Heavy‐metal Humpty Dumpty: dissonant masculinities within the context of the nursery

Abstract

To operationalize a feminist poststructuralist approach necessitates research of a close‐up nature in order to track shifting subject positions through a range of social contexts and to explore the interpersonal and intrapersonal power relations that operate within them. Adopting this theoretical perspective, together with Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity, this paper explores the practices and beliefs of one male nursery teacher, Ian, as he attempts to carry out a Government‐funded initiative aimed at increasing the involvement of fathers and male carers in his nursery. Data are drawn from a sequence of interviews with Ian, his colleagues, and the participating fathers and male carers. The analysis shows how Ian experiences identity dissonance which can be interpreted as a struggle with competing aspects of masculinity as he slips in and out of forms of hegemonic masculinity, sometimes complicit and sometimes struggling to resist. This interpretation problematizes the essentialist nature of the concept of hegemonic masculinity.