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Reaching Critical Mas/culinities: Normative Masculine Ideology as a Generative Rhetorical Construct A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Michael D. Johnson August 2019 © 2019 Michael D. Johnson. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Reaching Critical Mas/culinities: Normative Masculine Ideology as a Generative Rhetorical Construct by MICHAEL D. JOHNSON has been approved for the Department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences by Mara Holt Associate Professor of English Joseph Shields Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT Johnson, Michael D., Ph.D., August 2019, English Reaching Critical Mas/culinities: Normative Masculine Ideology as a Generative Rhetorical Construct Director of Dissertation: Mara Holt In this project, I propose and develop normative masculine ideology as a generative rhetorical construct in order to reinvigorate Rhetoric and Composition’s engagement with issues of masculinities and to contribute to the field’s emerging scholarship on rhetorical embodiment from a gendered lens. This research addresses our field’s lack of functional/critical frameworks required to adequately address and challenge traditionalist ideologies that still influence our cultural understanding and practices of modern masculinity. As an (orienting) construct, normative masculine ideology provides scholars of Rhetoric and Composition with a functional term that complements their critical/cultural frameworks. As a rhetorical construct, normative masculine ideology incorporates social-epistemic rhetorics, gendered rhetorical embodiment, and Discourse to expand its utility into critical and liberatory work. As a generative construct, normative masculine ideology provides new inroads for inquiries into masculinities as a rhetorical project. Challenging and changing the deeply entrenched cultural myths that produce inequitable social, societal, micro- and macro-political relations is not only possible, it is necessary. This project stands as one effort toward such social justice progress. 4 DEDICATION For Tele. For Virt. For my parents. I made it! 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Mara Holt, for her support, guidance, and… stern encouragement. Without your continued efforts, this project would not have come to fruition. To my committee members—Sherrie Gradin, Albert Rouzie, and Akil Houston—your critical insights and professional skepticism at the early stages of this project challenged me to elevate and improve my scholarship. To former mentors, Daniel Hoyt who directed me toward this field when I was an undergraduate and Michelle Robinson who assisted me through my MA thesis and the PhD application process, I would not have had this opportunity if it weren’t for your significant contributions. To Keri Epps, my unofficial cheerleader, life coach, and therapist, your unmatched efforts of support and feedback lifted me across the finish line and ensured the completion of this project. To my two favorite Gillams, Jacob for taking genuine and sustained interest in the development of this project and Gloria for sending that incredibly thoughtful “Dissertation Care Package” in a moment when I needed it most, my appreciation of your presence in my life during and beyond this project is more than I can express. And, finally, to my friends and family. I cannot list you all, but you surely know who you are. You’ve kept me tethered and motivated over the last several years. Thank you! 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………... 3 ​ Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 ​ Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 ​ List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………………….... 8 ​ List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………...9 ​ Chapter 1: Reaching Critical Mass: A Masculinity in (Need of) Reformation…….10 ​ Overview of The Project, Research Questions, and Objectives…………………... 16 ​ The Politics of Masculinity: A Rationale for Engagement with and Resistance to Masculinity………………………………………………………………………………………..19 ​ Ethical Considerations in the Study of Masculinities………………………………...24 ​ The Organization of this Project………………………………………………………….…. 26 ​ Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………... 29 ​ Chapter 2: Men and Masculinities: Critical Orientations and Necessary Foundations……………………………………………………………………………………………... 32 ​ Critical Masculinities Studies: What It is (and What It Isn’t)..........................36 ​ The Sociological Turn in Critical Masculinities Studies……………………….. 38 ​ Critical Masculinities Studies and the Men’s (Rights) Movement…………..41 ​ Men and Masculinities Scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition……………...44 ​ The Absence of Critical Masculinities in Rhetoric and Composition……… 45 ​ A Review of Critical Masculinities Scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition……………………………………………………………………………………..51 ​ Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………….57 ​ Chapter 3: Normative Masculine Ideology as Gendered Rhetorical Embodiment: Foundations for a Generative Rhetorical Construct………………………………………. 59 ​ Engendering Gender and/in Rhetoric and Composition…………………………... 62 ​ Gender as Research Construct………………………………………………………….. 63 ​ ​ Gender as Postmodern Construct/ion……………………………………………….. 64 ​ ​ Rhetorical Embodiment and Gender……………………………………………………....68 ​ ​ Gendered Rhetorical Embodiment……………………………………………………..72 ​ ​ Normative Masculine Ideology: A Generative Rhetorical Construct…………... 77 ​ Hegemonic Masculinity…………………………………………………………………….82 ​ 7 Traditionalist Masculinity Ideologies………………………………………………….85 ​ The Rhetorical Function of Gendering………………………………………………. 90 ​ Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………... 92 ​ Chapter 4: Historicity and the Need for Historical Consciousness in Theorizing Normative Masculine Ideology…………………………………………………………………….94 ​ Patriarchy and Patriarchal Legacy………………………………………………………... 100 ​ Modern Masculinity and Normative Masculine Ideology: Its Emergence and ​ ​ Its Entrenchment………………………………………………………………………………...107 ​ The Emergence of Modern Masculinity………………………………………….... 108 ​ The Masculine Body Made Manifest/o……………………………………………... 110 ​ Cultural Buoyancy through Othering………………………………………………... 115 ​ Forged in Fictitious Fires: Mobilizing Normalcy………………………………... 117 ​ Made in America: Modern American Masculinity……………………………....119 ​ Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………..125 ​ Chapter 5: Normative Masculine Ideology as Embodied and Bodily Practice: A Social Framework with Sociopolitical Significance……………………………………....128 ​ Normative Masculine Ideology: Embodied and Bodily Practice……………….. 133 ​ The Embodiment of Normative Masculine Ideology………………………….. 135 ​ Normative Masculine Ideology as Bodily Rhetorical Practice………………140 ​ ​ Hyper-normative Masculine Ideology in Social Practice: Toxic Masculinity as Critical Inquiry…………………………………………………………………………………….145 ​ ​ Toxic Masculinity as a Site for Critical Resistance……………………………...146 ​ Toxic Masculinity as Popular Concept……………………………………………....149 ​ ​ Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………..157 ​ ​ Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 162 ​ ​ 8 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Overview of Traditional Masculinity Ideology………………………………….90 9 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Normative Masculine Ideology’s Location within Rhetoric and ​ ​ Composition Scholarship…………………………………………………………………………….78 Figure 2. Laocoön and His Sons, Greek Sculpture………………………………………...112 ​ 10 CHAPTER 1: REACHING CRITICAL MASS: A MASCULINITY IN (NEED OF) REFORMATION “Our bodies have learned many lies. If we dare to be ruthlessly honest, we can perhaps recover truth” --John Stoltenberg “He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful.” This injunction is delivered by Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) to Father Karras (Jason Miller) in the moments leading up to the climactic confrontation in William Friedkin’s 1973 class The Exorcist. For most of my ​ ​ life—having watched The Exorcist countless times—these words have simply been ​ ​ dialogue to propel the narrative of the film. However, while watching the film this past Halloween, Father Merrin’s warning to Damien took on a significance that extended beyond the screen. In that moment, I heard Father Merrin’s words as a restatement of Sally Kempton’s well-circulated remark that “It’s hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head.” I heard his words—his demon, her enemy—as a commentary on modern masculinity, on modern masculinity and its control over men, on modern masculinity and its detrimental continued influence on our society and our sociopolitical relations. Allow me, then, to open this project with a simple claim: Modern masculinity—or normative masculine ideology as I will advance in this project—is in need of revision, of remaking, of reformation. In no uncertain terms, visionary feminist bell hooks has asserted that “Patriarchy [and its coercion of masculinity] 11 is the single most life-threatening disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation” (17). I use this structuring metaphor to underscore the necessity of taking up my claim that masculinity requires our critical attention and activist energies. Namely, if modern masculinity is a social disease, what are some of its ​ ​ more telling symptoms? Misogyny, institutionalized racism, homophobia, transphobia,
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