The Issue of Toxic Masculinity
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Department of Political Science Chair of Sociology The Issue of Toxic Masculinity Lavinia Rotundi Prof. Ilaria Pitti Matr. 085972 SUPERVISOR CANDIDATE ACADEMIC YEAR 2019/2020 « The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. Imagine how much happier we would be, how much freer to be our true individual selves, if we didn’t have the weight of gender expectations ». - Adichie, C.N. (2014). We Should All Be Feminists. 2 Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................4 Introduction............................................................................................................5-7 1. Chapter one – When does Masculinity become Toxic?....................................8-27 1.1. Defining Masculinity..................................................................................................9-12 1.2. Nature vs Nurture.......................................................................................................12-17 1.3. Hierarchies of Masculinities.......................................................................................17-22 1.4. Toxic Masculinity......................................................................................................22-27 2. Chapter two – The Social Impact of Toxic Masculinity....................................28-60 2.1. The ‘Man Box’ and its Social Impact.........................................................................29-40 2.2. On Men’s Health and Safety.......................................................................................40-47 2.3. On Women.................................................................................................................48-54 2.4. On the LGBTQ+ People.............................................................................................55-60 3. Chapter three – Challenging and Reproducing Toxic Masculinity: a focus on ad campaigns..............................................................................................................61-75 3.1. Problematizing Hybrid Masculinities.........................................................................62-68 3.2. Brands’ Strategies and New Types of Masculinities: Challenge or Reproduction? 68-75 Conclusion.............................................................................................................76 References..............................................................................................................77-83 Summary in Italian...............................................................................................84-92 3 Abstract In the most recent times, as a consequence of a major awareness on social issues, individuals have started to realize that a greater extent of their behaviors and attitudes is daily affected by cultural and gender norms that cause much distress on the experience of their gender identity and sexuality. Moreover, it has been acknowledged that a patriarchal system is at the core of gender norms, by having established, for a long time, a hierarchy of gender. Hegemonic masculinity, namely men who satisfy societal standards at their fullest, has resulted to be at the top of the hierarchy and, in order to maintain its powerful position, it requires individuals to comply with certain behaviors and practices that, by being constantly reproduced, acquire such a naturalness to legitimize their higher status. These behaviors have proved to have a negative impact on individuals placed at the bottom of the gender hierarchy, such as women, LGBTQ+ people, as well as on those men who do not conform with masculine norms. Toxic masculinity is the term that has been recently used by the media and scholars to comprehensively define the negative repercussions experienced by the whole society, in relation to the unhealthy, risky and violent behaviors that men are required to perform in order to be socially validated as ‘real’ men. However, public discourses often overlook that men, by suffering from daily pressures and anxieties to comply with social standards, do not actually perceive the privileges of which they are accused to enjoy through the maintenance of their powerful position in society. The reason behind, indeed, is that the privileges inherent to the male dominance have a cost paid by both men who do not conform to traditional masculinity, either by choice or not, and men who conform to social standards by renouncing to their emotional side and endangering their physical and mental well-being. It is equally true that women and LGBTQ+ people happen to be the main victims of toxic masculinity, by not being executors of masculine norms and, instead, experiencing degradation, humiliation and discrimination on the grounds of a system based on inequalities and male power. Above all, the main purpose of this thesis is to highlight that masculinity is not toxic in itself, but it becomes as such when traditional masculine behaviors are harmful to the whole humankind, men included, by constraining individuals’ gender identity and sexuality. 4 Introduction In the last decade, the media and academic debate have started to introduce the term of toxic masculinity as a catch-all concept which describes all those cultural and social beliefs, behaviors and practices that create a hierarchy of masculinities and portray men, those who completely comply with societal standards, as socially dominant. In order to daily affirm their masculine identity, it has been found out that men engage in unhealthy behaviors and attitudes that are harmful to the whole society. In order to be socially validated, men are required to daily affirm their masculine identity by fulfilling gender expectations, that have been laid down by traditional norms associated with masculinity. Early as childhood, those masculine norms, which need to be satisfied by men to be regarded as ‘real’ men, exhort them to take on aggressive and unhealthy attitudes that have resulted to be, mostly in a long- term, dangerous to their physical and mental health and their safety. Moreover, traditional norms linked to masculinity strictly reject femininity in men, since it is seen as a sign of weakness, in opposition to the toughness, strength and emotional control that are fundamental prerogatives for being a ‘real’ man. It follows that traditional masculinity promotes, on one side, sexual violence and degradation towards women to get respect and affirm the distinction between male superiority and female inferiority and, on the other side, hatred towards individuals who breach gender norms, particularly if biologically males, because of the fear to be emasculated and to happen to be potentially feminized. Besides that, in the most recent times, new types of masculinities that differ from traditional masculinity are seeking to challenge and defy toxic masculinity through the increasing embodiment of elements typically associated with marginalized and subordinate masculinities. Accordingly, business entities seem to be willing to contribute to the fight against toxic masculinity and to the promotion of the breach of gender norms through their ad campaigns, although they might aim at merely increasing their profits by catching the attention of a broader audience. Considering that these phenomena are much recent, it is not possible yet to foresee positive or negative outcomes in view of a future dismantlement of gender hierarchies. To clarify, the main objective of this thesis is not to argue that masculinity is toxic in itself, but rather to point out that some masculine behaviors negatively affect men in the first place, who, in turn, feel the need to overcompensate their anxieties by repudiating what challenges their power and by proving their superiority through violent behaviors, whose persistent performativity acquires such a naturalness to be legitimized. Indeed, the reason why I have decided to focus on the issue of toxic masculinity is that it is necessary to deeply analyze social issues by also looking at the downside, in order to fully eradicate them from the roots. If individuals are not aware of their social privileges and, because of them, cannot perceive what is wrong with their behaviors or why they happen to engage 5 in unhealthy attitudes, it might result to be much more difficult to abolish systems of power and inequalities in retrospect. At the beginning of the first chapter, I will introduce the overall concept of masculinity, by analyzing its construction and commonly social associations from a sociological, psychological and anthropological viewpoint. In this regard, I will report the academic debate that takes place between scholars who believe that the concepts of femininity and masculinity are socially constructed and scholars who relate feminine and masculine behavioral traits to biological aspects. Then, I will outline the dominance of hegemonic masculinity and how it has led to the creation of a hierarchy of masculinities, by which those that do not conform to traditionally masculine norms, by embodying certain feminine qualities opposed to toughness and strength, are placed at the bottom and consequently regarded as unworthy. Finally, I will explain the relation of the rise of toxic masculinity with the degradation of other types of masculinities and the devaluation of femininity that have led men to commit to traditionally masculine standards in order to be socially validated. In the second