Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Chomentowski, Peter J. III

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KNPE)

Abstract

Wrestling has historically been considered a male sport. Until recently, so few girls wrestled that those who did had no choice but to take on male opponents. Media reports and the literature indicate that those girls faced a wide range of attitudes from their opponents. While some women reported feeling supported by their male teammates, others reported hostility. Some stakeholders have, in the past, argued that wrestling is inherently unsuitable for girls, and some girls had trouble securing matches due to widespread refusal of boys to wrestle against them. Reasons given for boys forfeiting against girls have included a fear of losing to them and a reluctance to risk physically hurting them. Girls in comparably aggressive sports, such as boxing, ice hockey, and martial arts, have reported similar obstacles. Advocates for girls’ wrestling, believing a female-only category to be critical to enticing girls to wrestle, have campaigned for girls’ wrestling to be established as its own sport. They have largely succeeded; as of the 2024-2025 season, all but a handful of U.S. states sanctioned girls’ wrestling at the high school level, and participation has exploded accordingly. However, although most girls now have the option of competing against other girls, some continue to choose to wrestle against boys due to a belief that the quality and quantity of competition is superior. Therefore, the current attitudes of male wrestlers towards female opponents is a question of interest. Most of the literature reports their attitudes from the perspective of the female wrestlers, and research studies involve qualitative methods such as interviewing small groups of women and girls. This study, therefore, sought to ask male wrestlers directly about their attitudes, and to do so using an electronic survey that could quantify their responses. All Illinois high schools with a boys’ wrestling program were invited to participate, and ultimately, approximately n = 100 boys took part. Their responses indicate an overall support for girls wrestling, though they largely agree that there is shame attached to losing to a girl, and significant minorities report that they feel uncomfortable touching girls the way wrestling requires and that they feel obligated to “hold back” when wrestling a girl. However, while they do not, on the whole, particularly enjoy wrestling against girls, they predominantly believe that girls should have the choice to wrestle whoever they want, seeming to accept discomfort as inherent to the sport.

Extent

110 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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