Masculinity Studies Research Articles

Working through warfare in Ukraine: rethinking militarization in a Ukrainian theme café

ABSTRACT The conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the Donbas region has led both countries to strengthen their respective militaries. The literature on militarization emphasizes the subtle and largely unconscious ways in which militarization spreads through society. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2017, I argue that attention to the intersubjective aspects of the process exposes the self-conscious working-through of military realities. I make this argument using the case study of a restaurant run by demobilized fighters, Café Patriot. Specifically, I show how the café's proprietors aimed to provide an anti-depressive atmosphere for fighters, and to provoke critical thinking among non-combatant patrons. The café challenged theorizing on militarization by effacing the separation between military and civilian as predicted, but doing so in the interest of reminding people of militarization rather than blinding them to it. These findings highlight veterans’ constructive efforts to re-inhabit a fractured world, and contrast with portrayals in critical studies of militarized masculinity. In sum, the café represented an effort to intervene in the process of militarization using, strangely enough, the trappings of militarization. At stake is the definition of militarization as an insidious process.

Critical Masculinity Studies and Research on Violence Against Women: An Assessment of Past Scholarship and Future Directions.

This article investigates the role of critical masculinity theory on the field of violence against women (VAW). We conduct a meta-analysis to discern which theories of masculinity have been used within the journal Violence Against Women over the past 25 years. This search revealed that many articles use masculinity concepts but do not always articulate explicit theories of masculinity. We review hegemonic masculinity and male peer support, two of the most commonly used theories of masculinity and violence. We then discuss new developments within masculinity scholarship, including theories of manhood acts, inclusive masculinity, and hybrid masculinity, and consider how these perspectives can enhance the already robust scholarship on masculinity and VAW.

The Poetics and Politics of Sensuality in China: The “Fragrant and Bedazzling” Movement (1600–1930)

The Poetics and Politics of Sensuality in China: The “Fragrant and Bedazzling” Movement (1600–1930)

Extremism and toxic masculinity: the man question re-posed

Abstract It is more than 20 years since Marysia Zalewski and feminist scholars posed ‘the man question’ in International Relations, repositioning the gaze from female subjectivities to a problematization of the subjecthood of man. The field of masculinity studies has developed this initial question to a deep interrogation of the relationship between maleness and violence. Yet public and policy discourse often reduce the complexity of masculinities within extremism to issues of crisis and toxicity. Governments have prioritized the prevention of extremism, particularly violent Islamism, and in so doing have produced as ‘risk’ particular racialized and marginalized men. This article asks, what are the effects of the toxic masculinity discourse in understanding the British radical right? It argues that current understandings of extremism neglect the central aim of Zalewski's ‘man’ question to destabilize the field and deconstruct patriarchy. They instead position Islamophobia—which is institutionalized in state discourse—as the responsibility of particular ‘extreme’ and ‘toxic’ groups. In particular, the article outlines two ways in which ‘toxic masculinity’ is an inadequate concept to describe activism in the anti-Islam(ist) movement the English Defence League (EDL). First, the term ‘toxic masculinity’ occludes the continuities of EDL masculinities with wider patriarchal norms; second, it neglects the role of women as significant actors in the movement. Using an ethnographic and empathetic approach to this case-study, the article explores how Zalewski's theoretical position offers a route to analysis of the ways in which masculinities and patriarchy entwine in producing power and violence; and to a discussion of masculinities that need not equate manhood with threat.

HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY: Wacana Relasi Gender dalam Tinjauan Psikologi Sosial

Today, the world is languishing in a patriarchal structure. This patriarchal domination not only harms women, but also men, children, the elderly, and marginalized groups. Gender mainstreaming extends its studies not only to femininity but to parenting (motherhood and fatherhood), early childhood. In addition, gender also extends to the realm of masculinity or male studies. In this case, the psychology of gender underlines this phenomenon with hegemonic masculinity discourse. Masculinity is seen from the dominance of the spaces of life both public and private. This paper examines the ideology of hegemonic masculinity as the most desirable theoretical response to Critical Men Studies (CSM). This elaboration of the Hegemonic Masculinity concept is useful as a 'binocular tool' that is operational for empirical studies of masculinity.

De nieuwe lichting

Abstract ‘The new batch’. Anja Meulenbelt and men's liberation in the Netherlands Dutch writer and activist Anja Meulenbelt was a key figure in second wave feminism in the Netherlands. Her autofictional novel De schaamte voorbij is considered a milestone in feminist literature in Dutch. Besides her literary work, she had published widely on gender and literary criticism from the 1970s onwards and continues to do so today. A lesser known aspect of her writing and activism concerns masculinity and male emancipation. Second wave feminism was accompanied by a pro-feminist men’s movement which included a number of short-lived periodicals such as Mannentaal en Manuscript. Meulenbelt took serious interest in this movement and commented on it in various essays and articles, arguing that its questioning of the male gender role could contribute to gender equality. This article traces Meulenbelt’s involvement with men’s activism and masculinity studies and discusses the representation of men and masculinity in two novels: De schaamte voorbij and Alba. While the former suggests an impasse in heterosexual relationships with men, even with those of the ‘new generation’ who have been influenced by feminism, the latter depicts a more gratifying relationship with an emancipated male partner.

The pursuit of masculinity by young gay men in neoliberal Hong Kong and Shanghai

ABSTRACT Recent debates in critical studies of men and masculinities center around the intricate relationship between neoliberalism and male identity formation. Drawing on narratives from in-depth interviews with young gay men aged 18–28 conducted in Hong Kong (n = 25) and Shanghai (n = 20) between 2017 and 2018, this article argues that young Chinese gay men negotiate neoliberal heteronormative values and accomplish masculine ideals in the spheres of education, work, and sexuality. They conform to and protest heterosexual masculinity to create a more reflexive gender and sexual script of ‘being a man’. The family and sexual communities, both embedded with neoliberal values, serve as important social institutions that enable and limit development of the entrepreneur of the self. Using Chinese young gay men's narratives, the article argues that they are embarking on a journey to create their own scripts of masculinity under neoliberal hetero/homo-normative constraints. The article contributes to understanding of the gendered nature of neoliberalism and its impact on the self-making process of the post-90s generation of gay men.

New masculinities in universities? Discourses, ambivalence and potential change

In this article, we explore forms and possible implications of new masculinities in universities, and elucidate how they relate to hegemonic masculinity. ‘New masculinities’ coins a particular tradition of naming in Nordic masculinity studies. In the Nordic context, gendered social relations are shaped by State policies and equality discourses, which are increasingly embracing father‐friendly initiatives. New masculinities refers to the increased involvement of men in caring practices and especially in fathering. Our empirical study comprises in‐depth interviews with young male academics in a Finnish business school. We elucidate, first, the ambivalence and struggles between masculinities in the discourses of these men and, second, how the construction of masculinities is specific to societal, sociocultural and local contexts. Relations of class, and middle‐class notions of the ‘good life’ in particular, emerge as central for understanding the experiences of these men. Beyond the Nordic countries, we argue that while the change potential of caring masculinity stems from particular contexts, the concept of new masculinities is helpful in capturing the ambivalence and struggles between hegemonic and caring masculinities rather than dismissing the latter as subordinate to the former.

Apresentação: Gênero em perspectiva interseccional

A proposta epistemológica deste dossiê é pensar gênero em perspectiva interseccional. Na primeira parte desta apresentação, faremos uma breve reflexão sobre a forma como a interseccionalidade, a partir dos estudos de gênero, tem se estabelecido como paradigma incontornável nas ciências sociais. Adiante, destacaremos os trabalhos reunidos neste dossiê, que conta com temas clássicos dos estudos nacionais, como trabalho, política institucional, violência, movimentos sociais, de um lado, mas também novas abordagens como a presença das mulheres no cárcere e estudos de masculinidades, por outro.

Be a Responsible and Respectable Man: Two Generations of Chinese Gay Men Accomplishing Masculinity in Hong Kong

This article seeks a dialogue between masculinity studies and generational sexuality studies by comparing two generations of gay men in Hong Kong through in-depth interviews with 15 older gay men born before the 1950s and 25 young gay men born after 1990 using a life course approach. The article highlights the sociohistorical and political changes shaping male identity, practice, and culture in colonial and postcolonial Hong Kong, and identifies responsibility and respectability as two key dimensions in the construction of Chinese masculinity. It argues that the two generations under study accomplish gay masculinities against changing Chinese masculine ideals and hetero/homonormativities sensitive to different social relations and institutions, as well as engage in constant negotiation with the dominant heteronormative life course and need to manage stigma. Drawing on the narratives of the participants from the two generations, the article examines continuity and change in the idealized and practiced forms of masculinity embedded in different institutions, thereby providing a nuanced understanding of the transformations of Chinese generational masculinities under broad social–historical changes.

MUTED SCHOLARSHIP IN 1 CORINTHIANS: A GENDER-CRITICAL ENQUIRY

The First Letter to the Corinthians has provided a significant amount of material for scholars interested in studying how gender functions within Pauline writings and more generally in early Christianity. The body of work is rich and vast and draws largely on feminist theory and method as both an approach and an analytical lens. This paper argues that a careful application of gender-critical analysis has arguably been mute in such studies, despite the vast amount of feminist critique applied to these texts. Such muted scholarship has perpetuated a dialogical framework that juxtaposes studies of femininity and masculinity and has failed to take seriously the argumentative nature of rhetoric and explore important issues such as gender construction and representation within 1 Corinthians.

Modelo e indicadores de masculinidad igualitaria en la ficción televisiva gallega: caso de Fontealba y Serramoura de Televisión de Galicia

Desde los television studies, la ficción ambientada en la realidad coetánea del receptor constituye un espacio privilegiado para consolidar la normativa social, pero también para visibilizar nuevas tendencias. Con el objetivo general de contribuir al campo de los masculinity studies, este artículo analiza dos series dramáticas de éxito de la Televisión de Galicia (TVG) de 2017 como relatos de proximidad que podrían representar nuevas masculinidades alternativas al modelo tradicional. Para ello, se ha evaluado el tipo de masculinidad dominante en estas producciones televisivas a partir del análisis de la caracterización y las interacciones sociales de sus principales personajes masculinos. La metodología aplicada ha incluido una lectura en profundidad y el mapeo de relaciones paradigmáticas entre personajes, junto con el análisis de contenido multivariable que ha permitido observar correlaciones entre la edad y clase social de los personajes y los tipos de masculinidad. Los resultados sostienen una mayor afinidad a la masculinidad hegemónica conforme aumenta el poder ejercido por el personaje en el ámbito público o laboral. Se establece una correlación entre clase social y modelo de masculinidad, no así para la variable de edad. Y aunque se representan diferentes aproximaciones a modelos de masculinidad más igualitarios, los personajes que las sustentan se disocian de la esfera laboral como ámbito fundamental de construcción identitaria. Todo ello nos lleva a concluir que, a pesar de la creciente diversidad en la representación de las masculinidades en la ficción televisiva analizada, el modelo patriarcal definido desde el ámbito de lo público sigue siendo el hegemónico.

Research Informed Youth Work Practice in Northern Ireland: Recommendations for Engaging Adolescent Boys and Young Men

ABSTRACT Since the latter part of the twentieth century there has been increasing recognition of the need for more effective approaches to engaging adolescent boys. Much of the focus in youth work practice and research has previously been dominated by attempts to better understand young male bio-social and cognitive development through examining high risk issues such as offending, violence, substance use, anti-social behaviour and mental health. The recent interest in critical studies of masculinities have further highlighted complex and contradictory ways in which traditional notions of becoming a man impact, often negatively, upon male behaviour and development. Despite increased awareness and concern about adolescent male development, practitioners across various professions frequently report finding it difficult to engage positively with certain young men and admit to lacking the confidence and skills to develop meaningful practice. This paper draws upon thirty years’ experience of youth work practice and social research carried out by the authors with adolescent boys within a divided and contested political context. However, while the article draws upon local research findings and practice experiences from Northern Ireland, we believe the learning will be of value to educators and practitioners working with adolescent boys in other societies and contexts.

Manterrupting in the German Bundestag: Gendered Opposition to Female Members of Parliament?

AbstractThe problem of manterrupting, i.e. men interrupting women to take control of a conversation, claiming superior knowledge, or discrediting women's arguments, has garnered major attention in social and traditional media. Yet scholarly accounts of gendered speech interruption patterns in parliamentary debates are less common. In this article, I argue that manterrupting can be considered a form of resistance against women in politics and, in its worst iteration, prevent female representatives from representing women's interests. This article will analyze the problem of ‘manterrupting’ regarding parliamentary debates in Germany by investigating the nature and extent of male interruptions during parliamentary debates in the 17th legislative period. Drawing on insights from social psychology and masculinity studies, this article finds that in the case of Germany, manterruptions are neither systemic and frequent enough to constitute a form of resistance against women in politics nor do they prevent female representatives from engaging in the substantive representation of women.

Structure, Functions, and Level of Sexual Maturity in Female Undergraduates

The paper provides a brief analysis of the literature on the structure and functions of sexuality and the problems of its formation in undergraduate girls. The research featured 196 first and fifth year female students, age 17–22, that majored in pedagogical studies. The study involved a set of standardized test methods, e. g. R. Кеttell’s multifactorial personality method, Wiesbaden questionnaire, S. Bem’s Study of Personality Masculinity and Femininity, Ch. D. Spilberger and Yu. L. Khanin’s Evaluation of Reactive and Personal Anxiety, D. Russell and M. Ferguson’s Diagnostics of the Level of Subjective Feeling of Loneliness, methods of gender identity studies, M. Kuhn and T. McPartlend’s "Who am I?" test as modified by T. V. Rumyantseva, and the Scale of Basic Beliefs by R. Yanoff-Bulman. The statistical analysis of the results allowed the authors to build a structural and functional model of female sexuality, as well as to describe its components, functions, and informative characteristics. The factor analysis revealed that female sexuality includes five main components: family relations, cognitive, bodily, emotional and existential. Each of the components contributes to the overall structure and has a specific content and function. The authors developed criteria for diagnosing the levels of formation of female sexuality as low, medium and high. With age, the level of sexuality in all selected components increased, which might be associated with the presence of more experience in establishing intimate relationships and family orientation. Most respondents demonstrated diffuse gender identity accompanied by high androgyny as a variant of sex-role behavior. The study also revealed the effect of personal characteristics on the psychological content of the various components of sexuality. The obtained data determined the need for focused effort on the formation of femininity.

Men in upheaval: integrating Hong Kong politics and critical studies of men and masculinities

In this short review, we explain the need for a multidimensional analytical framework for exploring how the construction of men and masculinities has shaped Hong Kong’s social and political development, and how politics both enable and constrain men in their lived experiences and practices in various life spheres at the city’s current political juncture. We observe that the majority of the extant research on men and masculinities in Hong Kong is depoliticized, whereas studies on current Hong Kong politics are largely gender-blind. However, the ever-tightening grip of the Chinese Communist Party and the instances of political resistance in response, namely, the Umbrella Movement of 2014 and Fishball Revolution of 2016, suggest that the influence of the wider political situation has penetrated every dimension of life, which has considerable implications for masculine identities and practices. Rather than continuing to conduct the depoliticized masculinity studies and genderless political studies we have seen to date, it is time for a thorough investigation of the dynamic intersection of men’s practices and the political context of Hong Kong.

Gender in Afghanistan's Wheat and Agricultural Literature- How to Get to Empowerment?

This review of 45 documents demonstrates the massive evidence gap in gender relations in Afghanistan agriculture. Women face greater constraints than men in generating an income from agriculture, especially if single, but how this has changed over time and many other assumptions require empirical study. Furthermore, how to empower women economically in a patriarchal society is unclear, but the literature suggests that masculinity studies may present some answers. The review highlights the methodological challenges associated with conducting gender sensitive research in Afghanistan and the way misunderstood gender relations create further development challenges. Many questions remain about the role of agriculture in Afghanistan livelihoods and how this shapes, and is shaped by, gender relationships. Moreover, what an agenda for women’s empowerment should look like in Afghanistan’s rural farming communities remains unclear from the review. Empowering women in Afghan’s agriculture sector requires considerable experimentation, more data and contextually relevant, carefully designed programs. The review is relevant to development practitioners, researchers and agricultural scientists working in Afghanistan.

Feminist geographies in Norway from the turn of the millennium

Based on an overview of feminist and gender research over two decades, this article reflects on feminist geographies in Norway within a wider political and social context. We identify eight broad, partly overlapping themes of feminist geography: rurality; development policies and practices; entrepreneurship and economic change; migration and mobility; children and youth; sexuality and health; landscape and place; and emotions and autobiography. We find that much of the research has been collaborative, interdisciplinary, multicultural, and transnational. Feminist geographies in Norway are characterized by increasing emphasis on multiple realities and situatedness, and focus on rights and power relations among men and women in all spheres of society, including academia. Yet the gender dimension has tended to focus on geographies of women, with few studies of masculinity. Inspired in part through feminist critiques of research practices in social sciences, a recent development has been autobiographical approaches examining the significance of personal lives and emotions for the research process. We conclude that feminist geographies in Norway are diverse, empirically and contextually informed, and have become embedded within several fields of human geography.

Book Review: Masculinities and Literary Studies: Intersections and New Directions

Book Review: Masculinities and Literary Studies: Intersections and New Directions

Destiny overshadowed: masculine representations and feminist implications in a South African men’s magazine

ABSTRACT This article offers a multimodal discourse analysis of the representation of masculinity and its relation to femininity in Destiny Man, a popular South African magazine for men. The approach taken looked at the content in the magazine and identified themes that were present in most of the issues. Through the lens of hegemonic masculinity and feminism, discursive practices that Destiny Man employs when discussing issues of gender relations are explored. Furthermore, these discursive practices are also considered in the context of race in post-apartheid South Africa. To understand how women are spoken about and represented in the man-targeted magazine, three articles and five images published in the eight 2014 issues were analysed using a multimodal text analysis (Lindy). We conclude that the discourses presented in the magazine tend to portray women as needy, emotionally dependent and possessing limited agency in relationships. We argue that these portrayals have implications for man/woman relations in contemporary South Africa and require a rethinking in order to advance both feminist and masculinity studies.