Correction: Seeing Gender, Feeling Gender: Preschool Children’s Constructions of Masculinity, Femininity, and Emotion Through Photovoice

With her paper Rape as a War Crime (Politikon 6/2003, p. 55-69), Andrea Theocharis has put an issue on the agenda, which has long been missing in Politikon’s discussions. I am grateful to Andrea for starting an important debate, which I would like to continue by giving some remarks to her contribution focusing on the gender constructionist dimension of rape in violent conflicts. Agreeing with Andrea, I will argue that rape and sexual violence are not only systematic and strategic weapons in violent conflicts but gendered crimes which cannot be analyzed appropriately without theorizing social and cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity. I will outline how gender-blind approaches fail to meet the issue of rape in violent conflicts. By mentioning some exemplary empirical figures, I will show that rape in violent conflicts is neither a new phenomena nor can it be considered a by-product of war. It must be emphasized that rape is not an act of sexuality but a crime against human physical and psychical integrity. I will discuss gender-sensitive approaches, which analyze rape in violent conflicts. Special attention will be paid to the view of rape as an act of male violence against women, which has also been outlined by Andrea. I will then focus on the construction of hegemonic masculinity and the widely ignored fact that also men are victims of rape and sexual torture in violent conflicts. I will conclude with emphasizing that constructions of femininity and masculinity are integral to violent conflicts in general and to rape and sexual violence in particular. If mainstream conflict analysis continues to ignore the dimensions of gender constructions, it will fail to meet its subject appropriately.

Seeing Gender, Feeling Gender: Preschool Children’s Constructions of Masculinity, Femininity, and Emotion Through Photovoice

Othering the rural: About the construction of rural masculinities and the unspoken urban hegemonic ideal in Swedish media

1. Femininity and Women in Biology and Feminist Theory 1.1 Gender Trouble and Making Sex 1.2 Back and Forward to Nurture and Nature 1.3 Feminist Visions of Biological Sex Differences 1.4 Feminist Ideology Haunted by Biology 1.5 Biological Ideology Haunted by Feminism 1.6 Toward Construction of Masculinity and Femininity 1.7 Possibilities and Constraints 1.8 Why the Brain? 2. Acceptance of Scientific Theories and Images Concerning Masculinity and Femininity 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Introduction and Context of the Proposal of the Organization Theory 2.3 Acceptance and Extension of the Organization Theory 2.4 Reasons for Acceptance of the Organization Theory 2.5 Conversion of Androgens to Estradiol 2.6 Mechanisms Perpetuating the Dual Function of Hormones 2.7 Conclusions 3. Feminism and the Biological Construction of Female and Male Behavior 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Biological Theory on Development of Behavior 3.3 Masculinity and Femininity in the Experiments 3.4 Criticisms of the Organization Theory 3.5 A Cry for the Liberation of the Female Rodent 3.6 Reinventing Female Appetitive Activities 3.7 Feminism and the Biological Construction of Human Behavior 3.8 Environmental Factors and the Biological Construction of Behavior 3.9 OSexually DimorphicO Behavior Challenged/Unlimited 3.10 Conclusions 4. The Construction of Women and Men in Medical Practice 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Pseudo-hermaphroditism Through the Ages 4.3 Medical Considerations in the Treatment of Ambiguous Sex 4.4 Treatment of Psychological Masculinity and Femininity 4.5 Asymmetrical Duality Within the Theory 4.6 Transference of Fundamental Knowledge into Medical Practice 4.7 Conclusions 5. Reinventing the Sexes 5.1 1959ETH1971 Masculine Monism 5.2 1971ETH1976 Introduction of Femininity, Return to Dualism 5.3 1977ETH1985 Dualism Unlimited 5.4 1959ETH1985 Dualism Revised 5.5 Nature-Nurture Revised 5.6 Behavior Changes Nature and Nurture 5.7 Feminism Revised 5.8 Science and Gender Perspectives Bibliography

This paper describes how South African soldiers draw on notions of gender, sexuality and morality in their constructions of identity and heterosexual sexuality. Popular discourses around HIV and AIDS in South Africa and elsewhere have highlighted the centrality of notions of morality, many of them problematic, in the response to the epidemic. In Southern Africa, the centrality of heterosexuality to HIV transmission has triggered a focus on morality in sexuality, including calls for abstinence or, in married relationships, monogamy. This paper discusses the findings of a research study that explored male soldiers' constructions of masculinity, sexuality and risky sexual practices. Discourses that emerged reflected dominant attitudes regarding men and women's sexual rights and, in particular, the moralisation of women's sexuality.

Informed by social constructionism and the intersectionality framework, this article focuses on the fight for sustainable gender-equitable and inclusive school environments for vulnerable children. It foregrounds the centrality of teachers’ constructions of gender within prevailing dominant gender discourses and the implications these constructions have on gender equality, the vulnerable children’s welfare and experiences of gender in three rural primary schools in Swaziland. The article draws on a qualitative narrative study and utilises semi-structured individual interviews and open-ended questionnaires with nine randomly selected teachers (three teachers from each of the targeted schools). The findings revealed that the absence of gender in the school curriculum left teachers with no option but to resort to dominant constructions of gender in their pedagogical practices. These gender constructions were inundated in paradoxes of equality of opportunities for all children, in ways that held different expectations for boys as compared to girls. The teachers’ constructions of masculinities and femininities as two diverse homogeneous groups made the gendered experiences of vulnerable boys and girls invisible, hence perpetuating the social injustices against them. Generally, the teachers were found not to concede the social inequalities and hierarchies within each social group of boys or girls. The study recommends the need to make teachers aware about the limiting and adverse effects of constructing gender and socialising vulnerable children in ways that affirm unequal gendered power relations, as a strategy for promoting gender-inclusive and gender-equitable school environments.

The prevalence of sexting and dissemination of explicit sexual images (ESI) among teenagers has risen with mobile technology. Social media platforms amplify these practices, perpetuating problematic usage patterns. This study explores the understanding of how young people perceive the senders and receivers of unsolicited dick pics, focusing on gender construction. Ten semi-structured group interviews with cisgendered girls and boys aged 12–16 were conducted and analysed thematically. The findings show that boys are the primary senders of dick pics, while girls are primarily on the receiving end, with boys and girls interpreting unsolicited dick pics differently. Girls more often viewed such behaviour as romantic, while only boys recognized it as harassment. This disparity emphasizes the need for internet safety education and interventions to challenge mainstream constructions of gender norms. By addressing these issues, educators and caregivers can better support adolescents in navigating the complexities of online interactions and promoting healthy relationships.

This article reports the findings of a study that sought to identify Muslim teachers' constructions of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ of the school principal. The first purpose of the study was to trace Muslim teachers' perceptions of masculine and feminine features of school principals, and the second was to explore their constructions of the desired principal–teachers relationship. Based on a qualitative investigation, this study found that male and female teachers hold cultural gender conceptualisations of the school principalship, which in turn influence the way they see power relations, leadership style and career development. Interestingly their preference for the ideal principal is not based on gender but rather on leadership qualities. Both female and male teachers prefer ‘the strong principal’ who maintains moral behaviour, discipline and control in schools, yet is sensitive and collaborative. Likewise, male and female constructed ideas and favoured leadership features, values and behaviours are influenced by teachers' education and proximity to modern values. The practical implications of the study are discussed.

BackgroundHigh rates of violence and HIV have been documented within the South African context. Constructions of masculinity and femininity that position men as dominant and highly sexually active and women as subordinate and acquiescent have been found to contribute towards gender inequality. This inequality is in turn related to negative health consequences, specifically violence against women, children, and other men, as well as sexual risk. Within this context it becomes important to explore how problematic constructions of gender are being (re)produced and how these constructions are being challenged. Families have been identified as key sites in which gender is both constructed and enacted on a daily basis and it is within this space that children are first exposed to notions of gender.ObjectiveThis article draws from a study that was intended to expand on the limited understandings of the ways in which gender (in)equality is constructed and conveyed within the context of South African families on an everyday basis.DesignChildren and parents in 18 families from a range of different material and cultural backgrounds were interviewed about the meanings and practices of gender within their homes. Data were analysed using a Foucauldian discourse analysis.ResultsThe data reveal how problematic constructions of masculinity and femininity are (re)produced but also challenged within a range of different families. Gender and gender (in)equality are therefore routinely accomplished in complex ways.ConclusionsThese findings have important implications for promoting gender equality and therefore for disrupting violence and sexual risk as gendered health issues.

The ordination of women to the priesthood in the Church of England in 1994 signified great change. The impact of the new priests was well documented, and their integration became the focus of much research in the following years. One important area of change was the altered dynamics of gender identity. New roles had opened up for women, but new identities had also emerged for men. While women priests were a new historical emergence, so too were clergy husbands. This paper will consider the historical construction of masculinities and femininities within the church and will go on to look at this in the context of clergy spouses, specifically focusing on men occupying this role. Some provisional findings, acting as work in progress, will be considered.

These essays investigate the links between agency and race with regard to constructions of masculinity and femininity among radical groups resisting varied forms of political and economic domination. ********************************************************* * Building on the work of anthropologists, historians, sociologists, literary critics, and feminist philosophers of science, the essays in Women Out of Place: the Gender of Agency and Race of Nationality investigate the links between agency and race for what they reveal about constructions of masculinity and femininity and patterns of domesticity among groups seeking to resist varied forms of political and economic domination through a subnational ideology of racial and cultural redemption.

This article places discourse on masculinity in the anarchist Revista Blanca (1923–36) within the broader setting of the Spanish labour movement and recent feminist and gender analyses of 'hegemonic' and 'subordinate' expressions of maleness. Rather than supposing a rigid representation of masculinity, anarchist writers in the Revista Blanca posed several models although these models conformed to certain criteria and were characterized by their adherence to notions of working-class dignity, political integrity and values of truth as weapons against bourgeois 'double standards' and privilege. Such expressions of masculinity also inhered in particular constructions of femininity within the review and the movement more broadly. In turn, 'dissident' expressions of masculinity, seen as overly aesthetic, effeminate or even homosexual, were rejected. While engaging with new tropes of masculinity emerging in the early twentieth century and providing models that broke with some dominant forms of masculinity, writers in the Revista Blanca also shored up boundaries between the genders and sexes. This article makes a contribution to work on anarchist history, labour history and the history of gendered relations.

We examine both gay and straight men’s constructions of masculinity using 358 self-descriptive dating profiles from Match.com of “men seeking men” and “men seeking women” in eight southern US metropolitan areas. In addition to the men’s specific references to gender and gendered performances, we discuss three broad topics of the men’s self-descriptions including personality, leisure, and work. This analysis reveals the ideal characteristics these men used to construct their own masculine identities and masculinity in relation to femininity. Although examples of conformity and nonconformity existed across both gay and straight men, we found that gay men constructed their own identities in keeping with the codes of historically heteronormative masculinities as fluently, and sometimes more so, than straight men. We explore the most prominent nuances between gay and straight men’s paths to claiming “masculine capital,” straight men’s greater leeway to temporarily distance themselves from masculine dominance, and the influence of hierarchies within masculinity on straight and gay men’s constructions of femininity.

Heterosexual masculinity (Herek, 1986) is the cultural ideology that extends the belief that masculinity and femininity consist of two bipolar sets of behaviors, traits, and social roles. Gender identity researchers have found that the polarization of masculinity and femininity begins at birth and continues throughout the life span (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Katz, 1986; Shively & De Cecco, 1993; Spence & Helmreich, 1978). With gender marking an important cue for both self-definition and societal reaction, boys and girls learn to value masculine attributes over feminine attributes as more socially effective and rewarding. For example, while independence, success, and achievement are part of society’s construct of masculinity, these culturally valued qualities remain absent from the construct of femininity.

There is no explicitly defined field as feminist psychology(ies) in India. It is therefore necessary to look beyond the discipline of psychology and examine the scholarship available in other disciplines as well as in activist efforts to illumine questions that are of concern to feminist psychology(ies)—questions of how inequitable access to resources, disproportionate burden of care giving and gender stereotypical identities impact on gender relations and on women’s well-being and identity. From the interface of psychology with feminisms, three thematic areas emerge against the backdrop of past and contemporary socio-political developments in the country that have directly or indirectly influenced and informed the content and direction of research in these thematic areas. The three key themes are (a) mental health and well-being and the influence of the interlinked perspectives of gender, public health, human rights and social justice on this field, (b) gender-based violence and the evolution of psychosocial interventions for reduction and prevention of violence, and (c) the socio-historical construction of identities and the construction of masculinities in particular and that of the “modern Indian woman” in the conundrum of tradition and modernity. First, the literature on gender and mental health emphasizes the need to connect mental health with social determinants, demonstrates the existence of gender bias in access to mental health services, shows that women are represented more in common mental disorders whose aetiology is associated with the social position of women, and highlights the relationship of gender-specific risk factors such as domestic violence to the occurrence of depression in women. Second, the body of work on interventions for reducing and preventing gender-based violence shows services such as one-stop centers hinged on a psychosocial intervention model; and women’s collectives for alternate dispute resolution based loosely on feminist principles, serving as a platform for voicing and recognition of violence and connecting survivors to institutional services. Third, the socio-historical context of identity construction reveals masculinity as a product of interplay of the colonizing and colonized cultures in the nationalist period of pre-independence India, the subsequent turn to “aggressive Hindu communalism” as a model for masculinity and the construction of femininity in the conundrum of tradition and modernity. Thus, despite e some influence and infusion of perspectives on each other, feminisms and psychology in India continue to run parallel to each other, and feminist psychology(ies) in India remains an indistinct field as yet.