Masculine Values Research Articles

Fighting Stereotypes: Expressions of Femininity in Public Spaces and the Challenge of Toxic Masculinity

This qualitative descriptive research aims to discover the process of toxic masculinity in public spaces. The research was conducted in Teluk Ambon District, Ambon, Maluku. The source of data is taken from primary and secondary data. Data were collected from interviews, observation, and documentation. The data analysis technique uses three stages, such as data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. The results show that the process of toxic masculinity in the public space starts with the social construction of patriarchy that affects male attitudes and behavior, masculine stigma supported by patriarchal culture, and the internalization of masculine values that lead to violence, aggressiveness, and dominance. It can be seen that the social construction of patriarchy in Negeri Rumahtiga has a significant impact on men's experiences and perceptions of themselves. The masculine stigma supported by patriarchy in Negeri Rumahtiga reflects the strict restrictions on what is considered "male" and "female" in society. The internalization of masculine values that leads to violence, aggressiveness, and dominance in Negeri Rumahtiga is influenced by social and cultural pressures. Keywords: Toxic Masculinity, Patriarchy, Stigma, Internalization

A Negotiating K-Pop Fanboy Micro-Celebrity Masculinity on Instagram

This study explores the methods used by micro-celebrity K-pop fanboys to negotiate their masculinity as male K-pop fans on Instagram. K-pop fanboy micro-celebrity is a term used to refer to K-pop fanboys who had transformed into micro-celebrities. The existence of K-pop fanboys wa often associated with non-hetrosexual streotypes and stigmas such as 'sissy' and 'faggot,' which placed them was in an unfair social order. Therefore, K-pop fanboys, especially those who had become micro-celebrities, it felt the necessaries to negotiate their masculinity as male K-pop fans. The netnography method was used by observing of this study the Instagram accounts of K-pop micro-celebrity fanboys to understand the ways and strategies they used in negotiating their masculinity. Based on the results of the study, it was found the finding that the negotiation of masculinity carried out by K-pop micro-celebrity fanboys was done by adjusting themselves to the existing hegemonic masculinity values. This study observation was done through the formation of an 'ideal' body, showing their heterosexual relationships, and displaying various preferred activities other than K-pop. By aligning themselves with the values of masculinity developed in society, K-pop fanboys tried to show that as male K-pop fans, they could express their enthusiasm without having to sacrifice their masculine image.

Priming “American carnage:” reality television and Donald J. Trump

ABSTRACT This essay uncovers how and why so many U.S. Americans so easily and so gleefully accepted the tenets of Donald J. Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) platform by arguing that U.S. American culture was effectively primed for MAGA values through reality television (RTV) consumption. At a nexus of genres that include “man v. nature,” “redneck,” “dirty” job romanticization, and “copaganda,” RTV primed the U.S. for Trumpism by presenting audiences with a harsh, violent, and nostalgic view of reality in an altogether entertaining format. This essay positions three RTV programs—Ice Road Truckers, Swamp People, and Appalachian Outlaws—as useful heuristics in demonstrating how RTV further foregrounded MAGA values of white hegemony, hegemonic masculinity, carnivalesque violence, and nostalgia in American culture.

Comment. Military Women

Abstract With inter-state war plaguing the region, the studies of this forum highlight the problem of historical precedent failing to inform discussions of gender and war in Central and Eastern Europe. As a response, this article highlights their common points of focus across the national histories of Polish, British, Yugoslav, and Russian women's militarization in the twentieth century. The discussion considers the potential for women's militarization to serve emancipatory purposes historically as well as its ambivalent contemporary implications for the region's warring societies. The article argues that a productive direction for future discussion will extend to the masculine values and embodied practices that women's successes in military training and combat disrupted.

Female Masculinity in Jungle Cruise Film (2021)

This research aims to find out the characterization of the main female character and how the character represents female masculinity in the film Jungle Cruise. Researcher analyzed the film through the masculinity theory approach by Peter Lehman and female masculinity by Judith Halberstam. Researcher used qualitative method with descriptive analysis to find findings in the research. The data used is dialogue text and photo scene footage in the Jungle Cruise film. In the characterization analysis, it was found that Dr. Lily has the characteristics of being smart, clever, kind, caring and ambitious. The value of masculinity in Dr. Lily is characterized by the elements of power, courage, heroism, and leadership. In line with Judith Halberstam's theory of female masculinity (1998), which says that female masculinity refers to a woman's body that displays masculine performatives which can be seen from the way she behaves and her physical appearance.

‘I try to do something a bit different’: exploring fathers’ integration of care ethics in everyday family lives

This article draws on ethnographic research to explore how an ethic of care is incorporated into fathers’ everyday family lives. Drawing on feminist conceptualisations of the ‘components of care’, this research investigates how fathers recognise and interpret care needs, as well as observing how such needs are practically attended to. Central to this article is an exploration of the extent to which men’s integration of care ethics can be seen to consolidate ideals of hegemonic masculinity or whether newly emerging forms of caring masculinities are challenging traditional gendered inequalities in care work. Analysis of fathers’ recognition of care needs and what they care ‘about’ implies a masculinised coding, in which traditional masculine values are recast to align with an ethic of care. It is argued that such framings stand to reaffirm hegemonic processes, with caring forms of masculinity representing a new hegemon. However, observations of fathers’ embodied caregiving arguably demonstrate how caring ‘for’ children can challenge traditional ideals of care labour, with men’s bodies recast within an ethic of care. Ultimately, this article contributes nuanced understandings of how men interpret and practise components of care, offering distinctions in the gendered trajectories of caring ‘for’ and caring ‘about’.

Subculture, masculinity and place in young rural men’s resistance to counter-migration

ABSTRACT In the wake of deindustrialization, many rural areas in the Global North face challenges such as an ageing population, declining welfare systems and limited job and educational opportunities, problems that have been enhanced by decades of depopulation. Young people have left the countryside for careers in larger cities, contributing to stigmatization of those who stay in rural areas. In Sweden, however, statistics show a slow but steady trend of remigration to rural areas, which is described in municipal and state discourse as positive and necessary to ‘save’ the countryside. This paper examines the perspective of rural youth who feel differently about such counter-urbanization. Based on a yearlong ethnographic fieldwork with youth, the article shows how young men involved in Swedish greaser culture perceived the influx of urban (re)migrators as a threat to their rural lifestyle and the rural place where they wished to stay. This is interpreted as an expression of subcultural, place-based and temporal resistance towards urban and neoliberal ideals that simultaneously reinforce white, masculine values. As these young men will be part of a rural future, they must be considered in the formulation of sustainable politics for rural areas.

Governing Bodies Through Water: Turning Boys Into Men and Reducing Bodies to Biology

Drownproofing, a swimming technique focused on the prevention of drowning, became popular in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. Although women performed better in drownproofing, they still had to conform to masculine standards, methods, and expectations. In this article, I explain why drownproofing instructors used masculine standards to teach a technique in which women performed better. I argue that the reason for that had less to do with drowning and more with the need to protect students’ masculinity and to turn them into “real” men. Men not only tolerated the harsh swimming drills, but they also learned, through science, that inequalities among bodies are natural, biological, innate, and, therefore, inescapable. Relying on archival materials and interviews with former students of drownproofing, this article shows how masculine values are sought after and used as norms even when women’s characteristics would be more advantageous. This research advances conversations about masculinity, sport, and national identity.

Gendered sociotechnical imaginaries: Understanding the role of masculinities in Portugal's pursuit of multi-scalar solar energy transitions

Solar energy advocates increasingly draw attention to solar PV technologies as a vehicle for achieving greater local autonomy, inclusivity, and democracy. A future energy system may take many forms, but with the current system being male-dominated, and gender being a central factor in shaping societal values, we argue that ideas derived from different forms of masculine value systems are likely to be reproduced in the solar PV rollout. Thus, it is necessary to ascertain how gender co-shapes sociotechnical imaginaries that are used to legitimize different transition pathways. In this study, we draw on data from fieldworks in Portugal between 2022 and 2023, including 50 semi-structured interviews. We find that Portugal has two major and different solar-specific imaginaries, each drawing on different forms of masculinities. Simultaneously, each competing imaginary perpetuates a different set of societal expectations related to the masculinity it represents, and along with this, legitimating different sets of expectations around public accountability, gender equality, democracy, and energy justice.

Ketimpangan Gender pada Dongeng La Barbe Bleue Karya Charles Perrault

Gender inequality is something that often becomes a public concern, including in the literature. Therefore, this research aims to reveal the form of gender inequality in the fairy tale La Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault. Gender inequality is seen in the patriarchal system, seeing men with masculine values have a higher position than women based on social class in a patriarchal society. The aim of this research is to describe the forms of gender inequality that appear in the fairy tale La Barbe Bleue. This study used a descriptive qualitative method. The data collected in the fairy tale La Barbe Bleue are all words or sentences that fulfill elements of gender inequality. The data collection technique used was reading and recording the fairy tale La Barbe Bleue. The research results show that gender inequality appears in the form of 2 subordinations, 3 violence and 2 marginalization in the fairy tale La Barbe Bleue based on differences in social class in the fairy tale setting.

Hierarchical Associative Networks of Family and Values

Abstract In this research, the opinions about family and values of public administration representatives were examined. Based on online questionnaires, the research sample included 428 civil servants and scientists from various ministries, faculties, schools, libraries, institutes, and municipalities. Opinions in the form of classified data for civil servants were converted into numerical data and presented in networks. It is possible to illustrate various scenarios about diverse types of decision-making processes, within which either feminine or masculine value emphases predominate. The present study has opened an interesting area of research on hierarchical associative networks of family and values. Researching such networks, whether they concern individuals, families, or diverse societies, could support us to improve various decision-making models. Hierarchical associative value networks will play a meaningful role in decision-making in a variety of ways and the upcoming development of the family. Future research could go in the direction of measuring and analyzing hierarchical associative networks of values in specific families and other social environments like within e.g., health, police, industry, military. This would provide an excellent insight into the mental concepts of people and across different social zones (e.g., migration zone, cultural zone, industrial zone, trade zone, government zone).

Comparative study of sexual concentration in the elimination of sexual violence from feminist and Islamic legal theory

Feminist legal theory (FLT) is a critical legal movement in Indonesia. FLT takes issue with laws that prioritize masculine values, which limit social values because the law is dominant towards men and oppresses women. The paradigm of sexual consent was incorporated into Indonesian law as a result of this FLT movement. The focus of this research is how sexual consent affects the elimination of sexual violence from the point of view of feminist legal theory and Islamic law. Is sexual consent in accordance with the norms of Indonesian society and a solution to end sexual violence? This study used normative legal research methods. This research uses the research method of the library institute. Statutory approach (statute view) and comparative approach According to this study, sexual consent in the FLT perspective is sexual activity carried out with consent outside the consent of one party, including rape. Freestyle according to Islamic law may only be performed within the bonds of marriage, but outside of the bonds of marriage, such acts constitute adultery, even if done with consent or voluntarily. Not only is it not in accordance with the customs of Indonesian society, but it also contradicts the principles of Pancasila. Because sexual consent focuses only on "effect resolution" rather than "cause prevention," it does not seem to serve as a solution to stop sexual violence.

In the circle of tradition and conservatism: the heroic child in Turkish cinema according to collective values

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the representation of the child in Turkish cinema, particularly in films where the child is central to the narrative. Turkish cinema constructed a national cinematic language during the Yeşilçam period (1950 – 1980), the most popular period of Turkish cinema, and representation of the child during this period is the basis of this study. Sezercik was an essential character in the history of Turkish cinema, and Sezercik films, of which there are nine, provide the sample of this study. In these films, family and educational theories manipulate the child and assign him the role of savior and confer a heroic mission on him at the moment of the disintegration of the nuclear family pumped by modernism. The child can be seen with traditional Turkish gender roles, establishing a national Turkish identity for the child: urban, embodying masculine values, heroic, and enacting the role of savior despite the fact of being a child. This heroism is portrayed within a broad framework and a range of contexts, from rescuing the disintegrating or disintegrated family to winning the freedom of the nation and ensuring its continuity.

Penggambaran Karakteristik Maskulinitas Pada Produk “Extra Joss” Dalam Iklan Televisi

Advertising is one of the formulas for realizing the interests of producers by running a message construction in the advertisements they make. In television commercials, the harmonious arrangement of narratives, sounds and visuals are the three main forces to bring out the depiction of masculine values to the viewers. In the television commercial “Extra Joss versi laki”, producers construct a masculine image of their products. The research problem is “How are the depiction of masculinity characteristics in the ‘Extra Joss’ product in television commercials?” By using Roland Barthes’ semiotic method which analyzes the meaning of two levels of signification, this paper examines how masculinity characteristics are depicted in the product “Extra Joss” in the television advertisement “Extra Joss versi laki”. As the result, it is found that the characteristics of traditional masculinity in society in the “Extra Joss” product – namely, first, men should not complain even though they are tired; second, the myth of male virility; and last, the myth of male strength, while the new masculine characteristics (new masculinity) are not found in this ad.

Societal Hegemony and the Evolution of Masculinity in Francis Selormey’s The Narrow Path and Asare Konadu’s A Woman in Her Prime

Abstract Francis Selormey’s The Narrow Path and Asare Konadu’s A Woman in Her Prime are two novels that add to the rich Ghanaian literary tradition through their exploration of human relationships and the roles men play in these relationships. Despite gaining a cult readership, these texts have largely been ignored by scholars. This paper examines the men in these texts to reveal the images of masculinities presented and show whether or not they follow society’s hegemonic model or create their own paths. This paper argues that the societies presented by these novels do not allow for a rejection of hegemony, and the male characters in these novels unknowingly follow society’s ideal masculine values. By using the theory of masculinities as a character study tool, the differences in the gender performance of the male characters in the pre-colonial and colonial eras are made clear and control is established as an ideology of the colonial era.

Social Construct of Masculinity Towards Mental Health: A Literature Review

Masculinity is trait that exist in both male and female. However, masculinity values develop into social constructs affecting various aspects of life, one of which is mental health. It is important to understand how individuals internalize the construct that contributes to their psychological dynamics. This study aims to determine the impact of masculinity construct and the role of mental health literacy on mental health through a literature review. The results show that some aspects in the construct of masculinity, such as self-reliance, dominance, and emotional restraint, inhibit people’s mental health behavior, such as decreasing help-seeking behavior and self-disclosure, and increasing maladaptive coping. However, another study reports that the masculinity construct also affects women as well as men and the related studies remain very limited. It is imperative to improve mental health awareness that is sensitive to the influence of gender roles and its impacts on mental health.

Promoting Gender Equality for Accountants Religiously: A Collaborative Approach

Gender inequality remains a concerning issue in accounting professions, primarily due to the prevalence of traditional masculine values. Additionally, religious perspectives often assign women the roles of mothers and wives within households. However, it is important to note that Allah views men and women as equals in this world, differentiating them only through faith and piety. Considering this standpoint, this study employs a religious approach to address and diminish the influence of masculinity values and promote gender equality within Islamic principles. To achieve this, the study identifies and examines the masculinity values that perpetuate gender inequality within the accounting profession, using documentary research methods. The investigation reveals several masculinity values that justify gender disparities in this field. To counteract these harmful values, the study draws a parallel between leadership and accounting and proposes relevant Islamic values that can challenge and neutralize the identified masculinity norms, thereby fostering gender equality. This research contributes to the refinement of the religious approach by acknowledging and addressing the influence of masculinity values that contribute to gender inequality and replacing them with Islamic values that promote fairness and equity.

Cultivating masculinity: self-fashioning and the expression of a masculine identity in Cardinal Ippolito II’s Renaissance Garden at Villa d’Este, 1550-72

In 1550, Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (one of the wealthiest men in Early Modern Rome) was appointed governor of Tivoli. Here, he commissioned the famous humanist Pirro Ligorio to design a magnificent Renaissance Garden for his new official residence: Villa d’Este. Though widely considered to be one of the most influential gardens in Europe, the profoundly formative influence of elite male power upon the site has been consistently overlooked. Villa d’Este was codified by carefully selected references to its patron’s wealth, education, and dynastic position, functioning as a living testament to his self-fashioning as a Princely Cardinal. This article situates Villa d’Este’s gardens within the complex nexus of masculine values and codes from which it arose, demonstrating how formal landscaping was irrevocably bound to its patron’s masculine self-fashioning and the semantics of elite male power. It emphasises the dissonance between the emerging vision of Counter-Reformation curial masculinity and the decadence of the formerly hegemonic High Renaissance Princely Cardinal, framing this friction as a generative force. Drawing upon hegemonic masculinity theory and masculinity crisis theory, it explores the multiple and often conflicting cultural and political work this garden performed, identifying specific masculine traits Ippolito sought to promote and glorify at Tivoli.

The beautification of men within skincare advertisements: A multimodal critical discourse analysis

This study draws on the theory of Social Semiotics and the methodology of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) to examine the textual and visual design of skincare advertisements targeted towards men. The current proliferation of the market for male-oriented facial products represents an important shift towards the increased attention to the beautification of male bodies in Western societies. Such beautification encourages men to work on and improve the self (and face) through intensifying practices of “aesthetic labour.” Aesthetic labour places emphasis on an entrepreneurial self-care and self-control regime that promotes an active late lifestyle fostered through ideas about “successful ageing.” As expected, the analysis of the corpus consisting of advertisements from L'Oréal Men, Nivea Men and Clarins Men shows that the male face is generally constructed as a “problem” that can be cured through the consumption of skincare products. The consumption of these products increases men's visual literacies of the face and hence normalises male beauty practices that seemingly encourage men to care for and work on their skin, which can be construed of as a feminising practice. Nonetheless, the advertisements employ masculine traits and strategies that link cosmetic products to traditional values of masculinity. The beautification of the male body, thus, turns the consumption of skincare products into a performance through which men can maintain their already privileged status in society, rearticulating the double standard of ageing (Sontag, 1972).

Multiplicity, diversity and individualization behind shuttlecock play: Chinese sportsmen’s masculinities in today’s China

With sport becoming increasingly mediatized in the global arena that further criss-crosses with the promotion of globalization and Western discourses surrounding manhood and identities, there has been, in contemporary China, a rise of alternate theorizations of masculinities that deviate from hegemonic masculine practices surrounding ‘wen’ (文) and ‘wu’ (武) as well as Maoist ideologies. While such accounts, focusing on demonstrating individuality and individualization, cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and possessing wealth, career success and conspicuous consumption, advocate for a greater understanding of masculinities that call for the diversity and fluidity of Chinese gender roles and male identities, there has also been a revival of traditional masculine ideologies associated with the Chinese Dream, a doctrine established and conveyed by President Xi Jinping, which seeks to highlight China’s quest for modernization and national power while placing ‘wu’ masculine values and culture at the forefront of its agenda. Against such a backdrop, this article, drawing on interviews with and observations of male badminton athletes from Mainland Chinese provincial professional and university teams, argues that, in contemporary China, both traditional and newly emerged masculine values and endeavours are integral to the theorization of masculinities of Chinese men, which are contended to be multiple, pluralized and individualized. With a dearth of academic literature that focuses on the co-presence of and inter-relationships between traditional and new masculinities which are embodied by modern Chinese men, this paper contributes renewed theoretical insights into how the various forms of masculinities coexist, intermix and, ultimately, negotiate with one another to reconstruct Chinese contemporary masculinities, in line with the gender order and hierarchy so upheld within China.