Jock (stereotype)

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Harold Lloyd at the bottom of a pile on in the 1925 comedy film The Freshman, about a college student trying to become popular by joining the football team

In the United States and Canada, a jock is a

team sports
such as American football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and ice hockey.

Origin

The use of the term "jock" to refer to an athletic man is thought to have emerged around 1963.[2] It is believed to be derived from the word "jockstrap", which is an undergarment worn to support/protect the male genitals while playing sports.[4] In the 1960s, someone who liked sports was sometimes jokingly called an "athletic supporter", which is the actual name for a jockstrap.[citation needed]

Jocks are often contrasted with another stereotype: nerds. This dichotomy is a theme in many American movies, television shows, and books.[citation needed]

Characteristics

Various characteristics of the jock stereotype include:

  • Aggressive, arrogant, judgmental, egotistical, easily offended and ill-tempered[5]
  • Muscular, tall and athletic[5]
  • Handsome
  • Does not cry or otherwise show weakness or fear[6]
  • Afraid to hug or hold a friend too long,[6] performative masculinity
  • Often engages in bullying of those who lack athletic ability, or in bullying anyone to gain power
  • Frequently given privileges, such as undeserved passing grades or immunity from school discipline, to maintain eligibility for sports.

Portrayal in the media

Jocks are often present in books, movies, and television shows involving high school and college. The stereotype is most prevalent in movies for teenagers such as

Luke Ward in the first season of The O.C., Ali Mills the ex-boyfriend of Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid, and Kim's wealthy and athletic boyfriend Jim in Edward Scissorhands
.

preppie
stereotype.

As a

Luke Ward in The O.C.
.

As

Connie D'Amico's cronies Scott and Doug in Family Guy, high school football captain Oliver Wilkerson in The Cleveland Show, Jean Grey's first boyfriend Duncan Matthews in X-Men: Evolution, middle school bully and "Crush Ball" quarterback Rodney Glaxer from Lloyd in Space, and Massimo Lenzetti (Justin Chambers) in the film The Wedding Planner are examples. There are also numerous jock antagonists found in teen dramas, such as the rapist Dean Walton in Degrassi
.

On the show

Jane Lane
; another jock character, Mac Mackenzie, was depicted as intelligent and cordial to the main characters, and was never shown to be a bully even though he was often disturbed by Kevin's dimness.

Other jock characters in media

Title Character Actor
13 Reasons Why Montgomery de la Cruz Timothy Granaderos
Back to School Chas Osborne William Zabka
Back to the Future Biff Tannen Thomas F. Wilson
Cobra Kai Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz Jacob Bertrand
Euphoria Nate Jacobs Jacob Elordi
Ghostbusters Kevin Beckman Chris Hemsworth
Glee
Noah Puckerman
 Mark Salling
John Tucker Must Die John Tucker Jesse Metcalfe
Love, Victor Andrew Spencer Mason Gooding
ParaNorman Mitch Downe Casey Affleck
She's the Man Duke Orsino Channing Tatum
Stranger Things Jason Carver Mason Dye
Teen Wolf Jackson Whittemore Colton Haynes
The DUFF Wesley Rush Robbie Amell
Trinkets (TV series) Brady Finch Brandon Butler

Academics and athletics

The general perception that athletes are unintelligent is derived from the idea that athletic and academic success are mutually exclusive. Prior to 1990, many researchers were critical with respect to the impact of

Zero Sum Model", education and extracurriculars compete for student's time. However, later studies present a strong evidence that athletic or cultural extracurricular activities in school would increase school attendance, self-confidence, grade (in some instance), and college attendance but would reduce performance in standardized test.[7][8]

Despite the fact that many schools recruit for sports, they put stipulations in place that require student athletes to maintain minimum academic grade in order to maintain their scholarships. Schools recruit students to their athletic teams, but require a student maintain a certain

grade-point average (GPA) in order to have the scholarship renewed. For many young athletes, this is imperative as they could not afford higher education on their own. Therefore, they balance enough study to remain eligible with the demands of their sport.[9]

At the college level in the United States, the

Division I school, and to be eligible for a scholarship. The most recent standards passed by the NCAA, which will apply to all incoming college freshmen beginning with the class of 2016, requires that 16 core high school courses be completed by the student-athlete, 7 of which must be either math, science, or English, and 10 of those 16 classes must be completed prior to their senior year of high school. As well, the students must graduate high school with a minimum 2.3 GPA (up from the 2.0 GPA requirement that was in place prior to these new standards).[10] Such requirements have been debated for years, however.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Jock: definition of Jock in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)". Archived from the original on December 23, 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Online Etymology Dictionary on Jock". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. ^ "Princeton's WordNet entry on Jock". Wordnetweb.princeton.edu. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  4. ISBN 9788876991134
    . Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Jocks as a Youth Subculture" (PDF). Center for Mental Health in Schools, School Mental Health Project, Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9781137550668
    .
  7. ^ Klein, Tim (2011). Correlations Between High School Athletic Participation and Academic Performance (Master of Education). Dordt College.
  8. doi:10.1123/jsep.25.2.205
    .
  9. ^ "Black Voices Online". September 21, 2008. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  10. ^ O'Neil, Dana (6 August 2012). "Eligibility vs. academic preparedness". ESPN.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  11. ^ Smith, Ronald A. (2011). Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
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