Hegemonic Masculinity

Therapists have long utilized poetry with various at risk male populations. Yet, in spite of its use, therapists have also been aware of the dilemmas associated with using poetry in a population whose behavior and identity may at times run counter to the core tenants of poetry therapy. However, the literature of poetry therapy does not fully explore what therapists need to know about men and masculinities in order to work with them. This article helps prepare therapists using poetry to become more sensitive to gender issues and utilize this understanding in their practice with men. It explores some of the key concepts from gender and masculinities studies and provides examples for how these concepts can be used in practice.

As scholars and community stakeholders continue to understand hegemonic masculinity and its influences on youth violence, it is important that marginalized ethnic groups are not excluded from the discourse. This qualitative exploratory study investigates the ways that hegemonic masculinity impacts adolescent boys and girls from Pacific Islander and Asian American backgrounds. Research findings reveal how peers, family members, and romantic partners impact youths’ propensity to engage in youth violence. Findings further divulge the similar and different ways that boys and girls from these ethnic backgrounds conceptualize youth violence, with males frequently using violence to enhance their social status and females relying on violence for protection and/or to bolster their relationship with boyfriends. The study calls for improved structural relationships between schools and marginalized ethnic communities, specifically calling for enhanced programs that address healthy dating practices, homophobia, and violence associated with the body.

"The second film made by the duo Steve McQueen (director) and Michael Fassbender (actor), Shame (2011) shows several weeks from the life of a white urban-dwelling and professionally employed American male called Brandon. Brandon divulges in excessive sexual practices and struggles with his sister’s unexpected intrusion into his carefully orchestrated life. Shame has been generally marketed as a cinematic representation of sexual addiction. The phenomenon of addiction shares some characteristics with the highly fragile and problematic construct of heteronormative masculinity that is, like addiction, in  constant need of confirmation and steeped in the fear and shame of forever ‘not being enough’. An ongoing compulsion to commit to a vicious circle of need → temporary fulfilment → need characterises both addiction and the ongoing quest to attain and maintain a certain form of masculine being. The chapter focuses on Brandon’s construction of masculinity and the constant struggle involved in its performance in relation to others. The theoretical foundation of the analysis is based on Raewyn Connell’s work on hegemonic masculinity and particular cultural analyses of visual representations of masculinity. The chapter emphasises the main character’s sexual practices and his emotional withdrawal as symptomatic to his everyday performance of masculinity. It highlights the ways that Brandon’s hegemonic masculinity is established by way of both professional and sexual competition with other men, and the sexual control and submission of women. His sister Sissy is demonstrated as representing the feminine Other, as characterised by emotionality, fragility and dependency that he rejects as incompatible in the cultivation of hegemonic masculinity, but manages to incorporate into his masculinity performance towards the end of the film. The chapter includes a short exploration of the opening scene of full frontal nudity as it constitutes both an intra-diegetic as well as extra-diegetic comment on hegemonic masculinity. The final scenes of the film where Brandon reconciles with Sissy are argued as representing both the failure of hegemonic masculinity as ideal, and the need for more heterogeneous forms of masculinity that can incorporate traditional feminine characteristics of vulnerability, sensitivity and emotionality as they are embodied by his sister.

Key Words: Shame (2011), Steve McQueen, hegemonic masculinity, representation of masculinity, male sexuality, full frontal nudity, cinema, addiction"

"Only one association football (soccer) player in history has declared his homosexuality during his professional active playing career. Before or since that player’s death in 1998,
no other professional footballer player has come out. The prohibitively traditional culture of association football is popularly regarded as being responsible for this. Fans habitually use homophobic epithets to abuse players. In recent years, England’s governing organizations have cautiously addressed this state of affairs, though ineffectually. The present study uses online methods to explore fans’ and industry professionals’ perspectives on gay players and the impact their failure to come out has had on the sport. The article, which is based on the responses of 3,500 participants, seeks to answer three questions: (1) Why do fans, who urge gay players to come out,use homophobic language to barrack players? (2) If gay players disclosed their sexual orientations publicly what effect would this have on them personally, on football culture generally and on conceptions of masculinity in sports? (3) What prevents gay football players coming out? The overwhelming majority (93%) of participants in the study oppose homophobia and explained the homophobic abuse as good-humored banter or, in their argot, “stick.” An unusual logic is employed to make this intelligible. Participants argue that an athlete’s ability to play football is the only criterion on which he is judged and his sexuality is of little consequence to their evaluations. Although few participants encourage forcible outing, the majority welcome openly gay players, whose impact would be transformative. Football clubs and agents are cited as the principal impediments to a more open and enlightened environment: participants argue that they pressure gay players to keep their sexuality hidden and so contribute to a culture of secrecy, which permits and perhaps commissions continued homophobic abuse. Participants speculate that the continued absence of openly gay players actually reproduces the apparent prejudices. One fan concludes, “The homophobia in football will remain for longer if no gay players come out.""

This paper invokes the categories of the masculine which have been discursively constructed in the historical and social context of hip hop and graffiti culture. The production and performance of graffiti(ed) masculinities are the result of a complex mix that samples notions of class, race, violence, space, commodification, gender, resistance and violence. Graffiti culture embodies the colonizer’s ideals of a masculinity which is dangerous, aggressive and takes risks, while giving men a medium with which to tell their stories and allowing them to express their emotions. The article argues that graffiti(ed) masculinities are composed of seemingly disparate and complex components which shadow the masculine ideals of the colonizer, of hegemonic masculinity, as well as borrowing from notions of subordinate and resistive masculinities.

""This paper examines the growth and some of the disputes
surrounding “masculinity” as a legitimate category for both social
and more traditional scholars seeking to understand Late
Antiquity. It shows how investigations of masculinity often serve a
political purpose. Some researchers delve into a topic such as
“homosexuality” as a way of revealing how particular societies
such as ancient Greece and Rome had greater tolerance towards
same-partner sex than their modern counterparts. This agenda
helps to explain why many studies on Late Antique masculinity
focus on men as sexual beings. It might also account for the
reluctance by some academics to accept social history as a
legitimate historical tool.
""

This bachelor’s thesis examines the crisis of hegemonic masculinities in David Lodge’s Campus Trilogy. In the course of the thesis, I demonstrate that the male characters in the novels aspire to hegemonic ideals of masculinity, but that ultimately most of them fail in their aspirations. However, I also show that this does not lead to the abandonment of this pursuit, but merely to its reformulation and a continued attempt of male characters to aspire to this reformulated ideal. In order to achieve this, I conduct a close reading of the novels and based on this, first determine the predominant types of hegemonic masculinities in each novel, and then whether certain characters aspire to these hegemonic ideals. Next I analyze whether or not they are successful. This analysis is chiefly based on the sociological concept of hegemonic masculinities developed by Connell. With the help of this concept, this thesis shows that several types of masculinities can be identified in the novels and that these exist in hierarchical relation to each other. Furthermore, it shows that these aspirations and the ideals themselves are always prone to crises that are brought on by societal changes in their environment. However, it is also demonstrated that in most cases these crises do not lead to the collapse of the ideal or the failure of its pursuit, but rather to the reformulation and continuation of both.

""We are not conditioned this way in the West"
Competing masculinities, gender norms and hierarchies between nationalities in a multinational company in the Gulf

Based on a field research in a multinational in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), this article analyzes the role of gender norms in the production and legitimization of hierarchies between nationalities. While the official dress code incites male employees to "national" performances of masculinity, this differentiation is reinforced through its appropriation by European managers. These self-identify as Westerners and other their Saudi colleagues on the basis of gender stereotypes, linked to their supposed religious belonging - in a way that is disconnected from what the concerned say. In fact, Saudi managers, like European managers, identify with a model of masculinity thought as cosmopolitan, open-minded, modern and non-sexist. Focusing on an organization allows to confront these discourses to the positions of their enunciators. The managers' "progressive" discourses have little impact on the actual rise of female employees. They are thus interpreted as an element in the competition between men for the control over the organization, while the "Westerners'" hegemony is being reconfigured: the article enlightens some modalities of contemporary forms of imperialism.

« On n’est pas formatés comme ça en Occident »
Masculinités en compétition, normes de genre et hiérarchies entre nationalités dans une multinationale du Golfe

Fondé sur une enquête au sein d'une multinationale à Riyad (Arabie Saoudite), cet article analyse le rôle des normes de genre dans la production et la légitimation des hiérarchies entre nationalités. Si le code vestimentaire incite les salariés hommes à des performances "nationales" de masculinité, cette différenciation est renforcée par la manière dont s'en emparent les managers européens: ils se définissent en tant qu'Occidentaux et altérisent leurs collègues saoudiens par des stéréotypes de genre liés à leur supposée appartenance religieuse - en décalage avec les discours énoncés par les concernés. En effet, les managers saoudiens comme européens s'identifient à un modèle de masculinité pensé comme cosmopolite, ouvert, moderne et non-sexiste. La focalisation sur une organisation permet de rapporter ces discours aux positions des personnes qui les adoptent. Les discours "progressistes" des managers ont peu d'effets pratiques sur l'ascension des salariées. Ils prennent sens dans la compétition entre hommes pour le contrôle de l'organisation, dans un contexte où l'hégémonie des "Occidentaux" se reconfigure. L'article éclaire de ce fait certaines modalités des formes contemporaines de l’impérialisme.
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The needs of hospitalized male patients are often unrecognized and unmet. Men occupy greater than half of all inpatient hospital beds and incur a broad array of illnesses and injuries at higher rates than women—yet often receive health care that pays surprisingly little attention to the concept of patient masculinity, or to masculinity's influence on the male patient's perspectives, behaviors, goals, interests, needs, and challenges. Little emphasis is placed on considering hospitalized male patients as men, understanding their need for patient-centered care within this context, and intervening in ways that regularly allow strengths to be adequately recognized and utilized. In this article, we explore how hospital social workers can reconsider masculinity as a vibrant and formative component of male patients' lives and actively view its characteristics as comprising more than just potential challenges to medical treatment—but also as untapped sources of resilience and strength.