Masculinity Studies Research Articles

Something is Working—But Why? Mixed Rooms in the Norwegian Army

In a qualitative study of masculinities in the Norwegian Armed Forces, we found the expected sexual harassment and some more unexpected episodes of what we name solidarity masculinity. But we also uncovered some possible and surprisingly positive effects of male and female conscripts living together in so-called mixed rooms. The rooms seemed to function in a way that promoted mutual understanding, de-sexualization and reduced sexual harassment. Our findings gained a lot of attention in the media worldwide, and they have also been tested empirically by other Norwegian researchers using quantitative methods. Although their findings strengthen our hypothesis that “something is working” inside these mixed rooms, we are doubtful about the validity of some of their findings and how they interpret them. We doubt that what is experienced by putting young women and men in the same room for 7–8 weeks can tell us much about the possibilities of breaking through the glass ceiling for women in male-dominated organizations, or speaks in favour of higher quotas for women in male bastions. The effects of these rooms might best be understood as a kind of gender-positive secondary socialization in cultures where gender equality enjoys a high standing. Strong leadership, common goals, and equal positions also seem to be needed in order to get the desired effect of reduced stereotypes. This finding is in line with the contact hypothesis postulated by Thomas Pettigrew in his studies of integration. To our knowledge, our study is the first on mixed rooms in the Armed Forces, despite the fact that they have been in use in Scandinavia for almost 25 years.

Moving beyond ideas of laddism: conceptualising ‘mischievous masculinities’ as a new way of understanding everyday sexism and gender relations

This article engages with current debates on ‘lad cultures’ by questioning how we understand the term in the specific context of everyday sexism and within groups of men varying in age. Further to this, using a feminist and critical masculinity studies perspective, the article will explore how men do not necessarily comprehend their behaviour within the framework of lad culture or within the continuum of sexual violence. Through discussion of ethnographic and interview data collected over a year at a site historically associated with lad cultures, that of a Rugby Union club in Northern England, an alternative way of conceptualising masculinity and everyday sexism, ‘mischievous masculinities’, is proposed. Men in the research practiced what I term mischievous masculinities, whereby they implemented ‘banter’ to aid in both the construction and de-construction of sexist ideas within the rugby space. Performing mischievous masculinity enabled men of all ages to both engage in and simultaneously challenge everyday sexism in ways they understood to be ‘innocent’. However, the continual framing of banter as ‘just a laugh’ demonstrated that this form of sexism can be construed as problematic, due, in part, to its subtlety, in relation to more overt and violent sexist practices. A key difference between the men in my research and previous theorising of ‘lad culture’ is the recurring theme amongst older participants that ‘I should know better’, demonstrating consciousness of the sexist and problematic connotations which could be drawn from this interaction. This notion of mischievous masculinities then, in the context of a life course perspective, can be seen to challenge more established notions of an unreflexive lad culture, thus affording a more nuanced understanding of everyday sexism amongst more diverse groups of men than currently exists, as well as allowing for men’s agency in a specific site.

"Мужской вопрос" в XXI в.: развитие комплексного подхода к изучению маскулинности

"Мужской вопрос" в XXI в.: развитие комплексного подхода к изучению маскулинности

Conceptualizing an Ethology of Masculinities

Rather than a definition or redefinition of masculinity, or masculinities, this article asks what can masculinities do? To explore this question, I map the possibilities that Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy of immanence offer masculinities theory. Through a theoretical encounter with Deleuze, Guattari, Spinoza, and Gatens, I seek to open up an alternative conceptualization of masculinities that moves away from morality—transcendent judgments of good or bad—and toward an ethics that privileges our capacities for affecting and being affected. While masculinities studies and gender theory has proposed related notions concerning gender fluidity and resisting gender binaries, this article proposes an alternative through Deleuze’s and Gatens’ readings of Spinoza’s Ethics that radically challenges the mind–body split that informs traditional lineages of Western philosophy. What is at stake for this essay is the ability to conceive of masculinities as creative force with no allegiance to the male body other than its capacity to affect or be affected.

Transgressive women don’t deserve protection: young men’s narratives of sexual violence against women in rural Papua New Guinea

Sexual violence against women and girls is commonplace in Papua New Guinea (PNG). While the experiences of women are rightly given central place in institutional responses to sexual violence, the men who perpetrate violence are often overlooked, an oversight that undermines the effectiveness of prevention efforts. This paper draws on interviews conducted with young men as part of a qualitative longitudinal study of masculinity and male sexuality in a rural highland area of PNG. It explores one aspect of male sexuality: men’s narratives of sexual violence. Most striking from the data is that the collective enactment of sexual violence against women and girls is reported as an everyday and accepted practice amongst young men. However, not all women and girls were described as equally at risk, with those who transgress gender roles and roles inscribed and reinforced by patriarchal structures, at greater risk. To address this situation, efforts to reduce sexual violence against women and girls require an increased focus on male-centred intervention to critically engage with the forms of patriarchal authority that give license to sexual violence. Understanding the perceptions and experiences of men as perpetrators of sexual violence is a critical first step in the process of changing normative perceptions of gender, a task crucial to reducing sexual violence in countries such as PNG.

We’ll make a man out of you yet: The masculinity of Peter in the book of Acts

According to scholars of masculinity studies, manhood is won or lost through the performance of gender-based expectations. In any given culture, masculinities exist in hierarchal relationships. The author of the book of Acts shows Peter demonstrating elite masculine performances in the narrative of Acts. Through Peter’s self-control, and the lack of self-control on the part of those who oppose him, his persuasive, public speech and his ability to control others in the text, Peter exhibits a masculinity that contradicts early portraits of Peter found in 1 Corinthians and the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John. Peter is not overcome by other people in Acts, and he demonstrates a masculinity that is complicit with the types of masculinities prized by the Romans and often considered out of the reach of foreigners.

‘A man after god’s own heart’: charisma, masculinity and leadership at a charismatic Church in Brighton and Hove, UK

This article suggests that the gendered aspects of charisma have so far been overlooked in recent scholarship and seeks to align studies of charismatic religious leaders more fully with studies of masculinity and the ‘masculinisation’ of Charismatic churches. Based on research conducted at the Church of Christ the King (CCK) in Brighton and Hove, UK, I analyses how leadership operates as a key language for mediating masculinity, giving young men ways of being manly within both Christian and church parameters as well as forming links between experienced leaders and their young apprentices. Focusing on a dramatic visit by a notorious international preacher as an instance of charismatic masculinity in action, the author shows how an understanding of a corporate culture of masculinity can lend new insight into our understanding of charisma as both a relational construct and a system of individual authority which is tested at times of crisis and succession.

Men in Crisis: Pornographic Images in Quim Monzó’s Fiction

Drawing on feminist theory and masculinity studies, this article analyses one novel and four short stories by Catalan author Quim Monzo – Benzina (1983), ‘El regne vegetal’ (1980), ‘Pigmalio’ (1993), ‘La mama’ (2001) and ‘Dos rams de roses’ (2001) – to show how the presence of pornography in these works highlights the characteristic inadequacies of Monzo’s male characters against the values of hegemonic masculinity. Pornography in this body of texts also reflects the tensions between high and mass culture and the conflict between aesthetic and political interpretations of art in Monzo’s literary project. Although analyses of Monzo’s narrative from the perspective of gender and sexuality are still rare, this article claims that critical debates in these fields are essential to understand Monzonian fictional masculinities. My main aim is to demonstrate that the influence of pornography on Monzo’s fiction is intimately related to one of the central tensions of this author’s literary production, namely, the representation of hegemonic masculinity in crisis.

Complicity to Hegemonic Masculinity in D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers

Men have long been associated with dominance, strength and confidence and the issue regarding being compliant to the acceptable masculine ideal has always been part of a culture’s social identity. This study focuses on the critical discussion on masculinity studies in the classic fiction of D.H Lawrence. Drawing on narrative data from his novel Sons and Lovers (1913) , the study examines how hegemonic masculinity is conformed by the male protagonist, Walter Morel, in his gendered relationship. More specifically, the analysis focuses on how the male character aligns himself with the hegemonically authoritarian philosophy of ‘tough’ masculinity. The effects of social practices and socio-historical context in which Lawrence wrote these novels are also examined. The study utilises Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity to explicate Lawrence’s depiction of dominant masculinity through his character. The findings reveal that Lawrence aligns his male protagonist to the dominant role by sanctioning aggressiveness, autonomy and violence. Keywords: Hegemonic Masculinity, Dominant Masculinity, Patriarchy, Gender, Power

Mr Paul: Masculinity and Paul’s self-presentation (1 Cor 11–13)

Notwithstanding all the corporeal and gendered language in the Pauline letters, the apostle’s bodiliness and masculinity so far has received little attention. In the 1st-century context masculinity reigned by default and provides the contemporary context for teasing out the corporeal and gendered overtones in the Pauline letters, especially in Paul’s self-presentation. Recent and intersecting masculinity studies, body theology and queer theory provide useful tools for engaging Paul as man and his bodily-focussed, gendered approach in his letters. A focus on both Paul as embodied man and his corporeal, gendered approach enable alternative readings of his letters’ concern with corporeality and the related relationships between bodies, power and life in the communities he addressed.

Hypermasculinity as a Scenario of Power

The image of Russian President Vladimir Putin riding bare-chested in Siberia has attained mythic status among journalists and the public, both Russian and non-Russian. The current article analyzes the Russian leader's instrumental deployment of hypermasculinity as a strategy for creating not just legitimacy, but also power. Putin's public scripts and behaviors have, in different ways at different times, been overwhelmingly derived and embellished from a masculine menu that would be impermissible for Russian women. They also frequently demonstrate, in words and gestures, his active and absolute dominance over his interlocutors in ways that would be unacceptable for other, subordinated men. The creation of Putin's image, his scenario of power, thus becomes a “hegemonic project,” in the sense developed by Meghana Nayak and Jennifer Suchland, one that is deeply imbued with implied gender dominance and at times even gender violence. Ultimately, this work shows that studies of hypermasculinity and militarized masculinity cannot be limited to war settings, but rather must be extended to questions of political leadership and especially to ways that politics itself is undermined by leaders’ and their handlers’ excessive reliance on masculinity as a substitute for genuine political dialogue.

‘That’s what I call a man’

According to Connell (1995), "being a man" involves actively positioning one's self in relation to culturally dominant images of masculinity. Yet, crucially, these images change depending on the social and historical context. In this paper, we examine contemporary discourses of masculinity as they are represented in the British press. In particular, we focus on the ways in which masculine representations are both racialized and classed, and how they are positioned in relation to one another within a broader ideological field of gender and power. Analyses are based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a large corpus (35.5 million words) of newspaper articles on masculinity that appeared in the UK between 2003 and 2011. Our findings underscore the importance of adopting an intersectional approach to the study of language and masculinity, and provide support for recent critical re-evaluations of the foundational concept of hegemonic masculinity.

Advancing Research on Men and Reproduction

While feminist scholarship has centred reproduction in women’s lives, it has inadequately explored its meanings in men’s. If we assume that reproduction happens in relationships of one kind or another between males and females, then missing men is a considerable oversight. Although there is now much research on fatherhood, merely focussing on this end-stage assumes that women take care of all of the foreplay, leaving unanswered questions in relation, inter alia, to men’s desires for parenthood, men’s involvement in planning or lack of planning to have children, the way men struggle or cope with infertility, their encounters with new reproductive technologies and surrogate mothers, their experiences of foetal screening, their involvement in abortion decision-making, and their experiences of becoming or not becoming a father. In this article I argue that men have compelling experiences throughout the reproductive trajectory deserving of more attention. I offer a profeminist theoretical composition for advancing further enquiries on men and reproduction, which begins with the feminism-informed Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities (CSM), and then weaves this together with the theories of intimate citizenship, sociology of the body, and the sociology of science and technology. I will propose how concepts from these collective theories may be useful in opening up layered questions about gender relations, intimacy, bodies, and technologies in future studies of men and reproduction.

Des Men’s Studies aux Masculinity Studies : du patriarcat à la pluralité des masculinités

Parce qu’elles ont mis en évidence le biais androcentrique des sciences sociales au début des années 1970, les féministes académiques ont revendiqué d’étudier les hommes en tant que catégorie sociale de sexe, et non plus en tant que cas général du social. En conséquence, selon la théorie matérialiste, les pratiques sociales des hommes devraient toujours être analysées dans le cadre des rapports sociaux de sexe et du patriarcat. Par la suite, Raewyn Connell et d’autres spécialistes anglophones ont proposé le concept de masculinité afin de comprendre les rapports de pouvoir entre différents groupes d’hommes, en référence aux rapports de genre et à la masculinité hégémonique, censée assurer la domination des hommes sur les femmes. En dépit de quelques différences, ces deux approches ont beaucoup en commun et permettent de nos jours d’étudier les masculinités dans un monde globalisé, qu’elles soient banales ou remarquables, qu’elles s’opposent ou non au féminisme et au changement social.

“I Feel Like More of a Man”: A Mixed Methods Study of Masculinity, Sexual Performance, and Circumcision for HIV Prevention

Ethnographic studies from numerous societies have documented the central role of male circumcision in conferring masculinity and preparing boys for adult male sexuality. Despite this link between masculinity, sexuality, and circumcision, there has been little research on these dynamics among men who have been circumcised for HIV prevention. We employed a mixed methods approach with data collected from recently circumcised men in the Dominican Republic (DR) to explore this link. We analyzed survey data collected six to 12 months post-circumcision (N = 293) as well as in-depth interviews conducted with a subsample of those men (n = 30). We found that 42% of men felt more masculine post-circumcision. In multivariate analysis, feeling more masculine was associated with greater concern about being perceived as masculine (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.25–2.32), feeling more potent erections post-circumcision (OR = 2.25, 95% CI: 1.26–4.03), and reporting increased ability to satisfy their partners post-circumcision (OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.11–4.77). In qualitative interviews, these factors were all related to masculine norms of sexually satisfying one’s partner, and men’s experiences of circumcision were shaped by social norms of masculinity. This study highlights that circumcision is not simply a biomedical intervention and that circumcision programs need to incorporate considerations of masculine norms and male sexuality into their programming.

Gröna män?

Research demonstrates that gender configurations and environmental issues interact. Important studies have been conducted for example in ecofeminism, feminist techno-science and political ecology, focusing mainly on negative effects on women. Research on different forms of masculinities has, on the other hand, been modest, despite the fact that it is largely men who are responsible for our unsustainable world. The present article argues that it would be fruitful to develop masculinity studies within Environmental Humanities since this is an interdisciplinary field where different disciplines, such as cultural studies, environmental history, energy politics and literature studies, come together. Based on previous research on energy, environmental and climate politics, this article reveals three situated forms of masculinities, conceptualized as industrial, ecological and ecomodern masculinities, respectively. These masculinities are understood as always-in-the-making and part of material-semiotic antagonistic environmental discourses.

From Swagger to Serious: Managing Young Masculinities between Faiths at a Young Men’s Christian Association Centre in The Gambia

A renewed focus on studies of masculinity in Africa has so far failed to account for the growing importance of nonproselytizing Faith-Based Organisations (fbos) in the gendering process. This article seeks to address this issue through a case study of the Gambian branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association (ymca).ymcaleaders generate a culture of dynamic leadership that equates to a form of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ based on love, self-sacrifice, and obligation. This article shows how this process is implicated in a series of tensions between the young men and their peers, families, elders, and leaders. While many young men want to ‘have swagger’, they are called ‘stubborn’ and urged to ‘get serious’. Through an ethnographic portrait, the author uses these tensions to explore howymcaideals of manhood may be superimposing forms of Euro-American, Christian masculinity onto Muslim Gambian men, replicating colonial modes of control, inequality, and oppression.

Beneath the surface: the masculine self and body in Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Green Tea’

This article examines the relationship between the masculine self and male body in Sheridan Le Fanu’s short story ‘Green Tea’ (1872), using a masculinity studies lens to analyze Mr Jennings’ destabilized masculinity within the parameters of Victorian male gender norms. I highlight the interwoven relationship between the masculine self and the body through looking at the physical depiction of Jennings, arguing that Jennings’ masculinity, his masculine self, is imprisoned as a reflection of the physical body; a relationship echoing Victorian gender norms regarding masculinity and the body. In the story, a demon follows and watches Jennings, appearing when Jennings is engaged in activity. Focusing on the relationship between the demon’s manifestation and Jennings’ activity, I show that the demon’s presence results from Jennings’ nonconformity to traditional notions of the masculine self. Le Fanu’s emphasis on the demon’s gaze serves to criticize Jennings’ masculinity as Jennings becomes submissive to the demon’s presence; as a result, this submission is mirrored in Jennings’ deteriorating physical body and health. By positing the masculine self within the body, the story acts to highlight Victorian society’s rigid male gender norms and the penalization of bodies that undermine those ideals.

Natives, Subjects, Consumers: Notes on Continuities and Transformations in Indian Masculine Cultures

This article explores recent histories of masculine cultures in India. The discussion proceeds through outlining the most significant sites of the making of masculinity discourses during the colonial, the immediate post-colonial as well as the contemporary period. The immediate present is explored through an investigation of the the media persona of India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Through constructing a narrative of Indian modernity that draws upon diverse contexts -- such as colonial discourses about natives, anti-colonial nationalism, and post-colonial discourses of economic planning, 'liberalization' and consumerism -- the article illustrates the multiple locations of masculinity politics. Further, the exploration of relationships between economic, political and social contexts also seeks to blur the boundaries between them, thereby initiating a methodological dialogue regarding the study of masculinities. The article also seeks to point out that while there are continuities between the (colonial) past and the (post-colonial) present, the manner in which the past is utilised for the purposes of the present relates to performances and contexts in the present. Finally, the article suggests there is no linear history of masculinity, rather that the uses of the past in the present allow us to understand the prolix and circular ways in which the present is constituted.

Masculinity Studies of the Hebrew Bible: The First Two Decades

Masculinity studies of the Hebrew Bible has emerged in the past two decades as a complement to feminist criticism, focusing on the ways men and masculinity in the biblical texts are social constructs. Masculist interpretation has utilized materials and methods taken from the field of masculinity studies, especially psychoanalytic and anthropological cross-cultural approaches. In the early development of the field, the emphasis has been on gathering data and examining the constructs of particular men in specific books. From these studies, several common traits have emerged as representative of biblical masculinity. As the field matures, scholars are broaching broader theoretical and structural concerns and questioning some of the assumptions of earlier studies, while still valuing the insights they provide. Additional methods are also being brought into conversation with masculist interpretation.