Jock is the classic American stereotype of a male athlete at either high school or college level. The sports most commonly perceived as "jock" sports are those emphasizing body mass, such as American football, wrestling, basketball, weightlifting, and ice hockey. According to stereotype, jocks take pleasure in bullying unpopular students, as jocks enjoy superior physical stature and social status.

In actuality, most jocks do not make contact with the aforementioned groups, perhaps because of the large tensions between these groups. While a small number of jocks may bully other groups, most either make fun of other groups in conversation with other jocks or ignore unpopular students altogether.

Homophobia in sports is an issue because the jock subculture is stereotypically hypermasculine, and is often intolerant of feminized sterotypes of homosexuals. Ironically, the stereotypical "jock" has recently become somewhat popular in gay culture.

Many "teen-films" have focused on the culture of the jock, particularly in American society. Such films include:

• American Pie
• Loser
• The Chronicles of Thomas Procter
• Can't Hardly Wait
• The Benchwarmers
• Varsity Blues
• Dazed and Confused
• Just Friends
• Napoleon Dynamite

See also

• High school subcultures

People | Stereotypes | Subcultures | Slang | Stock characters