Doing Fake Masculinity, Being Real Men: Present and Future Constructions of Self among Black College Men

Abstract

Through a qualitative analysis of twenty‐nine black college men at a large research university, this project explores how black masculinity is physically, behaviorally, and materially constructed from idealized images resulting in a contextually adaptive sense of self. The findings suggest that black masculinity, specifically the thug image, is symbolically affirmed or denied through a particular type of raced, gendered, classed, and sexualized discourse within black public social spaces. Moreover, these data show that maintaining this construction of black masculinity promotes bodily self‐doubt or insecurity and inauthentic intra‐ and interracial interactions. In contrast, black manhood is thought to involve more genuine interactions, regardless of the social location. Unlike doing masculinity, the idealized notion of being men allows young black men to project a future construction of self that seemingly resolves their feelings of inauthenticity or bodily insecurity.