Representations Of Masculinity Research Articles

Jon Hamm’s Post-Mad Men Persona and Representations of Hegemonic Masculinity

ABSTRACT This article argues that Jon Hamm’s post-Mad Men persona critically engages contemporary critiques of hegemonic masculinity. In particular, it analyzes Hamm’s cameo roles to argue for a reflective masculine persona that deploys representational, comedic strategies to deconstruct hegemonic masculinity. The meta-commentary sitting across his performances calls for more fluid interpretations of performance and masculinity emerging in persona culture. Hamm’s persona points to a sometimes introspective, sometimes retrospective masculine persona connected to broader cultural patterns of self-scrutiny in popular masculinity that presents itself as progressive. I also align this reflective feature of Hamm’s persona with different contemporary masculinities in media texts that perform a similar kind of ‘taking stock’ and renarrativizations of hegemony.

Teaching lads’ lads and girly-girls: why recognising and tackling gender stereotypes still matters in education

ABSTRACT Teachers’ representations of femininities and masculinities were examined to consider how their understandings of gender might impact upon the developing gender constructions of the children they teach. In interviews, teachers reflected on their gender construction in their personal lives as well as how this impacted on their displayed attitudes to gender within their pedagogy. Findings suggest that teachers made associations between femininity, nurture and physical appearance, and, in contrast, associated masculinity with physical strength, enjoyment of sport, and the role of financial provider. Although one might assume that gender stereotypes are dated and that contemporary British society has moved beyond such discourses, the data suggests that limiting binary gender stereotypes perpetuate, and with them the possibility that teachers might still be constraining their pupils' opportunities. Having reflected in this way, the teachers in this sample presented as more inclined to modify their practice for an increased focus on equality.

Ambiguous Identities: The Subversion of Gender in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve and Cristina Peri Rossi’s La Nave de los Locos

This paper discusses issues of gender identity and dystopia in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve and Cristina Peri Rossi’s La Nave de los Locos. It compares both women writer’s concerns in the creation of normative gender identities and how those identities are, at the same time, undermined by subversive characters. Carter and Peri Rossi present a variety of micro-worlds, which correlate with the different positions that women occupy in a variety of discursive orders. It also points to how social technologies, mythical representations and social practices constantly endorse essential representations of femininity and masculinity. As a result this paper argues that these novels, though from different socio-cultural contexts, give evidence of the artificial construction of gender and engage in gender performance and parody to provide a subject position outside the normative binaries of sexual difference, and flirting with androgyny as a possible sexual utopia.

Representation of Masculinity and Femininity Values on “Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku” by Garin Nugroho 2019

AbstractMasculinity and femininity are synonymous with stereotypes created by society and culture in general. The values contained in masculine and feminine can be seen with an open and conceptual mind. This study aims to determine the classification of masculinity and femininity and the representation of values displayed in Juno's masculinity and femininity according to Bem's perspective.This study uses a qualitative research type with the theory of BSRI (Bem Sex Role Inventory) as an indicator of data collection and the theory of semiotics of Charles Sanders Pierce as a method of data analysis. And, using the opinion of Sachiko Murata as a supporting theory. The data collection technique used is documentation by analyzing text, audio and visuals.mThe results of the study found that there are 15 masculinity personalities of Juno's character from 20 personalities according to Bem's theory, and 17 feminity personalities from 20 personalities according to Bem's theory. Classification of masculine and feminine according to Bem's theory, traditionally, Juno is considered a feminine man, so that the representation of Juno's masculinity and femininity values has a negatif self-adjustment. And non-traditionally, Juno is considered a masculine and feminine man, so that the representation of Juno's masculinity and femininity values has positive and negatif adjustments.Keywords: Masculine, Feminine, Values.

Men who hate women: The misogyny of involuntarily celibate men

This article uses computational data and social science theories to analyze the misogynistic discourse of the involuntary celibate (“incel”) community. We analyzed every comment ( N = 3,686,110) produced over 42 months on a popular incel discussion board and found that nearly all active participants use misogynistic terms. Participants used misogynistic terms nearly one million times and at a rate 2.4 times greater than their use of neutral terms for women. The majority of participants’ use of misogynistic terms does not increase or decrease with post frequency, suggesting that members arrive (rather than become) misogynistic. We discuss these findings in relation to theories of intersectionality, masculinity, and sexism. We likewise discuss potential policies for mitigating incel misogyny and similar online discourse.

Influenced Gender Identities

Abstract The changing dynamics of masculinity in a post-feminist world entails an analysis of the representations of boyhood and masculinity in varied temporalities and cultures. Primarily through the theories of Judith Butler, Raewyn Connell, and David Buchbinder, this article explores the problem of men and their social roles. It discusses the issue of double vulnerability faced by gay men in a patriarchal social dynamic that affects their identity construction. Through the spectacle of textual analysis, we examine Nemat Sadat's, The Carpet Weaver (2019), the tale of Kanishka, a gay boy living in a war-torn Afghanistan, and his migration to America, which aids in shaping his identity. We also examine the intersections of the masculine image within a political war zone, exploring the subject of gendered violence against men.

V.S. Naipaul and His All-Male 4H Club

Slavery’s bloodstained gates simultaneously, and paradoxically, birthed a heritage of white hegemonic masculinity as well as the Afro-Caribbean man’s longing for retribution for Empire’s acute psychological emasculation. A subsequent emergent counter-hegemonic masculine figure claimed a heroism that was instrumental in creating an imperative of resistance. Many urban black men of the lower socioeconomic stratum utilized a hypermasculinity of sorts to assert this resistance. Humor became his coping technique as he grappled with the tensions, contentions, and collisions of colonial and postcolonial life. This article explores the interconnectedness of heritage, hegemony, hypermasculinity, and humor in shaping identities among representations of Empire-resistant Afro-Caribbean masculinities in V.S. Naipaul’s Miguel Street. The overarching aim is to underscore Naipaul’s implied androcentric philosophy regarding bodies, sexualities, and masculinities that plagued lower strata Afro-Caribbean men then and, quite possibly, today.

Reflexões a partir das representações masculinas em homens nicaraguenses que trabalham na segurança privada informal na Grande Área Metropolitana da Costa Rica, 2020

This study aims to generate reflections on the "should be" of Nicaraguan immigrants from their masculine representation, the personal and collective consequences that these representations entail. Working conditions are analyzed from the hegemonic role dictated by socialized regulations, as the home provider, as well as the perceptions about their current life and the one they had before migrating. Therefore, an exploratory study was carried out in which interviews were carried out with 50 Nicaraguan immigrants who worked as informal private security agents in the GAM (Greater Metropolitan Area) during the year 2020.

A Triad of Physical Masculinities: Examining Multiple ‘Hegemonic’ Bodybuilding Identities in Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid (AAS) Online Discussion Groups

ABSTRACT The last twenty years has seen increases in nonprofessional sportspersons using anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Although some women use AAS, most users are men. Few studies examine men, masculinities and AAS. Of the limited studies available, many link a ‘hegemonic masculinity’ with men’s AAS use; adopting a singular identity perspective and generalizing ‘steroid use.’ However, bodybuilding is diverse, often encompassing different goals surrounding muscularity, size, weight and appearance – thus, bodybuilding identities are unlikely to be singular. This research questions narrow perspectives, developing an in-depth investigation that recognizes AAS use can be complex and depict multiple performance-enhancing drugs and usage routines. This study conducted a detailed thematic-content analysis of 351 user-postings from eight pro-AAS online discussion boards to examine linkages between men’s understandings of masculinity, male physicality, and how conceptualizations influence different trends for using AAS. Research applied R.W Connell’s hegemonic masculinity as a theoretical lens to interpret findings. Findings uncovered multiple and diverse notions of bodybuilding masculinity linked to three distinct notions of identity connecting different AAS practices (The Nattys, The Cyclers, and The Blasters-and-cruisers). An analysis of interactions between different bodybuilding identities is presented and discussed, alongside implications for masculinities theory and further study in this emerging but important field.

“Janus in Ovalie”: An Analysis of Masculinity Representations in Advertisements Featuring Sébastien Chabal

Alors que la figure du rugbyman, esthétisée par les effets de la professionnalisation et de la médiatisation, connaît un engouement populaire croissant dans les années 2000, la déferlante médiatique suscitée par Sébastien Chabal est intéressante à double titre. Elle correspond à un point d’orgue de ce phénomène tout en marquant le retour à une image plus traditionnelle du joueur de rugby, historiquement porteur d’un modèle de masculinité hégémonique. Mais après avoir exploité, dans un premier temps, la virilité bestiale de S. Chabal, les annonceurs le transposent rapidement dans des mises en scène plus ambigües, allant jusqu’à le travestir. À partir d’une analyse sémiologique de publicités mobilisant S. Chabal, cet article illustre la manière dont les stratégies de communication des publicitaires ont contribué à la diffusion de représentations nouvelles de la masculinité, en rupture avec les codes culturels dominants. Il apporte en outre un éclairage heuristique sur le rapport dialectique articulant masculinités hybrides et modèle hégémonique.

POLITIK TUBUH HOMOSEKSUAL DALAM NOVEL LA MEILLEURE PART DES HOMMES KARYA TRISTAN GARCIA

This study aims to reveal the form of body politics as a political tool against masculine hegemony in Tristan Garcia's novel La Meillure Part des Hommes. This study used descriptive qualitative method and the theory of masculinity to find out the emerging body politics. The results of this study are body politics used by homosexual groups in the novel La Meilleure Part des Hommes in the form of forming homosexual organizations (Stand), campaigns through television, and gay parades to express aspirations.

Diminished ambiguity: the transformation of masculinity from Chinese videogames to their fan-fiction

ABSTRACT Over the last 15 years, Chinese videogames and fan communities have become a site where state-sanctioned gender norms are reproduced, altered and challenged. This article analyzes the representation of masculinity in the MMORPG Jian 3 and how fan-fiction writers transform this representation. The videogame predominantly evokes soft masculinity, a sexually ambiguous form of masculinity that represents men with traditionally feminine characteristics but not as explicitly homosexual. Much of the fan-fiction removes this ambiguity, transforming the game’s soft masculinity into an explicit form of homosexual masculinity. This diminished ambiguity has political valence in the Chinese context, where national identity is intertwined with a specific form of heterosexual masculinity. The fan-fictions serve to disentangle the relationship between nationalism and masculinity by advancing an alternative form of masculinity and decoupling it from the national project. These two textual strategies – the advancing of a homosexual form of masculinity and the decoupling of masculinity and nationalism – are present in other Chinese games and their fan-fictions, and indeed can be found in other media forms too.

In Memoriam: Mats Morell

In Memoriam: Mats Morell

The manufacture of militarized masculinity in Chinese series You Are My Hero (2021)

The entertainment industry is driven to sell certain commodities transnationally, particularly in a world where borders are becoming increasingly diffused through the access afforded by the Internet. Media content is easily consumed, making cultural exporting fast and easy. Similar tropes and plot have been replicated in the East Asian film and TV industry, perhaps in hopes of replicating the success. This paper looks at the manufacture of ideal masculinities within East Asia, particularly China. From ex-members of K-pop group EXO to the successful TV series, cross-influence of East Asian popular culture is prominent. Through this paper, I look at the influence of K-dramas on the Chinese TV industry and particularly the manufacturing of a militarized masculinity on Chinese TV. Far from portraying brute and fearsome soldiers, ideal masculinity on TV is portrayed as “steely exterior but gentle internally” and thus desirable romantic partners to heterosexual women. By exploring the basic conception of Chinese masculinity, I then discuss representations of militarized masculinity on the silver screen (Wolf Warrior II) and C-dramas, with particular focus on the series, You Are My Hero (2021).

Language shift: gender differences in Chaouia use in Algeria

Abstract The paper explored the shift away from Chaouia, a variety of Tamazight, to the use of Algerian Arabic in Batna (northeast Algeria). The Chaouia-speaking community had recently witnessed a large rural exodus and significant social changes and mobility due to economic opportunities, education and ethnic contact. The paper focused on gender differences in language use and considered how socialisation and cultural ideologies regarding men’s and women’s relationship to language shape linguistic decisions and choices. Building upon representations of masculinity and femininity, we investigated the ways in which these gendered practices constrain or restrict Chaouia use among working-class Chaouias. We used a qualitative approach with an embedded quantitative element to analyse interviews and surveys across the domestic setting as well as schools and social networks in Batna to examine the interplay between gender identities and language socialisation at home, language choices at school and among friends. The increase in cross-ethnic contact with the larger Arabic-speaking community had introduced significant re-considerations of social and linguistic priorities in the community. The findings showed a clear impact of parents on the acquisition of a gendered pattern of language choice, with boys being socialised in Chaouia and girls in Algerian Arabic. This pattern was further reinforced at school and among peers through teachers and social networks. Females’ networks were ethnolinguistically heterogeneous whereas males’ networks were Amazigh-oriented. Hence, the traditional link of Tamazight to femininity was re-negotiated to generate a discourse of blame for the ongoing language shift and identity loss.

“The Winter of Our Discontent”: An Interview with Playwright Terri Power

This interview with Terri Power, conducted by Alexa Alice Joubin, focuses on the representations of trans masculinity in Power’s play Drag King Richard III. For nearly two decades Power has been at the forefront of trans and queer representation in performances of Shakespeare. Weaving a personal story of the 1990s with Shakespeare’s early modern disability narrative, Power’s adaptation reveals that the gender binary was enforced even in queer circles in the 1990s, coding lesbian identities as either butch or femme. The interview concludes with her suggestions for future work in transgender theatre based on her collaboration with trans actors beyond Richard III.

I won’t buy that for a dollar: Orientalist representation of masculinity in remake of RoboCop movie

The prevailing representation of Muslim masculinity is often profiled in negative stereotypes or regarded as toxic and violent owing to their religion or racial heritage. Using Raewyn Connell’s theory of gender hegemony and orientalism paradigm, this paper investigates the remake of an original Hollywood blockbuster, RoboCop (2014). Following a textual analysis, this aims to answer some questions concerning the power dynamics between various male characters in the movie and how masculinity is playing part based on geographical racial orientation; more specifically, how masculinity could be traced in white western men vs. brown eastern men. Moreover, this paper pays particular attention to the characteristics of these characters’ masculinity vs. their western counterparts since the involvement of Middle Eastern characters was the most fundamental change in RoboCop (2014).

Construction of Gender in Linguistic Signs in Selected Kenyan Secondary School English Textbooks

In countries such as Kenya, where textbooks are a core component of classroom experience, the materials have the potential to shape socially enacted identities. Gender representation via linguistic signs in textbooks can have a substantial impact on how students perceive men and women in society. In order to achieve equity in education, which is a key mandate of both the Education for All (EFA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), gender bias in textbooks must be addressed. The National Policy on Gender and Development (NPGAD) in Kenya sought to enhance equal participation among men, women, girls and boys in education and other thematic areas. This paper contributes to the discourse on gender representation in textbooks by examining gender portrayal in linguistic signs found in selected English secondary school textbooks using Halliday’s (1985, 2014) systemic functional grammar approach. The study applied the explanatory sequential research design (Creswell Plano Clark, 2011). A document analysis guide derived from the model for analyzing linguistic signs by Halliday (1985, 2014) was employed in the analysis of quantitative data from the linguistic signs in four English textbooks. Results showed that in the selected textbooks, masculine representations were more prevalent than those of females. The study also revealed that males were more involved in all the three mood types namely; declarative, interrogative and imperative. Again, more males than females appeared as theme and rheme of clauses. Additionally, it emerged that males engaged more in verbal processes than females did. The study concludes that men are either implicitly or explicitly portrayed as being superior to women in the linguistic signs in the analysed textbooks. The study recommends that Ministry of Education in Kenya initiates measures to alleviate gender disparity by focusing on the issue of gender representation in textbooks. On the other hand, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) may find these results useful in improving the textbooks evaluation based on gender equality prototypes. Improved evaluation, could be used as a basis to revise textbooks currently in use and guide in the development of new ones.

A counter-story to the rags-to-riches narrative: A Finnish male model wearing hobo style during the deep depression in the age of AIDS

As a former male model whose modelling career lasted 25 years (1988–2013) and as a researcher, I am interested in the production of meanings and knowledge related to representations of masculinity. As a gay former male model who was classified as ‘other’ but represented the normative ideal and passed for straight in fashion shows and photographs, I look back on images of myself differently and against the grain. I analyse three of my fashion photographs – taken for the Finnish tabloid City in 1993, when AIDS was considered the ‘gay plague’, but never published – in terms of critical studies of masculinities, gay and sexuality studies, and queer theory. I speculate and examine gestures, facial expressions and poses in the photographs that were still intolerable and prevented their publication 30 years ago. The publication of my photographs now is concrete proof that masculine gestured performances are becoming more inclusive and diverse.

Straight from the Heart

Abstract This article considers how recent French documentary filmmaking has engaged with the representation of masculinities in some of Paris's most emblematic banlieues. Focusing on Alice Diop's sixth film Vers la tendresse (2016), which brings to the screen testimonies of straight and gay men from La Courneuve, Aulnay-sous-Bois, and Montreuil, this article examines how the documentary form offers new ways to interrogate men's experiences of love and relationships in the French peripheries. Drawing on an interview with the filmmaker, this article argues that Diop's conversation-based performative documentary filmmaking, with its detaching of image from sound, destabilizes viewer assumptions and challenges cultural clichés about men and emotion. By emphasizing the universal characteristics of the men's personal accounts, this article suggests that Diop's film reclaims the banlieues from the stereotype of a marginal space of “otherness” and offers instead singular narratives, voicing poignant portraits of masculinities that resonate widely in twenty-first century France.