Maschilità (dis)abilitate? (Ri)fare il genere attraverso disabilità e sport

Abstract

In this article we aim to investigate how sport represents an area of practices that allows (re)building a masculinity considered socially adequate within a biography crossed by the turning point of an onset physical impairment. Making use of the approach of illness narratives, we analyzed the life stories of three men who have encountered disability as a result of accidents during adolescence. In this way, we have tried to outline some strategies of management of the so-called “the dilemma of the disabled masculinity” (Shuttleworth et al. 2012), showing how the manhood acts adopted by our participants are placed between the neutralization of the disabling impact of impairments and the attempt to enhance some aspects of their physical and emotional experience that partially hybridize the dominant masculinity patterns.

Keywords: masculinities, disability, sport, body, manhood acts.