Queer Masculinities in Higher Education

Abstract

Both queer and women’s studies disciplines have analyzed the relationship between gender and sexual identity. This chapter will examine how those fi elds trouble hegemonic masculinities to enable more complex analyses of the diversity of gender found in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Drawing on research in queer, gender, and women’s studies, I will analyze the unique circumstances facing queer men in college. While this chapter will focus on men, I do not see gender as a static or given category. Indeed, I recognize that other members of the queer community perform masculinity. For this group of marginalized students, hegemonic masculinity can be just as oppressive to men as it is to women, and even more so for individuals who do not conform to either half the gender binary. Instead, many queer men perform variations of masculinity as a form of empowerment and resistance to heteronormative culture. Such performances become complicated if the campus climate is unwelcoming to LGBT students, which can be severely alienating for all queer students, including queer men of color. This chapter will examine the insights that queer, gender, and women’s studies theories of men and masculinities off er higher education professionals.