The Power Paradox: Intimacy and Masculinity in American Football
Photograph Analysis
Below are 54 photographs I created and analyzed for my research on intimacy and masculinity in football.
The photographs are in order by the date and time they were taken with the earliest photo first.
All photographs were taken during Michigan State University (MSU) home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The photographs have been separated into four categories: Intimate Contact (IC), Violent Touching (VT), Positive Reinforcement (PR), and Positive Embracing (PE).
Intimate contact includes one or more of the following behaviors: (1) touching of intimate areas such as the groin, buttocks, or hips, (2) faces being less than arm’s length away from each other while facing one another, or (3) two or more players laying on top of each other.
49 out of the 54 photographs display intimate contact.
Violent touching includes one or more of the following behaviors: (1) contact that could lead to injury such as tackling, grabbing, or shoving or (2) displays the pain principle of one or more players playing through their pain.
23 out of the 54 photographs display violent touching.
Positive reinforcement shows touching that includes but is not limited to pats on the backs, slaps on the buttocks, grabbing of the shoulders or arms, etc. These touches can be used as nonverbal communication to tell another player, “good job.”
4 out of the 54 photographs display positive reinforcement.
Positive embracing includes behavior that is similar to positive reinforcement but more exuberant such as hugging or jumping in the air and touching.
10 out of the 54 photographs display positive embracing.
Figure 1: IC, PE
Figure 2: IC
Figure 3: IC, VT
Figure 4: IC
Figure 5: IC, PE
Figure 6: PE
Figure 7: IC
Figure 8: IC
Figure 9: IC
Figure 10: VT
Figure 12: IC
Figure 13: IC, VT
Figure 14: IC
Figure 16: IC, VT
Figure 17: IC, PE
Figure 18: IC, PE
Figure 19: IC, PE
Figure 20: IC, PR
Figure 21: IC, VT
Figure 23: IC, VT
Figure 23: IC, VT
Figure 24: IC, VT
Figure 25: VT
Figure 26: IC, PE
Figure 27: IC
Figure 28: IC, VT
Figure 29: IC
Figure 31: IC, VT
Figure 32: IC, VT
Figure 33: IC, VT
Figure 34: IC, VT
Figure 35: IC, VT
Figure 36: VT
Figure 37: IC
Figure 38: IC
Figure 39: IC
Figure 40: IC
Figure 41: IC, VT
Figure 42: IC
Figure 43: IC
Figure 44: IC, VT
Figure 45: IC, PR
Figure 46: IC, PE
Figure 47: IC, PE
Figure 48: IC, VT
Figure 49: IC, VT
Figure 50: IC, VT
Figure 51: IC, VT
Figure 52: IC, VT
Figure 53: IC, PR
Figure 54: IC, PR