USC.edu

Michael Messner

Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Email messner@usc.edu

Research & Practice Areas

sex and gender, gender and sport, gender-based violence, war and peace

Education

  • Ph.D. Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 1/1985
  • M.A. Sociology, California State University, Chico, 1/1976
  • B.A. Social Science, California State University, Chico, 1/1974

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/2002 –
    • Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1994 – 01/01/2002
    • Assistant Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1987 – 01/01/1994
    • Lecturer, California State University, Hayward, 01/01/1983 – 01/01/1987
    • Instructor, Chabot College, 01/01/1980 – 01/01/1983
    • Teaching Assistant, University of California, Berkeley, 01/01/1979 – 01/01/1982
    • Instructor, Sacramento City College, 09/01/1976 – 06/01/1978
    • Instructor, California State University, Chico, 01/01/1976 – 06/01/1976

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    Michael Messner’s current project is a life-history study of U.S. women military veterans who are activists for peace and social justice. He also continues a now 30-year longitudinal study of coverage of women’s and men’s sports on TV news and highlights shows.

    Research Keywords

    sex and gender, gender and sport, gender-based violence, war and peace

  • Book

    • Messner, M. A. (2021). Unconventional Combat: Intersectional Action in the Veterans’ Peace Movement. Oxford University Press.
    • Cooky, C., Messner, M. A. (2019). No slam dunk: Gender, sport, and the unevenness of social change. Rutgers University Press.
    • Messner, M. A. (2019). Guys Like Me: Five Wars, Five Veterans for Peace. Rutgers University Press.
    • Messerschmidt, J. W., Martin, P. Y., Messner, M. A., Connell, R. (2018). Gender Reckonings: New Social Theory and Research. New York University Press.
    • Messner, M. A., Musto, M. (2016). Child’s play: Sport in kids’ worlds. Rutgers University Press.
    • Messner, M. A., Greenberg, M. A., Peretz, T. (2015). Some Men: Feminist Allies and the Movement to End Violence Against Women. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
    • Messner, M. A. (2011). King of the Wild Suburb: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons and Guns. Austin, TX: Plain View Press.
    • Maxine Baca Zinn, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo & Michael A. Messner (Ed.). (2010). Gender Through the Prism of Difference, Fourth Edition. Oxford University Press.
    • Messner, M. A. (2009). It’s All For the Kids: Gender, Families and Youth Sports. University of California Press.
    • Kimmel, Michael S. & Messner, Michael A (Ed.). (2009). Men’s Lives, Eighth Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
    • Messner, M. A. (2007). Out of Play: Critical Essays on Gender & Sport. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
    • Messner, M. A. (2002). Taking the Field: Women, Men, and Sports. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    • Gatz. M., Messner, M. A. & Ball-Rokeach (Ed.). (2002). Paradoxes of youth and sport. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
    • McKay, J., Sabo, D. & Messner,M. A. (Ed.). (2000). Masculinities, Gender Relations and Sport. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
    • Messner, M. A. (1997). Politics of Masculinities: Men in Movements. Alta Mira Press.
    • Messner, M. A., Sabo, D. F. (1994). Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports: Rethinking Masculinity. Crossing Press.
    • Messner, M. A. (1992). Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
    • Messner, M. A. & Sabo, D. F. (Ed.). (1990). Sport, Men and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Press.

    Book Chapters

    • Messner, M. A. (2014). Gender relations and sport: Local, national, transnational. Playfields: Power, Practice, and Passion in Sport Center for Basque Studies Press.
    • Greenberg, M. A., Messner, M. A. (2014). Before prevention: The trajectory and tensions of feminist anti-violence. Gendered perspectives on conflict and violence Emerald.
    • Messner, M. A. (2005). The Triad of Violence in Men’s Sports. pp. p. 23-46. Transforming A Rape Culture/Milkweed Editions.
    • Messner, M. A. (2005). Still A Man’s World?: Studying Masculinities and Sport. pp. p. 313-325. The Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities/Sage.

    Journal Article

    • Cooky, C., Council, L. D., Mears, A., Messner, M. A. (2021). One and done: The long eclipse of women’s televised sports, 1989-2019. Communication and Sport. PubMed Web Address
    • Messner, M. A. (2021). Breaking up the stag party: Jessie Bernard’s pioneering work on men. Sociological Forum.
    • Musto, M., Cooky, C., Messner, M. A. (2017). “From fizzle to sizzle!”: Televised sports news and the production of gender-bland sexism. Gender & Society. Vol. 31, pp. 573-596.
    • Messner, M. A. (2016). Bad men, good men, bystanders: Who is the rapist?. Gender & Society. Vol. 30, pp. 57-66.
    • Messner, M. A. (2016). Forks in the road of men’s gender politics: Men’s rights vs. feminist allies. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy. Vol. 5, pp. 6-20.
    • Cooky, C., Messner, M. A., Musto, M. (2015). “It’s dude time!”: A quarter century of excluding women’s sports in televised news and highlights shows. Communication & Sport. Vol. 3, pp. 261-287.
    • Messner, M. A. (2014). Where are the kids?”. Sociology of Sport Journal. Vol. 31, pp. 102-122.
    • Messner, M. A. (2013). Reflections on Communication and Sport: On Men and Masculinities. Communication & Sport. Vol. 1, pp. 113-124.
    • Cooky, C., Messner, M. A., Hextrum, R. (2013). Women play sports, but not on TV: A longitudinal study of televised news media. Communication & Sport. Vol. 1, pp. 203-230.
    • Cooky, C., Messner, M. A., Hextrum, R. (2013). Women play sports, but not on TV: A longitudinal study of televised news media. Communication & Sport. Vol. 1, pp. 2013-230.
    • Wachs, F. L., Cooky, C., Messner, M. A., Dworkin, S. L. (2012). Media frames and displacement of blame in the Don Imus/Rutgers University basketball team incident: Sincere fictions and frenetic inactivity. Critical Studies in Media Communication.
    • Messner, M. A. (2011). Gender Ideologies, Youth Sports, and the Production of Soft Essentialism. Sociology of Sport Journal. Vol. 28, pp. 151-170.
    • Messner, M. A. (2011). “The Privilege of Teaching About Privilege”. Sociological Perspectives. Vol. 54 (1), pp. 3-13.
    • Cooky, C., Wachs, F. L., Messner, M. A., Dworkin, S. L. (2010). “It’s not about the game: Don Imus, racism and sexism in contemporary media”. Sociology of Sport Journal. Vol. 37, pp. 139-159.
    • Messner, M. A., Bozada-Deas, S. (2009). “Separating the men from the moms: The making of adult sex segregation in youth sports”. Gender & Society. Vol. 23 (1)
    • Messner, M. A. (2007). “The Masculinity of the Governator: Muscle and Compassion in American Politics”. Gender and Society. Vol. 21 (3)
    • Messner, M. A., Solomon, N. M. (2007). “Social Justice and Men’s Interests: The Case of Title IX”. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. Vol. 31, pp. 162-178.
    • Messner, M. A., Carlisle Duncan, M., Willms, N. (2006). This Revolution is Not Being Televised. Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds/American Sociological Association. Vol. 5, pp. 34-38.
    • Messner, M. A., Montez de Oca, J. (2005). The Male Consumer as Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media Events. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society/University of Chicago Press. pp. p. 1879-1909.
    • Messner, M. A. (2004). On Patriarchs and Losers: Rethinking Men’s Interests. Berkeley Journal of Sociology/University of California, Berkeley. pp. p. 76-88.
    • Messner, M. A., Moon, D., Ray, R., Thorne, B. (2004). The Reconstitution of Gender in Contemporary Society: A Roundtable Discussion. Berkeley Journal of Sociology/University of California, Berkeley. pp. p. 2126-143.

    Research Report

    • Messner, M. A., Cooky, C. (2010). Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989-2009. USC Center for Feminist Research. PubMed Web Address

    Grant Report

    • Messner, M. A., Carlisle Duncan, M., Willms, N. (2005). Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989 through 2004. Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.
    • USC Provost’s Mentoring Award, 2019-2020
    • Honorary Scholar, University of Trento Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 2018-2019
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Research Fellow Award, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, 2017-2018
    • Distinguished Scholarship Award, Pacific Sociological Association, 2015-2016
    • Westfeldt Bunting Summer Writing Fellowship, School for Advanced Research, Santa Fe, NM, 2015-2016
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Feminist Mentoring Award, Sociologists for Women in Society, 2013-2014
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, American Sociological Association, Jessie Bernard Award, 2012-2013
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Outstanding Article Award, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Fall 2012
    • USC Mellon Mentoring Award, Spring 2012
    • California Women’s Law Center, 2011 Abby J. Leibman Pursuit of Justice Award, Spring 2011
    • CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award for Out of Play: Critical Essays on Gender and Sport, 2008-2009
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Career of Distinguished Service Award, 2007-2008
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, Sociologists for Women in Society Distinguished Feminist Lecturer, 2006-2007
    • USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, USC College Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service, 2006-2007
    • USC Associates Award For Excellence In Teaching, USC Associates Award For Excellence In Teaching, 2006
    • Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, California State University, Chico, 2004
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Outstanding Book Award for Taking the Field: Women, Men, and Sports, 2004
    • USC or School/Dept Award for Teaching, USC College General Education Teaching Award, 2004
    • Big Splash Award, Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society, University of Southern California, 1996
    • Recipient of National or International Prize in Discipline, North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Outstanding Book Award for Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity, 1993

  • Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Co-editor, Rutgers University Press book series, “Critical Issues in Sport and Society””, 2013-2014

    Professional Memberships

    • American Sociological Association, 2010-2011
    • North American Society for Sociology of Sport, 2010-2011
    • Pacific Sociological Association, 2010-2011
    • Society for Study of Social Problems, 2010-2011
    • Sociologists for Women in Society, 2010-2011