Improving Attitudes towards Male Ballet Dancers View PDF

^*Predrag Pale
Department Of Electronic Systems And Information Processing, Faculty Of Electrical Engineering And Computing, University Of Zagreb, Croatia

^*Corresponding Author:

Predrag Pale
Department Of Electronic Systems And Information Processing, Faculty Of Electrical Engineering And Computing, University Of Zagreb, Croatia
Email:predrag.pale@fer.hr

Published on: 2022-10-18

Abstract

The study tested if a lecture on male ballet by a male - engineer - amateur ballet dancer would be related to a change in attitudes on male ballet after the lecture. The lecturer held a lecture on male ballet to 68 male and female students of Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb. Their attitude on male ballet was tested a day before and a day after the lecture with the Attitude towards male ballet dancer’s questionnaire (AMBQ). The average attitude of 21 students who filled in AMBQ at both time points was statistically significantly more positive after the lecture than before the lecture (F (1.20)=7.7, p=0.012). It is possible that this was caused by an increase in attitude positivity in males only, as there seemed to be no change in females. It may be concluded that the lecture on male ballet by a male - engineer - amateur ballet dancer is related to a change towards more positive attitudes on male ballet.

Keywords

Male Ballet; Attitudes; Lecture

Introduction

In available literature, there is a number of studies about attitudes towards stereotypically “female” and stereotypically “male” sports. According to ?urki? (2000) [1], females are more interested in dance and reject sports such as weight lifting, box and wrestling. On the other hand, males reject sports with dance elements and show more interest in football.
Podvalej L, et al. (2000) [2], conducted a study on attitudes of male students of Faculty of Food technology and biotechnology, University of Zagreb towards “male” and “female” sports. According to the authors it is inaccurate to view women with “male” interests as tomboyish and males with “female” interests as effeminate. They found that it was not easy to predict attitude towards sport in subjects with non?stereotypical professional interests. On average, students expressed the most negative attitude towards rhythmical gymnastics and synchronized (artistic) swimming
On a sample of 2511 adolescent boys and 1887 adolescent girls, Prot F, et al. (2007) [3], found that hierarchical organization and interests’ structure towards sport is substantially different in men and in women.