Crisis Of Masculinity Research Articles

Privileged underdogs: the heterotopias and anti-political correctness of upper-class men in a Swedish digital space

ABSTRACT In this article, we focus on a Swedish upper class digital space called The Good Society, where texts, videos and discussions are published. In this digital space the elite comes out publicly as underdogs in relation to the supposed hegemony of political correctness and the Swedish welfare ideology. The upper class take the position of protectors against the feminization of society and the crisis of masculinity. We argue that this space can be understood in terms of what Foucault described as a heterotopia, a form of peculiar counter-space. Using multi-sited digital ethnography we discern a playful mimicking of the state, the public, the media and public conversation. The article concludes that it is important to acknowledge and critically examine such playful and peculiar heterotopias as counter hegemonic strategies, in order to understand how digital spaces are political and serve right-wing, masculinist populist mobilization.

Between Men: Uxorilocal Marriage Reconsidered in Chinese Western Old Well

Abstract This article examines the award-winning Chinese Western Old Well 老井 (1987) with a focus on the marital relationship of uxorilocal marriage 入贅 (ruzhui). Drawing on Eve Sedgwick’s (1992) insights on male homosocial bonds, this article sheds light on the workings of two sets of triangular relationships in the film: the first consisting of Sun Wangquan, Zhao Qiaoying, and Xifeng and the second consisting of Sun Wangquan, Sun Wangcai, and Xifeng. Together, these two triangles form an asymmetric square due to the structural communal differences attached to the corresponding gendered placeholders. This article investigates the embedded gender bias in patriarchal kinship and argues that women tend to be either utilized as asset carriers (Xifeng) or banished as destabilizers (Qiaoying) to ensure the formation of a male homosocial bond (Wangquan, Wangcai, and Xifeng’s dead husband) that eventually resolves crises of masculinity through reinforcing male-centered continuity and prosperity. Furthermore, the article suggests how the practice of ruzhui, though seemingly feminizing men and empowering women, serves to reinforce patrilineality based on gender essentialism.

Shaken and Stirred: The Crisis of Masculinity in<em> Casino Royale</em>

This article evaluates the literary figure of James Bond as a manifestation and projection of the Masculinity Crisis of the 1950’s white western male. In his first outing in Ian Fleming’s 1953 Casino Royale, Bond functions as a figure of subjectivity-splitting anxiety through whom the Masculinity Crisis is channelled with catastrophic effects for the character’s own sense of self, mirroring wider social fears about changing roles in an increasingly altering post-war society. While a number of scholars increasingly note the utility of masculinity theory in James Bond studies, the origin of the character’s troubled relationship to his own masculine self is yet to be explored in Fleming’s first novel as cinematic critiques take centre stage in analytical discussions. This article argues that the demands of a hegemonic hyper masculinity, combined with the dualistic lifestyle of a spy, see Bond oscillate between "ideal" and "transgressive" versions of masculine embodiment. This is shown to ultimately work to dissociate the character from his own sense of self, propelling him into crisis. It examines three areas of binary conflict: wealth and ruin, virility and castration, and masculinity and femininity, arguing the extreme pressures of each create an unstable, uneasy, and unhealthy masculine entity in need of critical re-examination.

Gender and Deindustrialization: A Transnational Historiographical Review

AbstractThis contribution takes stock of the growing research on deindustrialization from a gender perspective. Much of the work in deindustrialization studies is rooted in local studies, within single national contexts. This article provides a perspective that cuts across case studies and national historiographies. It reviews findings on the implications of deindustrialization for working-class masculinities and considers the extent to which research has privileged a focus on white masculinity in crisis (a theme which is more present in some national contexts than others). The article goes on to show how a more complex and nuanced understanding of gender, class, and race is emerging. It highlights women workers’ experience of deindustrialization and considers the ways in which deindustrialization is associated with a restructuring of gender relations. Acknowledging some of the limitations of the current state of research, the article points to a number of potential avenues for further enquiry.

Remaking the Crisis of Masculinity in Hollywood Neo-Noir: The Postman Always Rings Twice and Body Hea

Remaking the Crisis of Masculinity in Hollywood Neo-Noir: The Postman Always Rings Twice and Body Hea

The Tato.Net Initiative – A Program Developed by the Cyryl and Metody Foundation in Support of Contemporary Fatherhood

This study aims to present the operation of the Tato.Net Initiative [Dad.Net] implemented by the Cyryl and Metody Foundation (hereafter referred to as the Foundation). The programme was launched in 2004 to promote conscious and responsible fatherhood among contemporary men through self-education and self-formation amidst a crisis in masculinity, brought on by modern civilisation, and its negative consequences with regard to fatherhood. The Tato.Net programme implements initiatives and projects to strengthen families through the empowering presence of the father, both in the physical and spiritual sense. The programme also engages in cooperation with social organisations and institutions that similarly advance the culture of responsible fatherhood. All actions undertaken by Tato.Net reflect the idea of fatherhood, with the project itself founded on two primary values: the empowerment of a family by the presence of the father and the promotion of a culture of responsible fatherhood. The paper presents different projects executed by the Foundation in a few countries.

Masculinity crisis or gender reconciliation: A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of the effeminate Chinese masculinity debate on social media

Sexism and gender controversies often occur on the internet in contemporary China. The prevalence of male effeminacy is a part of the growing diversity of gender representations. This article investigates the dominant discourses surrounding the debate on male feminization, and netizens’ stance in Chinese social media discourse. By employing corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis, the study identifies four dominant discourses: resistance discourse, anti-discrimination discourse, patriarchal discourse, and nationalistic discourse. These discourses are constructed using various strategies, such as abstraction, authorization, categorization, and morality strategies, and are inextricably intertwined with China’s sociocultural background and broader social contexts. This study offers insights into the clash between conventional and liberal views on ‘soft masculinity’ and exemplifies how Chinese netizens actively leverage social media platforms to express views on gender issues.

Disrupting Anxious Masculinity: Fraternity as Resistance

Within the experience of our work in India, context and positionality determine what we perceive as backlash against gender justice. An important underlying cause of backlash today is the widespread crisis of masculinities, where subaltern masculinities are evolving differently in response to the aggressive nationalist Hindutva masculinity. Gender and development strategies have failed to recognise or address this. This article analyses grounded examples from our action research towards generating new knowledge on how two collectives are negotiating backlash. These include the community-based transgender organisation Kolkata Rista and Humqadam, a platform comprising male activists in Uttar Pradesh working with men on gender equality. Applying the framework of ontological insecurity, this article explores ways for discovering common ground in situations where polarisation destroys the space for debate and discussion. Reflecting on the political practice of fraternity, the article examines how social movements can shift strategies when faced with exclusionary discourses.

“How Dare She Look Us in the Eye!”: Misogyny Paradox and Masculinity Crisis in the Indie Parched

“How Dare She Look Us in the Eye!”: Misogyny Paradox and Masculinity Crisis in the Indie Parched

Gustav Mahler and the Crisis of Jewish Masculinity

Gustav Mahler and the Crisis of Jewish Masculinity

Toxic Masculinity and Compulsive Heteronormativity in Konkona Sen’s Movie, A Death in the Gunj

Gender is one of the most contested subjects in literature. Some prominent scholars like Judith Butler have argued that gender is not innate, but performative. For instance, masculinity is a construct which is always believed to resonate with a compulsive heteronormativity. The fact that men have to behave like an actual “macho; the giver ; the doer completely contrasting feminine virtues such as the emotional , passive and the receiver is prescriptive of the ways through which heteronormativity has become naturalized since the beginning of the civilization. This paper looks into the subtle details about the rooted construct of heteronormativity resembled in the movie “A death in the Gunj’(2016) . Here the protagonist Shutu faces spiritual conflict between his naturally innate virtues like kindness, sensitivity, introversion which goes quite contrary to the compartmentalized masculine virtues such as assertiveness, bravery, manhood and a pressure to maintain a proper “macho” personality. This research looks into the prominent crisis of masculinity and gender performativity that the world faces today. Is it only essential to venerate the so called masculine virtues like dominance and assertiveness? If yes , what about kindness, sensitivity and the capacity to feel emotions that are so much sidelined as feminine virtues? What is the position of man in the modern society? The movie “ A death in Gunj “ paradoxically opens up these hard questions through the characterization of Shuttu who remains unloved and forsaken and drives himself towards the annals of self-destruction and suicide for the reason that he finds himself very vaguely suited to fit into the societal constructs of what makes a proper “man’. This research employs Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity to look into all these prominent gender questions. It also employs Lacan’s construct of symbolic order where language is a source of both alienation and subjectivity considering the fact that while language structures our understanding of self and reality, it alienates from the self that stemmed from the imaginary order from our authentic selves.

Masculinity in Yuri Smolych’s novel "Our Secrets": war, sports, sex

The subject of the analysis is the types and factors of masculinity depicted in the novel "Our Secrets" by Yuri Smolych (1935). Masculinity in the research papers is interpreted from the standpoint of social constructivism. War, sport, and sexual experience are identified as factors determining the gender socialization of young men in the novel. Based on the analysis of Russian imperial masculinity, Ukrainian colonial masculinity, and the crisis of masculinity, the drama of the conflict between social expectations of men in times of war and the real traumatic experience they undergo, as well as the crisis of imperial masculinity under the influence of war and the formation of different national types of masculinity, are analyzed. It has been found that sports and sex are presented in the novel as factors of resistance to the crisis of masculinity in general. The subsequent fate of the novel is due to the fact that the depicted gender socialization did not correspond to the propagandized Soviet norm, according to which the novel was changed.

On self-reliant masculinities and rural returnees in ethnic China

Abstract The shift in China's national economy from industrial manufacturing to technology and IT has placed constraints on the lives of rural-to-urban male migrant workers from the lower social strata. As the pace of out-migration in China slows, male rural returnees are harnessing self-reliant masculinities to reclaim status and heighten a sense of collective pride in and affiliation with their natal village. Centering on two ethnographic case studies of Dong ethnic minority male rural returnees in the autonomous district of Guizhou Province, the analysis in this article contributes to critique on the recent unfolding of the state-led “crisis of masculinity” to highlight the wider socioeconomic conditions that continue to deepen the inequalities and felt anxieties of male rural returnees.

록키와 아도니스

This article examines the Rocky films, the most successful sport film franchise in the world, and the Creed films, the equally successful reboot of the Rocky universe first released in 2015. While prior criticism focuses on the Rocky films’ dated narrative of white working-class masculinity in favor of the updated racial and gender diversity of the Creed films, my article highlights the former’ enduring achievements, as well as the latter’s process of “remasculinization” despite the surface inclusiveness. The first section surveys the key issues of sport studies, (sport) film studies, and masculinity studies, in relation to the term “ideology.” The second section looks at the “negative dialectics” of ideology and utopia portrayed in the Rocky films, and reads the representation of masculinity in these films from the perspective of “post-masculinity.” Drawing upon the theme of “crisis of white masculinity” which has been ardently adopted by American literary and film texts since the 1950s, the last section argues that the Creed films create an extended Black version of this theme in a way similar to Fight Club.

Between Hegemonic Masculinity and New Man-ism: The Shift from ‘Owning’ the Gaze to Being the ‘Object’ of the Gaze in the Representation of the Western Male in Men’s Health Magazine

This essay discusses how the representation of the Western male has shifted from one of hegemonic masculinity to one of new man-ism by exploring the British edition of Men’s Health magazine (henceforth MH). Beginning with a brief definition of the key terms, the essay explores how such a change has occurred via cultural construction by borrowing a theoretical perspective from Judith Butler, of how all forms of identity are not ‘fixed’, but are rather discursively ‘produced’ by popular culture media: ‘There is no gender identity behind the expression of gender; that identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘‘expressions’’ that are said to be its results’ Butler (1988). After highlighting the relevant history of men’s liberation, the essay then discusses the conditions in which the representation of men has become fetishised in modern Britain by adopting MH as a case study. Such exploitative use of idealised depictions of men’s bodies in MH has resulted in men becoming the ‘object’ of the gaze rather than ‘owning’ the gaze. To clarify this sociologically, the essay begins by discussing the feminist movement’s rejection of the men’s patriarchal image and how men thereby began to embrace new man-ism. Next, it discusses two other causes of this shift to new man-ism: (i) economic changes, and (ii) the crisis of masculinity. My concern here is not to unquestioningly accept the concepts associated with these factors or their implications; rather, I discuss them as dynamic elements within the above-mentioned change in how men are represented by MH, which has led men to become the objects rather than the subjects of the gaze. However, despite the historical performativity-related changes to men and masculinity, no real changes to masculinity’s hegemonic and dominant characteristics appear to have occurred. No further detail is given on the content of MH (as this can be studied easily enough), nor will I defend the ‘dumb’ excesses of some men’s titles to avoid a burlesque analysis. Instead, I discuss the most prominent themes in relation to men’s appearances and bodies to provide a better understanding of the shift from hegemonic masculinity to the New Man depicted in MH.

Masculinity Crisis or Intergenerational Perceptual Biases? Explicating Public Acquiescence to the Media Regulation on Effeminate Masculinity

Abstract By drawing on the perspective of the third-person effect (TPE), this study explains Chinese men’s general acquiescence to the nation’s recent media regulation on effeminate masculinity. Data were collected among Chinese male netizens through an online cross-sectional survey (N = 735) and processed using a paired samples t-test, regression analysis, and mediation test. The statistical results demonstrate that public silence is not based on their perception of a masculinity crisis but rather a generation gap in self-other perceptual biases that conceive the younger generation as more susceptible to the influence of effeminate male media figures. Furthermore, the study found that media exposure, perceived desirability, critical media literacy, and gender ideology significantly predicted respondents’ related perceptions through the mediation of social distance. While frequent media exposure and positive media portrayals have demonstrated a potential for reducing prejudice against nonconventional gender performances, the recent official restriction on effeminate masculinity may perpetuate this prejudice. Overall, this study enriches the literature on the TPE by comparing intergenerational differences in perceptual biases regarding the social implications of media portrayals of effeminate masculinity.

Raising Boys to be Men: Indonesian Muslim Single Mothers’ Perspective

Due to the pressure of society on boys as the future heads of households, in addition to the trend of masculinity crisis and male underachievement in education, single parents bear the massive burden of parenting, educating and nurturing boys without the presence of their fathers. Single mothers must prepare specific strategies to fulfil their boys’ need for a father figure. This study aims to provide an overview of single mothers' strategies for parenting their sons. This study uses a qualitative method. The phenomenological approach is used in this study. Researchers used purposive sampling in selecting informants, 5 informants were single mothers, 3 were due to the death of their husbands, and 2 were due to divorce. Data collection was carried out using in-depth interviews and documentation techniques. The analysis uses NVivo software. The findings of this study imply that to build the character of boys, apart from religious education and leadership, it is necessary to teach responsibility and train entrepreneurship skills so that they can stand on their own. To anticipate the father's absence, he can be replaced or rely on close relatives such as uncles, grandfathers and ustadz or teachers as a filler for the male figure. Besides, being a single mother due to divorce does not cut off the child's communication with his biological father. This paper sheds light on cross-gender parenting practices among Muslim single mothers. As a policy maker or social institution, it is appropriate to provide programs that help single mothers care for and educate their sons.

The Disappearance of Krebs: Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” as a Critique of Whiteness

Abstract: Where previous scholars have read Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” as a story about post-World War I disillusionment and the concomitant crisis in masculinity, this article examines Hemingway’s use of raced masculinity. By pointing to Oklahoma, a location of racial violence; Kansas, a location of extended Klan influence; and the National Baseball League, a site of exclusively White corruption, Hemingway builds a submerged text focused on the dangers of White Supremacy and White Privilege. Hemingway then engages the trope of White Womanhood as a tool of raced masculinity. “Soldier’s Home” shows how a spectral presence of anti-Black violence shapes one white soldier’s reintegration.

Formy męskości i kobiecości we wczesnej twórczości Szczepana Twardocha

The forms of masculinity and femininity in Twardoch’s early works arise from a patriarchal and conservative vision of the world. Studying various aspects of these issues, the writer created characters representing the model of “internal” masculinity based on higher values (god, honour,fatherland) and “external” masculinity based on material status, appearance, domination, violence, etc. Both models determine the social role of women, reducing them to a sexual object: a mother or a domestic servant. The writer presented patriarchy as beneficial to women; thecharacters who rejected him quickly became unhappy. Twardoch’s later works broke this pattern, which led him to consider the crisis of masculinity.

Theorising Necromale Through Killable Female: A Study of Murder 2 and Article 15

This essay studies the construction of killable female bodies via two Hindi films: Murder 2 (2011) and Article 15 (2019) and theorises a necromale—male murdering agent following a violent sovereign ethos, which, in turn, illuminates sovereign Indian masculinity in crisis. One of the many romances of the idea of sovereignty and ideals of self-rule is the construction of imaginary adversaries whose violent execution serves the sovereign purpose. This essay extends the rhetoric of sovereignty to include male violence in the study of alleged enemies—dead girls. If sovereignty means power to kill or let live, then in what ways does that definition play out in these films through gender violence? The essay expands on the exclusionary principles of killability—secrecy around murder investigations, hasty cremation/burial, and patriarchal and casteist public discourses that serve exclusively to make the male Indian sovereign violence against the victims doubtable. The killable females became the potent ground where caste, patriarchal, and national ideologies combine, enabling the Indian male sovereignty to deploy its power to kill. However, this sovereign/casteist murderous male, whom the essay establishes as a necromale, is killable in return. The male power to kill emerges as a suicidal martyrdom because the state’s right to kill ultimately reserves the monopoly on violence.