The Presentation of Masculinity in Everyday Life: Contextual Variations in the Masculine Behaviour of Young Irish Men

Abstract

A series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the performative and contextual nature of masculine display among a sample of young men (N = 8) from the Republic of Ireland. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyze the data, results suggest that participants’ construction of masculinity was characterized by (1) the masculinity of a hegemonic other (which was congruent with traditional gender stereotypes) and (2) a masculine self-identity (which was variegated, yet always positioned between the “extremes” of hypermasculinity and femininity). Also noted was public presentation of a masculine self, which was influenced by contextual factors broadly categorized as maturational and interpersonal. Limitations of the study are outlined along with avenues for future research.