Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Sexual victimization is a serious public health issue in the United States, particularly on its college campuses. Several attempts have been made to identify groups at high risks for exhibiting sexually aggressive behaviors. In the same vein, this study examines the relationship between athletic participation and sexual aggression with a focus on wrestlers. The author hypothesized that wrestling participation and athletic participation would be positively correlated with sexual aggression. However, it was also hypothesized that this relationship would be mediated by masculinity (gender role conflict) and masculinity related variables (sexual entitlement and competitiveness). A one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc tests found no significant difference between Wrestlers and Non-Athletes on levels of sexual aggression at the Q = .05 level. Similarly, no significant differences were found between Other Athletes and Non-Athletes at the same alpha level. However, a near significant difference (Q = .058) was found between Multisport Athletes and Other Athletes. A regression analysis was also conducted, which found sexual entitlement, wrestling participation, and drinking intensity as significant predictors of sexual aggression. However, a partial correlation analysis found no mediating effects between wrestling participation and sexual aggression when sexual entitlement and drinking intensity were held constant. Recommendations for rape prevention programs were made based on these findings. / 2031-01-01

This thesis is a historical comprehensive case study on masculinity that explores stereotypes of masculinity in professional wrestling. Working from theories about gender roles, hegemonic masculinity, misogyny (with its disdain for femininity) and heteronormativity, this study utilizes a content analysis of American professional wrestling to look at the gendered basis of how and why wrestling characters are created and how they are successful. Professional wrestlers historically have created characters based in American popular cultures and specifically American gender ideologies of masculinity that are based in hetero-patriarchal cultural ideals. By looking through the history of masculinity and gender stereotypes in professional wrestling, I uncover how contemporary wrestlers are reworking these stereotypes to create new characters with changing gender inflections based on global cultural ideals, rather than American culture, demonstrating the influence global culture and the globalized wrestling community has on contemporary American wrestling. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This dissertation posits a new model for understanding media audiences, bringing the scholarship of game studies to the critical analysis of audience practices. The concept of play proves beneficial for understanding the complex processes of media audiences, as they are able to traverse dichotomous categories when engaging media content. The genre of professional wrestling proves a perfect case study for examining these playful audience practices, and this study is an ethnographic account of the practices of wrestling fans. Focusing on the behaviors of fans at live wrestling events, in online contexts, and in the subcultural setting of a card game entitled Champions of the Galaxy, this study demonstrates the necessity of the concept of play for understanding what media audiences do when they engage media content. These practices, however, are always negotiated by the hegemonic power of the rules that structure how audiences are encouraged to engage content, resulting in ideological constraints on the possibilities play offers.

Abstract “Grappling on the Grain Belt: Wrestling in Manitoba to 1931,” explores the history of wrestling in the geographic region now demarcated as Manitoba, from the pre-Confederation period to the Great Depression, with particular emphasis on the period after 1896 when the Canadian West experienced its most remarkable demographic growth. Wrestling was a frequently controversial, often divisive, but ultimately dynamic, popular, and persistent cultural form that proved adaptable to changing social conditions. Far from being ‘merely’ a sport, residents of Manitoba found greater meaning in its practice beyond the simple act of two people struggling for physical advantage on a mat, in a ring, or on a grassy field. This study examines wrestling as a social phenomenon that echoed larger, and fluid, debates over sport’s ‘proper’ purpose, expressions of masculinity, respectable public conduct, and views concerning the position of immigrant and minority communities in a predominantly Anglo-Protestant society. It likewise explores the meanings that various groups in the province, demarcated by such factors as ethnicity and occupation, attached to wrestling in the decades before the Great Depression. In doing so, it illuminates wrestling as a complex and socially-significant cultural activity which, to date, has been virtually unexplored by Canadian historians looking at the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Thesis (M.A.) in Communication--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-137).

This thesis has analyzed the roles of meet personnel responsible for the conduct of a collegiate style wrestling tournament. The personnel considered were the meet director, matchmaker, announcer, head scorer, assistant to the head scorer, individual statistics recorder, timekeeper, assistant timekeeper, match scorer, assistant match scorer, referee, head referee, and judge.The data were gathered through library research and collated into job descriptions. An analysis of the official rules of collegiate wrestling provided the edited rules section for each of the meet personnel.The findings of the study were presented in handbook form with each section providing a separate job description. The job descriptions were further organized into six areas of personnel function. The qualifications, location, assistants, equipment, duties, and governing rules of each official were reported.

Abstract “Grappling on the Grain Belt: Wrestling in Manitoba to 1931,” explores the history of wrestling in the geographic region now demarcated as Manitoba, from the pre-Confederation period to the Great Depression, with particular emphasis on the period after 1896 when the Canadian West experienced its most remarkable demographic growth. Wrestling was a frequently controversial, often divisive, but ultimately dynamic, popular, and persistent cultural form that proved adaptable to changing social conditions. Far from being ‘merely’ a sport, residents of Manitoba found greater meaning in its practice beyond the simple act of two people struggling for physical advantage on a mat, in a ring, or on a grassy field. This study examines wrestling as a social phenomenon that echoed larger, and fluid, debates over sport’s ‘proper’ purpose, expressions of masculinity, respectable public conduct, and views concerning the position of immigrant and minority communities in a predominantly Anglo-Protestant society. It likewise explores the meanings that various groups in the province, demarcated by such factors as ethnicity and occupation, attached to wrestling in the decades before the Great Depression. In doing so, it illuminates wrestling as a complex and socially-significant cultural activity which, to date, has been virtually unexplored by Canadian historians looking at the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [36]).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-210).

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University