Transformative Black Masculinity: Black Male Student-Athletes and Sexual Violence Prevention

Abstract

African American student-athletes represent the largest racial minority group of athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the majority of male student-athletes in football and basketball. The NCAA has partnered with It’s On Us, an awareness campaign to help end sexual violence on college campuses. Intercollegiate athletics is a viable context, then, to consider transformative Black masculinity and sexual violence prevention. Transformative Black masculinity is when an African American or Black man intentionally employs his identity in the service of social justice and purposefully engages other Black males, as well as others, for that cause. This chapter considers transformative Black masculinity as a conceptual tool for the intentional engagement of Black male student-athletes within institutions of higher education for sexual violence prevention. Recommendations for policy, education and practice, and research are provided.

Citation

Grimmett, M.A. and Horne, R.A. (2015), "Transformative Black Masculinity: Black Male Student-Athletes and Sexual Violence Prevention", Black Males and Intercollegiate Athletics: An Exploration of Problems and Solutions (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 16), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-238. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420140000016011