Abstract

Our paper focuses on the philosophical perspective of constructing active (as opposed to reactive) caring masculinities agencies in the contemporary feminist discourse. Since contemporary feminisms are not simply anti-essentialist, but more importantly, polyphonic, we believe that it is far more appropriate to talk about ‘masculinities’ as opposed to ‘masculinity’. We are proposing a revised understanding of the self in which the self is not defined primarily in the dichotomous, categorical one-other relationship. We use Paul Ricoeur’s anthropology to describe the self as relational, as well as Joan Tronto’s recent perspective on care which fits well with a Ricoeurian reconstruction of the self. We also engage with Raewyn Connell’s discourse on masculinity and more specifically, hegemonic masculinity. By using ‘caring masculine agencies’ as an alternative to ‘masculinity as reactive anti-femininity’, we are proposing a paradigm shift that hopefully is flexible enough to respect the dynamism inherent to any act of gender-identification.

Highlights

  • Our paper focuses on the philosophical perspective of constructing active caring masculine agencies in the contemporary feminist discourse

  • While we fully recognize the richness of the literature on relationality, we have chosen Paul Ricoeur’s perspective of the self for two main reasons

  • In taking relational ontology as our starting point, we recognize that relationships with others are essential for the existence of the self

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Summary

Introduction

Our paper focuses on the philosophical perspective of constructing active (as opposed to reactive) caring masculine agencies in the contemporary feminist discourse. We believe that it is care as structure that holds the key to proposing a different model of looking at types of masculinities within the gendered self.

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