Sociolinguistic representations of the male body in sport through a gender study perspective: The cases of taekwondo, MMA, and bodybuilding practitioners in Morocco

For a better understanding of social phenomena and gender relations related to the human body, it is pertinent to focus on the sociolinguistic representations produced by speaking subjects in different social fields. In the case of our research, this involves sport as a favorable social field for observing and analyzing the social dynamics at work in the socialization of certain aspects of masculine identity in Morocco. The performance of a Moroccan-style “normative form of masculine identity” can be achieved through the incorporation of gender roles socially assigned to Moroccan men. Having an athletic and remarkable body, speaking in a virile manner, assuming one’s role as a man, proving assertiveness in the public space with the help of the athletic body, and performing masculine virility through words and action are all inevitable sociocultural tasks for different Moroccan men to assume and embody the status of “real men.” So, what is the social dynamic between the male body, sport, identity, gender, and language from a gender studies perspective in Morocco?