The sports media has a fascination with concussions. Not only is there a huge volume of stories about the issue, but there’s also an urgency to the tone of the reporting. The heightened coverage has served to increase awareness of the concussion problem and encourage public debate about sport, health and safety.
But what’s often missing from the media’s discussion of the topic is a recognition that the concussion problem is not merely a health issue: it’s also a social issue. We’re generally less inclined to look at how concerns about head injuries influence our understanding of ourselves and the identities of others.
Sport plays a significant role in our culture. It’s used as a lens to discuss what it means to be a man or woman, how to belong to a nation or community, or how hard work can overcome long odds.
Shouldn’t our conversations about a topic that could change the very nature of sport also consider these social and cultural issues?
The absence of social commentary stems from a tendency in the mainstream media to frame concussions as a science and technology problem. Scientists have undertaken essential research that has helped us learn about what happens to the brain after a concussion. Meanwhile, groundbreaking investigative reports and documentaries have made the results of this research accessible to the general population to the point where the symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy have become part of everyday dialogue about sport.
The media is also keen to cover the latest technological breakthrough for new “concussion-resistant” helmets, but just as quick to report on rulings requiring companies to withdraw claims about the superior protection offered by their products. The bulk of the coverage of concussions in the media seems to be organized around one basic understanding: to solve the “concussion crisis” and make sports safer, we simply need better science.
I certainly don’t want to downplay the scientific advances made by concussion researchers or claim to know more about the brain than neuroscientists. But as the media places so much emphasis on the science behind the concussion debates, important cultural factors are left largely untouched.
One of these factors involves how we make sense of the concussion problem within the hyper-masculine culture of many sports. Most commentators will concede that the era of shaking off a head injury as “getting your bell rung” is over. But the concussion issue should force us to re-think the value systems that make violence and playing through pain manly symbols of toughness.
