Masculinity Studies Research Articles

Cancelling “Effeminate” Men: Discursive Constructions of the Masculinity in Mainstream Media Coverage in China

In response to the trend of Chinese men becoming more “effeminate”, the Chinese government has successively introduced relevant policies to promote masculinity, accompanied by extensive media coverage. Against this background, the study takes the mainstream news media’s portrayal of masculinity as the research object, attempting to deconstruct the discourse concerning masculinity in China. The study draws on coverage of masculinity in mainstream media as data, utilizing the method of critical discourse analysis. It is found that the discourse structure surrounding masculinity in China’s mainstream media mainly concentrates on three aspects. First is the diversification of Chinese masculinity, reflecting the influence of neoliberalism on males, and a call for an understanding of diversified masculinity. Secondly, masculinity in China is also constructed on the discourse of gender conflict, primarily based on the gender binary and the ideology of maintaining traditional gender roles. Lastly, there is a tendency towards politicization of masculinity in China, where it is utilized in the service of national security and strength. By examining how and what kinds of discourses of “masculinity” are constructed, this research can contribute to the studies of masculinity in China, and further explain the issue of societal acceptance of effeminate men.

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.

Masculinity and transfemininity: Evidence in the film "Memories of My Body"

As a distinct field of research, so-called transfemininity studies can be used for the purposes of creating strategic coalitions and exploring specificities and differences. This study aims to explore the life journey of Arjuna (Juno), a man who is also a trans feminist, through the perspective of masculinity studies. The sub focuses of this research include: 1) transfemininity, physical transformation 2) and socio-psychological transformation. This research is interpretive qualitative research that verbally narrates data in the film Memories of My Body which was broadcast in 2019 as the data source. The results of the study show that Juno as the main character is caught between past trauma, his profession as a Lengger dancer, his sexual orientation and being liked by other men. Not yet finished making peace with himself, the people around him also add to the chaos with the end of his return to the beginning, trans-feminity – masculinity. Gender and sex as the other side of the coin are simple constructs, so future studies should be carried out to provide additional insights into the gender identities that have been internalized, reproduced, and possibly opposed by 'women' in everyday life in the social environment.

Back in Youth: Social Unbecoming in the Study of West African Masculinities

African youth became a central research theme in anthropology and related disciplines in the early 2000s, drawing renewed attention to the lives and aspirations of a segment of the continent's population that, since the independence era, has become increasingly demographically dominant but socially and politically marginalised. Reflecting on an extended case study of male ex-combatants in urban Burkina Faso, this paper offers a critical reading of the anthropological scholarship on African youth, emphasising, first, that much of this literature is most usefully read as studies of diverse (West) African masculinities and, second, that the literature has underplayed the extent to which achievements of social progression tend to be acutely reversible in contexts of precarity or radical social change, throwing the unfortunate, as it were, back in youth.

Caring Masculinities in Theory and Practice: Reiterating the Relevance and Clarifying the Capaciousness of the Concept

This article intends to stimulate conversation and critical thinking about the concept of ‘caring masculinities’ and its ongoing relevance to the field of critical studies of men and masculinities (CSMM). Caring masculinities is subject to debate around its theoretical premises, its potential as a feminist concept, and the limits of the empirical evidence base that underpins the concept and its associated implications. We respond to some of these ongoing critical conversations, in part by suggesting that the concept is sometimes deployed in ways that depart from or even possibly misconstrue the concept. Highlighting the nuance, capaciousness, and clarity of the concept, as theorised by Karla Elliott, we substantiate the argument by drawing on emerging data from our ongoing research with men in front-line, low paid care-work in Australia, thus, including men who have so far largely been excluded from studies on caring masculinities.

Breaking the Mold: Masculinities and Family Dynamics in Detransition, Baby

There is a frequent impression that critical studies on men and masculinities focus exclusively on heterosexual, cisgender masculinities, which promote ideals of masculinity and exclude the masculinities of a range of men who do not comply with gender norms. Genderqueer men and masculinities have drawn scrutiny, and several works have addressed masculinities that diverge from the prevailing one. However, trans masculinities have largely been ignored. Even while research and theorization indicate a growing interest in subaltern masculinities relative to the hegemonic masculinities, trans men have generally not been seen as particularly relevant in the field of critical studies of men and masculinities. In this regard, Torrey Peter’s 2021 novel, Detransition, Baby, provides an excellent basis for comprehending how trans-masculinities fit into society and for analysing critical studies on men and masculinities from a transgender viewpoint. This research aims to contribute to the growing interest on transgender literature and gender studies by examining the representation of trans masculinities and non-traditional family relations in Detransition, Baby. It highlights the value of the work in depicting the complexity of gender identity, familial relationships, and cultural conventions, ultimately developing a broader knowledge of trans experiences and alternate family structures in modern literature.

The Crisis of Male Identity: A Study on the Masculinity of Sam Sheppard's Fool for Love

Sam Sheppard, a contemporary American playwright, is well-versed in the creation of family dramas, and Fool for Love is a good example. Sam Shepard focuses on the conflicts between family members in Fool for Love and describes a pair of half-brother and sister, Eddie and May, who are caught in an unforgettable incest love without knowing it. The male characters in Fool for Love show a series of discourse power relations with women as the mirror center and emphasize the male identity of "the single opposite of women/motherhood". However, male characters who are cheating and violent, such as "absent" father who is free from extramarital affairs and a violent son who is struggling with "incest" relationship, have neither established the positive image of ideal dominant masculinity nor become the "hero son" of mother, and found the "real father". In the social relationship, they also failed to fulfill the authoritative identity of self in the tyrannical behavior and even failed to gain the recognition of male identity in the performance of "non-female" temperament, which ultimately confirmed the lack of self-male identity. Based on the study of masculinity, this paper attempts to explore the causes of the lack of masculinity of father and son in the novel through a close reading of the text of Fool for Love and reveal the identity crisis and gender dysphoria faced by mainstream men in the American social background at that time.

Male Fertility-Related mHealth: Does It Create New Vulnerabilities?

Male fertility–related mHealth (MFmHealth), including smartphone applications that allow men to test their fertility at home, is getting some attention now and then. In this commentary, I argue that MFmHealth technology has the potential to undermine established norms around male reproduction but cannot be examined using traditional individualist frameworks in bioethics. Instead, theoretical literature on the concept of vulnerability in feminist bioethics allow a theoretical alliance with critical studies of men and masculinities. Proposed benefits like empowerment, shared responsibility, and democratization may justify disruptive innovation but may also obscure more fundamental ethical concerns about vulnerability and social justice.

Konstruktionen av militär manlighet i Snoilskys Svenska bilder

The Construction of Military Masculinity in Snoilsky’s Svenska bilder: The paper presents an analysis of the construction of military masculinity in Carl Snoilsky’s Svenska bilder (Swedish Pictures). The construction of military masculinity is discussed as an important element of the cultural memory formulated in this Swedish canonical cycle of historical poetry. Taking Jan and Aleida Assman’s theory of cultural memory as a theoretical starting point, the article juxtaposes it with literary studies of masculinity to reflect on the meaning of military masculinity. War poetry and military poetry is identified as the dominant type of the poetic form of the cycle, and gendered patterns of cultural memory are discussed as reproducing the patriarchal principles of the nineteenth-century historiography. The dominant model of masculinity in Svenska bilder is presented as marked by militaristic values combined with the ethos of bourgeois masculinity. As the cycle assigns different military roles to the different stages of a man’s life, the dynamics of the meanings of masculinity is shown through the category of age. Chivalrous boyhood is presented as a stage preceding youth subordinated to the norm of homosocial military socialisation. The image of the adult man fighting at war is discussed as an amalgam of heroising and deheroising strategies. The presence of war veterans and the concept of the citizen-soldier in Svenska bilder is seen in the article as the confirmation of the hegemonic military model in the cycle.

The men who feed the world? Putting masculinities on the agenda for crop breeding research for development

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields that are dominated by men and masculine have historically been shown to lead to poor representation and discrimination of women and gender diverse scientists, managers, and leaders. This in turn negatively impacts inclusive innovation processes and outcomes. We claim that crop breeding is one such field that is undeniably dominated by men, and even masculine, and could therefore harbor the very same dynamics of exclusion. Yet there is a dearth of research systematically investigating how masculinities are performed in the institutions, organizations, cultures, discourses, and practices of crop breeding. In this Perspective piece, we present a theoretically informed hypothesis of crop breeding organizations as representing spaces where masculinities associated with rurality, management, and science and technology come together in ways that may marginalize women and gender diverse individuals, including in intersection with sexuality, race, ethnicity, and disability. In developing this hypothesis, we draw upon theoretical and empirical insights from masculinity studies in rural sociology, management and organization studies, and feminist technoscience studies. We demonstrate how critical men and masculinities studies can help expose masculinities in crop breeding to investigation, discussion, criticism, and change. As we seek to advance equality in and through crop breeding organizations, this framing helps to guide future research with potential to positively impact the culture of crop breeding research.

Masculinity and Femininity Symbols in South China Buddhist Temples: Psycho-Anthropological Perspective

Studies on masculinity in the last ten years have increased along with men's awareness of themselves. The study of masculinity is in opposition to the study of femininity. In this regard, this research intersects both of them, namely the study of masculinity and femininity in the Quan Yin temple in China. This research explores the Quan Yin symbols in the Southern Chinese (Mahayana Buddhist) Temples. This study uses a psycho-anthropological perspective. This research with a qualitative approach uses data from the architecture of the Quan Yin Temple. Data collection techniques refer to ethnographic studies, namely (1) observation, (2) photography, (3) recording, and (4) interviewing. The results of the study show that the structure that appears in Quan Yin symbolism is a dyadic structure that is divided into oppositions of (i) temples with pagodas without pagodas, (ii) masculine-feminine, (iii) strong-gentle, (iv) closed (introversion)-open (extroversion), and (v) anima -animus. Meanwhile, in terms of the collective mediation function of symbolism, it is shown that Quan Yin has symbolism, which shows that Quan Yin is indeed the highest and surpasses gods or goddesses. Therefore, Quan Yin can manifest/become anything to help mankind on Earth. This research universally shows that masculinity and femininity are also present in religious symbols. Both masculinity and femininity are nondualities that cannot be separated. This concept is almost the same as yin and yang in Chinese human philosophy.

The ‘seductive scientist’: the emergence of a new persona centred on virility and joy in twentieth-century scientific memoirs

This text investigates the twentieth-century scientific memoir genre from the perspective of two of its perhaps most influential contributors, the American Nobel laureates Richard Feynman and James Watson, by using theoretical tools from masculinity studies and the studies of scientific personae. The term ‘the seductive scientist’ is proposed to describe the main innovation to scientific personae that Watson introduces and Feynman perfects: a scientist who is brutally honest, openly seeks joy and fun, and is interested in sexual conquests. To include these topics is deliberately provocative in relation to earlier scientific personae, most importantly ‘the reverential scientist’, aiming for gravitas and depicting the scientific life as revolving around awe. As is shown, however, the seductive scientist, for all its bravado, is actually a persona which only promotes mild, non-disruptive rebellion. Rather than actually challenging the system, it incorporates several aspects of counter-cultural critique against science, showing it to not be pompous, conformist and boring, but rather fun, exciting and full of life. This reconfiguration of self-presentations by scientists, then, strongly influences the scientific memoir as a genre, affecting the ability of scientists to speak in the name of science.

The role of surrounding factors in positioning identities: liminality of Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Masculinity theory, which has been executing its studies as a distinct branch of interest since 1980s, primarily aims to draw attention to the multiplicity of masculinities to undermine the misconception that there is a single, universal, and everlasting concept of masculinity (Sancar, 2009, p. 26), and it also tries to exhibit the fact that masculine identities are always subject to change in relation to surrounding factors such as ideology and historical elements. Similarly, literary masculinity studies aim to foreground the presence of this multiplicity and variety in literary texts, as well as depicting and pointing out the portrayal of non-hegemonic masculine identities who have the potential of constituting alternatives to the hegemonic ones. In accordance with this target, this study aims to investigate Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, by concentrating on the fluid identity of its male protagonist with the purpose of exhibiting the fact that even the hegemonic masculinities are subject to change in different contexts. Embodying an alternative masculine identity which is in great contrast with the expectations of hegemonic gender ideology concerning masculinity ideals on one hand, Dorian becomes a hegemonic masculinity model in his own context on the other, which demonstrates the fact that there is not a single and universal type of masculinity, but rather “masculinities” even in the same time interval, culture, and society, and that identities are context-bounded, continuously taking new shapes in relation to surrounding factors.

Theological Language in Crisis? The Importance of Trauma Hermeneutics for Exploring Gendered Metaphors for God in the Book of Jeremiah

In this article that explores male and female metaphors for God in the Hebrew Bible, I argue with specific reference to the book of Jeremiah that the intersection of trauma and gender is particularly important in considering how tumultuous times inevitably impact the way people spoke and continue to speak about God. In this regard, recent developments in terms of gender theory including queer biblical interpretation and masculinity studies help us to engage critically with the gendered metaphors used for God in the Hebrew Bible. For instance, it will be shown how important it is to trouble binary constructions, i.e., in terms of male metaphors for God, to break the cycle of toxic masculinity that leads to further violence in an endless cycle of humiliation, shame and retaliation. And also, to, when it comes to female metaphors for God, move beyond a romanticised understanding of motherhood that is rooted in a prescriptive, essentialising understanding of gender.

A. Rodney Nurse (1928-2022).

This article memorializes A. Rodney Nurse (1928-2022). Rod was an innovator in the fields of clinical, counseling, assessment, family, and community psychology. Rod was a life fellow of the APA divisions of Family Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Trauma Psychology and a member of the divisions of Independent Practice, Psychotherapy, and the Society for the Study of Men and Masculinity. He was a life fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment. Rod authored hundreds of articles, chapters, and papers, many with collaborators, including his wife, family psychologist Peggy Thompson. One of his most impactful achievements was getting substance abuse included as an integral component of mental health treatment while assistant director of the Center for Training in Community Psychiatry of the California State Department of Mental Hygiene. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Heteromasculinity and queer reappropriation in music streaming practices: exploring homonegative curation by ordinary Spotify users

ABSTRACT This article critically examines user-curated, public playlists on Spotify tagged with homonegative terminology. We consider these playlists discursive texts that reflect and co-construct discourses about the relations between music, music streaming, gender, and sexual identity. Applying theories from masculinity and queer studies and conducting a critical textual analysis of 21 playlists, this article unpacks how these playlists relate to homophobia, heteromasculinity, and queer reappropriation. The analysis shows that the discursive connections between certain musics and homonegativity are not as straightforward as they might seem at first sight. The tagging practices suggest a network of ambiguities that cannot be interpreted as unilaterally and integrally homophobic, while overly optimistic claims also cannot account for this meticulous discursive identity work. A variety of logics underlies these playlists, including queer reappropriation, heteromasculine homonegativity, and more ambiguous negotiations. The findings support earlier queer and masculinity studies’ claims that homophobic practices are as much a matter of gender as sexuality. Rather than instances of active hatred toward certain sexual identities, the playlists and their discursive tags are attempts to negotiate identities amidst music’s multidimensional gendered connotations. Circulating in the digital space that is Spotify, the playlists articulate a complex variety of heteromasculine and/or queer identities.

Fashioning Masculinities: Critical reflections on curation and future directions in masculinity studies

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear at the V&A Museum in London (19 March–6 November 2022) marked a significant curatorial and cultural moment. Curated by Claire Wilcox, Rosalind McKever and Marta Franceschini, the exhibition explored the shifting landscape of menswear by focusing on the intersections among fashion, art, time and gender. This review essay critically reflects on the curation of the Fashioning Masculinities exhibition and the accompanying two-day symposium (13–14 October 2022) co-convened by the V&A and the Masculinities Research Hub at London College of Fashion. It argues for the need for interdisciplinary research and curation on menswear and masculinity studies to explore a plurality of intersectional identities. Additionally, this article argues for the importance of engaging diverse audiences across the sector with rich stories of making, wearing and fashioning identities. There remains considerable scope to move beyond a focus upon historical dress and luxury designer items, to include the often invisible and untold narratives of ordinary and everyday dress.

Remarking the Unmarked: An Anthropology of Masculinity Redux

This review surveys studies of men and masculinities in anthropology and ethnography from other disciplines, as well as theoretical frameworks and debates among anthropologists and other relevant scholars in the field. It also aims to assess developments in these studies since an earlier Annual Review of Anthropology article was published on this subject. By considering the ethnographic boom in men and masculinities studies across the globe since 2000, increasingly authored by anthropologists from the Global South, this review considers anthropology's singular contributions topically and conceptually—for example, masculinity and militarism, men and public health, gender inequalities, and trans*social movements—including through innovative research in biological and linguistic anthropology and archaeology. Throughout, this article reflects on the extent to which anthropologists have moved (and if they should have moved) beyond the study of women or men to instead explore gender, sex, and sexuality of humans and nonhuman animals in less binary frameworks.

Mudling Through Intersectionality Theory for Leadership Futures: Pathways Toward Policies for Reinventing Gender Spaces for Educational Leadership in Two Male Schools in Ghana

This paper examines the advances made on gender issues in Ghana, particularly regarding how far misogyny is being watered down in educational leadership. The article thence reflects on how society might resolve the question of the effects of misogyny on educational leadership futures and the associated possibilities, and decisively address this enervating question in the decades ahead. The paper discusses how individuals and groups are resisting and challenging their experiences of gender inequalities, as well as attempting to intervene and correct the causes and consequences of gendered power imbalances. The paper does not intend to assess all the facets of gendered life and inequality. Instead, it discusses arguments that have been put forward regarding re-engineering gender spaces for educational leadership futures. Data obtained from two all-boys’ schools suggest that gendered inequality is visible in both public and private spheres. However, the validity of the arguments that gender inequalities are still entrenched and persisting over time, place, and culture is contrasted with alternative claims from the data that gendered power relations, and for that matter inequalities, are gradually being eroded. Furthermore, the current academic focus on the concept of intersectionality regarding how variables like gender, tribe, religion, and culture intersect to define people’s gendered experiences, is used as the analytical framework. The study of women’s educational leadership experiences in this paper is used as a framework to further examine these issues and address some of the debates. The paper concludes with an argument that the study of inequality in relation to gendered identities, relations, and experiences must continue with an exploration of the study of men and masculinities if the theoretical analysis of gender is to be enriched to re-invent genders spaces for educational leadership futures. We also argue the view that to set the agenda for a more equal educational leadership future, society must see the need to link gender closely to other forms of social inequalities.

To Maintain or Adjust?: On the Whiteness of Swedish Men in the Congo Free State (1884–1914)

ABSTRACT During the High Imperialism era, it was not unusual that Nordic Europeans took up colonial positions in African colonies. Given the high number of Swedish citizens in the Congo Free State, this paper analyses the written and visual ego-documents of those who worked there as missionaries, soldiers, steamboat captains or traders. The presented sources include diary entries, letters and a photograph. The goal is to establish to which extent Swedish men in particular tried to maintain or adjust their status as white men and how they engaged with being part of an inherently racist colonial system that encouraged notions of white supremacy. Some questions to be addressed are to which extent ego-documents and a micro-historical approach help analyse how Swedish colonisers understood their roles and identities as representatives of white culture and how they communicated those to themselves and other audiences. To which lengths did these men go to practice whiteness when in the Congo Free State and when did so-called contact zones lead to acculturation and acceptance of local habits? How important was the sense of a white identity to them? To this purpose, a set of tools is presented that includes the analysis of private documents in combination with micro-history, whiteness and masculinity studies. Ultimately, a selection of transimperial agents and their sources shows how whiteness was more important than citizenship and how features of masculinity engaged with the former.