same if these behaviors occurred among a highly regarded group of young men who also happened to be elite-level athletes? People may laugh with disbelief or question the source, but it is true: Male athletic environments offer a unique and protective safe haven where young men are relatively free to speak and act in whatever way they please. This enables profanity-filled stories highlighting sexual exploits, bravado, deviancy, and/or aggression to flourish because virtually no one monitors athletes but themselves while they remain within sheltered strongholds including locker rooms.1 Moreover, the same holds true when it comes to behavior because some athletes choose to differentiate themselves by engaging in bizarre and often repulsive behaviors which reward them with special identities and status while simultaneously revealing a darker, hidden side of sports.2 Athletes’ desire for entertainment, bragging rights, and one-upmanship often motivate an array of outrageous behaviors which raise both questions and eye-brows even when they remain confined to all-male athletic environments. At the same time, a variety of deviant practices can and do make their way into the public domain, which dramatically increases the potential risks and negative impact for everyone involved. It will become apparent that all-male sports environments encourage bizarre and outrageous behaviors even though some are harmful, demeaning, and have the potential to create all kinds of problems and consequences.

SEXUAL ANTICS OR HOMOEROTICISM?

Athletes spend tremendous amounts of time training, socializing, and living together which results in deep histories and friendships within certain teams. This is particularly true at the collegiate level where players can spend four or five years together on a team. As a result of their bonding, many athletes feel very safe and comfortable with their teammates, and this is reflected in players’ language as well as their behaviors.3 Since the locker room is the predominant safe haven where athletes spend extensive time together, it is logical to assume that some uninhibited displays and clowning will involve sexual behaviors in this secluded environment. For example, a wrestler and a collegiate baseball and hockey player described a variety of sexual antics and nudity among collegiate teammates in this way:

I mean in a shower you did all kinds of stupid things, you know, put hot water in your mouth and hold your dick and put it on like you spit it out, as if you’re peeing on him, stupid stuff like that…I mean, you know, when there were a bunch of guys sitting there talking in a room about the girl they laid and some guy’s grabbing himself and wanting to expose himself and show him that he’s got a hard on, that’s about extent of [it] you know, [and] everybody saying you know, “Get the hell out of here, what are you doing?” yea we had a couple of guys that just wanted to show off I think at times.

I remember there was one sick guy [laughs] on the fucking baseball team…he wasn’t circumcised and in the shower…as a practical joke…he was always messing with [it], he’d fill up his fucking…dick…the extra skin with water and walk over to him and fucking spray him, which is probably one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen [laughs] in my life. And he’d do it on a regular occasion, but other than that man, nothing crazy.

…in the showers, people are always…making a comment about somebody else’s penis or toweling some guy in the ass, or dropping the soap – all just in play…you see that. We had a guy my freshman year who always came in and made a comment about…somebody else’s piece (penis) everyday. He’d just walk in, staring, look around. He’d be the first guy in and last guy [out], and…it was just him being weird or whatever. Nothing ever sexual or homosexual about it…

While most sexual antics were described as nothing more than demented practical jokes promoting humor, homoeroticism is another possible interpretation of certain behaviors. Homoeroticism, defined as sexual attraction or desire toward members of the same sex, is thought to occur whenever bonding activities involve genital contact and exposure through events such as group masturbation, sexualized initiations, and same-sex group nudity.4 Moreover, the description of the athlete’s constant fixation on his teammates’ genitals in the third narrative seemed to suggest this possibility. However, researchers, who observed an array of ritualized sexual behaviors including naked male-to-male contact and even genital touching among rugby players, noted that these acts should not be construed as actual homosexual behavior but rather an extension of their masculine competition from the match.5 Whether sexual antics reflect humorous entertainment or homoeroticism is irrelevant in light of the fact that these behaviors did not always stop at the locker room’s door as another collegiate hockey player discussed in this way:

Just a lot of nudity…I mean I lived with eight [hockey] guys. There was always naked dudes walking around the house and other times at parties guys would get naked, just with other guys around, just to be stupid. Actually on bus rides a lot of guys – if someone was sleeping, a guy would get a hard on and walk over and stick it in his ear, something like that, you know, just to screw with him. There was a lot of that stuff, mostly just nudity. Sometimes…for some reason we would “gear down” [a teammate] and take pictures of him and there was nothing he could do about it…just take all his clothes off and he’d be fighting and kicking and just…take pictures of him. He’d be fighting for his clothes and fighting for the door [laughing], all that stuff…[it] took about four of us usually…we used to get [one teammate] when he was taking naps [laughing]… and we’d go all around his room, just jump on him…just start taking all his clothes off, and put him in a room and just start taking pictures of him. We’d get some good action photos of him…trying to fight [laughter].

After detailing a “gear down” attack on an unsuspecting teammate, this athlete discussed the motive by saying, “Boredom I’d say, just nothing to do…it seemed like the right thing to do at the time [laughing]...it’d be like picking a mine field.” Obviously, these attacks were somewhat demeaning because the victim was helpless to defend himself against four athletes, and they were photographed. Because no one wants embarrassing pictures appearing unexpectedly in places including The Internet, this is perhaps another reason victims fought so hard during these attacks. Furthermore, the appearance of nude photographs is no laughing matter since it has resulted in severe consequences for athletes, and this was noted when two University of Nebraska wrestlers were dismissed from their team after allegedly posing naked for an Internet pornography site.6 However, premeditated attacks on teammates undoubtedly alleviated boredom and proved to be extremely humorous entertainment that was later shared with others. It will be evident that the desire to entertain teammates through humorous story-telling is a powerful catalyst for engaging in these and other deviant behaviors.

NAKED INHIBITIONS AND EXHIBITIONISM

Not all nudity happens within the confines of the team locker room or at athletes’ residence because accounts of public exposure also appear in this study. Moreover, nudity spilling into the public sector can result in legal charges involving indecent exposure in addition to other consequences. Indecent exposure laws in most states make it a crime to purposefully display one’s genitals or socially deemed “private parts” in public causing alarm or offense often for the purpose of sexual excitement and satisfaction or social rebellion.7 While indecent exposure is a legal term for public nudity, it is used interchangeably with exhibitionism, which is a specific mental health disorder and paraphilia describing uncommon sexual expression.8 Exhibitionism occurs when someone intentionally exposes their genitals to an unwilling observer typically for the purpose of sexual gratification, and this can involve masturbation in the moment or at a later time.9 Often, exhibitionists are males targeting young adults, adolescents, or children of the opposite sex, and the age of onset for exhibitionism begins in the middle teen years and the mid-20s.10 In this study, exhibitionism will also include consensual sexual activities performed for others and public nudity without sexual intent, which could include open urination or defecation and behaviors like streaking (i.e., running naked in public).

More than one third of all males arrested for sexual offenses are arrested for exhibitionism, and 40-60% of college and community samples of women have reported being victims of exhibitionism.11 According to two studies involving college men, 2-4%...