Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities / Edited by Michael S

FM-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page i FM-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page ii Handbook of Studies on MEN & MASCULINITIES

Editors Michael S. Kimmel Jeff Hearn R. W. Connell State University of Swedish School of University of Sydney New York at Stony Brook Economics, Helsinki FM-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page iv

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Handbook of studies on men and masculinities / edited by Michael S. Kimmel, Jeff Hearn, and R.W. Connell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7619-2369-1 (cloth) 1. Men—Social conditions. 2. Masculinity. 3. Sex role. I. Kimmel, Michael S. II. Hearn, Jeff, 1947- III. Connell, R. W. HQ1090.H33 2004 305.31—dc22 2004003826

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0405060710987654321

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction 1 R. W. Connell, Jeff Hearn, and Michael S. Kimmel

PART I. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES 13 2. Social Theories for Researching Men and Masculinities: Direct Gender Hierarchy and Structural Inequality 15 Øystein Gullvåg Holter 3. Men, Masculinities, and Feminist Theory 35 Judith Kegan Gardiner 4. Queering the Pitch? Gay Masculinities 51 Tim Edwards

PART II. GLOBAL AND REGIONAL PATTERNS 69 5. Globalization, Imperialism, and Masculinities 71 R. W. Connell 6. Men in the Third World: Postcolonial Perspectives on Masculinity 90 Robert Morrell and Sandra Swart 7. Masculinities in Latin America 114 Matthew C. Gutmann and Mara Viveros Vigoya 8. East Asian Masculinities 129 Futoshi Taga 9. Men, Masculinities, and “Europe” 141 Critical Research on Men in Europe (CROME)

PART III. STRUCTURES, INSTITUTIONS, AND PROCESSES 163 10. Class and Masculinity 165 David Morgan 11. Male Sexualities 178 Ken Plummer 12. Men, Masculinities, and Crime 196 James W. Messerschmidt FM-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page vi

13. Masculinities in Education 213 Jon Swain 14. Boys and Men in Families: The Domestic Production of Gender, Power, and Privilege 230 Michele Adams and Scott Coltrane 15. Fatherhood and Masculinities 249 William Marsiglio and Joseph H. Pleck 16. “Gentlemen, the Lunchbox Has Landed”: Representations of Masculinities and Men’s Bodies in the Popular Media 270 Jim McKay, Janine Mikosza, and Brett Hutchins 17. Men and Masculinities in Work, Organizations, and Management 289 David L. Collinson and Jeff Hearn

PART IV. BODIES, SELVES, DISCOURSES 311 18. Still a Man’s World? Studying Masculinities and Sport 313 Michael A. Messner 19. The Study of Masculinities and Men’s Health: An Overview 326 Don Sabo 20. Masculinities and Interpersonal Violence 353 Walter S. DeKeseredy and Martin D. Schwartz 21. Masculinity and Degrees of Bodily Normativity in Western Culture 367 Thomas J. Gerschick 22. Transgendering, Men, and Masculinities 379 Richard Ekins and Dave King

PART V. POLITICS 395 23. Nation 397 Joane Nagel 24. Globalization and Its Mal(e)contents: The Gendered Moral and Political Economy of Terrorism 414 Michael S. Kimmel 25. War, Militarism, and Masculinities 432 Paul Higate and John Hopton 26. Islamist Masculinity and Muslim Masculinities 448 Shahin Gerami 27. Men’s Collective Struggles for Gender Justice: The Case of Antiviolence Activism 458 Michael Flood

Index 467 About the Editors 499 About the Contributors 501 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 1

INTRODUCTION

R. W. CONNELL

JEFF HEARN

MICHAEL S. K IMMEL

n recent decades, the study of gender has of different masculinities is now recognized, expanded rapidly and with it, studies of and their origins, structures, and dynamics are I gender issues about men and masculinities. investigated. This investigation has now been Interest in these questions has developed across active for more than 20 years and has produced the social sciences, the humanities, the bio- a large and interesting body of research. logical sciences, and (to some extent) in other Monographs on masculinities appear in fields. This research interest reflects a growing every social and behavioral science discipline public interest in men’s and boys’ identities, and in every field of the humanities. As indica- conduct, and problems, ranging from men’s tors of the active growth of this field, there are violence to boys’ difficulties in school. now several scholarly journals specifically The field of gender research has mainly devoted to it. The scholarly journal Men and addressed questions about women and has Masculinities, published by Sage, is now in its mainly been developed by women. The impulse seventh volume year. Other journals include to develop gender studies has come mainly International Journal of Men’s Health, Journal from contemporary feminism, and women of Men’s Studies, Psychology of Men and have therefore mainly been the ones to make Masculinity, Working With Men, and the now gender visible in contemporary scholarship and defunct Masculinities and IASOM Bulletin. in public forums. Several publishers have launched book series Revealing the dynamics of gender, however, devoted to studies of men and masculinities, also makes masculinity visible and prob- including Beacon, Routledge, Unwin Hyman, lematizes the position of men. Both women and Zed. One of the first, and perhaps the most and men have addressed this problem. Where successful, series has been the Sage Series on men’s outlooks and culturally defined charac- Men and Masculinities, which included 15 inde- teristics were formerly the unexamined norm for pendently edited thematic volumes published science, citizenship, and religion, the specificity from 1992 to 2002. There are also a number of

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Web-based and other bibliographic resources recently organized an online discussion forum available, including The Men’s Bibliography, and expert group meeting on “the role of men constructed by Flood (2003), now in its 11th and boys in achieving gender equality” as part edition. of its preparation for the 48th session of the The global growth of research is shown by Commission on the Status of Women, with the the fact that in the last 7 years, not just individ- following comments: ual research reports but whole collections of research have been published in Australia Over the last decade, there has been a growing (Tomsen & Donaldson, 2003), Brazil (Arilha, interest in the role of men in promoting gender equality, in particular as the achievement of Unbehaum Ridenti, & Medrado, 1998), France gender equality is now clearly seen as a societal (Welzer-Lang, 2000), the former Soviet coun- responsibility that concerns and should fully tries (Novikova & Kambourov, 2003), Germany engage men as well as women. The global com- (Multioptionale Männlichkeiten?, 1998, Bosse mitment to gender equality in the Beijing Platform & King, 2000), Japan (Louie & Low, 2003), for Action and other major international confer- Latin America as a whole (Olavarría & Moletto, ences and summits, and in the existing interna- 2002), the Middle East (Ghoussoub & Sinclair- tional legal framework, including the Convention Webb, 2000), New Zealand (Law, Campbell, & on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Dolan, 1999), the Nordic regions (Ervø & against Women and ILO Conventions, have Johansson, 2003a, 2003b), the postcolonial encouraged and accelerated efforts in this regard. world (Ouzgane & Coleman, 1998), and To further develop efforts in this area, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Southern Africa (Morrell, 2001a), in addition to (CSW) will consider the role of men and boys the work published beginning in the late 1980s in achieving gender equality at its forty-eighth in the United Kingdom (Hearn & Morgan, session in March 2004. 1990), Canada (Haddad, 1993; Kaufman, 1987), and the United States (Brod, 1987; Kimmel, We believe this is a propitious moment to 1987). In addition, several works have appeared stand back from this developing field, summa- on global perspectives more generally, in a rize where we have got to, and think about future series called Global Masculinities (Cleaver, directions for the field. These are the tasks of this 2002; Pease & Pringle, 2002). There are also handbook. We hope to make current scholarship a number of collective publications from the available to a new generation of researchers and 10-country European Union (EU)–funded students and to a wider audience concerned with European Research Network on Men in Europe policy and with practical or cultural issues about (see Chapter 9). The global perspective on men, boys, and gender. research on men and masculinities is discussed The authors of these chapters are among in more detail below. the best-known experts in their particular fields The research debate is closely paralleled today. Many have themselves undertaken the by the global policy debate. Following the path-breaking research that defined and ener- world conferences on women that began in gized a particular line of enquiry. Their com- 1975, there has been an increasing global debate mand of the field and their ability to convey it on the implications of gender issues for men. in an accessible manner make each chapter both Paragraph 3 of the Platform for Action, adopted an authoritative review of current knowledge at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on and a stimulus to further enquiry. Women, said, “The Platform for Action empha- We have named the subject matter of the sises that women share common concerns book “studies of men and masculinities.” There that can be addressed only by working together is some debate about what to call this field and in partnership with men towards the com- of knowledge. Some scholars have called the mon goal of gender equality around the world” field “men’s studies” by analogy with (or (United Nations, 2001, p. 17). reaction against) “women’s studies,” and this These issues are increasingly being taken certainly reflects the origins of the field. Other up in the United Nations (UN), its various agen- scholars consider the symmetrical nomen- cies, and other transgovernmental organizations clature misleading because of the asymmetry of and policy discussions. For example, the UN’s gender relations that made the creation of Division for the Advancement of Women (2003) “women’s studies” a project of self-knowledge 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 3

Introduction • 3

by a subordinated group. The editors of this • By spanning both the material and the discursive volume fall into this latter camp and consider in analysis terms such as “studies of men and masculinities” • By interrogating the intersecting of the gender and “critical studies on men” to more accurately with other social divisions in the construction reflect the nature of contemporary work, which of men and masculinities. is inspired by, but not simply parallel to, feminist research on women. This last point may need a little more explanation. Although men and masculinities are the explicit focus and are understood as explicitly gendered, men and masculinities SOCIAL SCIENCE APPROACHES TO are not formed by gender alone. Men are not MEN AND MASCULINITIES simply men or simply about gender, and the same applies to masculinities. Men and mas- Although focused scholarship on men and culinities are shaped by differences of age, by masculinities has expanded in the humanities class situation, by ethnicity and racialization, and to some extent in some of the natural and and so on. The gendering of men only exists technological sciences, it is the social sciences in the intersections with other social divisions that have produced the greatest amount of and social differences. Indeed, paradoxically, it research on men and masculinities. Similarly, might be argued that as studies of men and mas- in this handbook, the contributions and almost culinities continue to deconstruct the gendering all of the contributors can be located primarily of men and masculinities and assumptions about within the social sciences, even though there them, other social divisions, such as age, class, are important debates from the humanities and, and disability, come more to the fore and are to a lesser extent, from the natural sciences that seen as more important. In this sense, part of are taken up in some of the chapters. In partic- the long-term trajectory of gendered studies of ular, there is now a substantial development of men could, paradoxically, be the deconstruction studies on men and masculinities in literature, of gender (Lorber, 1994, 2000). visual art, dance, music, and other cultural and The social science approaches to men aesthetic fields. and masculinities, both in this handbook and in The view of social science here in the hand- the field more generally, are certainly diverse. book is a broad one. It necessarily draws on a They vary and range across different disciplines, number of traditions. Although not wishing to theoretical perspectives, methodologies, con- play down debates and differences between ceptualizations, and positionings. These varia- traditions, this broad approach to men and tions are thus relevant here in at least three masculinities in the handbook can be character- ways: in terms of the varied and uneven devel- ized in a number of ways: opment of the field of studies on men and masculinities, the range of material reviewed • By a specific, rather than an implicit or in the individual chapters of the handbook, and incidental, focus on the topic of men and the range of authors and authorships of the masculinities chapters. We will now discuss these variations • By taking account of feminist, gay, and other in a little more detail. critical gender scholarship In the recent development of studies on men • By recognizing men and masculinities as and masculinities, there have been significant explicitly gendered rather than nongendered developments in almost all the principal social • By understanding men and masculinities as science disciplines. Accordingly, the disciplines socially constructed, produced, and reproduced represented in this handbook include most of rather than as somehow just “naturally” one the social sciences: sociology, social psychology, way or another political science, cultural studies, education, and • By seeing men and masculinities as variable and changing across time (history) and space social policy, as well as women’s studies, gender (culture), within societies, and through life studies, gay studies, and postcolonial studies. courses and biographies There are also major debates from psychology • By emphasizing men’s relations, albeit differ- and history that are important influences in some entially, to gendered power chapters. In addition, significant subdisciplines 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 4

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include criminology; family studies; violence 20 years in widening the analysis of men and studies; studies of ethnicity, race, and (anti-) masculinities within the gender order (Brod, racism; and military studies. Many—perhaps 1987; Carrigan, Connell, & Lee, 1985; Connell, most—of the contributions are multidisciplinary 1995). It has succeeded the concept of the “male or interdisciplinary, but the most fully repre- sex role” and is generally preferred to, for exam- sented disciplinary approach in this handbook ple, manhood or manliness (we will return to is sociological. Two major disciplines that are this development in a little more detail in the somewhat underrepresented here are economics next section). There is also a growing debate and law, although economic and legal issues are and critique around the concepts of masculinities discussed in some chapters. Of the largest and and hegemonic masculinity from a variety of institutionally most developed social science methodological positions, including the histori- disciplines, economics has probably been the cal (MacInnes, 1998), materialist (Donaldson, most reluctant to contribute to studies on men 1993; Hearn, 1996, 2004; McMahon, 1993), and and masculinities, even though economy and poststructuralist (Whitehead, 2002) perspectives. economic considerations are absolutely fun- Another very important source of variation damental aspects of gender relations and the is the positioning of the author in relation to gendering of men and masculinities. the topic of men. This can be understood as a There are as many theoretical social science personal, epistemological, and geopolitical perspectives on men and masculinities as there relation. Researchers and analysts, men and are theoretical perspectives in the social sciences women, may position themselves discursively in more generally. These include positivism, cul- relation to the object of research, the topic of tural relativism, psychoanalysis, interpretivism, men and masculinities, in a variety of ways—for critical theory, neomarxism, feminism (of vari- example, in treating the topic nonproblemati- ous forms and kinds), poststructuralism, post- cally (through taking for granted its absence modernism, and postcolonialism. All of these or presence), through sympathetic alliance with and other theoretical perspectives have been those men studied or the contrary subversion influential in the development of studies on men of men, or with ambivalence, in terms of alterity and masculinities and are represented to varying (the recognition of various forms of otherness degrees in the contributions here. Indeed, it between and among men) or through a critical could be argued that social theory questions relation to men (Hearn, 1998). This is partly a have been rather prominent throughout the matter of individual political choices and developments of the last 20 years or so (Brod & decisions in positioning, but increasingly the Kaufman, 1994; Hearn & Morgan, 1990). Addi- importance of the more structural, geopolitical tionally, nongendered traditions that are com- positioning of commentators is being recog- mon within mainstream social theory need to be nized. Postcolonial theory has shown that it both drawn on and critiqued in terms of their matters whether the analysis of men is being implicit and explicit conceptualizations of conducted from within the West, the global gender, women, and men. South, the former Soviet territories, the Middle Similarly, we recognize the variety of East, or elsewhere. In that way, history, geogra- methods and methodologies in studying men phy, and global politics matter in epistemologies and masculinities. These include social surveys; and ontologies in studying men. statistical analyses; ethnographies; interviews; Accordingly, it is to this increasingly global and qualitative, discursive, and deconstructive nature of the field of study of men and mas- approaches. Furthermore, an explicitly gendered culinities that we now turn in more substantive focus on men and masculinities can lead to the detail. rethinking of how particular research methods are to be done. For example, Schwalbe and Wolkomir (2002) have recently set out some THE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT OF MEN of the key issues to be borne in mind when AND MASCULINITIES AS A RESEARCH FIELD conducting research interviews with men. Another key issue has been the state of All human cultures have ways of accounting conceptualization. The concept of masculinities for the positions of women and men in society has been extremely important over the last and have different ways of picturing the nature 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 5

Introduction • 5

of men and the patterns of practice we call Masculinity was then understood in psychology, masculinities. Central Australian Aboriginal sociology, and anthropology as an internalized communities, for instance, have Dreaming role or identity, reflecting a particular (in prac- stories of legendary heroes crossing, and creat- tice often meaning United States or Western) ing, the land. Through these narratives, the culture’s norms or values, acquired by social rights and obligations of groups of men (and learning from agents of socialization such as the different rights and obligations of groups family, school, and mass media. of women) are taught and located in a specific Under the influence of women’s liberation landscape that is part of the web of obligations and gay liberation, the “male role” was subject (Sutton, 1988). Neo-Confucian clan rules in late to sharp criticism as oppressive and limiting Qing-dynasty China also defined the obligations (Pleck & Sawyer, 1974). The “question of men” of men, but not in relation to landscapes. Rather, was a significant item on feminist agendas they offered abstract moral exhortation, advice (e.g., Friedman & Sarah, 1982). Hanmer (1990) about occupations (devaluing the military), a lists 53 feminist publications “providing the model of social hierarchy and personal char- ideas, the changed consciousness of women’s acter for men (emphasising restraint), and an lives and their relationship to men—all available idealized description of family life (Liu, 1975). by 1975” (pp. 39-41). Recent feminist initiatives The distinctive combination of empirical have suggested various analyses of men and description and secular explanation that we call ways forward for men (see, e.g., Gardiner, social science took shape during the later 19th 2001). In the United States, the idea of “men’s century, at the high tide of European impe- studies” as an academic field emerged out of rialism. Gender issues were among its main debates sparked by this critique (Massachussets concerns, and it is not surprising that its ideas Institute of Technology, 1979). of gender were influenced by imperialism. In the social sciences, the concept of a “male Stories from the colonial frontier were a major sex role” has become obsolete, rejected for its source of data for European and North American ethnocentrism, lack of power perspective, and social scientists writing about sexuality, the incipient positivism (Brittan, 1989; Eichler, family, and the social position of women and 1980; Kimmel, 1987). In its place, a broader men. The very idea of “race,” which became social constructionist perspective that highlights a key concept in Western culture at this time, issues of social power has emerged (Carrigan embedded sexuality and gender relations. The et al., 1985; Kaufman, 1987). In Anglophone emancipation of women was seen by many social science, life history and ethnographic social scientists as a measure of social progress, research provided close descriptions of multiple and the supposed “backwardness” of the colo- and internally complex masculinities (Mac an nized became a public justification of colonial Ghaill, 1994; Messner, 1992; Segal, 1997). In rule. There was, then, a global dimension in European social science, pioneering survey the Western social science of gender from its research (Holter, 1989; Metz-Göckel & Müller, earliest stage (Connell, 2002). 1985) showed the diversity of men’s life patterns However, the evolutionary framework was within a persisting gender system. Conceptual discarded in the early 20th century. The first work emphasised social structure as the con- steps toward the modern analysis of masculinity text for the formation of particular masculini- are found in the depth psychology pioneered ties (Connell, 1987; Hearn, 1987; Holter, 1997), in Austria by Freud and Adler. Psychoanalysis with some recent authors emphasizing that demonstrated that adult character was not pre- masculinities are constructed within specific determined by the body but was constructed, discourses (Petersen, 1998). through emotional attachments to others, in a Historical research has traced the emergence turbulent process of growth (see Connell, 1994). of new masculinities and the institutions in In the next generation, anthropologists such as which they arise. These have included both Malinowski and Mead emphasised cultural dif- dominant (e.g., Davidoff & Hall, 1990; Hall, ferences in these processes and the importance 1992; Hearn, 1992; Kimmel, 1997; Tosh, 1999; of social structures and norms. By the mid-20th Tosh & Roper, 1991) and resistant (e.g., century, these ideas had crystallized into the Kimmel & Mosmiller, 1992; Strauss, 1982) concept of “sex roles.” forms of masculinity at home, in work, and in 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 6

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political and cultural activities. Particularly history has led debates on men and masculinities important and interesting historical work has to have a distinctive focus on race relations been done from gay history (Mort, 2000; Weeks, and on violence, both domestic and communal 1990) and from colonies of settlement such as (Morrell, 2001a). In the Eastern Mediterranean New Zealand and Natal on schools and military and Southwest Asia, the cultural analysis of forces (Morrell, 2001b; Phillips, 1987). masculinity has particularly concerned modern- Research, however, is only one dimension of ization and Islam, the legacy of colonialism, and the new discussions of men and masculinities. the region’s relationship with contemporary In the rich countries, including Japan, Germany, Western power (Ghoussoub & Sinclair-Webb, and the United States, and in some less wealthy 2000). countries, including Mexico and Brazil, the By the late 1990s, the question of men and late 1980s and 1990s saw rising media interest masculinity was also emerging in international and public debate about boys and men. Mainly forums, such as diplomacy and international focused on social problems such as unemploy- relations (Zalewski & Parpart, 1998), the peace- ment, educational failure, domestic violence, keeping operations of the United Nations and family breakdown, but also discussing (Breines, Connell, & Eide, 2000), and inter- men’s changing identities, these debates have national business (Hooper, 2000). Equally different local emphases. In Australia, the important, there is research and debate about the strongest focus has been on problems of boys’ impact of globalization on local gender patterns: education (Lingard & Douglas, 1999). In the men’s employment, definitions of masculinity, United States, more attention has been given and men’s sexuality (Altman, 2001). to interpersonal relationships and to ethnic The analysis of masculinities, men, and differences (Kimmel & Messner, 2001). In men’s place in the gender order has thus become Japan, there has been a specific challenge to the a worldwide undertaking, with many local “salaryman” model of middle-class masculinity differences of emphasis. Although most of the (see Chapter 8). In Scandinavia, there has been empirical research is still produced within the more focus on gender equity policies and men’s developed countries and is especially rich in responses to the changing position of women the United States, global perspectives are (Lundberg, 2001). In Latin America, especially now possible. New conceptual approaches are in Mexico, public debate has addressed the affecting the field, including poststructur- broad cultural definition of masculinity in a long- alism from Europe (Wetherell & Edley, 1999) standing discussion of “machismo,” its roots in and postcolonial perspectives from the global colonialism, and its effects on development South (Ouzgane & Coleman, 1998). It therefore (Adolph, 1971; see also Chapter 7). seemed timely, two decades after the first state- In most of the developing world, these ments of social constructionist perspectives debates have not emerged, or have emerged on masculinity, to undertake an international only intermittently. In the context of mass survey of the field. Hence this handbook: an poverty, the problems of economic and social attempt to order the knowledge that has been development have had priority. However, ques- produced, compare different regions of the tions about men and masculinities emerged world, and address emerging themes and arenas. in development studies in the 1990s, as feminist concerns about women in development led to discussion of “gender and development” and the specific economic and political interests of OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK men (White, 2000). These debates also have different emphases in different regions. In Latin This book is divided into five sections. These America, particular concerns arose about the sections help organize both the global and the effects of economic restructuring and with local studies of men and masculinities. They men’s sexual behavior and role in reproduction, center on several different themes that together in the context of population control policies compose the current understandings of men and and sexual health issues, including HIV/AIDS masculinities and place the critical inquiries prevention (Valdés & Olavarría, 1998; Viveros offered here in a more unified and coherent Vigoya, 1997). In Southern Africa, regional context. 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 7

Introduction • 7

We explore the construction of masculinities as the relationships between women and men, in four different frames: (a) the social organi- institutionally; the latter approaches the gender zation of masculinities in their global and order through the problematization of sexuality regional iterations; (b) the institutional repro- and specifically, in this context, relationships duction and articulation of masculinities; (c) the among men. ways in which masculinities are organized and Gardiner shows that feminist theories over practiced within a context of gender relations— the last 40 years have taken varied approaches to that is, the ways in which interactions with other gender equality that are intertwined with their men and with women express, challenge, and varied perspectives on men and masculinity: reproduce gender inequalities; and (d) the ways They endorse some aspects of traditional mas- in which individual men express and understand culinity, critique some, and ignore others. their gendered identities. Edwards explores and critiques the relationship In organizing this book, we move from the between masculinity and homosexuality both larger global and institutional articulations of theoretically, in the light of sexual politics masculinities to the more intimate and personal and the rise of postructural theory, and more expressions. We do this because, as sociologists, politically. we believe that these institutional arenas and The next part explores the shifting processes form the framework in which masculin- dynamic of global and local as the national ities are experienced and expressed. Gender iden- settings in which masculinities are constructed. tity is more than a simple psychological property R. W. Connell explores the ways in which belonging to a person, something one “has” as a certain dominant versions of masculinities are result of socialization and that one consequently rearticulated in the global arena as part of the inserts into all interactions. Gender identity is larger project of globalization. The next four a constant process, always being reinvented and chapters detail the ways in which regional artic- rearticulated in every setting, micro or macro. ulations in the constructions of masculinities Gender identity is the codified aggregation of rely on local cultural formations as well as on gendered interactions; its coherence depends on the collision of those local cultures with other our understanding of those interactions. national cultures or with larger transnational Locating gender identity does not, however, institutions, such as the global market. Robert make it a simple derivative of gendered insti- Morrell and Sandra Swart examine how men tutions and gendered processes. Gender rela- in postcolonial contexts construct their mas- tions are constantly shifting; gender identities culinities. They note the salience of poverty are always in motion, always dynamic. Such and underscore, more broadly, the signifi- movement creates the seams by which political cance of context, as well as identifying some transformations may take place. new approaches to understanding postcolonial In the first part, “Theoretical Perspectives,” masculinity. The chapter by Matthew Gutmann the authors ground contemporary inquiries in and Mara Viveros Vigoya and that by Futoshi the study of men and masculinities in the Taga survey the variety of studies of men and three theoretical traditions that seem to inform masculinities in Latin America and East Asia, most social scientific thinking on the subject. respectively, tracing the origins of the field, Øystein Gullvåg Holter locates the social analyzing its accomplishments, and indicating scientific inquiry at the intersection of several areas for future research. problematic concepts raised in the studies of Finally, the chapter by the collaborators in social stratification and inequality: domination, the European Union’s Social Problem of Men patriarchy, and sexism. He focuses on the rela- research project (Critical Research on Men in tionship between male dominance and patriar- Europe [CROME]) indicates an effort to gener- chal structures in society. Judith Kegan Gardiner ate a comparative framework for understand- and Tim Edwards anchor these inquiries to ing masculinities in the new Europe, one that the theoretical perspectives most cognizant of remains sensitive to cultural differences among gender, gender relations, the gender order, and the many countries of that continent and to the social construction of gender identity: the ways in which all nations of the European feminist theory and queer theory. The former Community are, to some extent, developing problematizes the dynamics of gender, as well convergent definitions of gender. 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 8

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The chapters in Part III explore inter- groups of boys and men. Don Sabo outlines all sectionality—the intersection of gender with the the different epidemiological issues that certain structural and institutional. David Morgan constructions of masculinities provoke. He dis- explains how different classes exhibit different cusses the history and development of men’s forms of masculinities and the ways in which health studies, key theoretical models, and some these both challenge and reproduce gender rela- of men’s gender-specific health issues. Several tions among men and between women and men. male groups with unique health needs are iden- Ken Plummer poses similar questions around tified and, finally, some global frameworks for sexuality, and James Messerschmidt examines understanding men’s health are presented. how the gendered practices of men and boys Walter DeKeseredy and Martin Schwartz review may result in crime. He outlines initial approa- and critique the sociological literature on the ches to masculinities and crime in the early 1990s relationship between masculinities and varia- and critically scrutinizes several new directions tions in interpersonal violence across different in the criminological literature. social classes and racial or ethnic backgrounds. Masculinities do not exist in social and They pay special attention to violence against cultural vacuums but rather are constructed women in heterosexual relationships, homicide, within specific institutional settings. Gender, and youth gang violence. in this sense, is as much a structure of relation- Among the most exciting developing areas in ships within institutions as it is a property of gender studies is the exploration of the making individual identity. Several other chapters in of the gendered body as a material object and this section examine how masculinities shape, the making of its cultural representations. In his and are shaped by, the major institutions chapter, Tom Gerschick examines the ways in of modern society: the workplace (David which men with disabilities repair and restore Collinson and Jeff Hearn), the media (Jim potentially “damaged” masculinities and in McKay, Janine Mikosza, and Brett Hutchins), the process create new sources of resistance to and education (Jon Swain). embodied notions of masculinity. He offers a Two additional chapters explore the con- critical review of the extant biographical, empir- struction of masculinities in families. William ical, and theoretical literature on masculinities Marsiglio and Joseph Pleck explore a wide range and the body, with particular attention to dis- of fatherhood scholarship from a gendered and ability. The chapter summarizes and analyzes critical perspective. They consider both how the key questions, themes, and debates in this liter- style of men’s fathering contributes to gendered ature and concludes with suggestions for future social inequalities within and outside families research. Richard Ekins and Dave King take this and how men’s participation in systems of one step further, examining the ways in which gendered social relations—both between and transgendered people throw open the question within genders—shapes their fathering opportu- of how and whether gender identity inheres in nities, attitudes, and behavior. Michele Adams a corporeal body, and, if it does, what happens and Scott Coltrane examine the intersection of to that identity when that body is transformed. family dynamics, paid work and housework, They consider the interrelations between trans- and child care. genderedness, masculinity, and femininity in The chapters in Part IV explore the ways in terms of transgendering as a social process which men’s practices shape masculinities, as within which males “renounce” or “suspend” well as assessing the impact of that construction the masculinity that is expected of them and on ourselves and others. Michael Messner traces females (unexpectedly) embrace it. The chapter the development of scholarship on men, mas- takes a historical and chronological approach, culinities, and sport. His chapter describes the focuses on four very influential perspectives contributions that this scholarship has made to on the topic, and discusses their conceptions of the more general scholarly work on masculini- and implications for masculinity (and usually of ties and bodies, health, and violence and closes and for femininity, as well). by outlining new directions in work on men and Finally, the chapters in Part V address the sport—particularly studies that examine sport as politicization of masculinity and the masculinity an institutional and cultural context for relations of politics. Joane Nagel examines the social, between women and men and between various historical, and cultural spaces coinhabited by 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 9

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men and nations, by manhoods and nationhoods, often in the past, and it reproduces, in the realm and by masculinities and nationalisms. Michael of knowledge, the very relations of dominance Kimmel uses this gendered framework to explore and subordination that are part of the problem. the reactions and resistance among the groups It is a question of finding forms of coopera- of men who are the “losers” in the globalization tive research that use international resources project, specifically among the downwardly (including existing knowledge) to generate new mobile lower middle classes of small farmers, knowledge of local relevance. artisans, and small shopkeepers. Paul Higate Next, there are issues that seem to be grow- and John Hopton explore the intersections ing in significance. The most obviously impor- of war and the military with constructions tant is the relation of masculinities to those of masculinity and the “gendered” nature of emerging dominant powers in the global capi- political and military institutions. talist economy, the transnational corporations. Shahin Gerami argues that a core component Organization research has already developed of the Islamic Revolution’s ideology was refor- methods for studying men and masculinities mulation of gender discourse around an Islamic in corporations (Collinson & Hearn, 1996; hypermasculinity. This hypermasculinity pro- Ogasawara, 1998). It is not difficult to see how moted three ideals of manhood: mullahs, who this approach could be applied to transnational are the interpreters of the Qur’an and Shari’at; operations, although again, it will call for some martyrs, the young men who bide the dictates creative international cooperation. of the mullahs and sacrifice themselves for the There are other problems of which the signif- republic; and ordinary men, who are perceived icance has been known for some time but that to have benefited from this hypermasculinity. have remained undeveloped. A notable example Economic hardship and sociopolitical pressure is the development of masculinities in the course assail all men. Additionally, they all pay for of growing up. How children were “socialized” gender discrimination against women in general into gender was a major theme of “sex role” dis- and women of their social group in particular. cussions, and when the male role literature went Finally, Michael Flood provides a useful into a decline, this problem seems to have stag- brief reminder that scholarly inquiries into nated with it. All the sound and fury about boys’ gender are always in dialogue with political education has produced very little original movements for gender equality. research and no new developmental theorizing. However, a variety of approaches to development and social learning exist (ethnographic, psycho- THE FUTURE OF THE FIELD analytic, cognitive) along with excellent models of fieldwork (e.g., Thorne, 1993). It is impossible to predict the future of a research Finally, there are new or underdeveloped field accurately—if we could do that, the perspectives that may give new insight even research would not need to be done. It may, how- into well-researched issues. The possibilities ever, be possible to identify emerging problems of poststructuralist theory are now well dis- and approaches that are likely to be fruitful. cussed, although there are doubtless new appli- There is, first, the task of filling in the picture cations to be found. However, the possibilities on a world scale. The social scientific record, as in postcolonial theory are still little explored revealed even in the consciously international (see Chapter 6), and they seem very relevant perspective of this handbook, is very uneven; to the transformation of a research field his- research on men and masculinities is still torically centred in the First World. Economic mainly a First World enterprise. There is far analysis is also seriously underdeveloped. Most more research in the United States than in any discussions of men and gender acknowledge the other country. There are major regions of the importance of power and also the importance world where research even partly relevant to of the world of work but do not carry them for- these questions is scarce—among them China, ward into analysis of a gendered economy. As the Indian subcontinent, and Central and West Godenzi (2000) points out, economic inequality Africa. To respond to this scarcity is not a matter is crucial to understanding the link between of sending First World researchers out with masculinity and violence, and the same may be existing paradigms. That has happened all too argued for other issues about masculinity. 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 10

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A research agenda on these issues would Division for the Advancement of Women, United certainly move our understanding of men and Nations. (2003, September 24). Aide-memoire masculinities a long way forward. Nevertheless, for the expert group meeting on the role of men understanding is mainly worth having if we and boys in achieving gender equality. Retrieved can do something with it. Therefore the uses December 10, 2003, from http://www.un .org/womenwatch/daw/egm/men-boys2003/ of knowledge, and the relationship between aide-memoire.html research and practice, must be key issues for the Donaldson, M. (1993). What is hegemonic masculin- development of this field. ity? Theory and Society, 22(5), 643-657. Eichler, M. (1980). The double standard: A feminist critique of feminist social science. London: REFERENCES Croom Helm. Ervø, S., & Johansson, T. (2003a). Among men: Adolph, J. B. (1971). The South American macho: Moulding masculinities (Vol. 1). Aldershot, Mythos and mystique. Impact of Science on England: Ashgate. Society, 21(1), 83-92. Ervø, S., & Johansson, T. (2003b). Bending bodies: Altman, D. (2001). Global sex. Chicago: University Moulding masculinities (Vol. 2). Aldershot, of Chicago Press. England: Ashgate. Arilha, M., Unbehaum Ridenti, S. G., & Medrado, B. Flood, M. (2003, May 30). The men’s bibliography: (Eds.). (1998). Homens e masculinidades: Outras A comprehensive bibliography of writing on palavras [Men and masculinities: Other words]. men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities. Sao Paulo, Brasil: ECOS/Editora 34. Retrieved December 10, 2003, from http://www Bosse, H., & King, V. (Eds.). (2000). Männlichkeit- .xyonline.net/mensbiblio/ sentwurfe [Models of masculinity]. Frankfurt, Friedman, S., & Sarah, E. (Eds.). (1982). On the Germany: Campus Verlag. problem of men. London: Women’s Press. Breines, I., Connell, R., & Eide, I. (Eds.). (2000). Gardiner, J. K. (Ed.). (2001). Masculinity studies and Male roles, masculinities and violence: A culture feminist theory. New York: Columbia University of peace perspective. Paris: UNESCO. Press. Brittan, A. (1989). Masculinity and power. Oxford, Ghoussoub, M., & Sinclair-Webb, E. (2000). Imagined England: Blackwell. masculinities: Male identity and culture in the Brod, H. (Ed.). (1987). The making of masculinities. modern Middle East. London: Saqi Books. London: Unwin Hyman. Godenzi, A. (2000). Determinants of culture: Men Brod, H., & Kaufman, M. (Eds.). (1994). Theorizing and economic power. In I. Breines, R. Connell, & masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. I. Eide (Eds.), Male roles, masculinities and Carrigan, T., Connell, R. W., & Lee, J. (1985). violence: A culture of peace perspective Toward a new sociology of masculinity. Theory (pp. 35-51). Paris: UNESCO. and Society, 14(5), 551-604. Haddad, T. (Ed.). (1993). Men and masculinities: A Cleaver, F. (Ed.). (2002). Masculinities matter! Men, critical anthology. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ gender and development. London: Zed. Press. Collinson, D. L., & Hearn, J. (Eds.). (1996). Men as Hall, C. (1992). White, male and middle-class: managers, managers as men: Critical perspec- Explorations in feminism and history. New York: tives on men, masculinities and managements. Routledge. London: Sage. Hanmer, J. (1990). Men, power and the exploitation of Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, women. In J. Hearn & D. Morgan (Eds.), Men, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge, masculinities and social theory (pp. 21-42). England: Polity Press. London: Unwin Hyman/Routledge. Connell, R. W. (1994). Psychoanalysis on masculin- Hearn, J. (1987). The gender of oppression: Men, ity. In H. Brod & M. Kaufman (Eds.), Theoriz- masculinity and the critique of Marxism. ing masculinities (pp. 11-38). Thousand Oaks, Brighton, England: Wheatsheaf. CA: Sage. Hearn, J. (1992). Men in the public eye: The con- Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge, struction and deconstruction of public men and England: Polity Press. public patriarchies. London: Routledge. Connell, R. W. (2002). Gender. Cambridge, England: Hearn, J. (1996). “Is masculinity dead?” A critical Polity Press. account of the concepts of masculinity and Davidoff, L., & Hall, C. (1990). Family fortunes: masculinities. In M. Mac an Ghaill (Ed.), Men and women of the English middle class Understanding masculinities: Social relations 1780-1850. Chicago: University of Chicago and cultural arenas (pp. 202-217). Milton Press. Keynes, PA: Open University Press. 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 11

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Hearn, J. (1998). Theorizing men and men’s in modern society. Buckingham, England: Open theorizing: Men’s discursive practices in theo- University Press. rizing men. Theory and Society, 27(6), 781-816. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (1979). Hearn, J. (2004). From hegemonic masculinity to Men’s studies bibliography (4th ed.). Cambridge, the hegemony of men. Feminist Theory, 5(1), MA: Human Studies Collection, Humanities 97-120. Library, MIT. Hearn, J., & Morgan, D. (Eds.). (1990). Men, mas- McMahon, A. (1993). Male readings of feminist culinities and social theory. London: Routledge. theory: The psychologization of sexual politics Holter, Ø. G. (1989). Menn [Men]. Oslo, Norway: in the masculinity literature. Theory and Society, Aschehoug. 22(5), 675-696. Holter, Ø. G. (1997). Gender, patriarchy and capital- Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and ism: A social forms analysis. Oslo, Norway: crime: Critique and reconceptualization of University of Oslo. theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Hooper, C. (2000). Masculinities in transition: The Messner, M. A. (1992). Power at play: Sports and the case of globalization. In M. H. Marchand & problem of masculinity. Boston: Beacon. A. S. Runyan (Eds.), Gender and global restruc- Metz-Göckel, S., & Müller, U. (1985). Der Mann: turing: Sightings, sites and resistances (pp. 59-73). Die BRIGITTE-Studie [Man: The BRIGITTE London: Routledge. study]. Hamburg, Germany: Beltz. Kaufman, M. (1987). Beyond patriarchy: Essays Morrell, R. (Ed.). (2001a). Changing men in southern by men on pleasure, power and patriarchy. Africa. London: Zed Books. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Morrell, R. (2001b). From boys to gentlemen: Settler Kimmel, M. (Ed.). (1987). Changing men: New masculinity in colonial Natal, 1880-1920. directions in research on men and masculinity. Pretoria, South Africa: UNISA Press. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Mort, F. (2000). Dangerous sexualities: Medico- Kimmel, M. (1997). Manhood in America: A cultural moral politics in England since 1830 (2nd ed.). history. New York: Free Press. London: Routledge. Kimmel, M., & Messner, M. A. (Eds.). (2001). Men’s Multioptionale Männlichkeiten? [Multi-option lives (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. masculinities?]. (1998). Widersprüche, 67 (Special Kimmel, M., & Mosmiller, T. (Eds.). (1992). Against issue). the tide: Pro-feminist men in the United States, Novikova, I., & Kambourov, D. (Eds.). (2003). Men 1779-1990. A documentary history. Boston: and masculinities in the former Soviet countries. Beacon. Helsinki, Finland: Kikimora, Aleksantteri Law, R., Campbell, H., & Dolan, J. (Eds.). (1999). Institute, University of Helsinki. Masculinities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Ogasawara, Y. (1998). Office ladies and salaried Palmerston North, New Zealand: Dunmore men: Power, gender, and work in Japanese com- Press. panies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Lingard, B., & Douglas, P. (1999). Men engaging fem- Olavarría, J., & Moletto, E. (2002). Hombres: inisms: Pro-feminism, backlashes and schooling. Identidad/es y sexualidad/es. III encuentros de Buckingham, England: Open University Press. estudios de masculinidades [Men: Identity(ies) Liu, H.-C. W. (1975). An analysis of Chinese and sexuality(ies). Third conference on studies clan rules: Confucian theories in action. In of masculinities]. Santiago, Chile: FLACSO- A. F. Wright (Ed.), Confucianism and Chinese Chile. civilization (pp. 16-49). Stanford, CA: Stanford Ouzgane, L., & Coleman, D. (1998). Postcolonial University Press. masculinities: Introduction. Jouvert: A Journal of Lorber, J. (1994). Paradoxes of gender. New Haven, Postcolonial Studies, 2(1). Retrieved December CT: Yale University Press. 10, 2003, from http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/ Lorber, J. (2000). Using gender to undo gender. jouvert/v2i1/con21.htm Feminist Theory, 1(1), 79-95. Pease, B., & Pringle, K. (Eds.). (2002). A man’s Louie, K., & Low, M. (Eds.). (2003). Asian masculin- world: Changing men’s practices in a globalized ities: The meaning and practice of manhood in world. London: Zed Books. China and Japan. London: RoutledgeCurzon. Petersen, A. (1998). Unmasking the masculine: “Men” Lundberg, C. (Ed.). (2001). Mannen. Fronesis and “Identity” in a sceptical age. London: Sage. (8, special issue). Phillips, J. (1987). A man’s country? The image Mac an Ghaill, M. (1994). The making of men: of the Pakeha male: A history. Auckland, Masculinities, sexualities and schooling. New Zealand: Penguin. Buckingham, England: Open University Press. Pleck, J. H., & Sawyer, J. (Eds.). (1974). Men MacInnes, J. (1998). The end of masculinity: The and masculinity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- confusion of sexual genesis and sexual difference Hall. 01-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:13 PM Page 12

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Schwalbe, M. L., & Wolkomir, M. (2002). Interviewing Viveros Vigoya, M. (1997). Los estudios sobre lo men. In J. F. Gubrium & J. A. Holstein (Eds.), masculino en América Latina: Una producción Handbook of interview research (pp. 203-219). teórica emergente [Studies on the masculine Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. in Latin America: An emerging conceptual Segal, L. (1997). Slow motion: Changing masculinities, development]. Nómadas, 6, 55-65. changing men (2nd ed.). London: Virago. Weeks, J. (1990). Coming out: Homosexual politics Strauss, S. (1982). Traitors to the masculine cause. in Britain, from the nineteenth century to the Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. present (Rev. ed.). London: Quartet. Sutton, P. (Ed.). (1988). Dreamings: The art of Welzer-Lang, D. (Ed.). (2000). Nouvelles approches Aboriginal Australia. New York: Asia Society des hommes et du masculin [New approaches to Galleries/George Braziller. men and the masculine]. Toulouse, France: Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in Presses Universitaires du Mirail. school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Wetherell, M., & Edley, N. (1999). Negotiating hege- Press. monic masculinity: Imaginary positions and Tomsen, S., & Donaldson, M. (Eds.). (2003). Male psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and trouble: Looking at Australian masculinities. Psychology, 9(3), 335-356. Melbourne, Australia: Pluto. White, S. C. (2000). “Did the earth move?” The haz- Tosh, J. (1999). A man’s place: Masculinity and the ards of bringing men and masculinities into gen- middle-class home in Victorian England. New der and development. IDS Bulletin, 31(2), 33-41. Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Whitehead, S. M. (2002). Men and masculinities: Tosh, J., & Roper, M. (Eds.). (1991). Manful asser- Key themes and new directions. Cambridge, tions: Masculinities in Britain since 1800. England: Polity. London: Routledge. Zalewski, M., & Parpart, J. (Eds.). (1998). The United Nations. (2001). Beijing declaration and “man” question in international relations. platform for action. New York: United Nations Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Department of Public Information. Zulehner, P. M., & Volz, R. (1998). Männer im Valdés, T., & Olavarría, J. (Eds.). (1998). Masculini- Aufbruch: Wie Deutschlands Männer sich selbst dades y equidad de género en América Latina und wie Frauen sie sehen [Men awakening: How [Masculinities and gender equity in Latin German men see themselves and how women see America]. Santiago, Chile: FLACSO/ UNFPA. them]. Ostfildern, Germany: Schwabenverlag. 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 13

PART I

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SOCIAL THEORIES FOR RESEARCHING MEN AND MASCULINITIES

Direct Gender Hierarchy and Structural Inequality

ØYSTEIN GULLVÅG HOLTER

While men are frequently the agents of the oppression of women, and in many senses benefit from it, their interests in the gender order are not pregiven but constructed by and within it. Since in many ways men’s human needs and capacities are not met within the gender orders of modern societies, they also have a latent “emancipatory interest” in their transformation. —Caroline New (2001)

Men are encountering the shamefulness of being a man as such and at all. ...I suggest that, where shame tends nowadays to be seen as a moral emotion, and to be discussed as an ethical problem, its reach is larger than this. I argue that shame is not only to be thought of as a moral prop or provocation, but as a condition of being, a life-form, even. —S. Connor (2001)

his chapter addresses the implications relations of gender inequality. In the views of social theories used in researching and traditions described here, many of today’s T men and masculinities. In particular, I researchers would probably describe themselves focus on two types of social theories: what I will as “social constructivists,” or at least give a nod call direct gender hierarchy theories that in this direction. Current direct gender hierarchy emphasize the social primacy of male domi- theories emphasizing the social primacy of male nance, and structural inequality theories that dominance differ from the sociobiological are more concerned with the social structural assumptions 20 years ago, and the same is the 15 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 16

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case with structural inequality theories. There the process that Jalna Hanmer (1990) and David has been a similar type of movement in both Collinson and Jeff Hearn (1994) have called traditions, away from sex-gender toward gen- “naming men as men” is still in a very early der as a more purely social creation, including stage and is a controversial venture. The greater economic patterns, social sanctions, culture, the research possibility—especially, the free- psychology, and so on. However, structural gen- dom for research to investigate the wider ground der equality theories have usually been further of patriarchy and inequality, rather than just developed, and are more socially and sociologi- the figure of gender—the further gender cally insistent, with a wider and more historical research is brought along from simply recogniz- view of social constructions. ing direct gender hierarchy to understanding Societal theories of gender and inequality structural inequality in society. In other words, can often be seen as “poststructuralist,” the stronger the framework of equality, allowing although such a term is of questionable utility research not just into gender and women but, today. Good gender research and theory creation even more controversially, men as gendered go beyond a static structure-actor division. persons and the wider role of societal institu- Connecting society and the individual has been tions, the better the chance of grounded theory a major point for feminist research development in a positive sense. This includes important as a whole. This has been especially evident developments in studies on gender and men, in developments of relational feminism (in such as going from a belief in fairly static the Nordic region, see, e.g., Haavind, 1984, types of men to understanding changes and 1994)—an attempt to move from “statistical new practices. Even in regions that are fairly sex-related difference” to “everyday relation- advanced in terms of both economic develop- ships.” However, the common trend toward ment and gender equality politics (such as the relational emphasis in the 1980s was inter- Nordic region), however, patriarchal-critical preted in quite different ways, as can be seen views may be controversial, as they implicate in debates concerning the meaning of “sister- not just “problem men” but also the problems hood” (e.g., in France and the United States) of the powerful institutions of society. or the “women-friendly welfare state” (Nordic In this chapter, I focus specifically on two region). Interpreted as women’s micropolitics, social theory perspectives and their implications relational emphasis had different and often for research on men and masculinities: (a) a inconsistent meanings in macro terms. These structural equality-inequality view of men and debates showed the dilemmas between a “mar- masculinities and (b) its relationship to a direct ket class” definition of women and the need gender hierarchy or direct male dominance to improve all women’s rights. view. In Nordic research, these are often called Current gender equality theories retain patriarchy (i.e., society and social structures of elements of 1970s critical theory and power- oppression) and male dominance (i.e., men’s patriarchy analysis, 1980s postmodernism, use of power, also called gender-power), but as renewed social actor orientation, and other this contrast is not common in the English- perspectives. Research on gender does not just language debate, I use the terms indirect and challenge the division between masculine and direct gender hierarchy here. Are these different feminine, it challenges the division between terms for the same issues? Or do they in fact neutral and gendered. This is a major theoretical represent quite different perspectives, leading point, creating a need to extend gender research to different research priorities and concepts of into wider areas of society and focus on indirect change? If this is so, what are the connections forms of structural inequality. between structural gender inequalities or patri- International work with emerging studies of archal structures and direct gender hierarchy men and masculinities confirms the importance (usually meaning male dominance)? of the social context for the kinds of views that My main point is to introduce some of the are developed in research. As the editor of the central elements in a structural inequality Newsletter of the International Association for perspective and examine how they relate to Studies of Men (IASOM) from 1993 to 2000, I the direct gender hierarchy approach. These received quite different contributions from dif- elements include notions of gender inequality ferent countries and regions. In some regions, or patriarchal structure, gender reification and a 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 17

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dual-sphere economic analysis, concepts of hierarchy, which usually invoke some notion of patriarchalization and genderization, and models male dominance. The direct gender hierarchy of change suggested by recent research. I also perspective emphasizes the consequences of draw attention to Nordic region studies in which men’s superior social position. It looks at the gender in/equality research traditions have been effects of gender discrimination with a view developed. to the immediate causes, which can often be Before going further, it is necessary to note summarized as “men” or “male dominance.” that the direct and indirect gender hierarchy (A more general cause could be masculinity views I describe are broad paradigmatic in men and women, but this is a social psy- approaches, and elements of both may thus be chological area that lacks research today.) In found within the work of the particular theorists the European context, this kind of theorizing and researchers. There is an ambivalence, one has in turn led to a focus on the analysis of might say, that characterizes the field as a men and masculinities through the framework whole. Although each perspective often implies of gender equality and gender inequalities. the other, they also often point in quite different Indeed, male or men’s dominance clearly sug- directions regarding the main problems and gests a variety of forms of structural gender the main ways to solve them. The direct view inequality. Similarly, the frame of structural highlights men’s dominance and the implica- gender inequality usually implies some notion tions of masculinities, whereas the indirect view of male (or men’s, or some men’s) dominance. is more concerned with men as part of society Yet the links between the two are not well and the implications of societal change. known in current research. The remainder of the chapter is organized Is direct gender hierarchy a universal fact or in the following manner: first, outlines are given a varying pattern? Is being a man the same as of the direct gender hierarchy perspective being in a powerful position? At the outset, this and the indirect gender hierarchy perspective issue should be understood in its social and or structural inequality perspective, as I shall historical context. The direct gender hierarchy refer to it here; the direct gender hierarchy view has been a primary reaction to the perspective is then critiqued; some applications “neutralizing” or “malestream” type of social of the structural inequality perspective are science in which issues of gender and power considered; and finally, implications of this have been ignored. It has often appeared as a perspective are provided, followed by some spontaneous interpretation in areas like violence concluding remarks. against women, where gender and power seem to be very closely linked. The direct gender hierarchy view certainly THE DIRECT GENDER has some empirical support in many areas, yet it is often more of an implicit notion HIERARCHY PERSPECTIVE than an explicit model or a systematic theory. It Current Research is implicit in that it corresponds to widely held social norms, cultural images, and behavioral In current research, the direct gender hierar- patterns. The notion that men are the dominant chy model view is the most well-known and ones does not need to be argued at length. Its widespread perspective, typically emphasizing tendency, when the larger silence of the main- or male dominance or men’s dominance. The struc- malestream is broken, is to picture women and tural inequality perspective, or patriarchy-critical men in a relationship between equal-women and view, is far less well known. For example, the unequal-men. The portrait of men and women world’s largest database of social science often resembles Max Weber’s notion of market abstracts listed, as of 1995, 3,516 papers con- class (Brudner & White, 1997, p. 162; Wright, cerning gender, many of them discussing male 2000, p. 21). Men and women are competing dominance—but only 107 papers concerning groups with different chances in the market. patriarchy (Holter, 1998). Most researchers know that the picture is more Scholarship on men and masculinities, complex, yet this form of appearance is under- especially critical scholarship, has been standable, given a historical period of increased strongly influenced by notions of direct gender gender equality. This is how the problem 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 18

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emerges—as a problem of men; men at large; because the gender equality and inequalities and now, also, men circumscribed by women. perspective has been especially significant in The “woman question” turns around into a “man European contexts, especially German, Nordic, question.” For example, “women are seen as and United Kingdom contexts. In the Nordic ‘parents’ while men are seen as ‘fathers’” case, it could be argued that this significance (Bekkengen, 1999). has been facilitated to some extent by the devel- Even if power and masculinity are now opment of state politics concerning gender often seen as “relational constructions” in male equality. This is particularly in terms of public dominance or direct gender hierarchy research, governmental commitment to gender equality, there is a tendency to make masculinity static even though a variety of gender inequalities and solid. This is often connected to a view in continue, such as the gender wage gap, men’s which power stems from the “inner” workings domination of business management, and men’s of masculinity (or male nature, in traditional violence toward women. On the other hand, it terms). “Masculine power is largely exercised could be argued that state gender equality through self-regulation and self-discipline— politics have tended to emphasize a liberal and a process of ‘identity work,’” it is argued in limited view of gender equality. a recent masculinities theory overview The main theme in the structural equality (Whitehead & Barrett, 2001, p. 17). Men’s perspective is overall discrimination or inequal- privilege is a consequence of this self-discipline. ity in society and their causes, rather than direct By acting “in ways consistent with gender gender hierarchy as such. This research can be norms . . . they reproduce male domination critical in situations, positions, and institutions and power differentials.” This view is presented in a society or culture that hinders gender equal- in general terms—men are “inculcated with ity, whether the context is overtly “gendered” dominant discourses.” Masculinity is “unlikely or not. It extends a view that was advanced ever to disappear” (p. 18). Or, as stated else- in Nordic feminist sociology in the 1970s, where in this volume, even if “‘being a man’ in which gender was analyzed both as social appears to be flexible and varied, it is then differentiation and as social stratification and wrong to assume that this variation under- the use of class models was criticized (Holter, mines male dominantion” (Brittan, 2001, p. 54). 1970, pp. 18, 225). A view that holds true in some situations From a gender equality point of view, the becomes the abstract rule. Social institutions international developments discussed here illus- and variation tend to disappear. This tendency trate how the debate and research tend to start can be found in applied areas also: for example, with the “figure” of direct gender hierarchy rather in violence research and the issue of whether than the “ground” of structural inequality. The all men are potentially violent (discussed later). structures of structural inequality are often com- Arguably, the link between masculinity and paratively hidden and difficult to recognize, espe- pride or shame rests on this overall equation cially as they often appear to be gender neutral, of masculinity and power. although they are by no means neutral in their effects. The problems of the direct gender hierarchy approach can be summarized as a takeover of THE STRUCTURAL the traditional patriarchal view of men. Men are seen as the more important, more socially respon- INEQUALITY PERSPECTIVE sible persons, compared to women. Only now is An Underexplored Tradition this grand picture of men being seen as a negative rather than a positive factor. Notions of direct gender hierarchy, male In structural inequality research and studies (or men’s) dominance, and structural gender of patriarchal societies, more complex theories equality and inequalities can thus be seen as have developed. Here, the discrimination of interconnected. In this chapter, I focus primarily woman has been seen as a matter of society and on the latter frame of reference; first, because of men’s role in society, not of men as such this approach is still relatively rarely explored (see, e.g., Holter, 1997, pp. 273-303). However, in an explicit way as a theoretical tradition in there are problems with these approaches also. scholarship on men and masculinities; second, Traditional views of society are likely to be taken 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 19

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on board, along with a tendency to downplay Lorentzen (1996) showed how masculinities the existence of direct gender hierarchy patterns changed in the onset of modernity and how that cannot so easily be explained by gender caring was marginalized in the men’s world. inequality structures. There is a tendency for the Claes Ekenstam (1993) discussed the embodi- structural background to become all and for the ment of modern masculinity and the restrictions action-related figure to disappear. in men’s emotional expressivity. Jorun Solheim Clearly, gender equalities and inequalities (1998) developed relational analysis in a symbolic work in complex and contradictory ways. They direction, focusing on the home as an extension can, indeed, even in a patriarchal and male- of the feminine. dominated society, at times work against the interests of men, individually and collectively, Structural Inequality and Patriarchy although at the same time the overriding pattern of structural inequality works in favor of men As mentioned, the term patriarchy is rarely and against women. used in today’s research; gender is the more frequently used term. The phrases gender Gender Equality Research equality and gender inequality are also more peripheral than one would expect. The lack of Let us turn to the societal developments and awareness surrounding patriarchy is not sur- emerging traditions arising from gender equality prising. There are many reasons why gender research. In the next sections, I present some is visible, or even supervisible or “hyperreal” research examples and discuss the use of terms (Baudrillard, 1993, p. 171), and patriarchy is such as patriarchy. What is the new view of gen- obscure. der, when one starts from the equality-inequality Formal or open patriarchy has been weak- dimension? I outline some patterns that have ened and dissolved over the last centuries. emerged in research, especially dual-sphere There is some truth to the idea that it is no imbalance and gender reification connected to longer there. Its effects are still often there, “horizontal” gender discrimination. however, so we should not take this too far. For Some examples of gender-equal-status– example, the levels of gendered violence and oriented research and gender equality theory in rape remain higher than one would expect in a the Nordic region can illustrate this develop- gender equality–oriented society. They display ment. In a study extending a relational view a deep gender-power connection. of gender, Harriet Holter, Hanne Haavind, and Systematic gender-related discrimination other authors (H. Holter, 1984) showed how still appears in many areas, whether we call it patriarchal social patterns are reorganized and patriarchy, direct gender hierarchy, or inequality. are changing over time. Anna Jonasdóttir (1991) The wording is not the main issue but rather contextualized structural inequality in economic the acknowledgment that all of society (and terms, describing women as “love power” as culture) is involved, not just some special “gen- well as “labor power” in the labor market. In dered zones.” Research needs better concepts Sylvia Walby’s (1990) theory of patriarchy, the of gender discrimination. public phase of patriarchy is distinguished from Many operative patriarchal structures are the private. This theory has been influential difficult to perceive directly, although we wit- in Nordic research, as elsewhere. (Walby’s per- ness their effects. Sometimes the tracks disap- spective has been further developed in studies pear. Examples include wage-work restructuring of men, especially in the context of the United that devalues women and social competence Kingdom; see Hearn, 1992). Øystein Gullvåg and labor market regulations that work to the Holter and Helene Aarseth (1993) divided same effect (Hoel & Sørhaug, 1999; Holter, modern forms of patriarchy into three main Karlsen, & Salomon, 1998). They usually have frameworks and periods: paternalistic power, or no explicit gendered message or reference, yet “paternate,” in early modernity; masculinistic they dictate new conditions for men and women. power, or “masculinate,” in the industrial age The key links of patriarchal structure still (much like Walby’s two phases), and a third often seem to be covered by a veil of secrecy, “androgynatic” form in a period with decreasing an untouchable neutral and yet mostly male discrimination. Using literary sources, Jørgen zone. Conversely, in areas where the effects of 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 20

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patriarchy seem fairly visible, such as with the formation; it is formed by power structures but persistent social problems of rape or battering, also by other forces, such as the need for social it is not so easy to tell the societal and cultural recognition. In modern society, gender is a causes and the effects on society in general. social psychological link between the individual The term patriarchy is perhaps best dropped and the collective. in favor of the phrase structural gender inequal- From a sociological and historical per- ity. Yet we need a term that pinpoints the struc- spective, the wider implications of the direct tural character of inequality and a recognition gender hierarchy view are often problematic. that structural gender inequality has survived, Obviously, notions of direct gender hierarchy even if patriarchy in the literal sense (father- are important in gender equality theory. Yet they power) has not. Patriarchal structures may be cannot be treated as universals. Rather, it is the reproduced through fatherhood or through other form of society—the existence of historical, social institutions and patterns. What is specific changing forms of patriarchy or gender-unequal to the terms patriarchy and patriarchal society, societal structures—that creates certain types of as distinct from an egalitarian society or from masculinities and the ways that power becomes a society with some male power (“proto- linked to them. The reverse is not true. There is patriarchy” has been used among historians, no abstraction called “men” that always shapes e.g., Bin-Nun, 1975), is the fairly systematic, society and history. Still, there is evidence that general character of the oppression of women is quite wide-ranging and robust of direct gen- and the linked oppression of nonprivileged men der hierarchy that must be taken into account in within a given society and culture. A patriarchal any societal or historical argument regarding society is one that displays two interlinked gender equality. power structures, between and across the gen- Concepts such as compensation and emula- ders (Holter, 1997). Men and women are easy tion are relevant in this area. Many studies have to distinguish. Patriarchal structures are com- shown the importance of compensatory forms paratively hidden. They do not walk around of masculinity. We can imagine a society in with a sign saying “Hit me.” Critical gender which only a minor section of men actually discourses need more awareness at this point. profit from patriarchal privileges, and yet many men participate in direct gender hierarchy. This is likely especially in contexts wherein the A CRITIQUE OF THE DIRECT gender division is emphasized as a universal division, a matter of all individuals in society— GENDER HIERARCHY PERSPECTIVE as is the case in the modern age. In fact, the men Gender as a Compromise Formation at the top of the social hierarchy may use mainly gender-neutral ways to achieve their aims. For One way to align the two perspectives—direct example, they may use their economic or politi- gender hierarchy and structural inequality— cal influence, and the men below will use what goes back to early feminist sex role sociology, they have—namely, their gender. In other cases, in which gender was seen as a mixed pattern, nonprivileged men may emulate the gendered containing social differentiation as well as behavior of the dominant men. These themes social stratification. True, gender differentiation have been central in masculinities theories, is strongly influenced by stratification, but it linked to the breadwinner type of gender cannot simply be reduced to stratification or contract. A third important approach concerns the power dimension. Rather, the gender system gender as reification, experienced as something is a framework of meaning, containing relations pregiven, even before gender as performance. within which the sex of the person is made This is discussed further later on. socially relevant. This framework concerns In these ways, we may explain the existence power but also many other issues. It is often of direct gender hierarchy patterns even among more of an adaptation to power than it is power men who objectively have little to gain by or powerlessness by itself. A gender system, supporting patriarchal structures. We may also in this view, is a response to a more or less better understand why many revolts against patriarchal structure, and the two must be care- traditional patriarchal structures have been fully distinguished. Gender is a compromise accompanied by renewed “fratriarchy,” or direct 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 21

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gender hierarchy. For example, the history of Jalmert, 1984; Zulehner & Volz, 1998) are socialism (as well as the earlier history of warning lights in this respect. We should be very bourgeois revolutions) has been full of com- careful with arguments going directly from the radely forms of neopatriarchal power, up to meaning of gender or the form of masculinity the “geriatric patriarchy” that came to dominate in a given context to the actual power rela- the former Eastern Bloc. tions, including the degree of discrimination of The idea that gender is a system of meaning women (and nonpowerful men), in that con- that is distinguishable from patriarchy as a text. Gender and masculinity forms do have a structure of power can be used to outline a cri- relation to the degree (and form) of gender tique of the current view of gender and power discrimination, but the relation tends to be more that is quite different from the usual complaint complex, thus supporting the compromise view. that it attacks men. On the contrary, it can be At this point, the dynamic role of the gender argued that the “attack” on men is taken too system comes into view. Why do women—or far only when society is left out of the picture. nonprivileged men—often emphasize gender, More precisely, structural inequality mecha- even beyond the compensatory mechanisms nisms that are not overtly gendered (not clearly discussed earlier? The historical dimension is a matter of direct gender hierarchy) tend to important here. The modern gender system was disappear from view. created partly “from below,” as a response to Many of the current studies on masculinities older patriarchal structures. True, it may recre- concern areas where we find both explicitly ate these structures, but it also has more demo- gendered frameworks of meaning and structural cratic and dynamic elements. Therefore, women patriarchal relations. Here, patriarchal domi- and nonprivileged men may emphasize gen- nance, defined as relations that objectively der as part of a way of overcoming traditional weaken women’s position and create related constrictions. Gender may become a means of forms of discrimination, is associated with self-realization (O. Holter, 1983). Through the subjective gendered meaning. In this perspec- gender system, gender meaning becomes tive, patriarchal inequality and direct gender embodied. Bodies become “sexed,” with sex as hierarchy may seem to be two terms for the “the sign on the body” (Søndergaard, 1996). same thing. This is obviously a field of tension; gendering In this approach, however, other areas are is a process that occurs for a variety of reasons. easily overlooked or misinterpreted. The most One cannot simply assume that all cases of serious case concerns an area of social patterns gender are cases of gender-power. that objectively recreate gender inequality—yet not with much direct reference to sex or gender. Two Dimensions It can be argued that this area represents a major blind spot in current gender studies—or at least, Distinguishing between gender as a system in the gender studies that take the reference to of meaning and patriarchy as a structure of gender as their point of departure. Because power is still often a new idea in international patriarchy is not announced, it is assumed that research. Researchers are much more used to it is not there. A major example, discussed later, thinking in terms of a gender-power order. The is the relationship between “production” and arrangement can have various names, such as “reproduction” in society. Economic or political direct gender hierarchy or gender-power, but it forces that objectively place producers (mainly, is commonly seen as one unified system. men) ahead of reproducers (mainly, women) In the gender equality view presented here, appear as gender neutral and are not adequately instead, there are two quite different dimen- addressed. sions: equal status on the one hand and gender Another mistake concerns the existence of on the other. Gender relations, or the gender gender as social differentiation, which tends to system, are seen as a partially independent and be interpreted as if social stratification (power) dynamic framework of meaning. It is slanted so were also automatically of importance. But this that it seems to relate especially to women, may not be the case. Representative surveys on children, and reproduction, but it concerns men men and gender equality carried out in the and the sphere of production as much as women Nordic region and elsewhere (e.g., Holter, 1989; and the sphere of reproduction. 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 22

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All societies have some element of gender idea of the model is to distinguish between organization, work division between the gen- patriarchal structure and gender system devel- ders, and gender-linked norms and behaviors. opments and then to look at the changing This does not mean that all societies have the connections between the two. same major sphere divisioning, such as in the contemporary economy. It is more like a ten- The Gender-Power Dilemma dency in this direction—a bit of Talcott Parsons’s (1964, pp. 130-133) complementary sex relation, If all gender is power, if gender and structural but not the whole package; not the nuclear inequality are mainly one and the same pattern, family, not the breadwinner contract, not the then the existence of gender warrants the conclu- modern-democratic definition of the individual, sion that power is there too. If gender as power not wage labor versus free time, and so on. When is “virtually universal” (Kimmel, 2000a, p. 53), this minimal “sexed organization” overlaps with we may assume, for example, that workplace the organization of power and exploitation, discrimination is generally good for men (p. 190), more specific and expansive gender systems or that men’s violence against women “is restora- are created, such as the modern one (Holter, tive, a means to reclaim the power that he believes 1997; Holter & Aarseth, 1993). is rightfully his” (p. 262). The specificity and independent role of Yet the research often tells a different gender have varied. In some circumstances, story. First, it discloses variation within as well gender is a fairly egalitarian differentiation as between the genders. Second, it shows an system, and emerging direct gender hierarchy interplay between gender and power that the or protopatriarchy turns to age and seniority researchers do not yet fully understand. One relations, rather than sex, to legitimize new cannot say that this dilemma is solved in any conditions (as in early historical societies). In of the traditions and views presented here. other contexts, gender divisions are important in Let us first look at variation within the society but still play a secondary role to patri- genders, especially among men. It has long been archy (e.g., the late Middle Ages). In a third type argued that direct gender hierarchy is primarily of setting, patriarchy has been partly disman- associated with the powerful positions among tled, there is some gender equality development, men. This has traditionally been a main thread and gender becomes a more independent social of argument in direct gender hierarchy studies system. This characterizes modern society. Gen- and also in the emerging field of studies of der becomes more distinct from the patriar- men or men’s studies. It has roots in women’s chal concept of the person, a more democratic studies and in feminist portraits of patriarchy as venture and a more horizontal (but also wider) a system of suppression of women and nondom- socioeconomic division. inant men. It can be found in the structural In this situation, the gender system is not inequality tradition as well. simply an echo of the structures of inequality. It Yet some empirical material, some of it develops its own dynamics, sometimes acting from key zones of evidence such as violence on its own, often with tension and conflict-filled against women or prostitution, has made some relations to patriarchal structures. For example, researchers formulate the opposite rule, namely, “protest masculinity” is not just one of several that power over women is associated with lack masculinity forms. Protest, in some form, is of power in relation to other men. For example, a common element in modern masculinities, men who buy women for sex have been seen brought out in different ways. This type of as “losers in the male role” (Prieur & Taksdal, model implies a mixed and conflict-filled 1989). Patterns where masculinity could be seen gender-patriarchy relationship. Against this as compensatory had already been identified by background, men’s and women’s gender positions sex role theorists in the 1960s and earlier, partly and gender identities can be described as com- based on psychodynamic theory. The “lack of promise formations, attempts to balance “life power” kind of rule often rings true to research- needs” and “power needs.” Gender is mainly ers who have studied social stratification or an adaptation to power, even if it has, in turn, power systems in other areas. power consequences and emerges as “gender- Although problems may be generated at the power” (Holter, 1997, pp. 195-241). The core top of a power structure or hierarchy (or by the 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 23

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hierarchy as a whole, linked to circumstances between words and actions to which we shall at the top), they often become larger, or at least return. Money, however, has no clear, consistent more negatively visible, further down (“beware effect. Perhaps there is an “A curve,” with some of the little man” is folk wisdom at this point). problems most typical in the mid- to high- Further, advanced power regimes usually have income group, as if gender-power were a petit built-in mechanisms to minimize the cost of bourgeois syndrome, but this trend is neither power by shifting it downward (Holter, 1997, strong nor clear. Other problems tend to heap up pp. 396-404). The further down in the hierarchy, at the bottom, such as violence, although some the higher may be the emphasis on the possi- of this is a reporting effect. Typically, different bility to be “in on the deal” by using force measures show different results, without a clear downward. This can be seen as a main, tradi- demarcation of “one type of man” in terms of tional, patriarchal principle—“submit to your class, social status, or job factors. Note that master, and you yourself will be a master” money does have an effect on men’s wish to (Holter, 1989, p. 31). In the modern world, it recreate a breadwinner type of gender contract, is partly hidden by the market and democratic according to “marriage market” research. The institutions. Yet authoritarian structures per- (male) money–(female) beauty connection is severe through elements like bullying and still in force, even in proclaimed egalitarian victimization. circumstances (Holter, 1990b). For such reasons, we might expect that The mixed empirical picture shows that lower status men are more involved in gender even if theories of masculinities (e.g., Carrigan, discrimination than upper status men. This Connell, & Lee, 1985; Connell, 1995) are is sometimes the case. For example, a 1988 important for understanding the dynamics of Norwegian survey (Holter, 1989) of men and the gender system, the link between the type gender equality showed a higher level of domes- of masculinity and the degree of inequality is tic violence in the family of origin of working less direct than is sometimes suggested. This class men compared with other men (that is, in strengthens the point made earlier, that gender working class families in the 1950s and 1960s and patriarchy are different (only partially compared with other families). However, violence overlapping) dimensions. Indeed, empirical in the home seems more related across class findings have often led feminist researchers in to authoritarianism, according to qualitative the opposite direction, namely, that the men research (e.g., Lundgren, 1985) as well as a involved in problem areas such as prostitution German survey (Zulehner & Volz, 1998). or violence against women are simply “normal” Based on democracy and work research, a men. They come from all groups or forms of third type of model comes into view. Here, it masculinity. is not the top or bottom but the middle layers In this view, it is “Mr. Typical” who beats that face the biggest problems, precisely due to or buys. The selection of the typical man may the problematical character of the contact and vary with country and culture, but the main overall character of the system. trend is global. We are led back to the direct Together, the three models suggest a mixed gender hierarchy model, where all men partici- picture. The empirical results confirm this. In pate in the discrimination against women. time-use studies (e.g., Vaage, 2002) and in opin- Still, this argument is often based on status- ion surveys regarding gender equality, there is or class-related evidence, using indicators such no consistent pattern that oppression of women as income or education, which is not the most is larger in one class or status group than in relevant at this point. In fact, bringing it in others. A “from the top” tendency can be found, can be seen as an example of how gender is but it is often counteracted by other tendencies. unconsciously made into class. One argues as Several gender equality surveys and many if gender could be derived from status or class. qualitative studies in the Nordic region make it Yet the argument concerns gender, not class. We possible to give some empirically based evalua- do not know whether the men involved in prob- tion of these models. Education seems to have a lem behaviors have been exposed to higher than slight positive effect on gender equality orienta- normal levels of structural inequality—defined tion and practices, with emphasis on orientation. through measures such as the object status of There is an “in principle” gap (Jalmert, 1984) women, victimization and bullying, aggression, 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 24

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violence, self-sacrifice, reification, and so on. “Greedy” wage work and production dominance From qualitative research, it seems likely (Holter, in the domestic sphere tend to recreate social 1989). As these examples show, the gender- problems. power dilemma is often a gender-power-class All this confirms Sylvia Walby’s theory of a dilemma. Social status or class is a third party to shift toward public patriarchy and Holter and the debate. Aarseth’s (1993) analysis of the “late masculinate.” A man today becomes a man through Locating Inequality Patterns “the public eye” more than through his family status or particularistic relations (Hearn, 1992). Some researchers have argued that repro- Patriarchy has turned public and economic. duction of children is the core of the gender Gender, to some extent, is a “functional equiv- order (for a recent example, see Connell, 2002, alent” of patriarchy, to use Robert Merton’s pp. 38, 54). In the 1970s debate, the family (1957, p. 52) term, yet it is more independent was often seen as the core arena of patriarchy. and dynamic and can also be an oppositional I think this is a mistake of figure and ground, as force. Reproduction and households remain concerns today’s society. We know that repro- two of the main contexts of inequality. Yet production often appears as the main zone of duction may weigh more in the total picture. gender-power. But that, by no means, secures And the main point may be precisely the con- its position as a key element in structural nections between work and family, masculine inequality or patriarchy. We cannot judge by and feminine, neutral and gendered—not each gender meaning or visibility but must look for on its own. A relational view is once more the actual, objective effects. For example, we relevant. It seems that inequality or patriarchy is must analyze whether a wage policy actually not mainly one type of structure, or a set of increases the wage gap between men and structures, but relations between structures. women, and this question is quite distinct from This, and not a specific zone or work area, is the question of whether the process, negotia- the “core.” tions, motives, and so on were gendered or not. Gender equality and “genderedness” are two different dimensions. In much research, they APPLICATIONS OF THE have been confused. Therefore we should be STRUCTURAL INEQUALITY PERSPECTIVE extra careful with the empirical evidence. Mostly, we do not know which is which. A lot of The Case of Caregiving Men economic and work research evidence speaks against the “family and children” version of Men’s position in female-associated work patriarchy. Instead, research tells of families or in domestic labor is often interpreted dif- losing out in the adaptation to work life, of ferently in the two perspectives. In the direct production sphere dominance and horizontal gender hierarchy view, the same overall pattern discrimination creating a major foundation for of dominance can be found in these areas as gender discrimination and gendered violence can be found in others. This is shown, for in the home as well as the job. Families and example, by men’s access to “glass escalator” children are no longer the main context of patri- mechanisms in female-typed jobs that lead men archy, even if male dominance and violence upward in the work hierarchy while the women are still major problems in the domestic sphere. stay below (Williams, 2000). In the structural The institutions in this sphere are changing, inequality view, the changing societal posi- with more mixed power regimes today. Families tioning of men and women is the main matter. and children often come second, after the jobs The positions in each concrete arena may differ have had their say. Work and family studies from the overall rule; all the more so, if they are (Borchgrevink & Holter, 1995; Holter, 1990a) linked to societal imbalances. show that “being able to talk about job prob- The secondary status of women’s activity lems” is one important issue in modern family fields (mainly in the sphere of reproduction) life. “Being able to use my competence” is a does not always imply women’s secondary main job satisfaction item. Family life is used to status within these fields. On the contrary, recent correct—and recreate—labor market imbalance. studies show the importance of “hegemonic 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 25

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femininity” in an interplay with patriarchal an informal or latent “brotherhood.” The main tradition in, for example, studies of nursing categories are men and women. Gender equality (Bakken, 2001). Women often actively create analysis, on the other hand, emphasizes the role gender segregation (Krøjer, 2003). Research of society and the position of both men and shows Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s (1977) minority women in ways that decrease or increase gender logic coming into play when men are the small equality. Here, the tendency is to place people minority in gendered activity or work areas. into more or less gender-equal categories, with The men are easily turned into stereotypical more women at the equal end of the scale, more representatives of the “others,” token contrast men at the patriarchal end, and much mixture types, and they easily take on this behavior. all along. Compensatory masculinity can be relevant in In this perspective, gender discrimination this terrain. has a major element of positional discrimina- One study of an experiment with an all- tion. It hits people in specific positions, regard- men group of employees in a kindergarten, less of their gender. This may seem like a nicely initiated by the woman leader of the kinder- detached sociological perspective. But some- garten, found greater variance and role freedom thing is missing. Can we really compare discrimi- among the men, that they more easily could nation against some men in caregiving positions take on “homely” activities, show feelings, and to the general discrimination against women? The so on. Yet it also demonstrated that men in this problem is that gender discrimination seems situation distanced themselves from feminine to follow the person, or the sex of the person, standards, as if a symbolic mother were con- regardless of situations or positions—and that stantly looking over their shoulder (Bredesen, this appearance becomes what Durkheim called 2000). It has been argued that men in kinder- a social fact, acting by itself (see Lukes, 1988, gartens experience a “centrifugal” process that p. 14). Why does that happen? At that point, the leads them away from the caregiving, “femi- notion of gender as a meaning system becomes nine” core of the work (Baagøe Nielsen, 2003). too thin. It does not explain why these meanings Men may be in a weak position in female- are so closely connected to power. Instead, associated fields of work not because society has modern gender as a system of reification now reached a state of gender equality but comes into view—a framework of a quite specific because of persistent inequality that positions economic type, characteristically conceived as these fields below others and makes them into a universal fact. Women’s and gender studies predominantly feminine domains. Therefore, have discussed this in terms of alienation and men in caregiving roles or other female-associated sex objectification (see, e.g., Foreman, 1977; areas may experience particular forms of gender MacKinnon, 1983). It is probably often seen as discrimination (Forsèn, Gislason, Holter, & a peripheral or irrelevant Marxist concept. Yet I Rongevær, 2000; Holter, 2003). think it is a key term for understanding modern In this perspective, the link between discrim- gender. It creates a kind of absolutistic being ination against women and discrimination that goes before “gender as performance” against some men is emphasized. Inequality is (Butler, 1990, 1998) and before various notions seen as a varying relationship rather than a uni- of gender as situated subjectivity. It is related versal dividing line that creates two classlike to the dual sphere view of gender oppression gender categories. Like the burdens, the benefits (described later). of inequality are diverse and shifting. Although men benefit on the overall level, closer analyses The Preference System show huge variation among men in regard to inequality. Women, also, are not always disad- In the structural inequality view, current vantaged by gender segregation and inequality. gender inequality can be described as a societal Patterns that sustain segregation, or conversely preference system that involves both genders. promote equality and integration, can be found This system has economic, social, cultural, among both genders. and psychological elements. It is linked to the Direct gender hierarchy analyses mainly breadwinner type of gender contract, that is, concern the power and benefits of an ongoing the man’s primary provider position vis-à-vis system of direct gender hierarchy comparable to the woman. Yet the preference system also 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 26

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appears in politics, law, and many other areas, model instead. Here we would expect that the generally pulling men and women in two differ- degree of inequality is a strong predictor of ent directions, rewarding gender segregation. So violence, but gender should be moderately or a preference system may seem “profitable” also weakly related (expressing mixed relations for women, in the short run and the concrete and adaptations). The chance of male violence situation, even if it sustains inequality in the against women should be higher in imbalanced longer run and works to the detriment of women relationships and households than in more in society as a whole (Holter, 2003). balanced ones. There is increasing empirical In this case, as in others, inequality is seen support for this, although the evidence has not as a pattern that partly runs across the gender been systematized. Household balance has a division, not just between the genders. Even if positive impact, reducing the level of violence men are more likely to be on the privileged side, against women (Walby, 2002). Qualitative there is significant variation. As mentioned, the studies indicate that the chance of violence is principal analytical unit in this type of approach higher in contexts where the woman has few is not men or women as such but, rather, equal resources compared with the man. and unequal tendencies. Each tendency can be found within persons of each gender, in varying Structural Discrimination strengths, forms, and interrelations, depending on the wider social context. It is not surprising Gender equality research shows that gender that context becomes a key word in this type discrimination is more than a personal, direct, of approach. or active relationship, such as a man’s violent relation to a woman. There is also a more indi- The Case of Violence rect component, which can be called passive gender discrimination (a term used in, e.g., the Men’s violence against women is one impor- EU Amsterdam treaty) or collective discrimina- tant issue. If we use the conventional direct tion. It clearly involves social circumstances, gender hierarchy view, in which gender and not just the relation or unit at hand (e.g., “bad power are closely linked, we would expect that family”). It consists of the wider, social causes the type of man or the form of masculinity is of the discrimination. a good predictor of the chance of violence. The wage gap between men and women is Because masculinity is deeply entangled with an example of this sort of structure. It can power, the relation should be a strong one. Yet that change over time; structures are not fixed or does not seem to hold true. Although there is an static but are often slow moving. Here and now, empirical connection, it does not seem very strong the wage gap contributes to the social pref- (as far as can be judged from representative sur- erence system, in which a man’s time appears veys such as “Men in Norway 1988” [Holter, to be more valuable than a woman’s. The gap 1989] and “The Norwegian Man 1998” [Haugen, in ownership, property, leading capital posi- Hammer, & Helle, 1998]). The case is perhaps tions, and so on works the same way. The stronger in Germany, as reported by Zulehner and economy tells us that men have more value Volz (1998), but this may be a reporting or design than women, even if politics says they should effect. Qualitative researchers, therapists, and count for the same. others give a mixed picture and often tell about Premodern patriarchy was mainly a socio- “feminine” as well as “masculine” men who use political structure, underpinned by religion and violence. I mentioned the tendency in feminist the military. Modern patriarchy emerged through research, which can be found in violence research a “problem period” during which the emerging also, to go the other way, toward arguments factory system attracted women before men. The that any man can be violent, that violent men are nuclear family may not have been a major of all types and come from all socioeconomic change in terms of household size, but it was a categories (Lundgren, Heimer, Westerstrand, & new type of organization, mainly structured on Kalliokoski, 2001). the need to provide new “producers of human This is not surprising, if gender is in fact more personality” (Parsons, 1988, p. 126). This was indirectly related to power than the mixed model principally different from both the aristocratic assumes. So let us use the two-dimensional households of older Europe and the gender 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 27

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relations among working people, small farmers, economic regime, the older patriarchal-political and artisans. The institutions of the modern order became redundant (Holter, 1982). gender system, with a nuclear or breadwinner family system creating new “marriage market” Reification and the arenas, evolved in the 20th century along with a Deconstruction of Gender new view of sexuality (Holter, 1983). Most or all current gender equality theories This brings us to reification as a key issue share a critique of traditional wage-work-only of the modern gender system. We saw that, in definitions of work. Much research in the late the gender equality view, gender systems are 1970s and the 1980s showed how the wage-only formed and transformed according to shifting view crashed with realities. This was shown by equality and to discrimination patterns in society time-use studies and a lot of qualitative evi- and culture as a whole. In this sense, one dence. Wider, more realistic, and more relational can say that power frames our whole picture concepts of work were needed. of gender difference (Kimmel, 2000a). Yet this Dual-sphere theory was one answer. It seems is not just the power of men, or even mainly to have originated among many researchers, in gender-power. Gender-power is after the fact. slightly different terms and versions, around this It is what happens if certain social conditions time. The framework could also be called “work are at work. We need to know these wider and family,” with family and household seen conditions. as a workplace on its own. Studies (e.g., Berk, One approach in this direction starts with a 1985) claimed that household work forms gender key performance area and realization of gender; identity. The two spheres could be described as that is, the transactions and exchanges between production sphere and reproduction sphere, two potential partners seeking a relationship or production meaning the creation of things or marriage, traditionally leading to the formation nonhuman resources and reproduction the of a gender dyad or couple. In this gender mar- creation of human resources. The needs in this ket analysis, the gender market is defined as human-oriented work process, somewhat defen- the nonmonetary exchange of future rights to sively called reproduction, could be described in a relationship or household partner. Each par- terms of an “emancipatory minimum” (Fürst, ticipant “offers” and “asks” for offers. Although 1994). Many studies showed that reproductive the economic patterns are muted in terms of work was relational in tendency, having a social- money—or precisely for that reason—they are ization effect. One works one’s way to gender. clearly gendered, much more clearly than, for Before we go on, a rather dramatic impli- example, in the labor market (Holter, 1983). cation of this kind of analysis should be noted. Two levels of exchange are distinguished in In principle, if all producers work for a wage this analysis. One level is individual—a level and the reproducers work for the producers of exchange between men and women. Here, the (wage workers), the class of producers will exchange form varies between giving, sharing, “own” the class of reproducers. The reproducers and simple exchange. There is no consistent will be individually dependent on the producers difference between women and men (in empiri- for their livelihood. It is no wonder that, from cal terms, friends are often described as part of this perspective, the producer becomes socially this category). On another level, however, the enlarged and, in gender terms, that everything exchange is much more abstract. It is a gender- may seem to rest on “the man” or “male domi- making relation, not just a playing out of some- nance.” This extreme system has never fully thing already there. It is a potential producer existed (despite breadwinner ideology). The and reproducer who meet each other, creating point, however, is that it exists as a background the key gender relation through their meeting. economic pattern strong enough to sustain a A major point of the analysis is that the sex of gender-power system. Even if women make their the persons does not determine the outcome. own wages, through paid reproduction work, Instead, it is the social form of the exchange— their payments are deducted from the money the way that the two main spheres of society (seemingly) brought in solely by the production are connected, through individual links—that sphere. Production is the place of profits. makes the participants appear as if gender was Reproduction is the place of costs. With this already at hand. This creates the fetishism 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 28

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(ideological image of reification) in which it shows that gender has an economic element seems obvious that gender is always already not just in prostitution, but in normal dating-like there. It is not sex, or some combination of contact also (Holter, 1990b). Economic analysis biology and early socialization, that creates a of gender is still very much an underdeveloped “she” that is body and beauty and a “he” as a field. more neutral and universal person. Rather, this Abstract masculinity is a term for the is the outcome of the relationship between “man = person who has” element, as opposed to two spheres of society, expressed in a particular “woman = person who is.” In gender market individualized form (Ø. Holter, 1984). analysis, if beauty is capital in women, the Studies of the gender market that use fairly wage, and what it represents and can be con- openly gender-commercial arenas (such as verted to (means of reproduction), is capital in contact advertising and public meeting places) the men’s world. In the market, it is the position as indicators of the wider social pattern show as producer and wage earner that is tested that the man is in a situation of “having” some- through the equivalent. thing in this relation, compared with the woman’s In this analysis, the social constructions of “being” something. The relation does not work masculinity and femininity originate in specific out in the same sense for him as for her; it does positions that have no direct relation to sex but not mainly concern something embodied in him are instead created by the sphere relationship as a person. He “is” not; he “has.” For example, of production and reproduction. Gender appears she thinks of him as person who exhibits social through reification as the individualized form control. This social control appears as some- of transaction between the two spheres.1 In this thing the man has, by making it; it is “self- perspective, it is not surprising that research made,” in the market ideology. The woman, who generally shows that the gender market is a is in the position of equivalent at this level of fairly gender-conservative place, where the suc- the exchange, functions as sex object and beauty cessful breadwinner ideal is more operative than subject. Her presence becomes strangely elsewhere in society. “He” is the one with the money-like (related to extended and total forms arm on which to lean. “She” is the one who of exchange), as it functions not only as the leans. The phenomenology at this point is rich, scale of measurement of individual men’s offers as, for example, Erving Goffman (1977) noted. but also as the key investment capital to get a The market’s high level of polarization shows new reproduction-production unit going. that the logic of men being “not-women,” which My own research on the gender market Nancy Chodorow (1978) and others attributed (mainly in the 1980s) was later criticized for to early socialization, may be more operative being too “economistic” (Fürst, 1994) and also in certain key phases later in life. The gender too victimizing of women. I did not accept the market can be seen as the “prestation stage” picture of women and use value (so-called “soft (Mauss, 1989) of the production-reproduction values”) neatly divided from the harsh world relationship, or it can be seen as the main gender of men and value (“hard values”). I find even contract. It is a stage of segregation. less reason to do so today. The gender market Why does gender segregation increase as turns our expectation around in regard to who men and women negotiate private relationships? is an economic object and who is not. This This seems to be caused partly by the dynamics is related to the second critique, with which of the market itself, but it may be mainly due I mainly agree. Placing women in a passive to the connection between gender and class victim status was a typical tendency in research brought out in the gender market in terms of gen- from this period. If women are victimized as dered attractiveness. It is in every participant’s object beauty and body capital, they are also, for interest in terms of upward mobility to define once, the leading market investors. Women’s gender commercially. Thereby, even the gender upward class mobility through marriage is market, a free-floating institution compared with part of this picture. At the abstract gender level, earlier systems of marriage alliances, betrays its the woman comes into a social position that partially patriarchal background. We do not have does not stem from her individuality or the indi- to assume that men (or the market as an institu- vidual level of the exchange and communication) intend the actual result—women (and some tion; a position and relation that, undoubtedly, men) as sex objects. Instead, this is the way the 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 29

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market works, due to the fact that it exists in a The new or “diverse” gender is the gender context of partial gender equality rather than that is still there when social asymmetry—rank, pure free love. The inequality shows up in the status, power, exploitation—is left out of the market in the form of abstract masculinity or picture. It can scarcely help being somewhat wage-earning capacity, on the one hand, and ideal, today, yet its contours are becoming money-like embodied beauty, on the other. clearer. New, more egalitarian and diverse The gender market forms part of the condi- gender forms seem to be embodied and life tions of reproduction and gender relationships; oriented, rather than cognitive-rational and that is, the actual couples or families. As symbol- power or work oriented. Equality-oriented oriented feminist researchers have pointed people do not refuse to be a man or a woman— out, beauty translates into cleanliness and the logical conclusion, if power is all there is reproduction, including the woman-mother to gender—yet they do not presume that gender as a symbolic food figure (Borchgrevink & is an eternal and massive dividing line, either. Solheim, 1988). Yet increasing expectations of They want individual flexibility, which will gender equality have made the market patterns allow them to create gender from that basis, more problematic, along with other breadwinner- gender in a form of their own choosing. related structures. Research has shown a change Direct gender hierarchy does not disappear, from “naturalistic” to more “individualistic” but it appears in a new light. To decrease and gender images (Holter, 1990b). Abstract mas- dissolve direct gender hierarchy, the broader culinity is linked to patterns such as “job mag- structures that support it must be addressed. netism” and the greater “social space” of the Gender-equal cooperation must be a clear goal producer vis-à-vis the caregiver or reproducer rather than an exception in working life, poli- (Holter & Aarseth, 1993). Gender patterns tics, and the economy (Holter & Sørensen, often express labor patterns and the ranking 2003). Now, more diverse masculinities have a of labor in society. This is connected to the better chance. New cultural politics of mas- “meta-institutional” power of labor and capital culinities need to be combined with structural in modern society (Postone, 1993). reforms; that is, measures to balance the labor market, do away with breadwinner preference New Gender Forms systems, and reduce overwork. This can be achieved by uniting different parties through So what could a new, reconstructed view of common, long-term democratization interests. gender consist of? Nordic research, especially in Sweden, has shown the importance of social sanctions for the IMPLICATIONS OF THE formation of masculinity, especially the impor- STRUCTURAL INEQUALITY PERSPECTIVE tance of “unmanliness” and the “fear of falling” (Ekenstam, Johansson, & Kuosmanen, 2001). Studies of Men This is connected to shame and authority, but the more precise background is not clear. Fear What do the discussion and examples given of falling, in this context, seems similar to here say regarding research? Kimmel’s concept of market-related anxiety. Although research developments in gender, Gender market studies tell of men’s fear of women, and men’s studies have strengthened personal ruin, expressed in loneliness. social construction views of gender, biology is not Diversity is one main part of the new gender necessarily thrown out. It reappears in a diverse picture. Sexuality, once seen as a historical gender that is more healthy and less apt to “soak constant, can now be approached as a modern up” patriarchal problems. A recent family study form of intimacy, distinct from, for example, the found that traditional gender roles are recreated in eroticism of Antiquity or the Middle Ages, embodied forms in modern households. It is when thanks to the research of Michel Foucault the pressure of daily life rises that communica- (1977), John Boswell (1980), and others. Men’s tion fails, typically with the women eventually emotional range and expressions that could be expressing dissatisfaction (Lilleaas, 2003). This is shown in public, such as crying, have varied not so much a result of cognitive or power-related much more than formerly believed. strategies as of material fatigue. 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 30

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Thirty years ago, as research into gender turned out to be a poor guide to other periods began, “sex” was the dominant concept. or societies, the larger ground of true social Biological sex was the factor that had to be science generalization (Holter, 1997). Today, weighed into the argument, usually in pro- historians and social researchers are becoming nouncements like “gender is both biological more aware that the modern “gender glasses” do and social.” Today, biology is approached in not work well for understanding other societies different terms. The social (including cultural, or for in-depth analysis of modern society. economic, psychological, etc.) side of gender Human beings are more than the gender attrib- has been shown to be more varied and changing uted to them; they dynamically change gender than formerly believed. The social is more like and other parts of society and generally make a metacode, shifting according to circum- trouble for abstractist or categorical theory stances, not hard coded. By implication, it is (Connell, 1987). Some feminists saw this early more advanced in its relation to biology, too, as on. “Women are not trying to prove the innate shown in the earlier example. superiority of one sex to another. That would be Talcott Parsons’s (1964) notion of gender repeating the male mistake,” wrote Gloria complementarity, formulated in the mid-20th Steinem (1974, p. 134). century, is an example of the ideology of hard- The societal and cultural context is vitally coded gender. Parsons argued that men and important. Gender is not an isolated subject. women were best served in a “complementary” Gender discrimination does not exist in the relationship, with the man as breadwinner and world alone, does not act as a social force in woman as homemaker. He argued that this was isolation, but mainly exists and is socially in keeping with their biological (sexual) natures. effective through its connection to other main Later, Parsons’s theory was developed in, for forms of discrimination, including social status example, economy (Becker, 1981) but was and race. largely dismissed as unrealistic in sociology due to rising democratic and feminist consciousness. Today, many theorists would interpret Parsons’s DEMOCRACY AND DEPATRIARCHALIZATION argument mainly as a reflection of modern gender ideology. Yet gender complementarity was an Studies of gender in wars and conflict in ongoing affair in society, a socially effective modern society offer further proof, if we needed arrangement. Norms really did seem to materi- it, that modern society is still a partly patriarchal alize. Parsons’s ideas were formed when the bread- society. In wars, inequality structures often winner ideal of the nuclear family ideal was become sharp and clear, targeting nonprivileged still in its ascendancy. Later research found that, men as well as women and children (Jones, indeed, the provider pattern was (and still is) a 2002). core part of masculinity. From the two-dimensional gender-patriarchy Parsons also, probably correctly, assumed a model, we would expect that the dynamics of tendency toward sex complementarity in human depatriarchalization were connected to specific societies generally. But like most sociologists gendering processes, but in mixed and indirect of his time, he took the complementarity to be ways, sometimes in conflict. This is in line with hard coded, a sign of nature represented by the surveys and other studies from the research of body. We may note how gender as a relational recent decades. The model makes us expect that concept emerged from older usage, in which it patriarchal forces often use gender system was considered to be situated inside women mechanisms in attempts to hinder equal status (women as “the sex”), appearing in terms such developments. There is evidence of this in many as “sex appeal” (Heath, 1982). Parsons thought areas (e.g., in the use of gender stereotypes in that a complementarity principle could straight- the media). away be derived from the modern context. The changes among men needed to Thereby, the nuclear family and breadwinner create gender equality differ from the changes ideal of the mid-20th century became paradig- among women. In this respect, these changes matic of human development. are especially significant from a democrati- Here, as in many other cases, not least in zation point of view. Changes among men the vicinity of gender, the modern abstraction are important for reducing and dissolving 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 31

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authoritarian relations in society. Existing gender equality analysis and historical research (but often hidden or subdued) power patterns on changing patriarchal societal structures. and exploitative structures in family life, work- Without a compass, it is difficult to make a map, ing life, and other areas can be addressed and and using the result is apt to be misleading. reduced. Today’s gender research offers parts of a map, Further, depatriarchalization—for example, but it is not well oriented. I regard gender in policies such as gender mainstreaming for equality as similar to the compass. Without a men—means democratization in terms of social distinct understanding of equality, one that falls class. This has not been achieved by most of the back into a patriarchal, reified gender discourse, movement on the women’s side—instead, the the map will remain obscure. I describe a com- process has sometimes contributed to a popular mon discourse in gender studies and debate, stereotype of gender-equal status as a matter for constructed on the basis of the “men = patri- career women only. archy” or “masculinity = power” line of imagi- Democratization of class and status remains nation, without any perceived need to consider important in today’s world, with its large eco- the equality dimension. The map is all, the com- nomic differences. A more sharply differentiated pass nothing. However, too much compass—or class society created by globalization means too structural a view—can also be a problem. greater social costs and problems unless counter- I have argued against approaches in which measures are applied. Depatriarchalization can direct gender hierarchy becomes the principal, be seen as a new approach to this policy area. It theoretical guideline. This does not amount to is different from a gender strategy of bringing an argument that direct gender hierarchy does men in as gendered persons, naming men as not exist. On the contrary, my point is that men, but also similar, as it has similar goals, such more context- and process-oriented approaches, as creating new public spaces where problems based on better gender equality analyses, are like violence and rape are openly discussed. It needed to better identify direct gender hierar- specifically addresses men as “gender equality chies—not just their existence, but also their responsible” in their own right, as much as causes, dynamics, and possibilities for reduc- women, and sets cooperation between men and tion. Thus, even if radical approaches to direct women as method as well as goal. gender hierarchy may seem most action Because women’s movements toward gender- oriented in the short run, I think the opposite equal status (taking greater part in traditional is true in the longer run. men’s activities, etc.) have usually been upwardly I have discussed masculinities as outcomes mobile in social class terms, although men’s of gendering processes in conditions of uneven have not, we should expect gender-related and partial gender-equal status. We cannot sanctions to be different. In general, we should expect “new men” as passive outcomes of more be very careful with the idea that the two main postpatriarchal structures; men need to engage positions in the gender system are mirror images in these processes, and research must show the of each other—polarized positions and similar. profit for men as well as women. There is a Asymmetry is a main part of the system, linked very gradual and quite uneven development to the way it is integrated, through partial equal- toward increased equality. Men are increasingly ity structures, with society at large. Although apparent as social actors in this development, men participate in the equality-patriarchy power often through a connection of caring and dimension as much as women, we should not caregiving. This is associated with children, assume that men are gendered in the same ways women, and emerging diversity. These are or even to the same extent that women are the main areas for new studies, methods, and gendered. This is a matter of better study with theory creation. clearer concepts.

NOTE CONCLUSION 1. The reification analysis builds on feminist In this chapter, I have discussed studies on analyses of alienation (e.g., Foreman, 1977); see fur- men and masculinities from the point of view of ther Holter (1997). 02-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 32

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[The sign of the body: Codes and construction F. J. Barrett (Eds.), The masculinities reader among young adults in academia]. København, (pp. 1-26). Cambridge, England: Polity Press. Denmark: Museum Tusculanums forlag. Williams, C. L. (2000). The glass escalator: The Steinem, G. (1974). The myth of masculine mystique. hidden advantages for men in “female” profes- In J. H. Pleck & J. Sawyer (Eds.), The forty-nine sions. In M. S. Kimmel with A. Aronsen (Eds.), percent majority: The male sex role. Englewood The gendered society reader (pp. 294-310). Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Vaage, O. F. (2002). Til alle døgnets tider: Tidsbruk Wright, E. O. (2000, September 21-24). The shadow 1971-2000 [All through the day: Time use, of exploitation in Weber’s class analysis. Paper 1971-2000]. Oslo, Norway: Statistisk Sentralbyrå. presented at the International Symposium Walby, S. (1990). Theorizing patriarchy. Oxford, “Economy and Society: Max Weber in 2000,” England: Blackwell. Madison, WI. Retrieved January 7, 2004, from Walby, S. (2002). Reducing gendered violence. http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/weber.pdf In M. Eriksson, A. Nenol, & M. M. Nilsen (Eds.), Zulehner, P. M., & Volz, R. (Eds.). (1998). Männer Køn och våld I Norden [Gender and violence in im Aufbruch: Wie Deutschlands Männer sich the Nordic countries] (TemaNord conference selbst und wie Frauen sie sehen. Ein report No. 2002:545). Copenhagen, Denmark: Forschungsbereich [Men in transition: How Nordic Council of Ministers. German men see themselves and how women Whitehead, S. M., & Barrett, F. J. (2001). The see them. A research report]. Ostfildern, sociology of masculinity. In S. M. Whitehead & Germany: Schwabenverlag. 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 35

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JUDITH KEGAN GARDINER

s it true...that women in your society gender as a social construction; that is, the idea “ are treated exactly like men?” a doctor in that masculinity and femininity are loosely I Ursula LeGuin’s (1974) science fiction defined, historically variable, and interrelated novel, The Dispossessed, asks a visiting anar- social ascriptions to persons with certain kinds chist. The anarchist replies with a laugh, “That of bodies—not the natural, necessary, or ideal would be a waste of good equipment” (p. 16). characteristics of people with similar genitals. Then he explains that in his society, “a person This concept has altered long-standing assump- chooses work according to interest, talent, tions about the inherent characteristics of men strength—what has the sex to do with that?” and women and also about the very division (p. 17). Published in 1974, at the height of the of people into the categories of “men” and 20th-century American movement for women’s “women.” The traditional sexes are now seen liberation, LeGuin’s fantasy attempts to visualize as cultural groupings rather than as facts of gender equality as a society without differences nature based on a static division between two based on one’s anatomical sex, but one, it turns different kinds of people who have both opposed out, that primarily takes the form of allowing and complementary characteristics, desires, and women the occupational choices and sexual interests. By seeking to understand the causes, freedoms already common to men; men do a little means, and results of gendered inequality, femi- child care and are otherwise unchanged. Feminist nist theories hope to develop effective ways to theories take a number of approaches to this improve women’s conditions, sometimes by slippery goal of gender equality that are inter- making women more similar to men as they are twined with their varying perspectives on men now, sometimes by making men more similar and masculinity. They endorse some aspects of to women as they are now, sometimes by vali- traditional masculinity, critique some, and ignore dating women’s traditional characteristics, others, as they ask who will be equal to whom, in sometimes by working toward the abolition or what respects, and with what results for male and minimizing of the categories of gender alto- female individuals and their societies. gether, but all simultaneously transforming The most important accomplishment of ideologies and institutions, including the family, 20th-century feminist theory is the concept of religion, corporations, and the state.

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Some women living prior to organized questioned the gendered meanings of such movements for women’s rights claimed that ideals as liberty, fraternity, and equality and so they were equal to men, as men described initiated one continuing theme of feminist themselves; that men were not fully equal to theorizing that has extended into masculinity the ideal of masculinity they themselves put studies as well. forward; and that men and masculinity placed Men’s superiority to women is a tenet of the women and femininity in a subordinate posi- world’s main monotheisms, although the major tion. With the resurgence of a movement for religions also include countervailing tenden- women’s rights in the second half of the 20th cies that value women’s spiritual capacities and century, varied theories developed to explain delimit male power and authority. The ancient the causes of male domination, to correct Greek philosopher Aristotle portrayed women erroneous assumptions about both women and as naturally men’s inferiors in terms of reason. men, and to imagine new kinds of men and of In the long educational and philosophical tradi- women in new circumstances. These theories tion that venerated his authority, masculinity charged that cultural ideologies favored men, was thus rendered both invisible and normative: that social institutions reflected these ideolo- Masculinity was equated with the human ratio- gies, and that men as a group benefited from nality of men, and women were marked by sex- the subordination of women as a group, despite uality, emotion, and their bodies. Champions of the great disparities that existed in the advan- women repeatedly asked, if God and nature had tages accruing to individual men or subgroups made women so clearly inferior to men, why of men in relation to other men and to women. were such strong social inducements necessary Thus men and masculinity play a crucial role to retain their subjugation? in feminist theory, the body of thought that In reaction to claims that women were seeks to understand women’s social situation irrational, weak, vicious, and sinful, the early and to articulate justice from a woman-centered defenders of women repeated a number of perspective. Furthermore, feminist thinking has strategies. They claimed women were equal been fundamental to the formation of contem- or superior to men, writing, for example, books porary men’s and masculinity studies as intel- about heroic, saintly, learned, and otherwise lectual endeavors, academic subjects, and social exemplary women. In another common strat- movements. This chapter briefly sketches how egy, they asserted equality less by raising the men and masculinity figure in several strands image of women than by lowering the image of feminist theory. It looks at what the treatment of men. They thereby launched an inquiry into of men and masculinity reveals about the gaps the meaning of equality that continues to and assumptions in these theories. Focusing the present. Idealistic depictions of men as the chiefly on a few key figures, it also indicates embodiments of reason and humanity, they said, some advantages and future directions that these flew in the face of the evils men did: Men, too, theories pose for masculinity studies. were as embodied, irrational, and vicious as the Misogyny created feminist theory, and misogynists claimed women were. Furthermore, feminist theory has helped create masculinity. men tyrannize over women rather than loving That is, cultural condemnation leveled against and protecting them as they claim to do. So women by religious writers, philosophers, the French medieval author Christine de Pizan and popular discourses across centuries and (1405/1982) has her allegorical character cultures produced rebuttals by women and men. Reason say “that these attacks on all women— The first feminist theories were primarily when in fact there are so many excellent women— defensive, and as they questioned men’s appro- have never originated with me, Reason” but were priation to themselves of essential humanity, occasioned rather by men’s own vices, jeal- they charged that men, too, were embodied as a ousies, and pride (p. 18). Margaret Cavendish specific gender defined according to cultural (1985), a 17th-century English aristocrat, sug- ideals for people with similar bodies, character- gests that women rich enough not to depend on ized by certain psychological dispositions, men financially “were mad to live with Men, and shaping social institutions to serve their who make the Female sex their slaves” (p. 89). interests. As women sought to be included in In the democratizing ferment of the French the rights and privileges of citizens, they Revolution, Mary Wollstonecraft (1985) cried 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 37

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out for recognition of the common humanity of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1949/1968). both sexes. Her “Vindication of the Rights of Although they knew themselves as subjects Woman” appealed to men to “generously snap capable of transcending their immediate experi- our chains, and be content with rational fellow- ences through reason and will, they treated ship instead of slavish obedience” (p. 431). Woman as their Other—mystery, complement, When Abigail Adams (1994) wrote her husband object of desire, creature of body and change. De John Adams, one of the founders of the Beauvoir’s path-breaking book The Second Sex American republic and later president of the defended women’s claims to full personhood United States, to “Remember the Ladies” in and undercut men’s pretensions to fulfill their framing the new American state, she pleaded own ideals. “It is clear that in dreaming of for gender equality under Enlightenment himself as donor, liberator, redeemer, man still ideals of freedom: “Do not put such unlimited desires the subjection of women,” she writes power into the hands of the Husbands. (p. 172). She attacks the myths of masculine Remember all Men would be tyrants if they superiority and confirms masculine dualities could” (p. 876). The pioneering American that elevate mind over body by insisting that feminists at the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights men, too, are creatures of bodily and sexual Convention of 1848 implicitly accepted the infirmity rather than disembodied minds: claims of men to both a rational and religious “Indeed no one is more arrogant toward basis for citizenship when they attempted to women, more aggressive or scornful, than the add women to the language of the Declaration man who is anxious about his virility” (p. xxv). of Independence: “We hold these truths to be In a current version of this critique, Rosi self-evident: that all men and women are Braidotti (2002) alleges that “the price men created equal; that they are endowed by their pay for representing the universal is disem- Creator with certain inalienable rights. . . .” bodiment, or loss of gendered specificity into However, their statement immediately accused the abstraction of phallic masculinity,” and she men of failing to uphold their own ideals: “The suggests that men need “to get real” by recog- history of mankind is a history of repeated nizing their embodiment (p. 355). Exactly what injuries and usurpations on the part of man this means and how both men and women, toward woman” (Stanton, 1994, p. 1946). including those with physical and sensory dis- Furthermore, they said, “man” has withheld abilities, experience their embodiment is a fruit- from women “rights which are given to the ful topic in current feminist and masculinity most ignorant and degraded men—both natives studies (Hall, 2002). and foreigners” (p. 1947), a strategic attempt Twentieth-century liberal feminism con- to divide the category of “man” by showing tinued the tradition of seeking for women the some women superior to groups of men whom privileges already enjoyed by men. Betty other men also held in disrespect. Thus feminist Friedan (1963) and the National Organi- efforts to achieve political and educational zation for Women (founded in 1966) believed equality with men argued that at least some that changing laws and educating people against women already possessed equality in the quali- erroneous prejudices would remedy gender dis- ties necessary for these privileges—immortal crimination, giving women equal opportunities souls and educable human reason—but repeat- with men to exercise individual choices in life. edly oscillated between imitating and critiquing They sought gender equity through changes in men. At least a few men agreed and even fur- law and childhood socialization. They lobbied thered these arguments. The liberal English for equal treatment of boys and girls in school philosopher John Stuart Mill (Mill & Mill, and wrote children’s books featuring cooperative 1970), who developed his ideas about women boys as well as resourceful girls. They welcomed in dialogue with his wife, Harriet Taylor, men into their organizations and encouraged contended that an equal education for both women to enter previously male-dominated sexes would disprove men’s claims to superior occupations. In all these endeavors, their critics intelligence. alleged, they merely sought women’s inclusion Despite increasing numbers of women in current, male-dominated institutions, accept- intellectuals, men continued to think of human- ing a restrictively narrow model of equality ity as made in their image, according to French without questioning the masculine norms that 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 38

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valorized abstract reason and law over the relationship to social power, which was visibly bodies and emotions they ruled. Current versions symbolized in the male anatomical part that of liberal feminist theories, however, are more men feared losing and women envied. Luce sophisticated in their analyses and offer to Irigiray (1985) reversed what she called the men’s studies models for inquiries into the gen- “phallogocentric” Freudian concept of women’s dering of the law, the media, the state, and the “penis envy” as instead a defining characteristic professions; civil rights organizations open to of the masculine psyche: this alleged female male members with accessible goals for social envy “soothes the anguish man feels, Freud reform; and ideals such as androgyny for com- feels, about the coherence of his narcissistic bining traditionally masculine and feminine construction and reassures him against what personality characteristics in individuals. There he calls castration anxiety” (p. 51). Thus is still ample room for further studies in these Irigiray follows one feminist strategy in defining areas; for example, concerning what fosters boys’ masculinity as a condition of lack, vulnerability, and girls’ best learning. Are girls still short- and weakness, in an ironic mirroring of Freudian changed by schools, especially in math and versions of women’s lacking genital equipment science, or are boys now suffering from a school and defective moral development. American system designed to keep good girls quiet and theorist Drucilla Cornell (1998) develops this studious? The questions about which gender Lacanian theory to argue that masculinity is not wins or loses by which kind of setting or practice a transcendent human norm but is always imper- are ripe for reframing while the idea of equality iled by unconscious castration fears. The “bad is still in contention in numerous societal and news for the little boy” who identifies with the institutional settings. power of the idealized father, she says, is that Psychologist Eleanor Maccoby (1998) “this fantasy leaves him in a constant state of represents a recent version of this liberal view anxiety and terror that what makes him a man in encouraging individuality and freedom of can always be taken away from him” (p. 143). choice for both sexes and allowing for a varied This insecurity then fuels men’s fantasies of play of masculine and feminine difference superiority to women but also provides them, across the life cycle. She sees youth “growing she believes, with the motive for joining femi- up apart” in groups segregated by sex and adults nists in challenging the gender order and so experiencing “convergence” in sex and work freeing themselves from impossible standards (p. 189). She describes greater divergence of masculinity against which they will always within each gender than between the two, notes fail. As with all uses of psychoanalytic theory, contradictory components of both masculinity Cornell and Irigiray’s feminist deployment and femininity, and emphasizes that “sex-linked leaves open the question of how much the behavior turns out to be a pervasive function Freudian or Lacanian framework distorts or of the social context” more than of individual prejudges issues of gender, sexuality, and personality (p. 9). Other feminist theorists sexual difference, both in individual human also seek to deflate gender dualism by viewing psychology and in cultural representations. Per- gender as developmental across the life course, haps these very schema encourage the over- so that, for example, masculinity might be estimation of the importance of sexual difference defined by boys’ development from childish- in psychic functioning, also minimizing the ness to maturity rather than by opposition to complexities of intrasexual relationships and a denigrated femininity (Ehrenreich, 1983; of nonerotic bonds and antagonisms. Gardiner, 2002). Rejecting psychoanalysis as the unscientific Another approach to disputing gender bina- projection of male fantasies, contemporary ries and the equation of masculinity with human feminist scientists join the feminist tradition of rationality lies through the psychoanalytic theo- rationally disputing sexist claims that men are ries of Sigmund Freud and his French follower superior to women and different by nature as Jacques Lacan. Freud and Lacan (Gardiner, well as the claim that science itself is gender 1992) contradictorily asserted that all people neutral (Collins, 1999; Fausto-Sterling, 1992). were governed by irrational unconscious desires, Susan Bordo (1999) describes the prevailing thus unseating male claims to superior reason, pervasiveness of androcentrism in science and and that men but not women had a privileged in men’s attitudes to nature: “The phallus stands, 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 39

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not for the superior fitness of an individual of phallic equipment. Example: the explosion male over other men, but for generic male of the space shuttle Challenger” or as an superiority—not only over females but also “archetypically endless ceremony or gathering over other species” (p. 89). Although some of maledom. Examples: diplomatic functions, conservative adaptations of evolutionary theory church functions, White House functions” reinforce traditional gender roles, for example (p. 209). in explaining male aggression and promiscuity as Legal theorist Catharine MacKinnon is the optimizing reproductive success and so as pre- best-known exponent of a radical feminist view- dicted strategies for human survival, Darwinian point. Her theory posits male oppression of feminist theorists dispute such ahistorical women as the first and most pervasive of all mythologizing. Instead, they emphasize the oppressions, the model for racism and class social construction of scientific categories, injustice and the structuring principle of all the reliance on gendered metaphors in science established institutions. She begins one book, texts, and the sexism within science (Fausto- for example, with this grim invitation to a Sterling, 1992). They draw attention to the vast female reader: variety of primate as well as human societies and manifestations of gender and to the impor- Imagine that for hundreds of years your most for- tance in the animal world of social systems over mative traumas, your daily suffering and pain, the genetic programming. For instance, Barbara abuse you live through, the terror you live with, Smuts (1992) shows that female solidarity are unspeakable—not the basis of literature. You among primates decreases the prevalence of grow up with your father holding you down and aggression by males against females. Thus a covering your mouth so another man can make a horrible searing pain between your legs. When wide variety of feminist theorists disputes all you are older, your husband ties you to the bed definitions of masculinity that claim the nat- and drips hot wax on your nipples and brings in ural superiority of men over women and other other men to watch and makes you smile through creatures. Further work will be developing it. Your doctor will not give you drugs he has the philosophy and sociology of science with addicted you to unless you suck his penis. respect to the gendering of nature and of (MacKinnon, 1993, p. 3) contemporary scientific practices. If one strand of feminist theory critiques This passage constructs everywoman as the supposed rationality of masculinity, another eternally a victim, despite its invisible, author- characterizes masculinity as in itself harmful to itative female narrator. Its version of men and women and other men. These are the theories masculinity is horrifying, bizarre, and implic- most frequently characterized as male bashing, itly culture specific: Men are represented by because they focus on male violence against a father who facilitates the rape of his daughter, women and on men’s sexual objectification of a husband who flaunts his sexual sadism, and a women as the very definitions of masculinity. dope-dealing doctor who forces fellatio on his These theories seek gender equality by abolish- patients. ing or dramatically transforming men and MacKinnon (1987) makes gender dependent masculinity, although they may either extol or on sex and sex dependent on male force. Such vilify the characteristics ascribed to traditional social practices as pornography, rape, and pros- femininity. titution institutionalize “the sexuality of male Mocking male pretensions to power and supremacy, which fuses the eroticization of authority, theologian Mary Daly (1987) rejected dominance and submission with the social con- religions dependent on a Father God and sought struction of male and female. Gender is sexual. to remake a new, nonpatriarchal language as a Pornography constitutes the meaning of that step toward defeating androcentricism. The puns sexuality” (p. 148). MacKinnon does not discuss and startling new word usages in her Wickedary the origin of this system, but her paradigm associate masculinity not with power but with implies that men have always had the rapist the follies and failures of men as individuals and mentality to desire forced heterosexual sex as of male-dominated institutions. Thus, for well as the superior physical power to accom- instance, she defines “male-function” as mean- plish it. For her, masculinity defines men, rather ing “characteristically unreliable performance than the reverse. “By men I mean the status of 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 40

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masculinity that is accorded to males,” but war, provoke feminist theorizing about the not to those persons who are “defined as subor- relationship between masculinity and these dinated by force as women are” (p. 170). Men predominantly male activities, with the goal must work constantly to keep this masculine of eliminating these horrors rather than of control and dominance in place, and the place militarizing women. Sociologist Nancy Chodorow of subordinated men, including gay men, is explores the links between masculinity, rendered ambiguous in this account. nationalism, and violence, attributing men’s Although male domination is universal, aggression more to cycles of humiliation and MacKinnon (1987) believes, it is also shaped by domination among older and younger men than, contemporary society: “women are the property like MacKinnon, to men’s sexual exploitation of that constitutes the personhood, the masculinity, women. She rejects the Freudian theory that all of men under capitalism” (p. 159). Furthermore, people are innately aggressive and instead in her view, the standards for all aspects of sees aggression in both sexes as defending the culture are masculine: “masculinity, the male self when it is endangered either by physical standard for men” (p. 71), establishes patriar- force or by humiliation and shame. However, chal law and relegates women to the “private, she believes that men are more psychologically moral, valued, subjective”; men, on the other prone to respond to humiliation by violence hand, accrue to themselves the values of the against others than women are (Chodorow, “public, ethical, factual, objective” (p. 151). She 2002). Ecofeminist theorists also derive war claims that every quality that distinguishes men from a “militarized ‘cult of masculinity’” in from women is affirmatively compensated by which man conquers nature and defines society: national security as the protection of male privilege (Seager, 1999, p. 168). This “environmen- Men’s physiology defines most sports, their needs tally destructive ethos includes a cultivation of define auto and health insurance coverage, their hypermasculinity, secrecy, fraternity, and an socially designed biographies define workplace inflated sense of self-importance” (p. 169). At expectations and successful career paths, their its most extreme, Joni Seager alleges, the “cul- perspectives and concerns define quality in schol- ture of nuclear destruction” is “a private men’s arship, their experiences and obsessions define merit, their objectification of life defines art, their club, within which masculinity is both an military service defines citizenship, their presence explicit sexualized expression and an implicitly defines family, their inability to get along with taken-for-granted context” (p. 172). Thus, for each other . . . defines history, their image defines ecofeminists and for many global feminists, a God, and their genitals define sex. (MacKinnon, masculinity that validates competition among 1987, p. 36) men and domination over women also imperils the planet. For some of these theorists, It is not merely the case that men make masculine attempts to dominate nature contrast their behavior the norm for all people but that with more feminist attitudes of attunement these norms are themselves harmful. Pornography with nature. This masculine arrogance, they impels male bodies to act, creating a total mind- believe, leads to the extinction of species, the body split that apparently constitutes masculinity depletion of natural resources, war, and the but not femininity. For MacKinnon, the mascu- destruction of ecosystems necessary for human line has always defined humanity, but the mas- survival. culine is inhumane. The ultimate solution to These radical feminist theories attack this grim paradox is the abolition of both mas- masculinity rather than simply defending culinity and femininity; that is, the abolition of against sexist charges about women’s inferior- gender, although feminist-inspired laws, like ity. Their vision of masculinity can be violent those she and Andrea Dworkin proposed to out- and negative, void of any of the positive charac- law pornography and sexual harassment, might teristics traditionally assigned to masculinity. help to identify and ameliorate such negative Moreover, the superior force of disembodied consequences of eroticized masculine domi- reason sometimes seems appropriated in them nance (MacKinnon, 1987, pp. 200-201). to that of the female spokesperson for the voice- Not only sexual violence but national and less and oppressed category of other women. ethnic violence, as manifest in torture and Nevertheless, some male theorists agree with 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 41

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these radical feminist and ecofeminist positions. women’s traditional characteristics. Such For John Stoltenberg (1989), the only ethical theories tend to portray masculinity and femi- position for persons with penises is antimascu- ninity as complementary, with both containing line feminism. Thus he encourages other male good as well as bad traits. Psychologist Dorothy humans to join him in Refusing to Be a Man. Dinnerstein (1976) argues that the universal Exaggerated as the claims of radical feminism female control of early child rearing explains may sometimes seem, it succeeded in breaking both male dominance and misogyny, because all long-standing commonsense assumptions about infants fear their mothers’ life-giving or with- the naturalness of heterosexual predation and holding powers and transfer these unconscious the triviality of female complaints against male associations to other women. Chodorow (1978) treatment of women in streets and offices. With also explains men’s and women’s disparate its focus on the harms women experience, it personality structures through psychological articulated sexual harassment as a crime and dispositions linked to female-dominated child sexual objectification as a pervasive component rearing. Because boys, unlike girls, form their of gender inequality. Once stated, these perspec- masculine gender identity not through direct tives made sense to some men as well, both with imitation of the same-sex parent but through regard to relations with women and to relations separation and contrast from their mothers, she among men. Men around the world work now hypothesizes, they develop a sense of self that with other men to reduce gendered violence is independent, autonomous, and individuated; through profeminist organizations such as conversely, girls’ selves are more interdependent, the Global Network of Men and Mentors on nurturant, and empathic. Violence Prevention, as well as in environmen- Rather than accepting male dominance as tal and peace organizations (Freedman, 2002, necessary to human society, Chodorow’s popu- p. 287). Some men’s studies already address lar theory of 1978 explains it through forms men’s bullying and harassment of other men in of child rearing that have been universal in the workplaces and schools. A question that is still past but that modern technologies and social open is the usefulness to men’s theorizing of the arrangements can now alter. Furthermore, she model of harm developed by radical feminists. describes masculinity as so limiting for men’s Aída Hurtado (1999), among others, critiques lives, rather than so enjoyably privileged, that masculinist men’s studies on the grounds that men should also have incentives for change. If although they trumpet men’s “wounds” from fathers take equal responsibility with mothers childhood, they leave white upper-class male for early child care, she argues, gender inequal- privilege intact and unexamined. “The Western ity would disappear, women would be relieved male intellectual tradition cannot theorize from of the unfair burdens of caregiving, and men a position of privilege,” she claims, but, rather, would gain a satisfying intimacy with their only one of a “victimhood” that “leaves the sta- children, women, and each other. Chodorow tus quo untouched” (p. 126). However, accurate (1978) thinks “equal parenting” could bring all assessments of men’s self-perceptions and per- people “the positive capacities” now restricted ceptions of others that avoid both justification to each sex separately, and both sexes would and blaming may well be necessary to those also be more flexible in their choice of sexual designing psychological incentives for social objects (p. 218). This optimistic theory about change. gender transformation requires dramatic changes In contrast to radical feminist theories, in men’s lifestyles as they assume heavy child- many cultural feminist theories do not see male care responsibilities to produce more egalitarian aggression and other traditionally gendered personality structures in the future; women, attributes as innate but rather as developed on the other hand, will continue their current within individual psychologies by mother- multitasking of work and family obligations. dominated child rearing and other widespread Current empirical studies in parenting show social practices. Whereas sharply binary “domi- some changes in fathers’ and mothers’ tasks nance” theories such as MacKinnon’s seem in and commitments of time and emotion to danger of positing a masculinity that obliterates their children. The effects on the parents, femininity, these “difference,” “cultural femi- the children, and society at large await future nist,” or woman-centered theories validate investigation. 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 42

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Unlike MacKinnon’s and other radical than as stable characteristics of individual feminist theories that simply posit a dominating personality (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & masculinity as the origin of gender inequality, Tarule, 1986; Gilligan, 1982; Maccoby, 1998, Chodorow’s (1978) psychoanalytic theory pp. 198-199). This is a rich field for future explains masculinity as a defensive and com- research, especially in social contexts outside pensatory formation in individual men’s devel- the college survey laboratory or therapist’s opment. Identifying with their individual consulting room. mothers, women become mothers in turn, but Theories of gender complementarity based men become masculine by identifying with on the psychological asymmetries of child the male roles in society. “Masculine identifi- rearing are subject to the criticisms that they cation,” she says, “is predominantly a gender underestimate the effects of social dominance, role identification. By contrast, feminine historical and cultural differences, and differ- identification is predominantly parental,” based ences among members of the same sex. However, on a girl becoming like her mother, whereas their emphasis on the importance of fathering being a father has been a minor part of most has found widespread acceptance among both modern men’s identity (p. 176). Thus gender is masculinist and profeminist masculinity theo- defined by men’s difference from women in rists (Gardiner, 2002). Profeminist scholars these theories but asymmetrically rather than in Michael Kimmel and Michael Kaufman (1995), a relation of either simple opposition or negation. for example, argue that manhood is dangerous According to Chodorow, this leaves contempo- when formed in flight from femininity. They rary men confused about how to be masculine. cite Chodorow and Dinnerstein, among others, She asserts that it is “crucial for everyone...to to claim that “men need to heal the mother have a stable sexual identity. But until masculine wound, to close the gap between the mother who identity does not depend on men’s proving them- cared for us and the mother we have tried to selves, their doing will be a reaction to insecu- leave behind” (p. 28). They contrast themselves rity rather than a creative exercise of their with the masculinist men’s movement of Robert humanity” (p. 44). Bly (1990), which urges men to “cut our psychic In her early discussions of masculine umbilical cord” with women rather than sharing identity formation based on feminist object- with them in the labors of bringing up the next relations psychology, Chodorow (1978) claimed generation (p. 27). that masculinity based on negation of the If radical feminist theories sharply divide mother is a defensive construction likely to masculine power from feminine powerlessness be rigid, formed on unrealistic stereotypes and cultural feminist theories focus especially and narrow cultural norms, and disadvanta- on psychological differences between men and geous to both the individual and the culture. women, other theories are more attentive to the However, her more recent defenses of hetero- myriad differences that divide men from other sexuality as potentially as varied and exciting men and women from other women, as well as as the homosexualities lead her to embrace the to the commonalities between the sexes and view that all formations of unconscious desire the relationships among the various categories have defensive, possibly even perverse com- of social inequality (Lorber, 1994; Maccoby, ponents (Chodorow, 1994, 1999). Thus, if 1998). Feminists of color and many feminists defensive personality structures can be as influenced by Marxism emphasize the inter- flexible, complex, and exciting as nonde- connectedness of gender with other social hier- fensive ones, there is no longer a theoretical archies, including nationality, ethnicity, social reason to polarize masculinity as formed class, racialized identities, and sexualities. negatively and defensively in contrast to a African American feminist theorist Patricia Hill more positive femininity. Similarly, although Collins (1999) explains that the “construct of feminist assessments of moral reasoning and intersectionality references two types of relation- “women’s ways of knowing” initially appeared ships: the interconnectedness of ideas and the to polarize a rigid abstract masculinity against social structures in which they occur, and the interdependent and interpersonal female styles, intersecting hierarchies” of social power; “view- current theorists see these gendered styles as ing gender within a logic of intersectionality dependent on variable social contexts rather redefines it as a constellation of ideas and social 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 43

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practices that are historically situated within the West African origins of many African and that mutually construct multiple systems American people or the small-town American of oppression” (p. 263). The categories these black South as models for more ideal and harmo- theorists describe are not additive but trans- nious societies than those of the contemporary formative, so that, for example, Chicano mas- capitalist West. culinities are not simply Anglo masculinities In response to some second-wave white with a salsa beat or a dose of machismo but feminists who drew analogies between the complex responses to Hispanic cultures, Catholic disadvantaged positions of women and African religion, dominant American middle-class white Americans, African American feminists pub- masculine assumptions, and the internal dynam- lished the pioneering text All the Women Are ics of Latino families (González, 1996). These White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of multidimensional feminist theories allow for Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies (Hull, more theoretical nuance as well, as seen in Scott, & Smith, 1982). African American Hurtado’s (1999) “blasphemies,” addressed to feminist theorists repeatedly sought to balance white feminism and positing, for example, white sympathy and critique for African American men’s differential treatments of white women, men. Michelle Wallace (1990) began her book who are needed to reproduce white children, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman and women of color, who become used rather as (originally published in 1978) with the premise sexual and economic objects. that African American men felt deprived of Black feminists have repeatedly sought to manhood by white supremacy, so that it was balance understanding of the particular oppres- a revolutionary claim for human dignity, not sions experienced by women of color with a tautology, when striking male garbage sympathy toward the vicissitudes of men in their workers mobilized by the Reverend Martin communities. They critically examine the dif- Luther King, Jr., wore signs saying, “I am a ficulties that men of color face in achieving man” (p. 1). According to Wallace, African mainstream versions of masculinity and critique American men in the decade of the black those forms of masculinity that depend on power movement (1966-1977) came to believe sexism and male supremacy. In addition, they that “manhood was essential to revolution” and join male black intellectuals in indicting the that authority over women was a primary projections of endemic social problems such agenda for liberation (p. 17). Thus African as male violence against women or substance American feminist discussions of masculinity abuse exclusively onto blacks. Both male and were also discussion of the relationships female theorists situate African American between men and women within African gender characteristics within the common American communities and of the relationships history of U.S. racism and the legacy of slavery. between these communities and the dominant In particular, they speak of the dispersal of white culture. families and cultures; the imposition of alien One prominent African American feminist ideologies, physical hardship, and degrading theorist who has returned to these issues repeat- servitude; and the denial of education, opportu- edly over the decades is bell hooks. Writing nity, sexual choice, and occupational mobility. in collaboration with minister and public intel- Chattel slavery was literally dehumanizing, in lectual Cornel West (1991), she bases her that it did not recognize the human status of discussion and models her goal of an African slaves in law or practice (Williams, 1991, American “beloved community” on “a vision pp. 216-236); infantilizing, in that it did not of transformative redemptive love between recognize the adult status of slaves but kept Black women and men” (see the dedication). them as wards and dependents judged incapable Portraying the ideal bonding between African of citizenship; and sometimes also emasculat- American men and women not through sexual ing, castration figuring prominently in the ter- metaphors but as political friendship, hooks rorist postbellum tortures of lynching (Ross, (1984) sees men as “comrades in struggle” 2002). These discussions affirm the strength (p. 67). She argues that the poor or working necessary to survive such conditions and the class man has been hurt—and sometimes hurts resulting cross-sex unity of African American others—by being unable to live up to dominant communal experience, and at times they invoke definitions of masculinity 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 44

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because he does not have the privilege or power tense area in contemporary discourse but an society has taught him “real men” should possess. essential one if there is to be research rather Alienated, frustrated, pissed off, he may attack, than mere rhetoric in the future. abuse, and oppress an individual woman or Thus the theories of feminists of color expand women, but he is not reaping positive benefits the categories of gender analysis beyond a from his support and perpetuation of sexist masculine-feminine binary, often looking to ideology [and so is] not exercising privilege. (hooks, 1984, p. 73) larger structures of oppression and social representations to explain tensions between African American men and women and inviting African Looking back to her childhood, hooks American men to join in both theorizing and (1992) describes a harmonious African community building. However, the disparity of American community where “there was no explanatory schemes among these various monolithic standard of black masculinity” and feminist theories may help indicate some of many men, despite their difficulties in attaining the gaps in each. If some white men who have breadwinner economic status, were “caring and not experienced racist oppression are sexist giving” (p. 88). In recent years, however, she or violent toward women, this explanation is believes that media distortions confuse men unlikely to be the whole story for African and women, white people and people of color, American men either. Conversely, if external eco- with their “stereotypical, fantastical repre- nomic and social pressures rather than innate sentations of black masculinity,” and some aggression or gendered psychological identifica- African American male celebrities augment tions influence the expressions of masculinity in these distortions with swaggering, self-centered African American men, such causation is likely “dick thing” masculinity (p.105). Although to be operative for other men as well. Currently, she thinks African American men “receive many studies are segregated less by gender than respect and admiration” from white as well as by academic discipline, whereas more inter- other African American men for flaunting their disciplinary analyses of the effects of racism and ostensible sexual prowess and domination of sexism on the lives of all people are warranted. women, she sees these new ideals as spurious Other U.S. theorists of color and global and harmful (p. 93). African American man- feminists currently join African American hood should once again connote providing and feminists in analyzing ways in which mas- protecting, she believes, rather than its current culinity is constructed in specific historical and emphasis on men’s “capacity to coerce, control, cultural contexts. For example, Anna Maria dominate” that has ruined relationships Alonso (1992) describes a Mexican construc- between sexes in the black community (p. 66). tion of masculinity in which the independent In contrast, hooks models a kind of feminism peasant is fully masculine, in opposition to the built on cooperation between men and women. wage worker, who is “both like a child and “Revolutionary feminism is not anti-male,” she like a woman because he relies on others claims, but rather seeks the full development for his sustenance” (p. 414). Chandra Talpade of all individuals (p. 63). She thinks feminism Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes Torres can help both men and women attain (1991) show British imperial rule in India the “capacity to be wholistic....Rather than operating through “the ideological construc- defining manhood in relation to sexuality, we tion and consolidation of white masculinity as would acknowledge it in relation to biology: normative and the corresponding racializa- boys become men, girls women, with the tion and sexualization of colonized peoples” understanding that both categories are synony- (p.15). Chilla Bulbeck (1998), who describes mous with selfhood” (p. 69). African American global feminisms often overlooked by Anglo male theorists are responding to such feminist feminists, reports on changing categories of calls. Philip Brian Harper’s (1996) book Are We same-sex behavior and “third genders” around Not Men? Masculine Anxiety and the Problem the world (p.154). Evelyn Nakano Glenn of African-American Identity, for example, (1999) traces the problematic effects of equating addresses the varieties of African American masculinity with independence in “the racial- male experience and the relationships between ized gender construction of American citizen- African American men and women. This is a ship” (p. 22), and Valentine Moghadam (1999) 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 45

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investigates the interconnections among huge In contrast, some poststructuralist feminist military expenditures, deindustrialization, civil theories, especially those claiming the rubric conflict, the rise of fundamentalist movements, “queer,” interrogate the very concept of gender and the consequent “reinstitutionalization of as tied to specific kinds of human bodies. That patriarchal gender relations” in the developing is, they question the foundational categories world (p. 132). Typical of this postmillennial of men and women altogether and may wish perspective is Cherríe L. Moraga’s (2002) inclu- to eliminate or proliferate gender beyond the sive definition of the concerns of women of current male-female dichotomy. color in terms affecting both men and women Poststructuralist feminists tend to see gen- throughout the restructuring globe: She includes der as fluid, negotiable, and created through “immigrant rights, indigenous peoples’ water and repeated performances rather than as fixed or land rights, the prison industrial system, milita- innate. They believe their view is more liber- rism, [and] reproductive rights.” ating than the ideas of either traditionalists Because these global and multicultural or other feminists. Although they do not claim feminists all seek to make an impact on mixed- that androgyny or gender convergence has gender communities defined in opposition to already been achieved, their theories forecast the dominant white Western culture, they tend a multiplicity of gendered possibilities for to adopt the position of collaborators in strug- people rather than only two opposed condi- gle with male colleagues from their consti- tions. In her highly influential book Gender tuencies, adding their methodological tools Trouble (Butler, 1990), philosopher Judith of intersectional analysis to antiracist and Butler calls gender “a kind of persistent imper- antiglobal organizing strategies. Their visions sonation that passes as the real” (p. x). Her of equality look to a more inclusive and fairer goal is not to make it more genuine but to future for both sexes throughout the world. As convince others of its artificiality. “As a strat- hooks (2000) wrote, egy to denaturalize and resignify bodily categories” in a less polarized manner, she The only genuine hope of feminist liberation lies proposes “a set of parodic practices based in a with a vision of social change that takes into performative theory of gender acts that disrupt consideration the ways interlocking systems of the categories of the body, sex, gender, and classism, racism, and sexism work to keep women exploited and oppressed [in relation to] a global sexuality and occasion their subversive resigni- white supremacist patriarchy [that] enslaves fication and proliferation beyond the binary and/or subordinates masses of Third World frame” of masculinity and femininity (p. xii). women. (p. 109) She often repeats her belief that to “denaturalize” is to rename in a way that is liberating and The gendered work of global systems and progressive. Part of moving “beyond the binary of various human ecologies will be important to frame,” in Butler’s work, is her deemphasis on future research agendas, as will such areas as masculinity and femininity in favor of “gen- the differential gendering and sexualization of der,” understood as potentially multiple and new technologies. variable. Neither “masculinity” nor “feminin- As we have seen, many strands of feminist ity” appears in the index to Gender Trouble, theory seek to make masculinity visible as a although “bisexuality,” “feminism,” “phallogo- gender, rather than allowing it to retain the pres- centrism,” and “sex/gender distinction” are all tige of being equated with human rationality or represented. Butler’s work thus continues the the invisibility of being equated with economic feminist strategy of seeking liberation from or scientific law. Some of the feminist theories traditional constraints by disputing the natural- discussed here divide masculinity sharply from ness of gender altogether, but its distinctive either a devalued traditional femininity of contribution lies in the argument that institu- passivity and sexual objectification or from a tionalized heterosexuality creates gender revalued femininity of nurturance and empa- (Butler, 1997, p. 135). If it were not socially thy. Intersectional and multicultural feminist useful for there to be two sexes to marry one theories retain gender as a crucial element in another and divide work and kinship, she the complex, changing, and interrelated social claims, people would not need to be divided hierarchies they describe throughout the globe. into the categories of men and women at all. 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 46

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Butler’s performative theory of gender has Queer theorist Judith Halberstam (1998) been enormously productive for the development catalogues varieties of masculinity in female of queer theory as a field and for the advancement bodies, what she calls “masculinity without of an antihomophobic political agenda in alliance men,” including the androgyne, the tribade, with the movement for gay, lesbian, bigender, the female husband, the stone butch, and the and transsexual rights (d’Emilio & Freedman, drag king. She concludes that “we are all 1997). Many male queer theorists have analyzed transsexuals” and that “there are no transsexu- abject and alternative masculinities among men als”: Contemporary possibilities for surgical in relation to hegemonic masculinities (Bersani, transformation of the body “threaten the bina- 1988; Thomas, 1996). Some female queer theo- rism of homo/heterosexuality by performing rists, too, have focused specifically on alternative and fictionalizing gender” (Halberstam, 1994, masculinities, especially as they are represented pp. 225-226). That is, with the categories of in the media. For example, film theorist Kaja men and women unstable, people cannot be Silverman (1992) argues for the progressive categorized by habitual sexual desire directed potential of nonphallic masculinities that avoid toward one or the other of two categories. dominant masculinity’s disavowal of powerless- Halberstam (1998) seeks an end to “compulsory ness and instead “embrace castration, alterity, gender binarism” and its replacement by more and specularity” (p. 3). Even more radically, flexible, depathologized forms of “gender pref- other queer theorists embrace masculinity when erence” (p. 27). Nor are masculine women the its signs are manifest in female rather than only ones with a vested interest in masculinities, male bodies. For example, sociologist Gayle as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1995) notes. “As Rubin (1992) argues that the lesbian categories a woman, I am a consumer of masculinities, of butch and femme compose an alternative but I am not more so than men are; and, like gender system, not a simple imitation of the men, I as a woman am also a producer of two conventional genders of male masculinity masculinities and a performer of them” (p. 13). and female femininity. Although she admits Furthermore, Sedgwick claims that masculinity that butch and femme are created within the and femininity are not opposite ends of the environment of heterosexist society, she claims same continuum but rather “orthogonal to they refigure traditional gender in ways that each other”; that is, independent variables in may be either reactionary or liberating for the “perpendicular dimensions” so that a person individuals involved and for society as a whole. could be high or low in both scales at once She says that “like lesbianism itself, butch and (p.15). This arena looks particularly fruitful for femme are structured within dominant gender psychological studies in masculinity and queer systems” and may either resist or uphold those theory as well as in feminist scholarship. systems but never completely escape them Although some contemporary feminists (p. 479). Thus butch is specifically lesbian want to claim masculinity for women or multi- masculinity, configured differently but always ply genders, other feminists strive to minimize in relation to heterosexual men’s masculinity, gender polarization or to eliminate gender which is itself a complicated, changing, and altogether. Psychologist Sandra Lipsitz Bem sometimes self-contradictory social constel- (1993) explains that she found the concepts lation. For some women, she says, feeling they of androgyny and of sexual orientation too had traits often ascribed to men, such as athleti- limiting to fit her own needs and so came to cism or aggression, seems to have impelled think that “gender polarization, androcentrism, their butch identities; for others, sexual desire and biological essentialism” all reinforced for other women implied to them their own male power and so distorted the possibilities masculinity. For yet other women, the primary for gender equality (p. viii). Sociologist Judith impulse toward a butch identity seems to have Lorber (1994) stresses the multiplicity of been the feeling that they were inwardly or “gendered sexual statuses” that might be cate- essentially a man. Ways of achieving congruence gorized by genitalia, object choice, appearance, with that feeling include adopting men’s mascu- gender display, kinds of relationship, relevant line signifiers, such as a necktie or moustache, group affiliation, sexual practices, and self- or, these days, a surgically transformed body. identifications (pp. 58-59). Her fundamental 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 47

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goal is the abolition of gender by structuring bettered. Feminists ridicule masculinist men’s equality so thoroughly into society that many studies and welcome profeminist efforts by men. forms of sexuality are recognized as equally American feminist journalist Gloria Steinem valid and gender no longer organizes social life (1992) announces that “women want a men’s at all. This view takes the abolition of gender as movement” if that means men will “become the only way of eliminating gender inequality more nurturing toward children, more able to talk and as a positive goal in itself: “When the infor- about emotions,” and less violent and controlling mation about genitalia is as irrelevant as the (p. v). English psychologist Lynne Segal (1990) color of the child’s eyes . . . then and only then regrets the “slow motion” of men toward gender will women and men be socially interchange- equality and muses that the literature of mas- able and really equal” (p. 302). Until then, of culinity “uncannily mirrors” its feminist fore- course, research that documents actual change bears: it “focuses upon men’s own experiences, in attitudes, behaviors, and institutions will be generates evidence of men’s gender-specific of special value. suffering and has given birth to a new field of Poststructuralist feminist and queer theories enquiry, ‘Men’s Studies’” (2000, p. 160). At encourage the flexibility and variability of both present, feminist theorists are citing masculinity identity and desire and the decoupling of gender scholars more frequently than previously, and identity and sexual preference. Although female vice versa. Feminist thinkers are benefiting from theorists seem especially interested in female- the theoretical insights and empirical findings embodied masculinities and sometimes warn of masculinity studies that concern the complex their male colleagues about exclusive attention asymmetries, changing histories, local conditions, to male practices, queer theories generally are and institutional variances of gender in a wide accommodating to male practitioners and variety of specific settings. disruptive of the heteronormativity that many Current textbooks in women’s and mas- feminists feel upholds male dominance. On the culinity studies agree in their basic feminist other hand, queer theorists pay little attention premises, all describing hierarchies of domi- to some of the central concerns of other kinds nance, relationally defined gender, and multiple of feminist theorizing: to parenting, for example, and interactive axes of social oppression or citizenship, or the gendered politics of work, (Gardiner, 2003). In a rapidly changing world although both male and female queer theorists marked by contradictory forces of war, violence, are now more frequently incorporating antiracist, disrupted ecologies and economies, fundamental- global, and other multifactored perspectives into ist backlash, enhanced opportunities for women, their analyses. the feminization of poverty, the casualization The movement for women’s equality has been of labor, the decline of traditional male wages, one of the most successful social movements of the objectification of male bodies, the recognition the past century, despite the varying oppressions of more diverse sexualities, the reconfiguration of still suffered by women around the globe. nationalities and ethnicities, the rise of liberating Feminist theories have been shaped by women’s social movements, and what Donna Haraway changing place in contemporary societies, and (1989) calls the “the paradoxical intensification these theories have sometimes proved effective in and erosion of gender itself ” (p. 191), feminist changing both men’s and women’s consciousness theories continue to develop in conversation and conditions. The widespread establishment of with men’s and masculinity studies and other women’s studies programs in colleges and uni- movements for social justice. They continue to versities, especially in the United States, has cre- seek an equality for men and women and for ated a pool of practitioners of feminist theory and people around the globe at the highest level inspired the establishment of men’s and mas- of human imagination and aspiration rather than culinity studies as well (Boxer, 1998). Although the lowest common denominator. As Gloria masculinist men’s movements sometimes decry Anzaldúa (2002) comments, “in this millennium feminism, generally men’s studies treat feminism we are called to renew and birth a more inclusive and feminist theory as scholarly big sisters, feminism, one committed to basic human rights, perhaps dull, dowdy, outmoded, or too restrictive, equality, respect for all people and creatures, and but nevertheless models to be followed and for the earth” (p. xxxix). 03-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:15 PM Page 48

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QUEERING THE PITCH?

Gay Masculinities

TIM EDWARDS

n the face of it, gay masculinities are attempts to reclaim the masculine, if only a contradiction in terms: Gay negates through desire? O masculine. The litany of terminology It would seem that at the crux of this contra- associated with homosexuality over the past diction, and without necessarily invoking any century, let alone its representations (ranging specific psychoanalytic connotation, is the from Quentin Crisp’s Naked Civil Servant to wider playing out of the relationship of desire The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the and identification.2 Within the heterosexual Desert, as well as a camp tradition of television frame, this is, at least stereotypically, quite stars from John Humphries in Are You Being simple: The male, in identifying as masculine, Served? to Graham Norton’s self-titled chat learns to desire what he is not, on some level at show), provide ample demonstration of the least; namely, the female and the feminine. Yet, never-ending association of the homosexual within the frame of the homosexual, this rela- with the effeminate: limp-wristed, shirt-lifting tionship is far more complex: The male, in pos- poofs, pansies, and queens.1 Nonetheless, the sibly still identifying as masculine, but strongly defining feature of the gay man is that he loves undermined by stereotypes and attitudes to the or simply eroticizes men as opposed to women contrary, desires what he perhaps still is or and therefore, in some sense, the masculine wants to be, which is also masculine. Or, to put as opposed to the feminine. This factor was it more simply, in relation to homosexuality, strongly reinforced in the 1970s when, in the desire and identification become, if not the wake of gay liberation, many gay men rejected same, then certainly less distinct. the effeminate in favor of the hypermasculine, This sense of contradiction surrounding male sexually driven machismo of “clone culture” homosexuality and masculinity would also (defined later). All of this leaves us with some- seem to work on several strongly interrelated thing of a conundrum, for if gay men are not levels: first, and most personally, in relation to real men at all, or if they are gender deviants homosexual men themselves, who are caught up whose relationship to masculinity is essentially in still being men but also desiring them— one of lack, then how does this square with their which renders them somehow not men at all;

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second, more socially, in relation to questions to regard themselves as “gay” at all. It is also of representation and attitudes that often see gay borne out in studies of sexual behavior that men as either promiscuous perverts of some report very large discrepancies between the monstrous masculine sexuality or as effeminate numbers of men who have had sexual experi- queens whose only relationship to the masculine ence with other men and the numbers of men is a negative; and third, discursively and histor- who identify themselves as homosexual or gay, ically, possessing a sexuality that is somehow most famously in the Kinsey Report of the never simply just a matter of preference but a 1940s but reinforced in later research (Kinsey, matter of gender and of definitions of normalcy Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Spada, 1979; Wellings, and deviance. Field, Johnson, & Wadsworthy, 1994). Consequently, it is my primary intention in What this assertion also rests on is the logic this chapter to expose, explore, and perhaps of social construction. Social constructionist resolve some of these contradictions concern- theory, in a variety of ways, seeks to demon- ing homosexuality and masculinity that, when strate that sexuality, far from being biological, connected, constitute the complex phenomenon constant, or inevitable, is socially variable, con- that is contemporary gay masculinity. As fre- tingent, and ambiguous. Fundamental in this quently noted, this invokes a focus on the was the now legendary work of anthropologist politics as well as the theory of gender and sex- Margaret Mead in Samoa, in which she demon- uality, as the one has constantly informed the strated, in some empirical detail, a variety of other and vice versa (Weeks, 1985). There are sexual practices and gendered identities that three key sections: first, a consideration of the were often at significant variance from those in history of homosexuality; second, a discussion the West, as well as the wider sociological con- of various academic and political perspectives cern with the social rather than biological nature taken from the successes and failures of gay lib- of human society (Cooley, 1902; Durkheim, eration; and third, an evaluation of more recent 1951; Mead, 1977). More recently, social con- theoretical attempts to resolve, or at least structionist accounts of sexuality have gained understand, the contradictions of masculinity significant impetus from the work of Michel and homosexuality. Foucault. Foucault, in his pioneering History of Sexuality (1978), saw the homosexual as a specific type of person, “invented,” as it were, through the work of a series of Northern THE HOMOSEXUAL TRIUMPHANT: European scientists of sex, or sexologists, in the HIS STORY OF HOMOSEXUALITY late 19th century, including the Swiss doctor Karoly Benkert, who coined the term homo- It is now well-known, within more academic sexual; Krafft-Ebing; and Magnus Hirschfeld, circles at least, that homosexuality is a cultur- among others (Foucault, 1978, 1984a, 1984b). ally specific, modern, and Western phenomenon The assertion that the homosexual identity is a (Caplan, 1987; Greenberg, 1988; Katz, 1976; culturally specific phenomenon that varies in Plummer, 1981; Weeks, 1977). While same-sex perception, practice, and outcome from time to desire is in all likelihood universal throughout time and place to place also strongly under- time and space, the homosexual as a type of mined the notion that the homosexual identity at person is only a century or so old and only fully least, if not same-sexual activity, is simply the exists in a similar form within parts of the result of some kind of behavioral, biological, or United States, Australasia, and Northern psychological essence. In addition, for Foucault Europe, with variant forms elsewhere within the this counteracted any notion of Victorian repres- developed world and very little that is truly sion, and even sexual desire itself was con- comparable anywhere else. What this assertion structed discursively through processes of crucially rests on is the distinction of sexual acts medical, scientific, and psychiatric labeling, as and sexual identities—or, to put it more directly, well as other often state-driven attempts to set homosexual sex alone does not a gay man make. up and enforce the boundaries of sexual nor- This accounts, among other things, for the rou- malcy and sexual pathology. In conjunction tine ability of a large number of men who have with this, the rise of expertise per se, as part of sex with men, in public toilets or elsewhere, not what Foucault called “scientia sexualis,” or an 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 53

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entire science of sex, further hammered home is the result of some abnormality in hormones, the conception of the homosexual as a type of the brain, or parental upbringing (see, for person and homosexuality as a condition, a per- example, Le Vay, 1993). The problems of essen- ception validated, reinforced, and perpetuated as tialism are now well established and are based sexual “truth.” on three central points: first, that claims made This perspective has been adopted and are of dubious reliability and validity in scien- elaborated throughout a variety of studies both tific terms, as they are often based on small sam- historical and anthropological, as well as polit- ples, animals, or identical twins, from which ical and sociological. In relation to anthro- wider generalizations are necessarily limited; pology, Foucault’s legacy has been used to second, that in reiterating the significance of illustrate the indeterminacy of sex, exposing a the etiology of homosexuality, these claims have wide diversity of cultural attitudes and practices had the consequence, intended or not, of both in relation to sexuality (see, for example, marginalizing and pathologizing homosexuality Caplan, 1987; Greenberg, 1988). More his- through the lack of any comparable attention to torically, Jeffrey Weeks (1977, 1981, 1985) in heterosexuality; and third, that such claims particular provided a thoroughgoing analysis of undermine the capacity for change and absolve the twin motors of reform and regulation that responsibility both personally and socially, were then seen to found and form the develop- leading to an “I/they can’t help it” model of ment of contemporary gay culture. Gay libera- homosexuality. tion was thus seen to be the culmination of The ambiguity of these claims more much earlier movements toward reform dating politically has not gone unnoticed where back to the 19th century and the work of attempts have not only been made to patholo- Edward Carpenter (1908), among others, as gize homosexuality (through aversion ther- well as the increased visibility brought about by apy, for example) but to establish the rights of the trial of Oscar Wilde in the United Kingdom.3 those with a gay biology through an appeal to Politically, the same argument has been used to civil liberties or a similar minority platform. critique medical and psychological attempts to Similarly, constructionist claims often cham- pathologize the homosexual and to develop a pion homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle primarily utopian vision of a world in which choice, yet these beliefs can also lead to fears erotic attachment is merely a matter of lifestyle of contagion, or gay sexuality “rubbing off,” or personal choice of no more concern than which often underpins much resistance to gay liking tea or coffee (Bristow & Wilson, 1993; and lesbian parenting (Epstein, 1987, 1988; Harwood et al., 1993; Walter, 1980). Sociolog- Evans, 1993). It is not my intention here, how- ically, social constructionist theory has also ever, to evaluate these claims in detail or to fuel come to inform a range of studies of gender and an already very old and tired debate between sexuality more widely. In particular, these essentialists and constructionists. include interactionist work, in which sexual I do, however, wish to raise several concerns identity is seen as form of self-constructed in relation to the constructionist history of homo- narrative, or storytelling; and feminist work, in sexuality as it is most commonly perceived, which the logic of constructionism has clearly played out, and perpetuated within predomi- fueled the sense of the unnaturalness of femi- nantly sexual-political understandings of sexu- ninity in the wake of second-wave feminism ality. It is of critical importance here to note that and, more recently, the attempt to deconstruct I am not attempting to provide a critique of the very category of woman (Plummer, 1984; Foucault’s work per se; rather, I am questioning Riley, 1988; Wittig, 1997). Ironically, one might some of the ways in which it has been adopted also now conjecture that social construction- and applied elsewhere. I am thinking particu- ism has become adopted so routinely within larly of the work of various gay historians and the social sciences as to constitute a near the adoption of their work within some forms of “discourse” in itself. socialist feminism, as well as some of its more That said, this particular history of homosex- contemporary and eclectic variants (Bristow & uality is not without critique, perhaps most tire- Wilson, 1993; Harwood et al., 1993; Patton, somely from variant forms of essentialism that 1985; Segal, 1990; Weeks, 1985). Although never-endingly try to claim that homosexuality varying significantly, all of these theorists 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 54

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cite Foucault as a major influence in adopting a indicative of a deliberate attempt to suppress the politically informed perspective that is at pains importance of feminism, depoliticize academia, to point out both that homosexuality is socially and indeed exclude women (Stanley, 1984). constructed and that gay liberation represented a I would like to suggest that the issue here is high-water mark in wider movements toward perhaps wider and indeed more historical. greater social acceptance of sexual diversity. As Women’s sexuality, particularly in any form I have already documented and critiqued these autonomous from men’s, has had a very long perspectives in detail elsewhere, I do not plan history of struggling to find voice in the face to do so again here (Edwards, 1994, 1998). of often concerted attempts to silence it or even However, it remains necessary to summarize deny its existence. The comparative invisibility, some of the key problems: First, these perspec- even now, of lesbianism compared with the tives often fail to problematize gay liberation public spectacle, if not pariahlike, status of gay sufficiently either theoretically or politically; male sexuality, is testimony to this, as is the second, to varying degrees, they present a view frequent desexualization of female homosexual- of sexual history that is insufficiently racialized ity into mere “romantic friendship” (Faderman, or gendered; and third, they tend to lead to a 1981). Recent attempts to reclaim some sense of form of triumphalism, a kind of “we’ve made it” the sexuality of lesbianism either discursively, perspective that offers few solutions to current through reinventing the connotations of the problems other than to reiterate the joys of identity of the dyke, or through representations diversity and pluralism ad nauseam. The rest of women as promiscuous sexual predators, of this section will document some of these for example in the work of photographer Della difficulties more fully, particularly as they per- Grace, have often succeeded more in openly tain to the relationship of homosexuality and parodying gay male sexuality and less in finding masculinity. an alternative voice for the women who wish to First, the history of homosexuality remains express their sexual desires for other women profoundly gendered. As I have argued else- (Grace, 1993). It is, I think, clear, then, that this where, gender and sexuality as practices, dis- contemporary constructionist story of sexuality courses, and indeed constructs are intricately is indeed his story of his homosexuality, and it linked, and it is often far more accurate to talk in is not satisfactory as an explanation of, or even terms of gendered sexualities and sexualized as an engagement with, its female equivalent. genders than of gender and sexuality as if they Strictly within that caveat, it may remain were two distinct categories (Edwards, 1990). In satisfactory as an understanding of the history addition, the stigmatization of male homosexu- of male homosexuality alone. However, as we ality has much to do with gender. Gay men are shall see, several difficulties remain. often castigated as the wrong sort of men: too The gendering of this history of homo- masculine, too promiscuous, too phallic, or too sexuality does not end with the simple differen- lacking in masculinity, somehow incompetent at tiation of its male and female variations. Far it, or simply effeminate. Similar themes also more significantly, the history of male homo- emerge in relation to female homosexuality— sexuality remains gendered per se. The most lesbians become “butch diesel dykes” and mas- cursory glance through past forms of male same- culinity in the wrong body or, conversely, some sex sexuality reveals a very significantly varying, kind of feminine hormonal sexuality gone wild, yet equally profoundly unending, connection “lipstick lesbians” who just can’t help helping with gender. Greco-Roman culture may show no themselves to “a bit of the other.” In sum, the appropriate parallel with contemporary under- gay man is often oppressed for being the wrong standings of gay male sexuality, yet it equally sort of man, and the lesbian is subordinated for demonstrates its connection with questions of being the wrong sort of woman. maleness and masculinity. Here, Spartan sexual What also comes into play here, however, is relations were hardly formations of gay iden- the sense in which the commonly played out tity, yet they were importantly connected with history of homosexuality as socially constructed initiations into socially prescribed patterns of fails to recognize the significance of gender manhood (Eglinton, 1971). Similarly, the molly even within in its own terms. Some feminists houses of the Renaissance were in no way have highlighted this gender absence as simple equivalents to contemporary gay male 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 55

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clubs, bars, or ghettos, yet they did perform the any alternative but to conform, pump iron, and function of providing meeting places for per- deny one’s emotional dissatisfactions, a feeling ceived gender, as well as sexual, deviants (Bray, that arguably remains largely unchanged and 1982). In addition, the sexology of the 19th cen- undiminished since gay liberation. Indeed, tury makes repeated reference to the connection given the media’s increasing fuelling of gay, of gender to male same-sex desire, whether as and perhaps all, culture as merely a matter of a third alternative or as an inversion (Carpenter, fashion, looks, and entertainment, the pressures 1908). Equally, the clone culture of the 1970s are probably worse today. The commonly was as much concerned to prove that gay men played out constructionist history of homosex- were men and not simply gay and, in attempting uality has no answer to this. Within this per- to reformulate the relationship between sexuality spective, the homosexual is not only triumphant and masculinity, the connection remained. None academically as a socially constructed category of these historical moments is remotely the same but rather victorious socially, politically, and or even easily comparable, but they do in very personally as an alternative way of life. In its different ways repeatedly allude to the continued never-ending emphasis on the power of coming connection, and not separation, of “the love that out, in its championing of the hard-won bene- dare not speak its name” with questions of mas- fits of gay liberation, and in its promotion of culinity.4 To assert, then, that sexuality is a thing the politics of pluralism for sexual minorities, apart from gender for anything other than heuris- all that remains is to metaphorically, and per- tic purposes is not only theoretically inadequate haps literally, throw one’s legs in the air and but empirically inaccurate and politically naïve. enjoy it. Such an account never even conceives It is perhaps the politics of this social con- of the question “and then what?,” let alone structionist history of homosexuality that are its offering any solution. It is to this question of weakest link. I have already noted its feminist the failings and problems of gay liberation that limitations, and one could equally highlight its we now turn. wholesale whitewashing of the issue of race, color, or ethnicity, as have Kobena Mercer and Isaac Julien (1988). However, what is perhaps CLONE COMPLAINTS: most insidious here is the sense in which it fails THE PROBLEMS OF GAY LIBERATION to meet the needs or expectations of even privileged white gay men. As we shall see, sexism, Gay liberation is problematic not least because racism, and ageism are but some of the “isms” liberation per se is problematic, both theoreti- thrown at gay male culture, but it is gay men cally and politically. In theoretical terms, the themselves who often seem to lose out most and notion of liberation tends to imply essentialism, suffer most directly. As one disillusioned writer and, in relation to sexuality, this is compounded in the gay press recently pointed out by its conflation with the concept of repression and the assertion of some otherwise contained It was the politics of visibility, but rather than or constrained sexual desire. The difficulty here create an image that was drawn from our inner is not so much the charge of essentialism, which selves, we appropriated a macho stance. For the must remain in some senses merely a descrip- first time, we congregated in defined gay spaces, tive term, but the sense of confusion invoked but because our struggle was based on sexuality, concerning what exactly is being liberated: a the meeting points were based around sex. Despite gathering under the “gay” banner, our ghetto was sexual desire, a sexual identity, a sexual com- very much homosexual. By looking like “real munity, or all three? This is not to deny in the men” we made gay sex more acceptable but lost least that gay men still constitute a marginalized, an opportunity to create a gay identity beyond the stigmatized, and, on occasion, even demonized active sex object. (Miles, 2003, p. 34) group, yet such an experience is perhaps more accurately understood as a problem of subordi- This may seem gloomy, but Miles is far nation, emancipation, or, indeed, oppression. The from alone in his complaint that gay culture is term liberation therefore remains rather inade- a shallow, youth-dominated, image-, sex-, and quate in theoretical terms. body-obsessed world predicated upon self- Nevertheless, it has remained the political loathing and leaving profoundly little room for incantation of the gay movement since the 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 56

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Stonewall rebellion of 1969.5 Given the blatantly displayed, literally bulging out of his aforementioned ambiguities of the terminology plaid shirts, leather jackets, and button-fly jeans, theoretically, it is worth trying to unpack a little and publicly paraded down the streets of many of what is more politically meant by the term of the world’s most major cities in celebration “gay liberation.” On its most immediate level, of his unconstrained promiscuous desire for gay liberation proclaimed the importance of more and more of precisely the same thing, coming out, which was seen to work on three namely those like himself, he became the interconnected levels: first, through accepting emblem of the “sex” in homosexuality, or what one’s sexuality for oneself; second, in exploring Michael Bronski once called “sex incarnate” it with others of similar orientation; and third, (Bronski, 1984). Proclaimed by some as the by telling the rest of the world with pride epitome of a guilt-free lifestyle of sexual libera- (Walter, 1980). Coming out is again ambiguous tion and castigated by others as the nadir of here, whether purely as a matter of personal misogynist self-loathing, the cruising gay clone choice or more widely as a form of political came, perhaps mistakenly, to represent gay affirmation, as it retains the potential impli- sexuality in its entirety and divide politically cation of freeing an essential and hidden, or motivated academia like an axe through an simply inner and asocial, self. None of this, apple. More precisely, and as I have demon- of course, affected the development of a thriv- strated elsewhere, what this entire uproar often ing commercial culture of clubs, bars, cafes, centered on was the perceived relationship of and shops premised on a politics of increased the homosexual to the masculine (Edwards, visibility through coming out. 1994, 1998). This sense of ambiguity, or even ambiva- Following this, then, I wish to explore and lence, concerning gay liberation was, however, expose this perception through a discussion of also illustrated more academically. Some of the various academic perspectives developed the earliest works on gay politics, particularly around the gay clone and gay liberation more those of Hocquenghem (1972) and Mieli widely. These include feminist work and men’s (1980), attributed a liberating force to gay desire analyses of masculinity, as well as gay and les- in celebrating promiscuity, pushing the bound- bian studies. A potential problem here is the ten- aries of decency, and, more generally, going dency to perceive these debates as going on against the mores of mainstream heterosexual solely between these areas of study, when they society; others, particularly those of Altman have, in fact, been conducted as much, if not (1971) and Weeks (1977), saw gay politics as a more, from within each of them. There is, then, culturally specific phenomenon contingent on no one feminist, no single gay, and no unitary histories of movements toward reform and male perspective on the conundrums posed by slowly shifting morals and values. It was not, gay liberation or even the gay clone; yet, as I perhaps, surprising, then, that much of this shall argue strongly, all of these perspectives are ambivalence should also be played out through underpinned by a varyingly implicit, yet mostly a series of academic debates that followed the assumed, perception of the relationship of the onset of gay liberation. These more theoretical homosexual to the masculine. debates were in themselves often founded on the It is perhaps proper to start with gay men’s political involvements of young writers and aca- own perspectives of their liberation and the clone demics making their careers in colleges and uni- that some of them helped create. One of the ear- versities. Most of these controversies centered liest and most influential of these was a chapter in turn on various, and often violently opposed, by Gregg Blachford (1981) in Ken Plummer’s perspectives of the development of commercial (1981) path-breaking collection The Making gay culture and the practices and attitudes of of the Modern Homosexual, titled “Male Domi- gay men, most notoriously those of the overtly nance and the Gay World.” Relying heavily on a sexualized and hypermasculine cruising clone. primarily Althusserian understanding of the role The cruising gay clone has now become of subculture, Blachford perceived both repro- something of pariah, both within academic duction and resistance to male domination in circles and more popular culture, pumped and postliberation gay culture. Resistance was per- inflated into near mythic status as the iconic ceived to come through the lack of any direct symbol of gay liberation. With his sexuality connection of such styles and practices to any 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 57

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wider culture that simultaneously also informed celebrated, a point put most forcibly in John its reproduction through its separation from it. To Allen Lee’s (1978) Getting Sex: A New put it more simply, macho gay male culture Approach—More Fun, Less Guilt. Lee argued neither fully resisted nor purely reproduced male that gay men were quite simply better at “getting domination by virtue of its strict containment sex,” having developed a highly sophisticated within a subculture. A somewhat later and less system of dress codes and visual cues to indicate academically informed argument was made by sexual preference, as well as adapting a variety Jamie Gough (1989), who, although acknowledg- of formal and informal public contexts in which ing the sexist implications of some contemporary to practice sex and enjoy it. Evidence for this gay culture, saw macho gay men as merely aping was provided in the literary and often autobio- “real” masculinity. Joseph Bristow (1989), in a graphical accounts of John Rechy (1977) and powerful polemic against lesbian accusations of Edmund White (1986), as well as in various sur- homosexual misogyny, pushed this argument fur- veys of sexual behavior at the time (Jay & ther, seeing the gay clone as contrived and play- Young, 1979; Spada, 1979). Similarly, in The ful, theatrical and fake, a clone copy. The comic Silent Community, Edward Delph (1978) con- effect of this was not lost on gay men themselves, ducted an ethnographic study of men’s sexual who joked that any illusion of the clone’s mas- behavior with other men in public and semi- culinity was lost as soon as he opened his mouth public places, such as parks, toilets, and saunas, and started discussing art and interior design, and, in doing so, emphasized both the sophisti- and society at large bore witness to the disco cation of this behavior and its silence. group The Village People, who did a number of What these studies also illustrated, however, decidedly camp dance routines with the individ- was the connection of gay men’s sexual prac- ual members dressed as a cowboy, a cop, a con- tices with questions of masculinity, not only in struction worker, and other stereotypical symbols reinforcing the stereotype that men are simply of gay fantasy. From this perspective, then, mas- more promiscuous than women but the sense culinity and homosexuality were exposed as in which the clone donned a stereotypically increasingly playful social constructions that had masculine appearance and practiced a stereo- no intrinsic interaction or relationship. typically masculine sexuality that was divorced Others, however, were less convinced of the from emotional commitment and intimacy, a frivolousness. In Two Steps Forward, One Step form of sexual expression so minimal that even Back, John Shiers (1980) sounded a personal note conversation could destroy it. This was, of of painful concern. In particular, this centered on course, precisely its appeal, the emotionally his perception that gay men were still caught in risk-free, pared-down, and butt-naked excite- the double bind and, indeed, double standards of ment: pure, exposed and throbbing—the cock heterosexual society so that, in trying to maintain stripped bare. more socialist or feminist convictions, gay men Others, though, found such sexual practices ran the risk of losing sight of their own, primarily lacking, and complained that development of an sexual, cause. Consequently, when copying more increasingly body-conscious commercial scene traditional patterns of monogamous sexual prac- and networks founded on the promotion of sex tices with long-term partners in private, gay men before, and often without, love were not for all— risked little social opprobrium, but in publicly that, ultimately, they were another lesson in the displaying a promiscuous desire for the mascu- continued alienation of homosexuality. Of fun- line, they felt the full wrath of their stigma and damental importance in this was the articulation, heterosexual society’s homophobia. Ultimately, or reworking, of the relationship of homosexual- then, gay men were in a no-win situation of ity and masculinity. Gay culture, in asserting that being forced into a closet not of their own making gay men could be real men too, although divorc- and made into public pariahs when they broke ing homosexuality from its more negative rela- its bounds. Rumbling under the surface here tionship to masculinity, also forced homosexuals were increasing concerns relating to the potential together into a form of matrimony that was not pitfalls of the newly sexualized and, indeed, necessarily happy. In particular, Michael Pollak masculinized, dimensions of gay liberation. (1985) saw the promiscuous cruising of the At the same time, others still felt that gay clone as a form of “internalized maximization male promiscuity could, or even should, be of profits,” or a performance-driven masculine 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 58

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sexuality wherein gay men notched up partners in highlighting the role of heterosexuality in like cars off a production line. In short, the con- women’s oppression, often offered very clear straints of the closet were often swapped for the and direct support for lesbians with feminist pressures of performance. Of importance in this or gender-oriented concerns. More problemati- was Pollak’s historically focused analysis of cally, gay men’s economic power was increas- the development of gay male culture alongside ingly overt and being channeled into the rapid emergent forms of masculinity within industrial expansion of a commercial gay scene of shops, capitalism that were, in turn, founded on a form bars, clubs, saunas, restaurants, and a whole of rationalized self-alienation. In a more romantic host of other services from which lesbians vein, some also complained that the commercial felt increasingly excluded, a factor that rapidly gay world provided little emotional (although turned into fierce accusations of sexism and plenty of sexual) sustenance, a point made most misogyny. Liz Stanley (1982), for example, strongly in the historically nuanced and erudite experienced considerable disillusionment in work of Barry Adam (1987) and echoed else- working with gay men politically, and Sheila where (Dowsett, 1987). It reached its most Jeffreys (1990) argued similarly that gay libera- extreme form in the novels and plays of Larry tion was merely another aspect of men’s sexual Kramer (1978, 1983, 1986), an AIDS activist liberation and men’s sexual needs masqueraded in New York who once infamously accused gay as the permissive society. Conversely, some gay men of quite literally “thinking with their cocks” men increasingly complained that lesbians were and “fucking themselves to death.” often aggressive and moralizing in their lack of What begins to emerge here is a bipolarized support for gay men’s concerns, and lesbians debate whereby the post–gay liberation gay man could themselves perhaps be accused of being is either the emblem of a celebration of unin- complicit in heterosexual homophobia. Joseph hibited sexual expression or simply the latest Bristow (1989) and Craig Owens (1987) argued incarnation of sexual oppression. Although both strongly here that misogyny and homophobia perspectives in extremis remain problematic, it were not opposed but two sides of the same coin is the liberal, or perhaps liberationist, approach of patriarchal and heterosexual dominance. This that is most in question. In denying that the conflict rapidly became both overly polarized development and form of gay culture had any and problematic in itself, often diverting wider connection with wider society other than to political energies into infighting. On a more challenge it, or indeed with masculinity other positive note, lesbians and gay men later proved than to celebrate it, gay liberationists also ran they were still able to work together success- the risk of disowning all political responsibility, fully, for example, in opposition to Section 28, a a problem highlighted by the feminist critique government statute that attempts to outlaw of gay sexuality—to which we now turn. the “promotion” of homosexuality and “pre- Of most direct significance here were the tend” families by local authorities in the United conflicts that soon developed between gay men Kingdom. and lesbians. In the first instance, gay liberation Nevertheless, such conflict exposed a deeper meant gay men and gay women, yet within a divide within feminism in relation to questions very few years, the two groups had suffered a of gender and sexuality, and feminist accounts very acrimonious divorce, and many lesbians of gay liberation were often confused and confound their interests better served within the flicting. Perhaps most influentially, Gayle Rubin women’s movement. Most fundamentally, this (1984), in her article “Thinking Sex,” argued centered on a profoundly differing set of needs strongly for an analysis of sexuality as a sepa- and wants, or what Annabel Faraday (1981) rate mechanism, or what she called a “vector of once called the “polar experiences” of gay men oppression,” not simply dependent on, and indeed and lesbians. Although gay men were often pri- distinct from, the analysis of gender. Conse- marily concerned with sexual liberation in the quently, she documented “hierarchies of sexual- face of continued public hostility and actually ity,” through which heterosexuality, whether rising, rather than falling, criminal prosecutions, male or female, and particularly if marital, was lesbians were finding that much of their own still privileged over homosexuality, which was, in liberation depended on their gender rather turn, less stigmatized if monogamous; promiscu- than their sexuality. The women’s movement, ity, prostitution, sadomasochism, and pedophilia 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 59

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were deemed the lowest or worst of all. This, in presented with something of a problem here: many ways, revolutionized, or at least counter- namely, the heterosexist bias of men’s studies, acted, an increasingly vociferous North American a point put most forcibly by Carrigan, Connell, view of sexuality as solely an extension of and Lee (1985) in “Toward a New Sociology gender domination, theorized most fully in the of Masculinity.” They argued that the emergent work of Andrea Dworkin (1981) and Catharine men’s studies, particularly in the late 1970s, MacKinnon (1987). The most fundamental thrust neither recognized the significance of gay liber- of this perspective was to perceive sexuality ation in attempting to undermine traditional primarily as a form of power, most notoriously in masculinity nor the importance of heterosexual- relation to rape and pornography. ity in maintaining male domination, but paid Without wishing to stir up an already overly mere lip service to gay men in token chapters whipped debate, the conflict that developed and short passages in otherwise overwhelmingly within feminism concerning sexuality also white, middle class, heterosexual works and exposed a profoundly different, if not com- perspectives. This was more than partially peting, set of feminist perspectives upon gay explained as a result of the development of a liberation. For Rubin, and indeed a variety of new men’s studies of masculinity as a response other feminist writers, including Pat Califia, Mary to second-wave feminism both personally and McIntosh, Lynne Segal (Califia, 1994; Segal & politically and partly as a necessary outcome to McIntosh, 1992), and Carole Vance (1984), gay the limits of the functionalist sex-role theory men constituted a marginalized group with their that informed these studies and that could often own agenda; also, gay liberation, although far only adapt to seeing masculinity as a singular, from unproblematic for women, was not neces- rather than pluralist, concept and practice sarily about women (this remained primarily the (Kimmel, 1987). responsibility of feminism). For Dworkin (1981) One major exception to this, and a significant and MacKinnon (1987), as well as Sheila Jeffreys development in overcoming it, was the work of (1990) and others (Stanley, 1982), however, this Carrigan and associates (1985) in formulating separation was false. Gay liberation was indeed the notion of a hierarchy of masculinities. about gender oppression, and gay men were Connell (1987), in Gender and Power, extended deeply bound up with the degradation of women this idea further and challenged the idea of a and the feminine. The macho gay clone, in cele- singular male sex role, arguing for a pluralistic brating the male and masculine sexuality, was and hierarchical notion of masculinities in then engaged precisely in the annihilation of the which some forms were hegemonic and others female and feminine sexuality more widely. subordinate. Thus, most obviously, black, gay, What opened up rapidly here was the sense and working class masculinities were seen as in which it was the relationship of gender and subordinate to and, indeed, oppressed by white, sexuality, here homosexuality and masculinity, heterosexual, and middle class masculinities that was at issue. The more liberal feminist that remained mostly dominant or hegemonic, approach, in successfully exposing the complex- although this was still contingent on changing ities of sexuality, also ran the risk of separating social and political contexts. Consequently, it entirely from gender, although more radical men’s studies of masculinity became increas- or revolutionary feminists, in asserting its very ingly complex and diverse in themselves, devel- connectedness to gender, could lose sight of oping more sociostructural, philosophical, and its specific significance. One potential solution even autobiographical dimensions in the work to an often escalating and entrenched sense of of Jeff Hearn (1987), Vic Seidler (1994), and conflict here emerged in the form of a more David Morgan (1992), respectively. poststructural feminism, concerned precisely to Where did this leave the new critical studies undermine the binaries of gender and sexuality, of men and masculinity in relation to gay which I consider in the next section. liberation? The answer is, in some senses, frus- Given the ongoing concern here with the tratingly, not very far forward. Following the connection, and not separation, of homosexual- arguments of radical feminism, John Stoltenberg ity and masculinity, the development of men’s (1989) made a blistering assault on the failures own critical studies of masculinity remains of gay liberation and made gay men out to be significant, if rather overshadowed. We are near traitors to the cause of gender politics; at 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 60

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the opposite extreme, Robert Bly (1990) and the gay black lawyer, for example, is quite simply New Men’s Movement promoted a return to a uncategoric. Second, identity politics more traditional patriarchal order that was implicitly, theoretically are argued to have had the conse- if not explicitly, homophobic. Although less quence, intended or unintended, of reinforcing problematic politically, the vast majority of more rather than challenging the binaries of black- contemporary men’s studies of masculinity still white, man-woman, straight-gay. And third, remain overwhelmingly generalist in focus, often more politically, identity politics are perceived making merely fleeting mention of the specifics to tend to undermine any wider political plat- of gay masculinities. form on which to challenge conservatism or One more thoroughgoing and empirically minority oppression, due to their tendency to based work here is Connell’s (1995) Mascu- reinforce differences and divisions within and linities. Following interviews with a small across different groups. The previous section sample of gay men, Connell remained ambiva- demonstrated this itself by illustrating the lent concerning the impact of gay liberation on degree of conflict aroused, and often unre- wider gender or masculinity politics. Although solved, around gay masculinities. Poststructural acknowledging the fundamental subversion of theory clearly provides an effective critique of heterosexual object choice in the formation of this, yet the question remains as to the efficacy gay identities, Connell reiterates the sense in of its solutions. which men’s bodies also incorporate mas- In this next section, I wish initially to focus on culinity. In desiring them, gay men thus remain, the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Judith in a sense, “very straight.” The often criticized Butler as two of the most eminent and influential watering down of gay politics and its cooptation poststructural theorists in relation to gender and by consumer culture also adds to the sense in sexuality. In addition, I will also consider more which the position of gay men, for Connell, recent attempts to apply their work more directly remains contradictory in terms of gender poli- to the question of gay masculinities. It is neces- tics. Here, then, gay men’s identification as sary in the first instance to explicate this work in men may be problematic, but their desire for some detail to see more precisely where it leads men limits their commitment to sexual politics. us prior to examining its wider implications. In We are, then, back to where we started: the doing so, I hope to show how poststructural relationship between desire and identification theory adds to our understanding of the problem- in relation to homosexuality and masculinity. atic nature of the relationship between desire and The question precisely, then, is one of how to identification that underpins the position of gay go forward. masculinities. I will also seek to expose some of the difficulties that tend to ensue from this perspective. FROM HOMOSEXUAL TO HOMOSOCIAL: In Between Men, Sedgwick (1985) started THE POSTSTRUCTURAL SOLUTION to forge a major reconsideration of the role and nature of homosexuality through an analysis Poststructural theory is often as amorphous as it of its representation across a range of North is diffuse and as ill defined as it is wide ranging. American, British, and other European literature. It is not my intention, then, to discuss what now In particular, she constructed a new concept of constitutes an entire canon of poststructural and homosociality to describe the range of affective postmodern theory or the cultural studies and relationships between men that exist on a contin- queer politics that it often informs. In relation uum from the unemotional to the fully homosex- to gender and sexuality more specifically, how- ual. As a result, although perhaps inadvertently, ever, poststructural theory perhaps most funda- she drew a parallel with Adrienne Rich’s (1984) mentally provides a critique of identity politics influential notion of the lesbian continuum used and, indeed, identity per se (Nicholson & to describe relationships between women. The Seidman, 1995). First, individual and group main thrust of Sedgwick’s analysis was, however, identities are perceived as equally semantically to interrogate the relationship of the homosexual and socially dynamic, open, plural, conflicting, and the masculine and, in particular, to expose or contingent rather than fixed, closed, unitary, the extent to which the two concepts are interde- consensual, or set. Thus, the position of a young pendent. Her discussion was also historically 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 61

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focused, seeing the homosexual identity as overshadowed, and it is difficult to see how interdependent with emergent forms of mas- Sedgwick’s reverse policy of “unspeaking” the culinity throughout the 19th century. This, then, homosexual can undermine this discursive priv- led to a series of highly sophisticated textual ileging of the heterosexual, let alone make the analyses of a selection of literary works from the quantum jump into heterosexual social and mid-18th century through to the mid-19th political dominance. The end of the homo- century, from which Sedgwick then extrapolated sexual does not, then, necessarily entail the end a complex map of developments in the gendered of the heterosexual, and the project remains, nature of male relationships. As an analysis ironically, to remove heterosexuality from the within the discipline of literary criticism per se, sanctity of its discursive closet. this was sophisticated and, indeed, often quite In later work, Sedgwick (1995) forged a dazzling, yet it remained problematic, not least further disjuncture between sex and gender, here because of the exposition of a series of social masculinity and homosexuality, as two concepts and political developments from an analysis of she perceived as not necessarily in any way primarily elite cultural texts. directly related. In sum, masculinity does not Sedgwick (1990) then extended her analysis necessarily relate to men, or men only, and of the role of the homosexual in Epistemology of Sedgwick returns to an understanding of gender the Closet. Following on from Foucault, she centered on androgyny, as explored previously sought to deconstruct the category of the homo- by Sandra Bem (1974), whereby some men and sexual and, more important, the entire divisive women have more, or less, masculinity and, system of sexual categorization. The initial aim indeed, femininity. This would seem not only to of her analysis was to undermine the persistence implode gender dualisms but to throw up of “the homosexual” as a defining category that another question entirely, namely the extent to simultaneously creates the closet from which which masculinity has anything to do with men, the homosexual had to endlessly “come out.” gay or straight, at all. The difficulty here is that the closet remains not A similar problem underpinned Judith merely a semantic construction but an institu- Butler’s (1990) attempt to implode the dualisms tionally supported social reality premised on of gendered identity in Gender Trouble. Butler wider processes of stigma and ostracism. To put sought, in the first instance, to undermine the it more simply, the discursive closet would not fundamental necessity of the category of matter were it not for the negative consequences “woman” and asserted instead that a feminist that may, and often do, ensue in coming out politics must produce a radical critique of the from the more social closet. However, the cut of politics of identity per se. On top of this, via a Sedgwick’s work was as much to address the series of psychoanalytic investigations, she semiotic question of the relationship of reader sought to demonstrate the mutual dependence and text, as exemplified in her final chapter on and contradictions of the categories of sex and Proust, as it was to address the question of homo- gender as wholly artificial and unnatural con- sexual oppression. structions that exist primarily at the level of Sedgwick’s work also echoed that of Dennis repeated performance. Consequently, she per- Altman (1971) in Homosexual: Oppression and ceived gender as only truly existing through Liberation, in which he foretold that the end continuous processes of acting, speaking, and of homosexual oppression would also entail the doing. In addition, at least by implication, the end of the homosexual identity. What was also bottom line of Butler’s argument would seem, implicit in Altman’s predicament was, however, like Sedgwick’s, to be that the feminine has the perceived necessity of the homosexual little to do with the female and femininity little identity if the social and, indeed, ontologi- to do with women. cal, assumption of heterosexuality were to be There was, however, an added dimension opposed. Ironically, although recent decades here, for gender is performed according to have witnessed an ever-strengthening “dis- social sanctions and mores that can, and do, lead course of homosexuality” centered on increas- to what Butler (1990) calls “punishments,” on a ing visibility and opposition to older negative number of levels, from social ostracism to legal definitions and stereotypes, discussion of hetero- control. Nevertheless, the thrust of her analysis sexuality has, for the most part, tended to remain was that gender primarily exists at the level of 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 62

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discourse. Thus, although its documentation of sum, male homosexual attachment is put onto the power relations of discourse were important, the never-never: never having lost and never Butler’s work ran the risk of missing an analysis having loved. of power as an institutionally coercive, politi- The mention of AIDS at this juncture is not cally sanctioned, and socially practiced series coincidental, and the conjunction of the rise of of mechanisms of oppression. In addition, it is the epidemic with the simultaneous develop- this tension of the structural and the textual that ment and application of more poststructural often still lurks in the controversy surround- theory to questions of sexuality is not insignif- ing Butler’s arguments concerning the role of icant. When AIDS was first recognized in the drag, defined as an overall gender performance early 1980s, predominantly in the gay commu- and not merely a camp minority practice, in nities of the United States and as a sexually demonstrating the artificiality and fantasy that transmitted disease that continued to affect surrounds gender categories. Nevertheless, the the gay male population disproportionately in concept of performance remains an important Western societies, it was quickly perceived as a one that opens up potentially radical political symbolic phenomenon as much as, if not more solutions to overly entrenched understandings, than, a medical condition. To put it more simply, and indeed practices, of gender, leading to Butler AIDS was rapidly presented and understood as wrestling with some of the political implications a morally loaded disease of lifestyle. At the in later work (Butler, 1993). epicenter of this, once again, were the sexual How, though, does such a perspective activities of the promiscuous gay clone and, work in relation to questions of masculinity and indeed, 1970s gay culture more generally. The homosexuality? In following Freud, Butler moral outrage, homophobic vitriol, and back- (1995) argues that masculine identification lash that took place against the gay community, depends on a prior formation of sexual orienta- particularly through the tabloid media, who tion and, in particular, a rejection of homosexu- often presented AIDS as the “gay plague,” is ality. As a result, masculinity fundamentally and now well documented, particularly in the work psychologically depends on the disavowal not of Simon Watney (1987) in the United Kingdom only of femininity but of homosexuality, and, in and Randy Shilts (1987) in the United States. doing so, is predicated upon a lack, or absence, It was not, perhaps, surprising, then, that gay rather than a given, or presence. The problem, studies often went on the defensive and further then, becomes a near algebraic one: Masculinity invoked the logic of constructionism and the as a positive identification depends on a double, discursive legacy of Foucault to prove that AIDS not single, negative dissociation. The additional, had no intrinsic connection with gay sexuality and profoundly psychological, difficulty here is other than one of creating illness and stigmati- that the loss of homosexuality is never avowed zation (see, for example, Altman, 1986; Crimp, and therefore cannot be mourned. Butler’s 1988; Patton, 1985). argument depends on Freud’s analysis of poly- However, this defensiveness had the effect, morphous perversity, whereby the infant experi- intended or not, of overriding an intriguing ences—and gains from—both homosexual and dimension raised by the epidemic of masculin- heterosexual attachment but to successfully ity’s connection with sexuality, particularly in form a gender identity must suffer a loss, a loss, relation to gay male sexuality. To put it directly, moreover, that cannot be affirmed. The double AIDS, in threatening the very life, let alone problem that then ensues for the male infant is style, of promiscuous gay male sexuality in the that neither the attachment to another male 1970s, opened up the question of just what hav- nor its loss can be recognized, leading to the ing lots of sex meant to gay men and where their impossibility of either affirming or mourning identities might end up without it. The funda- homosexuality. This also has wider social mental dependence of gay male identity and, implications, reflected in the lack of recognition indeed, masculinity more widely on sexuality of gay male relationships and the intensity of and particularly sex per se was raised within difficulties involved in their loss, for whatever more social psychological circles, particularly reason. Thus, more particularly, the AIDS in the work of Person (1980) and Kimmel epidemic is seen to expose the anguish of gay (1994), as well as my own (Edwards, 1992), yet men’s grief as a difficulty in mourning per se. In it was never fully raised within gay studies and 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 63

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quickly turned into an often media-driven and indeed, the absence of homosexuality. To put it pejorative question of “sex addiction.” In a more simply, relations between men, both past sense, then, AIDS triangulated the relationship and present, are characterized by the constant of gender, sexuality, and identity more strongly, possibility of, and quite simultaneously the although often the issue was only forced through equally continuous prohibition of, homosexual- an individual, but also collective, experience ity. Thus homosexuality per se works as a pri- of grief. marily invisible mechanism in the maintenance This important, if rather painful, line of argu- of masculinity. For example, the homosexuality ment was pursued to some extent by Leo Bersani of movies is demonstrated through the explicit (1988, 1995), who sought to connect a personal lack or absence of portrayals of homosexuality, question of mourning, particularly in the wake a point echoed elsewhere (Kirkham & Thumin, of the AIDS epidemic, to a political question 1993; Simpson, 1994). Thus Bech starts to of militancy. The overall thrust of his analysis demonstrate the crucial extent to which homo- was to seek to marry, rather than divorce, the sexual identity depends even more funda- intensely individual, psychological, and sexual mentally on masculinity than heterosexuality. with the social, external, and pedagogic. At the This is intriguing, but it leads him into an equally center of this logic was, once again, the promis- constant overplaying of the significance of cer- cuous sexuality of the cruising gay clone. In the tain stereotypes of homosexuality; namely, that first instance, Bersani rejected the argument that homosexuality is all about furtive glances and the rise of a gay hypermasculinity was necessar- even more furtive sexual practices and is usually ily about subversion play or parody, arguing that conducted in cities. Quite where this leaves the sexual desire remained, in essence, a serious monogamous practices of the suburban and rural business that could potentially reinforce patriar- homosexual is anyone’s guess. Despite this, chal or conservative politics as much as it could Bech’s reworking of the relationship of homo- undermine them. Thus, a homosexual, or even sexuality and masculinity retains an untapped sexual, love of rough trade and uniforms did not potential. In particular, it starts to tip into an make that love radical. As a result, gay men analysis of visual culture and the ways in which were, and are, in the uneasy situation of poten- the male, and the masculine, have increasingly tially desiring, and perhaps even sleeping with, become both the object as well as the subject of their enemies. This is an argument that could the gaze; for example, in relation to contempo- easily be used to bolster some more simplistic rary patterns of sexual objectification, advertis- and homophobic dimensions of feminism, as ing, and the world of fashion. This forms what outlined previously, yet, precisely because he calls a “telemediated” society, or visual and Bersani, like Butler, invokes psychoanalytic media culture that simultaneously emphasizes theory, the issue becomes inverted, and gay processes of aestheticization as well as sexual- men’s desire for the masculine remains not ization and in which relations between men only to be problematized, but also to be cele- become, almost by quirk, absent of absent brated, precisely for its constant invoking of homosexuality. It is important to note that this the disavowed, male, sexual object. would seem to start to extend Sedgwick’s Where, though, does this leave our analysis of more historical and textual analysis of homo- the relationship of homosexuality and masculin- sociality toward an understanding of more ity? By way of concluding this section, I would contemporary and applied discussion develop- like to consider the work of Bech as perhaps the ments concerning masculinity, yet Bech’s most complete attempt to document the more analysis in the final instance is left hanging contemporary nature of the relationship of mas- and inconclusive. Also implicit and problematic culinity and homosexuality. In When Men Meet, here is Bech’s invocation of the increasing Bech (1997) starts by critiquing social construc- globalization of gay sexuality, given the rising tionism for its lack of explanatory power and significance of the Internet and international then moves on to examine, pivotally, what he travel and of sexual practices generally that calls absent homosexuality. This is, in essence, a not only informs the development of the AIDS reworking of Sedgwick’s notion of “homosocial- epidemic and sex trafficking but also, according ity,” in which masculinity is seen quite literally to Dennis Altman (2001) at least, begins to to depend on both the permanent presence and, scramble the very certainties of gay identity, 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 64

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both theoretically and politically, as gay identity something that was not neutral and that also had becomes at once both globalized and localized. an impact on such phenomena as institutional To summarize, these applications of post- power relations and violent crime. Some of this structural theory have reworked understandings impact at least is potentially lost in overdivorcing of the relationship of homosexuality and mas- the analysis of masculinity from men. culinity, in terms of sexuality and gender, as Third, although masculinity remains a social follows: Successful heterosexual and mascu- construct that has no necessary, in the intrinsic line identification psychologically and socially sense, connection with men, it is clearly incor- depend on the repudiation of both femininity rect to state that it has no relationship to men and homosexuality. Gay male sexuality offers a at all or that this is not qualitatively different potentially, though not necessarily, radical chal- from its relationship to women. Furthermore, lenge to both psychological and social sexual this also may undermine the sense in which and gender order. In addition, this necessary masculinity itself can become problematized for repudiation poses a series of difficulties for gay both men and women. To put it more simply, if men themselves, whose relationships and even men and masculinity are not one and the same, losses are not avowed or recognized and whose then they may remain related, and in separating desires have the potential to work against them them, one should not disconnect them entirely. as much as with them. In sum, the relationship More important, the tendency to separate between desire and identification, which I have analysis and theory from questions of practice argued to be at the core of the problem raised and politics also has the tendency to lead, poten- by identity politics, is both explored and expli- tially at least, to a neglect of the fundamental cated beyond a sense of simple contradiction ways in which patriarchy and masculinity are to become something which, in a sense, cuts reinforced and perpetuated through institutions both ways. In this scheme of things, then, gay both formal and informal and, perhaps most men are neither more nor less “masculine” or important of all, the resistance to change that misogynist than straight men but located in an may come from individual men and women. awkward, and perhaps even dialectical, relation What this begins to expose in more directly to gender both psychologically and socially. political terms is a problem of both relativism Having said this, I should further note that and liberalism. Masculinity, although clearly a a number of significant difficulties remain both lot more “open” than once conceived, is, equally theoretically and politically. Perhaps the most clearly, also not an entirely mutable phenomenon fundamental of these is the relationship of such that is “up for grabs”; some forms of “perform- psychoanalytically or textually centered theory to ing” and “doing” masculinity remain more, or social or even cultural practice. Although some less, problematic than others. extrapolation of social and cultural implications Where, though, does this leave us in relation from such work is perhaps easily accepted as to gay men and gay masculinities? Poststructural simply common sense, wider aspects and ques- theory would seem to offer more theoretical tions, including the issue of social and cultural solutions to the conundrums posed by identity change, are in no way straightforwardly “read politics, yet it equally tends to elide discussion off” from the use of psychoanalytic, literary, or of its applications and implications in practice. textual analysis. Without wishing to imply any In sum, the difficulty remains more political. form of return to positivism, the sense of distance Despite this, there seems little reason to presume involved is often further reinforced through the that these questions could not be addressed lack of empirically centered research or evidence more fully. More significantly, and perhaps that might otherwise help to fill the gap exposed ironically, this seems to depend on undermining between theory and practice. rather than reinforcing the sense of separation A second and equally difficult problem con- that has developed between so-called old guard cerns the question of values. Identity politics, identity politics and avant garde poststructural for all its faults in setting up overly polarized or queer theory and politics (Seidman, 1995). and often divisive contests, not only used but The continuing logic of social constructionism rather developed, intentionally or not, a system is critical here, and the questions and the prob- of value. In relation to our discussion here, mas- lems involved, if not necessarily the answers, culinity became problematized in value terms as would seem to remain the same. 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 65

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CONCLUSIONS:QUEERING THE PITCH? than previously an entirely different question of heterosexual men’s relationship to their hetero- At this final juncture, it is, I think, worth sexuality, not just to their masculinity—for returning to some fundamental questions in them to queer their own pitch. relation to gay men. First and foremost, gay men are not simply the same as other men, for if they were, their gayness would neither NOTES matter nor even register as significant. Clearly, being gay does still matter, even within the 1. I refer here to Quentin Crisp’s now legendary liberal and open spaces of advanced Western memoir-cum-novel The Naked Civil Servant (Crisp, industrial societies, let alone within the confines 1968), later dramatized by the BBC and starring John of conservatism, moralism, or fundamentalism Hurt in the title role, and Stephan Elliott’s 1994 past or present. Second, gay men remain a movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the stigmatized and marginalized minority whose Desert, each of which in different ways celebrated gains, and these are still significant, are per- effeminate and cross-dressing homosexuality with a ilous. There is as yet nothing approaching vengeance. full legal or statutory equality for gay men or 2. See Freud (1977). 3. Carpenter campaigned vigorously for legal lesbians and very little antidiscriminatory legis- reform following the criminalization of homosexual lation or protection. As such, their progress acts, if not homosexuality itself, under the Labouchère and position remain very open to regression Amendment of 1885 in the United Kingdom; how- and undermining on many fronts. The AIDS ever, the subsequent trial and imprisonment of Oscar epidemic exemplifies this in many ways and Wilde achieved an unprecedented level of visibility exposes not only the resistance of gay and les- for homosexuality and perhaps some wider ambiva- bian communities but also their vulnerability. lence, if not sympathy, toward it. The more-or-less Third, gay men remain men, with all the perhaps simultaneous categorization and criminalization of increasingly precarious privileges and benefits homosexuality, coupled with the rapid formation that maleness bestows on them. Although these of movements toward reform, constitute a conjunction of factors studied most fully in the work of Jeffrey may be both perilous and uncertain, gay men Weeks (1977). remain related to masculinity, and they cannot 4. It is interesting that this phrase comes from and, indeed, should not be understood as sepa- the poem Two Loves by Oscar Wilde’s lover, Lord rated from it. Fourth, and more theoretically, it Alfred Douglas, yet gained a Wildean flourish remains important to recognize the contingent when Wilde later quoted it in his own defense at his and changing nature of, as well as the diversity trial. and plurality of, masculinities and homosexual- 5. The Stonewall Inn, a gay pub in New York, ities. A fifth and utterly fundamental point, then, was subject to frequent raids by the police in the is that gay men do not constitute a homogeneous 1960s. On June 27, 1969, the clientele fought back, group, or even a unified category, and their and so, legend has it, gay liberation began. position varies significantly according to such factors as social class, geography, race, or ethnicity, let alone individual politics, practices, or REFERENCES preferences. Whether or not, then, gay masculinity queers the pitch of sexual politics depends on a Adam, B. D. (1987). The rise of a gay and lesbian whole host of other micro and macro individual movement. Boston: Twayne. and social factors. Consequently, there is no easy Altman, D. (1971). Homosexual: Oppression and lib- answer, and accusations of gay male misogyny eration. Sydney, Australia: Angus & Robertson. are no more, and no less, valid than endorsements Altman, D. (1986). AIDS and the new puritanism. of the gay male relationship to more feminist London: Pluto Press. Altman, D. (2001). Global sex. Chicago: University agendas. An added difficulty here is that the of Chicago Press. endless questioning and indeed “queering” of Bech, H. (1997). When men meet: Homosexuality and gay men’s pitch is somewhat misplaced on an modernity. Cambridge, England: Polity. oppressed minority and is, perhaps, even a form Bem, S. (1974). The measurement of psychological of heterosexism in itself. What does remain androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical more certain, then, is the need to address far more Psychology, 42, 155-162. 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 66

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Bersani, L. (1988). Is the rectum a grave? In D. Crimp Edwards, T. (1990). Beyond sex and gender: (Ed.), AIDS: Cultural analysis, cultural activism. Masculinity, homosexuality and social theory. London: MIT Press. In J. Hearn & D. Morgan (Eds.), Men, mascu- Bersani, L. (1995). Loving men. In M. Berger, linities and social theory. London: Unwin B. Wallis, & S. Watson (Eds.), Constructing Hyman. masculinity. London: Routledge. Edwards, T. (1992). The AIDS dialectics: Aware- Blachford, G. (1981). Male dominance and the gay ness, identity, death and sexual politics. In world. In K. Plummer (Ed.), The making of the K. Plummer (Ed.), Modern homosexualities: modern homosexual. London: Hutchinson. Fragments of lesbian and gay experience. Bly, R. (1990). Iron John. New York: Addison- London: Routledge. Wesley. Edwards, T. (1994). Erotic and politics: Gay male Bray, A. (1982). Homosexuality in Renaissance sexuality, masculinity and feminism. London: England. London: Gay Men’s Press. Routledge. Bristow, J. (1989). Homophobia/misogyny: Sexual Edwards, T. (1998). Queer fears: Against the cultural fears, sexual definitions. In S. Shepherd & turn. Sexualities, 1(4), 471-484. M. Wallis (Eds.), Coming on strong: Gay politics Eglinton, J. Z. (1971). Greek love. London: Neville and culture. London: Unwin Hyman. Spearman. Bristow, J., & Wilson, A. (Eds.). (1993). Activating Epstein, S. (1987). Gay politics, ethnic identity: The theory: Lesbian, gay, bisexual politics. London: limits of social constructionism. Socialist Lawrence & Wishart. Review, 17, 9-54. Bronski, M. (1984). Culture clash: The making of a Epstein, S. (1988). Nature vs. nurture and the politics gay sensibility. Boston: South End Press. of AIDS organising. Out/Look, 1(3), 46-50. Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the Evans, D. (1993). Sexual citizenship: The material subversion of identity. London: Routledge. construction of sexualities. London: Routledge. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discur- Faderman, L. (1981). Surpassing the love of men: sive limits of sex. London: Routledge. Romantic friendship and love between women Butler, J. (1995). Melancholy gender/refused identi- from the renaissance to the present. New York: fication. In M. Berger, B. Wallis, & S. Watson William Morrow. (Eds.), Constructing masculinity. London: Faraday, A. (1981). Liberating lesbian research. In Routledge. K. Plummer (Ed.), The making of the modern Califia, P. (1994). Public sex: The culture of radical homosexual. London: Hutchinson. sex. San Francisco: Cleiss Press. Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: Vol. 1. Caplan, P. (Ed.). (1987). The cultural construction of An introduction. London: Penguin. sexuality. London: Tavistock. Foucault, M. (1984a). The history of sexuality: Vol. 2. Carpenter, E. (1908). The intermediate sex: A study of The use of pleasure. London: Penguin. some transitional types of men. London: Foucault, M. (1984b). The history of sexuality: Vol. 3. Mitchell Kennedy. The care of the self. London: Penguin. Carrigan, T., Connell, R. W., & Lee, J. (1985). Freud, S. (1977). On sexuality: Three essays on the Toward a new sociology of masculinity. Theory theory of sexuality and other works. London: and Society, 14, 551-604. Penguin. Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power. Gough, J. (1989). Theories of sexual identity and Cambridge, England: Polity. the masculinization of the gay man. In Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge, S. Shepherd & M. Wallis (Eds.), Coming on England: Polity. strong: Gay politics and culture. London: Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and the social Unwin Hyman. order. New York: Scribner’s. Grace, D. (1993). Dynamics of desire. In V. Harwood, Crimp, D. (Ed.). (1988). AIDS: Cultural analysis, D. Oswell, K. Parkinson, & A. Ward (Eds.), cultural activism. London: MIT Press. Pleasure principles: Politics, sexuality, and Crisp, Q. (1968). The naked civil servant. Glasgow: ethics. London: Lawrence & Wishart. Collins. Greenberg, D. F. (1988). The construction of Delph, E. W. (1978). The silent community: Public homosexuality. London: University of Chicago sexual encounters. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Press. Dowsett, G. (1987). Queer fears and gay examples. Harwood, V., et al. (Eds.). (1993). Pleasure princi- New Internationalist, 175, 10-12. ples: Politics, sexuality, and ethics. London: Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide: A study in sociology. Lawrence & Wishart. Glencoe, IL: Free Press. Hearn, J. (1987). The gender of oppression: Men, Dworkin, A. (1981). Pornography: On men possess- masculinity and the critique of Marxism. ing women. London: Women’s Press. Brighton, England: Wheatsheaf. 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 67

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Hocquenghem, G. (1972). Homosexual desire. Person, E. S. (1980). Sexuality as the mainstay of London: Allison & Busby. identity: Psychoanalytic perspectives. Signs, Jay, K., & Young, A. (1979). The gay report. 5(4), 605-630. New York: Summit Books. Plummer, K. (Ed.). (1981), The making of the modern Jeffreys, S. (1990). Anticlimax: Feminist perspectives homosexual. London: Hutchinson. on the sexual revolution. London: Women’s Press. Plummer, K. (1984). Telling sexual stories: Power, Katz, J. (1976). Gay American history: Lesbians and change and social worlds. London: Routledge. gay men in the USA. New York: Thomas Pollak, M. (1985). Male homosexuality, or happiness Y. Crowell. in the ghetto. In P. Aries & A. Bejin (Eds.), Kimmel, M. S. (Ed.). (1987). Changing men: New Western sexuality: Practice and precept in past directions in research on men and masculinity. and present times. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. London: Sage. Rechy, J. (1977). The sexual outlaw: A documentary. Kimmel, M. S. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia: London: W. H. Allen. Fear, shame, and silence in the construction Rich, A. (1984). Compulsory heterosexuality and of gender identity. In H. Brod & M. Kauffman lesbian existence. In A. B. Snitow, C. Stansell, & (Eds.), Theorizing masculinities. London: Sage. S. Thompson (Eds.), Desire: The politics of Kinsey, A. F., Pomeroy, W. B., & Martin, C. E. sexuality. London: Virago. (1948). Sexual behavior in the human male. Riley, D. (1988). Am I that name? Feminism and Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. the category of “women” in history. New York: Kirkham, P., & Thumin, J. (Eds.). (1993). You Macmillan. Tarzan: Masculinity, movies and men. London: Rubin, G. (1984). Thinking sex: Notes for a radical Lawrence & Wishart. theory of the politics of sexuality. In C. S. Vance Kramer, L. (1978). Faggots. London: Methuen. (Ed.), Pleasure and danger: Exploring female Kramer, L. (1983). 1,112 and counting. New York sexuality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Native, 59, 14-27. Sedgwick, E. K. (1985). Between men: English liter- Kramer, L. (1986). The normal heart. London: ature and male homosexual desire. New York: Methuen. Columbia Press. Lee, J. A. (1978). Getting sex: A new approach— Sedgwick, E. K. (1990). Epistemology of the closet. more fun, less guilt. Toronto, Ontario: Mission Berkeley: University of California Press. Book. Sedgwick, E. K. (1995). “Gosh, Boy George, you Le Vay, S. (1993). The sexual brain. London: MIT must be awfully secure in your masculinity!” In Press. M. Berger, B. Wallis, & S. Watson (Eds.), MacKinnon, C. A. (1987). Feminism unmodified: Constructing masculinity. London: Routledge. Discourses on life and law. Cambridge, MA: Segal, L. (1990). Slow motion: Changing masculini- Harvard University Press. ties, changing men. London: Virago. Mead, M. (1977). Sex and temperament in three Segal, L., & McIntosh, M. (Eds.). (1992). Sex primitive societies. London: Routledge & Kegan exposed: Sexuality and the pornography debate. Paul. London: Virago. Mercer, K., & Julien, I. (1988). Race, sexual Seidler, V. J. (1994). Unreasonable men: Masculinity politics and black masculinity: A dossier. In and social theory. London: Routledge. R. Chapman & J. Rutherford (Eds.), Male Seidman, S. (1995). Deconstructing queer theory, or order: Unwrapping masculinity. London: the under-theorization of the social and ethical. In Lawrence & Wishart. L. Nicholson & S. Seidman (Eds.), Social post- Mieli, M. (1980). Homosexuality and liberation: modernism: Beyond identity politics. Cambridge, Elements of a gay critique. London: Gay Men’s England: Cambridge University Press. Press. Shiers, J. (1980). Two steps forward, one step back. Miles, M. (2003). Ghetto culture. Axm, 6(1), 32-34. In Gay Left Collective (Ed.), Homosexuality: Morgan, D. (1992). Discovering men. London: Power and politics. London: Allison & Busby. Routledge. Shilts, R. (1987). And the band played on: Politics, Nicholson, L., & Seidman, S. (Eds.). (1995). Social people, and the AIDS epidemic. London: postmodernism: Beyond identity politics. Penguin. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Simpson, M. (1994). Male impersonators: Men per- Press. forming masculinity. London: Routledge. Owens, C. (1987). Outlaws: Gay men in feminism. In Spada, J. (1979). The Spada report. New York: A. Jardine & P. Smith (Eds.), Men in feminism. Signet. London: Methuen. Stanley, L. (1982). Male needs: The problems Patton, C. (1985). Sex and germs: The politics of and problems of working with gay men. AIDS. London: South End Press. In S. Friedman & E. Sarah (Eds.), On the 04-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:18 PM Page 68

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problem of men: Two feminist conferences. Weeks, J. (1977). Coming out: Homosexual politics London: Women’s Press. in Britain from the nineteenth century to the Stanley, L. (1984). Whales and minnows: Some sexual present. London: Quartet. theorists and their followers and how they con- Weeks, J. (1981). Sex, politics and society: The regula- tribute to making feminism invisible. Women’s tion of sexuality since 1800. London: Longman. Studies International Forum, 7(1), 53-62. Weeks, J. (1985). Sexuality and its discontents: Stoltenberg, J. (1989). Refusing to be a man: Essays Meanings, myths and modern sexualities. on sex and justice. Portland, OR: Breitenbush London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Books. Wellings, K., Field, J., Johnson, A. M., & Vance, C. S. (Ed.). (1984). Pleasure and danger: Wadsworth, J. (1994). Sexual behaviour in Exploring female sexuality. London: Routledge & Britain: The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes Kegan Paul. and Lifestyles. London: Penguin. Walter, A. (Ed.). (1980). Come together: The years of White, E. (1986). States of desire: Travels in gay gay liberation (1970-73). London: Gay Men’s America. London: Picador. Press. Wittig, M. (1997). One is not born a woman. In Watney, S. (1987). Policing desire: Pornography, S. Kemp & J. Squires (Eds.), Feminisms. AIDS and the media. London: Comedia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 69

PART II

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GLOBALIZATION, IMPERIALISM, AND MASCULINITIES

R. W. CONNELL

THE NEED FOR A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE studies corrected the abstractions of “sex IN STUDIES OF MEN AND MASCULINITY role” theory, previously the main framework for social-scientific work on masculinity. Recent research on the social construction of Ethnographic research also challenged the ways masculinity has been very diverse in subject of talking about men that had become predomi- matter and social location, but it has had a char- nant in Western popular culture: biological acteristic focus and style. Its main focus has essentialism, religious revivalism, and the mys- been the making of masculinity in a particular tical generalities of the mythopoetic movement. milieu or moment, whether a professional sports Nevertheless, it has always been recognized career in the United States (Messner, 1992), a that some issues go beyond the local. Even the group of colonial schools in South Africa religious and mythopoetic men’s movements (Morrell, 2001b), drinking groups in Australian can only be understood by considering the bars (Tomsen, 1997), a working class suburb in upheaval in gender relations that has produced a Brazil (Fonseca, 2001), or the marriage plans of whole spectrum of agendas for remaking mas- young middle class men in urban Japan (Taga, culinity (Messner, 1997). Historical studies of 2001). The characteristic research style has been public images and debates about masculinity, ethnographic, making use of participant obser- such as Phillips (1987) on New Zealand, Sinha vation, open-ended interviewing, documentary (1995) on India, and Kimmel (1996) on the and discourse analysis. The primary research United States, have been able to trace such task has been to give close descriptions of pro- cultural processes over time and show the cesses and outcomes in the local site. significance of a broader historical context for This ethnographic moment brought a much- local constructions of masculinity. needed gust of realism to discussions of men As I have previously argued (Connell, 1998), and masculinity. The concrete detail in such this logic should be taken further. Global history

Author’s note: I am grateful for the generous assistance of John Fisher in the preparation of this chapter, and for advice from colleagues, especially James Messerschmidt and my coeditors, which has helped to improve it.

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and contemporary globalization must be part world scale, we must first develop a concept of of our understanding of masculinities. Locally the globalization of gender. situated lives are (and were) powerfully influ- This is difficult, because the very conception enced by geopolitical struggles, Western impe- is counterintuitive. We are so accustomed to rial expansion and colonial empires, global thinking of gender as the attribute of an individ- markets, multinational corporations, labor ual, even an unusually intimate attribute of migration, and transnational media. the individual, that it requires a considerable A number of arguments now converge to wrench to think of gender on the vast scale emphasize this. Gittings (1996) and colleagues of global society. As Smith (1998) argues for have shown the extent to which constructions the study of international politics, the key is to of masculinity in a First World country, in this shift the focus from individual-level gender case Britain, are based in the history of empire. differences to “the patterns of socially con- Nagel (1998) shows the interweaving of mas- structed gender relations.” If we recognize that culinities with the construction of nationality very large scale institutions, such as the state and and thus with the dynamics of war. Hooper corporations, are gendered (Hearn & Parkin, (1998) shows the connection of masculinities 2001), and if we recognize that international to the system of international relations and relations, international trade, and global markets the processes of globalization. Ouzgane and are inherently an arena of gender politics (Enloe, Coleman (1998) argue for the importance of 1990), then we can recognize the existence of a postcolonial studies for understanding the cul- world gender order. The world gender order can tural dynamics of contemporary masculinities. be defined as the structure of relationships that Though most research on masculinities has been interconnect the gender regimes of institutions, done in cities, most of the world’s population is and the gender orders of local societies, on a rural, so Campbell and Bell’s (2000) argument world scale (Connell, 2002). for giving attention to rural masculinities is also This gender order is an aspect of a larger important. reality: global society. Accordingly, the analysis To understand local masculinities, then, we of the world gender order must start with the must think globally. But how? In this chapter, I broad features of contemporary globalization offer a framework for thinking about masculini- and its historical predecessor, European imperi- ties as a feature of world society and for think- alism. By imperialism, I mean the systems of ing about men’s gender practices in terms of direct colonial rule and indirect economic dom- global structures. The first step is to characterize ination that spread across the globe from the the global gender order. We need to distinguish early 16th to the mid-20th centuries. By global- between two contexts of masculinity formation: ization, I mean the current pattern of world local gender orders and transnational arenas. integration via global markets, transnational The next step is to consider the impact of glob- corporations, and electronic media under the alization on men’s bodies. I then examine, in political hegemony of the United States. turn, the impact of globalization on masculini- How to understand global society is much ties in local gender orders and the masculinities debated. Current media talk about globalization constructed in transnational arenas. Finally I pictures a homogenizing process sweeping consider the pattern of masculinity politics in across the world, driven by new technologies the global gender order as a whole. and producing vast unfettered global markets, world music, global advertising, and world news, in which all the world’s people participate THE WORLD GENDER on equal terms. As Hirst and Thompson (1996) show, the global economy is highly unequal, ORDER AS CONTEXT OF MEN’S LIVES and the degree of homogenization is often greatly exaggerated. Bauman (1998), too, Masculinities do not first exist and then come emphasizes that globalization produces social into contact with femininities. Masculinities and cultural division as much as it produces and femininities are produced together in homogeneity. the process that constitutes a gender order. Globalization is best understood as centering Accordingly, to understand masculinities on a on a set of linked economic changes characteristic 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 73

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of the current stage of capitalism. The main reshaped by conquest and sexual exploitation, changes are the expansion of worldwide imported epidemics, missionary intervention, markets, the restructuring of local economies slavery, indentured labor, migration, and reset- under the pressure of the world economy, and tlement. The process of economic development the creation of new economic institutions. and the institutions of development aid continue Multinational corporations based in the three to bring the gender politics of rich countries economic great powers (the United States, the into relation with those of the “underdevel- European Union, and Japan) are the major oped.” This creates complex problems of gender economic actors, alongside financial markets equity, especially around recent attempts to that have risen to an unprecedented scale and extend the scope of “women and development” power. The rise of these economic forces has programs by bringing men more explicitly into been accompanied by political change—the gender issues (White, 2000). dominance of neoliberalism, or market ideol- The gender patterns resulting from these ogy, and the decline of the welfare state in the interactions are the first level of a global gender West and communist centralism in the East. order. They are local patterns but carry the Globalization also involves a powerful impress of the forces that make a global society. process of cultural change. Western cultural A striking example is provided by Morrell’s forms and ideologies circulate, local cultures (2001a) analysis of the situation of men in con- change in response, and the dominant culture temporary South Africa. The transition from itself changes in an immense dialectic. Some apartheid—itself a violent but doomed attempt homogenization results as local cultures are to perpetuate colonial race relations—has destroyed or weakened. But new forms created an extraordinary social landscape. In a appear—hybrid and “creole” identities and cul- context of reintegration into the global polity tural expressions. All these processes are uneven and economy, rising unemployment, continuing in their impact and articulate with each other in violence, and a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, different ways in different parts of the world there are attempts to reconstitute rival patri- (Lechner & Boli, 2000). archies in different ethnic groups, which The historical processes that produced global clash with agendas for the modernization of society were, from the start, gendered. Colonial masculinity, the impact of feminism, and the conquest and settlement were carried out by new government’s “human rights” discourse. gender-segregated forces. In the stabilization The second type of link that constitutes a of colonial societies, new gender divisions of world gender order is the creation of new labor were produced in plantation economies “spaces” and arenas beyond individual countries and colonial cities, and gender ideologies were and regions. The most important seem to be linked with racial hierarchies and the cultural those I list here. defense of empire. The growth of a postcolonial world economy has seen gender divisions of • Transnational and multinational corpora- labor installed on a massive scale in the “global tions. Corporations operating in global markets factory” (Fuentes & Ehrenreich, 1983), as well are now the largest business organizations as the spread of gendered violence alongside on the planet. The biggest ones, in industries Western military technology (Breines, Gierycz, & such as oil, car manufacturing, computers, and Reardon, 1999). telecommunications, have resources amounting The links that constitute a global gender to hundreds of billions of dollars and employ order seem to be of two basic types. The first is hundreds of thousands of people. They typically interaction between existing gender orders. have a strong gender division of labor, and, as Imperial conquest, neocolonialism, and the cur- Wajcman’s (1999) study of British-based multi- rent world systems of power, investment, trade, nationals indicates, a strongly masculinized and communication have brought very diverse management culture. societies in contact with each other. The gender orders of those societies have consequently been • The international state. The institutions brought into contact with each other. of diplomacy and war, the principal means by This has often been a violent and disrup- which sovereign states have related to each tive process. Local gender arrangements were other, are heavily masculinized. Zalewski and 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 74

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Parpart (1998) aptly call this The “Man” multiplies the forms of masculinity present in Question in International Relations. United the global gender order. At the same time, the Nations agencies, the European Union, and a creation of institutions and communications that range of other international agencies and operate across regions and continents also cre- agreements have been set up to transcend these ates the possibility of patterns of masculinity old and dubious arrangements. They regulate that are, to some degree, standardized across gender issues globally through, for instance, localities. I call such masculinities “globalizing” development aid, education, human rights, rather than “global” to emphasize the process— and labor conventions. They, too, are gendered, and the fact that it is often incomplete. It is mainly run by men although with more cultural among globalizing masculinities, rather than complexity than multinational corporations narrowly within the metropole,1 that we are (Gierycz, 1999). likely to find candidates for hegemony in the world gender order. • International media. Multinational media I will start with a sketch of major forms of corporations circulate film, video, music, and globalizing masculinity in the historical develop- news on a very large scale. There are also more ment of global society and then focus on patterns decentralized media (post, telegraph, telephone, in the contemporary postcolonial world. fax, the Internet, the Web) and their supporting industries. All contain gender arrangements Conquest, Settlement, and Empire. The creation and circulate gender meanings. Cunneen and of the imperial social order involved peculiar Stubbs (2000), for instance, document the use conditions for the gender practices of men. of Internet sites to commodify Filipina women Colonial conquest itself was mainly carried out in an international trade in wives and sexual by segregated groups of men—soldiers, sailors, partners for First World men. traders, administrators, and a good many who • Global markets. It is important to distin- were all these by turn. They were drawn from guish markets themselves from the individual the more segregated occupations and milieux in corporations that operate in them. International the metropole, and it is likely that those men markets—capital, commodity, service, and drawn into colonization were the more rootless. labor markets—have an increasing reach into Certainly the process of conquest could local economies. They are often strongly gender produce frontier masculinities that combined structured; an example is the international the occupational culture of these groups with market in domestic labor (Chang & Ling, 2000). an unusual level of violence and egocentric International labor markets are now (with the individualism. The political history of empire political triumph of neoliberalism) very weakly is full of evidence of the tenuous control over the regulated, apart from border controls reinforced frontier exercised by the state, from the Spanish by political panics in First World countries about monarchs unable to rein in the conquistadors to illegal immigrants. the governors in Capetown unable to hold back the Boers. Other forms of control were similarly The net result of these two forms of linkage weakened. Extensive sexual exploitation of is a partially integrated, highly unequal, and tur- indigenous women was a common feature of bulent set of gender relations, with global reach colonial conquest. but uneven impact. This is the context in which In certain circumstances, frontier masculini- we must now think about the construction and ties might be reproduced as a local cultural enactment of masculinities. tradition long after the frontier had passed. Examples are the gauchos of southern South America, the cowboys of the western United THE MASCULINITIES States, and the bush workers of outback OF TRANSNATIONAL ARENAS Australia (Lake, 1986). However, conquest and exploitation were generally succeeded by some We should not expect the structure of gender degree of settlement. Sex ratios in the colo- relations in transnational or global arenas nizing population changed as women arrived simply to mirror patterns known in local arenas. and locally born generations followed, and a The interaction of many local gender orders shift back toward the family patterns of the 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 75

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metropole was probable. The construction of political controversy in India in the 1880s and an orderly settler masculinity might even be 1890s shows how the images of “manly a goal of state policy, as in late 19th century Englishman” and “effeminate Bengali” were New Zealand (Phillips, 1987). deployed to uphold colonial privilege and to As Cain and Hopkins (1993) have shown contain movements for change. In the late 19th for the British empire, the ruling group in the century, racial barriers in colonial societies were colonial world as a whole was an extension of hardening rather than weakening, and gender the dominant class in the metropole, the landed ideology tended to fuse with racism in forms gentry. The imperial state thus became a trans- that the 20th century never untangled. national arena for the production and circula- The imperial state, and imperial trade and tion of masculinities based on gentry customs communications, as a transnational arena, and ideology, although these were increasingly affected gender relations among the ruling modified by military and bureaucratic needs. group. Colonial households with a large supply The narrow social life of the British ruling of indigenous domestic servants changed the class in India, marked by gender and racial position of wives, who became more leisured segregation and a striking lack of interest in and managerial—as shown in Bulbeck’s (1992) local (or indeed any wider) culture, provides a study of Australian women in Papua New well-documented case (Allen, 1975). Guinea. Empire figured prominently as a source Conquest and settlement had the capacity of imagery for the remaking of masculinity in to disrupt all the structures of indigenous Britain—in the Boy Scouts (as noted later) and society, although the course of events in differ- in the cult of Lawrence of Arabia (Dawson, ent regions varied widely (Bitterli, 1989). 1991). Frontier masculinity played a similar role Indigenous gender orders were no exception, in the United States, through such media as the and their disruption doubtless made it more Hollywood western. As Mellen’s (1978) study feasible for indigenous men to be drawn into of masculinity in American films cautions, the the masculinizing practices and hierarchies of reduction of masculine heroism to a test of colonial society. The imperial social order physical prowess was a gradual development. created a scale of masculinities as it created a Early Hollywood had a wider array of heroes scale of communities and races. The colonizers and masculinities. distinguished “more manly” from “less manly” Imperial power was met, from the start, by groups among their subjects. A well-known resistance. Anticolonial struggles have continued suburb of Sydney in Australia is still named to the present day, usually classified as Manly because the first British governor was “terrorism” by the colonial or neocolonial pow- impressed by the bearing of some Aboriginal ers. This struggle has itself functioned as an men he saw there. In British India, Bengali men arena of gender formation, as in the case of were supposed by the colonizers to be effemi- Palestinian resistance to Israel. Dine (1994) nate, but Pathans and Sikhs were regarded as traces some of the cultural consequences of the strong and warlike. Similar distinctions were Algerian anticolonial struggle for the French col- made by the colonizers in South Africa between onizers. One was the creation of hypermasculine “Hottentots” and Zulus and, in North America, heroes out of the “paras” (French paratroopers), between (for example) Iroquois, Sioux, and but another was the disillusion that could result Cheyenne on one side and peaceable tribes such from a contrasting image of the home society’s as the Hopi on the other. corruption, or revulsion stemming from the tor- The deepening ideology of gender differ- ture and destruction that accompanied colonial ence in European culture provided general war. The parallels with the U.S. experience in symbols of superiority and inferiority in the Vietnam and the British experience in India and empire. Within the imperial “poetics of war” east Africa are easy to see. (MacDonald, 1994), the conqueror was virile In South Africa, the armed struggle carried and the colonized were dirty, sexualized, and on by the “comrades,” as the resistance fighters effeminate or childlike. In many colonial situa- were called, on behalf of the African National tions, including Zimbabwe, indigenous men Congress produced a generation of young men were called “boys” by the colonizers (Shire, accustomed to violence and independent action 1994). Sinha’s (1995) study of the language of and also lacking formal education and regular 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 76

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work experience (Xaba, 2001). The personal itself is important. In market exchange, the trauma involved in anticolonial struggles— rational calculation of self-interest is the key to small-scale, intimate warfare with a racial action. Men’s predominance in capitalist markets dimension, with communities all around and then underpins two cultural contrasts: between within reach of the weapons—should not be rational man and irrational woman and between underestimated. “modern” and “traditional” masculinities. Both managerial and working class masculin- Postcolonial Situations and the Neoliberal ities are affected. The sarariiman (“salaryman,” New World Order. It follows from what has just or company man) embodied a rational calculation been said that decolonization and transition of self-interest in the new industrial economy of to a postcolonial world are likely to involve Japan. Moodie’s (1994) study of South African problems about masculinity and violence. Xaba gold miners shows how, as the workforce became (2001) goes so far as to write of a confrontation detached from the homestead economy and more between “struggle masculinity” and “post- completely proletarianized, gender practices struggle masculinity.” In the new world, in and gender ideas also changed—toward a which the African National Congress is the sharper separation of masculinity from feminin- government, responsible for law and order, the ity. It is important to recognize that capitalist “young lions” of the resistance movement are modernization may increase gender distinctions. marginalized. Other men have the advantage in Parallel examples can be found in the metropole the new racially integrated labor markets and (Cockburn, 1983). public sector. The former “comrades” continue The neoliberal agenda has little to say, to be targeted by police; some become crimi- explicitly, about gender. The new right speaks nalized and violent and are, in turn, targeted by a gender-neutral language of “markets,” “indi- vigilante actions responding to rapes, robberies, viduals,” and “choice.” But the world in which and killings. In the worst cases, a spiral of neoliberalism is ascendant is still a gendered community violence results. world, and neoliberalism has an implicit gender In cases where decolonization has been politics. The “individual” of market theory accomplished with less violence, the integration has the attributes and interests of a male entre- of men into subordinate positions in the global preneur. The new right’s attack on the welfare economy goes ahead more smoothly. The post- state generally weakens the position of women, colonial state may appropriate colonial models who are more dependent on nonmarket of masculinity for the project of nation building, incomes. Deregulation of the economy, in a as Lee Kuan Yew did in Singapore (Holden, corporate world, places strategic power in the 1998). National liberation movements often hands of particular groups of men—managers recruited women; indeed, they often depended and entrepreneurs. heavily on women’s activism. The same move- Wajcman’s (1999) study of multinational ments in power have celebrated male “founding corporations based in the United Kingdom fathers” and have had a very ambiguous relation shows that even where women have entered with women’s liberation (Mies, 1986). management, they have had to do so on men’s With the collapse of Soviet communism, the terms, conforming to the masculinized culture decline of postcolonial socialism, and the ascen- and practices of the managerial elite. In short, as dance of the new right in Europe and North Wajcman puts it, they have to “manage like a America, world politics is more and more orga- man.” Research in the corporate world in the nized around the needs of transnational capital United States (Glass Ceiling Commission, and the creation of global markets. To the extent 1995) shows a similar picture. that the identification of men with the world It is not surprising that the restoration of of work is established, the global capitalist capitalism in Eastern Europe and the former economy becomes the key arena for the making Soviet Union has been accompanied by a of masculinities. reassertion of dominating masculinities and, Winter and Robert (1980) pointed out some in some situations, a sharp worsening in the of the consequences, especially the centrality of social position of women (Novikova, 2000). instrumental reason associated with the technical It seems particularly important, then, to organization of work. The spread of the market examine the masculinity associated with those 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 77

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who control the dominant institutions of the for recognizing change, especially in relation world economy: the capitalists and business to the embodiment of masculinity. There are executives who operate in global markets and signs of an increasingly libertarian sexuality, the political executives who interact (and in with a tendency to commodify relations with many contexts merge) with them. I call this women. Hotels catering to businessmen in most “transnational business masculinity.” parts of the world now routinely offer porno- International businessmen are not readily graphic videos, and in some parts of the world available for ethnographic study, but some there is a well-developed prostitution industry sources of evidence exist: management literature, catering to international businessmen. business journalism, corporate self-promotion, Current business masculinity does not and studies of local business elites. These sources require direct bodily force any more than the give suggestive but partly contradictory indica- older bourgeois masculinity did. But corporations. Donaldson’s (1998) study of “the mas- tions increasingly use the exemplary bodies culinity of the hegemonic,” based on biographical of elite sportsmen in their marketing strategies, sources about the very rich, emphasizes emo- and “corporate boxes” at professional sporting tional isolation and a deliberate toughening of events are now a common setting for business boys in the course of growing up: the develop- entertaining, deal making, and networking. ment of a sense of social distance and material Periodicals addressed to business audiences abundance combined with a sense of entitlement (such as the in-flight magazines of international and superiority. Hooper’s (2000) study of the airlines) seem to be giving increased attention language and imagery of masculinity in The to fitness, sport, and appearance. It would Economist in the 1990s, a business journal seem that the deliberate cultivation of the body closely aligned with neoliberalism, shows a has become a significant practice helping to distinct break from old-style patriarchal business define contemporary business masculinity. masculinity, although the new pattern includes many remnants of colonialist attitudes toward the developing world. The Economist associates THE LOCAL RECONSTRUCTION OF with the global a technocratic, new-frontier MASCULINITIES UNDER GLOBALIZATION imagery and, in the context of restructuring, emphasizes a cooperative, teamwork-based style Under the pressure of global markets and of management. media, but also as a result of active local desire A study of recent management textbooks to participate in the global economy and global by Gee, Hull, and Lankshear (1996) gives a culture, pressures for change are set up in the rather more individualistic picture. The execu- local gender order. This may, and often does, tive in “fast capitalism” is represented as a lead to some reconstruction of masculinities, in person with very conditional loyalties, even to a process different from the construction of the corporation. The occupational world reflected masculinities in global arenas just discussed. I here is characterized by a limited technical will explore the local transformation processes rationality, sharply graded hierarchies of rewards, in this section. and sudden career shifts or transfers between Three preliminary points are important. corporations. Wajcman’s (1999) survey indicates First, reconstruction is not the work of men a rather more stable managerial world that is alone. As Fonseca (2001) and others have closer to traditional bourgeois masculinity and emphasized, women are active in the shaping of marked by long hours of work and both depen- masculinities. Second, any reconstruction is dence on, and marginalization of, a domestic likely to be uneven. Taga’s (2001) case studies world run by wives. of young Japanese middle class men show the The divergences among these pictures partly point very clearly. Under cultural pressure from reflect differences within the international women to move away from “traditional” capitalist class (e.g., between big owners and Japanese patriarchal masculinity, four con- professional managers) and partly differences trasting patterns of response emerge, ranging between the sources (magazines and textbooks from rejection of change to transformation of might be expected to exaggerate novelty). identity. Third, reconstruction does not start Nevertheless, there seem to be further reasons from the same point. There is no cross-cultural 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 78

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equivalence in conceptions of masculinity; demanded conformity and loyalty in exchange indeed, some cultures may not have such a for security and high late-career rewards. concept at all. But a certain common ground is But if the world capitalist economy increas- created by processes of globalization. ingly constructed men as wage earners and thus An important reason for the unevenness of tended to reshape masculinity by linking gen- change is the internal complexity of gender der identity with work, this same process made relations. At least four substructures in gender the new masculinities vulnerable. The global relations can be identified (Connell, 2002). I economy is turbulent, marked by economic will examine the reconstruction of masculinities downturns as well as booms, regional decline as in relation to each of these substructures in turn. well as regional growth. Mass unemployment will undermine masculinities identified with The Division of Labor. It is characteristic “work.” This situation is now very common, as a of modernity that the world of “work” is cultur- result both of the decline of former industrial ally defined as men’s realm. In most parts of the areas such as the industrial cities of northern world, men do have a significantly higher labor England and of the rural-urban migration that force participation rate than women. West Africa has created huge underemployed workforces in and the former Soviet countries are the main cities like New Delhi, Sao Paulo, and Mexico exceptions. Fuller (2001), interviewing Peruvian City. A movement of women into employment men in three cities, found that work is the main will also undermine “work”-based masculini- basis of adult masculine standing and self- ties. Such a movement is now happening world- respect. A man who cannot hold a regular job is wide as a result of women’s emancipation, felt not to have arrived at full adult masculinity. women’s education, and the raw economic need In this, the Peruvian respondents are articulating of families unable to rely on a male wage. ideas found in many parts of the world. The resulting challenges to masculinities In fact, women collectively do as much work have now been documented by researchers in a as men, often more. It is the type of work, and variety of settings: Corman, Luxton, Livingstone, the social relations in which it occurs, that matter and Seccombe (1993) in Canada; Connell (1995) in regard to gender. As Holter (2003) argues, the in Australia; Gutmann (1996) in Mexico; and structural distinction between the household (as O’Donnell and Sharpe (2000) in Britain. We a domain of gift exchange) and the commodity can reasonably regard this as one of the main economy (where labor is sold and paid for) is dynamics of change in contemporary masculini- a basis of the modern European gender system. ties. Even the sarariiman is vulnerable. As the This distinction has been exported into colonial security provided by the Japanese corporate and neocolonial economies, restructuring local world declined in the 1990s, there began to be production systems to produce a male wage- more anxiety, and more satire, about this pattern worker and female domestic-worker couple of masculinity. The new figure of the “salaryman (Mies, 1986). This has generally produced (or escaping” has appeared in Japanese media reinforced) an identification of masculinity with discussions (Dasgupta, 2000). the public realm and production and femininity with domesticity and consumption. Power Relations. The colonial and postcolonial The process need not produce a “housewife” world has tended to break down “purdah” in the Western suburban sense. Where the wage systems of patriarchy that are based on the work involved migration to plantations or extreme subordination and isolation of women, mines, women might take over homestead in the name of modernization and women’s production (Moodie, 1994) or provide domestic rights (Kandiyoti, 1994). By and large, men service for groups of men rather than for an have adjusted to this. There are exceptions: for individual husband. The men’s work, too, might instance, in the extremely disturbed conditions take on a distinctive local configuration. The of Afghanistan in the 1990s there was a reimpo- most famous example is the making of the sition of severe controls on women by the sarariiman in Japanese economic development Taliban regime. Broadly, however, the accep- in the early 20th century (Kinmonth, 1981). tance of the principle of women’s presence in This was a pattern of middle class masculinity the public realm (the vote, the right to work, adapted to a corporate power structure that legal autonomy) is one of the most important 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 79

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and widespread of recent changes in gender witnessing and dampening violence. Holter ideology among men. A large-scale survey by (1996), in a striking reanalysis of an old discus- Zulehner and Volz (1998) has shown that the sion of fascism, shows how Norwegian men’s rejection of patriarchal models of gender rela- propensity to adopt authoritarian stances is tions is particularly strong among the younger statistically linked to their childhood family generation of German men, who favor either experiences of having a dominating father, an egalitarian pattern or some compromise experiencing parental divorce, and being between the two. Anecdotal evidence suggests brought up by a lone mother. Again it seems this generational difference can be found in likely that the connection shown between the other countries as well. changing dynamics of families, and processes in At the same time, the creation of a Westernized the public realm, is not confined to one country. public realm has seen the installation of large- scale organizations such as state agencies and Emotional Relations. Patterns of emotional corporations. Men continue worldwide to hold attachment, although often felt to be the most the large majority of top positions in govern- intimate and personal of all social relationships, ments, corporations, courts, armies, churches, are also subject to reconstruction by large-scale political parties, and professional associations social forces. This may even be deliberate. Under (Connell, 2002). colonialism, Christian missionaries have often Colonialism, decolonization, and globali- intervened against indigenous sexual customs zation, however, have created many other situa- that contravene the missionary religion— tions where power is not firmly established especially indigenous homosexual and cross- and conflict and disorder prevail. Peteet (1994) gender practices and premarital heterosexual documents one such case, the Palestinian relationships. For instance, missionaries backed Intifada against Israeli occupation. Here the by the Spanish colonial authorities tried to violence of the occupation and the resistance stamp out the third-gender berdache tradition have changed the conditions in which masculin- in North America (Williams, 1986). ity is constructed. Older men no longer have In the postcolonial world, although mission- authority over the process; rather, leadership in ary intervention continues, the more powerful the resistance is in the hands of young men. influence seems to be commercial mass media. Boys and youth establish their identities and Multinational media corporations and local claims to leadership within the collectivity of media imitating U.S. models circulate, on an young men. Beatings and imprisonment by the enormous scale, narratives based on an ideology occupying forces become a rite of passage for of romantic love and images based on Western Palestinian youth. models of attractiveness. This has been par- Violence has also been particularly important ticularly well documented for femininity (e.g., in the construction of masculinities in South Simpson, 1993), but of course the exaltation of Africa. The struggles around apartheid produced heterosexual romantic love also has an impact a militarized (and still heavily armed) society on men. It shifts the process of forming rela- in which gun ownership and gun violence are tionships out of the arena of extended-family widely associated with masculinity (Cock, 2001). negotiations (so-called arranged marriages, Waetjen and Maré (2001) show how both real which appear oppressive only from within the violence (assassinations and beatings of oppo- ideology of romantic love) into the arena of nents) and the symbolism of violence (appeal to individual competition in a gender market warrior traditions) are used by the neocon- (Holter, 1996). It is this, perhaps, that underlies servative Inkatha movement in the creation of the discontent with current masculinity among an ethnic-national identity for Zulu men. younger urban men in Chile. Valdés and We should bear in mind that the construc- Olavarría (1998) indicate that this does not tion of masculinities in situations of conflict, involve a basic critique of the hegemonic model although it may have spectacular public expres- of masculinity but takes the form of a sense of sions (as it does in these cases), is still linked to imprisonment in unchanging family roles. patterns of gender relations in the private realm. The realm of sexuality and emotional rela- Thus Peteet (1994) emphasizes the significance tionships may also be the site where larger of Palestinian mothers in the Intifada, both in changes or tensions are registered. Ghoussoub 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 80

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(2000) points to such a process in Egypt, where identity, as the main alternative to heterosexual rumors about impotence-causing chemicals, and masculinity, has now circulated globally. This a burst of popularity for medieval sex manuals, process is widely criticized (often by homo- can be understood as signs of a larger cultural phobic politicians) as a form of cultural imperi- disturbance about masculinity. Ghoussoub notes alism. But, as Altman (2001) observes, the that the recent increase in women’s status in “globalization of sexual identities” does not Arab societies has posed dilemmas for men simply displace indigenous models. Rather, they whose identities are still based in traditional interact in extremely complex ways, with many conceptions of gender. opportunities for code switching. There is unlikely to be a radical break in the pattern of emotional relations as a result of The dutiful Confucian or Islamic Malaysian son the impact of metropolitan or urban gender one weekend might appear in drag at Blueboy, models. Research by Pearlman (1984) among Kuala Lumpur’s gay bar, the next—and who is to the Mazatec people of Mexico points to a kind say which is “the real” person? Just as many Malaysians can move easily from one language to of coexistence. Young men who migrate to the another, so most urban homosexuals can move city to work and then return to the Mazatec from one style to another, from camping it up with community bring with them urban models of full awareness of the latest fashion trends from masculine dominance that are at odds with the Castro Street to playing the dutiful son at a family relatively egalitarian gender relations of this celebration. (Altman, 2001, p. 92) community, in which women pursue their own prestige and construct their own networks. The Symbolization. Mass media, especially elec- young men do not abandon either model; rather, tronic media, in most parts of the world follow they develop a practice that Pearlman calls North American and European models and “code switching,” in which different patterns relay a great deal of metropolitan content. As of masculinity are enacted with different noted, gender imagery is an important part audiences—older women versus other young of what is circulated. In counterpoint, “exotic” men, for instance. gender imagery has been used in marketing The recent research in metropolitan countries products from nonmetropolitan countries. that considers hegemonic masculinity as a For instance, airline advertising by Singapore discursive practice (Wetherell & Edley, 1999) and Malaysia presents images of flight atten- reveals a very similar process. This research dants as exotic, submissive women—a tactic shows that there are ways in which men are based on the long-standing combination of the not permanently committed to a particular exotic and the erotic in the colonial imagination model of masculinity—contrary to what we (Jolly, 1997). In the international sex trade, the assume on the basis of familiar models of same device of racialized gender stereotyping “gender identity.” Rather, men strategically is used in marketing Asian women to North adopt or distance themselves from the hege- American and Australasian men (Cunneen & monic model, depending on what they are trying Stubbs, 2000). Lest this be thought a harmless to accomplish at the time. fantasy, we should note that the rate of death by A comparable complexity has emerged in homicide among Filipino women in Australia— research with men involved in homosexual usually at the hands of non-Filipino men who relationships. Research in Brazil (Parker, 1985) have been their husbands or partners—is nearly encountered multiple patterns of sexual practice six times higher than the “normal” rate of homi- and social identity, actively negotiated and cide in Australia. played with by those involved. Over time, an The advent of metropolitan media, fashion, understanding of identity that centered on and ideologies creates many opportunities for sexual practice (emphasizing the distinction creative cultural work. The keynote is the active between penetrating and being penetrated) has appropriation and transformation of gender been displaced by a medico-legal model focused meanings. This can be highly self-conscious. A on the gender of one’s partner (thus emphasiz- striking example is the marketing of a line of ing the hetero-homo distinction). This in turn men’s suits by the Japanese fashion firm has been challenged by a consciously egalitarian Comme des Garçons under the catchphrase “gay” identity. A North American style of gay Nihon no sebiro (Japanese Saville Row). Like 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 81

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most Westernized businessmen’s dress since the government and its supporters simply drew on early 20th century, the actual cut of the clothes an alternative media imagery of power and varied only a little from older models. But the toughness that had coexisted with the other. advertising made an elaborate pitch to the “spiritual elite” among men, to the idea of a Japanese aesthetic, with overtones of imperial nostalgia MEN’S BODIES IN and a distinctively Japanese fusion of tradition GLOBALIZATION PROCESSES and modernity (Kondo, 1999). Davis (1997) describes a very different Because globalization refers to very large reworking of these themes in the poor commu- scale processes, it is important to recognize nities of the Torres Strait Islands, in the far north that the effects of these processes appear at of Australia. Collapse of the regional maritime the most intimate level. Men’s bodies, not just industry in the 1960s had thrown the men back broad masculine ideologies and institutions, are into the community. One result was a revival of involved. boys’ initiation rituals, which had lapsed. These The global social order distributes and redis- ceremonies had previously been secluded. They tributes bodies through migration and through were now made public, although girls’ cere- political controls over movement. The creation monies were not. The revival of “tradition” thus of empire itself involved migration, as groups constructed the “modern” pattern of masculinity of the conquerors settled in the new lands. In being identified with the public realm and fem- some cases mass migration followed, produc- ininity with the private. At the same time, the ing the settler colonialism of North America, celebration of local heroes from regional border Australasia, Algeria, and Siberia. In settler colo- clashes was linked to the Australian nationalist- nialism, elements of the gender order of Europe masculine cult of World War I Australian and were reassembled in new territories. Studies of New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers. settler masculinities show, however, that this was The meaning of hero tales was thus shifted from selective and influenced by the local situation. teaching conflict resolution to emphasizing Morrell (2001b) remarks on the production of a national identity. In both respects, the symbolic rugged, rather than cerebral, masculinity in the dimension of masculinity was reconstructed in boys’ schools of British colonists in Natal. This ways that linked it to themes of masculinity and resonates with the construction of masculinity nationality in the dominant European-settler on the frontier of settlement in New Zealand Australian society. (Phillips, 1987) and Australia (Lake, 1986). The Western symbolism of masculinity is not Labor migration within the colonial system fixed either, and the dynamics of globalization was a means by which existing gender practices are also in play in the metropole. As Messner were spread, but it was also a means by which (1993) has pointed out, it was an episode in they were reconstructed, as labor migration was the military stabilization of global order, the a gendered process. Moodie’s (1994) study of United States operations in Kuwait and Iraq in migrant labor in South African gold mines 1990 and 1991, that provided legitimation for provides the classic analysis, tracing the recon- public displays of emotion by powerful men. struction of men’s gender practices in the space General Schwartzkopf was praised in the media between capitalist mining and the pastoral for crying in public over his casualties. Niva homestead economy. Migration from the colo- (1998) agrees, going on to suggest that the sym- nized world to the First World is also a mass bolic “remasculinization” of American power process. Studies of the Mexican-origin popula- after the defeat in Vietnam, modified by a cult tion of the United States were among the earli- of high-technology violence (the theme empha- est to explore the consequences of migration for sized in media coverage of the war), and fla- masculinity (Baca Zinn, 1982) and have found vored by compassion and cultural sensitivity, an active renegotiation of gender relations. A has created a template of “new world order traditionalist model of masculinity is repro- masculinity.” But no such display of compas- duced, but with great variation according to sion or sensitivity accompanied the Western class situation and the degree of ethnic exclu- attack on Iraq in 2003. Either the shift was sion being experienced. Poynting, Noble, and ephemeral or—more probably—the Bush Tabar (1998), interviewing Lebanese male 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 82

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youth in Australia, similarly find contradictory the education of boys. Through exemplary gender consciousness and a strategic use of figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, it was fed stereotypes in the face of racism. There is an into the repertoire of metropolitan politics. assertion of dignity, but a masculine dignity, in Viveros Vigoya’s (2001) survey of Latin American a context that implies the subordination of research on masculinity gives a more current women. example: the changing definition of fatherhood. Men’s bodies, of course, are capable of other Contradictory situations are created when rising practices besides labor. Violence is a relation- demands for men’s involvement as fathers, in ship between bodies that has been of great accordance with international trends, are con- importance in the history of masculinities and fronted by growing autonomy on the part of will be discussed further as we move on. Sexual women, also an international trend, or are practices are equally important. The process of blocked by economic dislocation resulting from economic development has for a long time been the pressures of the global economy. interwoven with population dynamics—both These relocations and reinterpretations of through “pronatalist” policies intended to build bodies create many possibilities for hybridiza- national strength and through population control tion and change in gender imagery, sexuality, policies intending to make possible a rising and other forms of practice. The movement is standard of living. As Figueroa-Perea and Rojas not always toward synthesis, however. The racial (1998) argue, although demography focuses on hierarchies of colonialism have been reasserted women as the unit of reproduction, the repro- in new contexts, including the politics of the ductive behavior of men is also a critical issue, metropole. Ethnic and racial divisiveness has especially where “fatherhood” is an important been growing in importance in recent years. As part of the cultural definition of masculinity. Klein (2000) argues in the case of Israel and The population policies of the postcolonial Tillner (2000) in the case of Austria, this is a state are thus likely to encounter, and may seek fruitful context for the production of masculini- to change, some aspects of men’s gendered ties oriented toward domination and violence. definitions of their bodies. The same is true of sexual health campaigns. It is now widely recognized that the shape and MASCULINITY POLITICS ON A intensity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is affected WORLD SCALE by economic circumstances, communications, and the pattern of gender relations. For instance, The world gender order broadly privileges men the high rates of HIV infection among contem- over women. Although there are many local porary South African gold miners are related exceptions, there is a patriarchal dividend for to the construction of men’s lives in an alienat- men collectively, arising from higher incomes, ing and dangerous industry—a strong impulse higher labor force participation, unequal prop- to assert manhood, which in turn is understood erty ownership, and greater access to institu- as “going after women,” and also a desire for tional power; there is also cultural and sexual intimate, “flesh-to-flesh” contact. “The very privileging. This has been documented by inter- sense of masculinity that assists men in their national research on women’s situation (Taylor, day-to-day survival also serves to heighten 1985; Valdés & Gomáriz, 1995), although its their exposure to the risks of HIV infection” implications for men have mostly been ignored. (Campbell, 2001, p. 282). The conditions thus exist for the production of Bodies are never naked; they are always a hegemonic masculinity on a world scale—that clothed with meaning. But the meanings may is to say, a dominant form of masculinity that be reconstructed by imperialism and globali- embodies, organizes, and legitimates men’s zation. MacKenzie (1987) gives a historical domination in the world gender order as a whole. example: the figure of the “imperial pioneer and The inequalities of the world gender order, hunter” in the Anglophone world of the late 19th like the inequalities of local gender orders, century. Through the career of Baden-Powell, produce resistance. The main pressure for the founder of the Boy Scout movement, the change has come from an international feminist colonial imagery of the outdoorsman was movement (Bulbeck, 1998). International coop- brought back to the metropole as an agenda for eration among feminist groups goes back at 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 83

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least a century, although it is only in recent One response to such instabilities, on the part decades that a women’s movement has estab- of groups whose power or identity is challenged, lished a strong presence in international forums. is to reaffirm local gender hierarchies. A mascu- Mechanisms such as the 1979 Convention on line fundamentalism is, accordingly, an identifi- the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination able pattern in gender politics. Swart (2001) Against Women and the United Nations’ Decade documents a striking case in South Africa, the for Women (1975-1985) placed gender inequal- paramilitary Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging ity on the diplomatic agenda. The follow-up movement led by Eugene Terre Blanche, which 1995 Beijing Conference agreed on a detailed attempts to mobilize Afrikaner men against the “Platform For Action,” providing for interna- postapartheid regime. A cult of masculine tough- tional action on issues ranging from economic ness is interwoven with open racism; weapons exclusion, women’s health, and violence against are celebrated and women are explicitly excluded women, to girls’ education. from authority. There are obvious similarities to Equally important is the circulation of ideas, the right-wing militia movement in the United methods and examples of action. The presence States documented by Gibson (1994) and of a worldwide feminist movement (however brought to world attention by the Oklahoma City diverse and conflicted) and the undeniable fact bombing. Tillner (2000), discussing masculinity of a worldwide debate about gender issues has and racism in central Europe, notes evidence that intensified cultural pressure for change. In it is not underprivileged youth specifically who Japan, for instance, a range of women’s organi- are recruited to racism. Rather, it is young men zations existed before 1970, but a new activism oriented to dominance, an orientation that plays was sparked by the international women’s liber- out in gender as well as race. ation movement (Tanaka, 1977). This was These fundamentalist reactions against gender reflected in genres such as girls’ fiction and change are spectacular but are not, I consider, the comic books with images of powerful women. majority response among men. As noted earlier, Men, and men’s cultural genres, gradually there is considerable survey evidence of wide- responded—sometimes with marked hostility. spread acceptance of some measure of gender Ito (1992), tracing these changes, argues that change (i.e., a swing of popular attitudes toward established patterns of Japanese “men’s culture” gender equality). This change of attitudes, have collapsed, amid intensified debate about however, need not result in much change of the situation of men. However, no new model of organizational practice. For instance, Fuller masculinity has become dominant. (2001) remarks that despite changes of opinion With local variations, a similar course of among Peruvian men, events has occurred in many developed countries. Challenge and resistance, plus the disruptions the realms in which masculine solidarity networks involved in the creation of a world gender order, are constructed that guarantee access to networks have meant many local instabilities in gender of influence, alliances, and support are reproduced arrangements. These instabilities include the through a masculine culture of sports, alcohol consumption, visits to whorehouses, or stories following: about sexual conquests. These mechanisms assure a monopoly of, or, at least, differential access by • Contestation of all-male networks and sexist men to the public sphere and are a key part of the organizational culture as women move into system of power in which masculinity is forged. political office, the bureaucracy, and higher (p. 325) education (Eisenstein, 1991) • The disruption of sexual identities that pro- I would argue that this practical recupera- duced “queer” politics and other challenges tion of gender change is a more widespread, to gay identities in metropolitan countries and more successful, form of reaction among (Seidman, 1996) men than masculine fundamentalism is. Such • The shifts in the urban intelligentsia that produced profeminist politics among heterosexual recuperation is supported by neoliberalism. men (Pease, 1997) The neoliberal agenda for the reform of • Media images of “the new sensitive man,” the national and international economies involves shoulder-padded businesswoman, and other closing down historic possibilities for gender icons of gender change reform. It subverts the gender compromise 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 84

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represented by the metropolitan welfare state. Focusing more on international politics than It undermines the progressive-liberal agendas on business, Hooper (1998) also suggests a of sex role reform represented by affirmative pattern of hegemony in the masculinities of action programs, antidiscrimination provi- global arenas. A tough, power-oriented mas- sions, child-care services, and the like. Right- culinity predominates in the arena of diplomacy, wing parties and governments have been war, and power politics—distanced from the persistently cutting such programs in the name feminized world of domesticity but also distin- of either individual liberties or global compet- guished from other masculinities, such as those itiveness. Through these means, the patriarchal of working class men, subordinated ethnic dividend to men is defended or restored, with- groups, wimps, and homosexuals. This is not out an explicit masculinity politics in the form just a matter of preexisting masculinity being of a mobilization of men. expressed in international politics. Hooper Within the global arena of international argues that international politics is a primary relations, the international state, multinational site for the construction of masculinities; for corporations, and global markets, there is, nev- instance, in war or through continuing security ertheless, a deployment of masculinities. Two threats. Hooper further argues that recent glob- models of the state of play in this arena have alization trends have “softened” hegemonic recently been offered. masculinity in several ways. Ties with the mili- In a previous paper (Connell, 1998), I pro- tary have been loosened, with a world trend posed that the transnational business masculin- toward demilitarization—the total numbers of ity I have described here has achieved a position men in world armies have fallen significantly of hegemony. This has replaced older local in the last 15 years. Men are now more often models of bourgeois masculinity, which were positioned as consumers, and contemporary more embedded in local organizations and management gives more emphasis to tradition- local conservative cultures, in a process well ally “feminine” qualities such as interpersonal described by Roper’s (1994) study of British skills and teamwork. Hooper also comments on manufacturing managers. In global arenas, it the interplay of North American with Japanese has had only one major contender for hegemony corporate culture, noting some convergence and in recent decades: the rigid, control-oriented borrowing in both directions in the context of masculinity of the military, with its variant in global restructuring. the militarized bureaucratic dictatorships of Although the “softening” of hegemonic mas- Stalinism. With the collapse of Stalinism and culinity spoken of by Hooper (1998), Connell the end of the Cold War, the more flexible, (1998), Niva (1998), and Messner (1993) is real calculating, egocentric masculinity of the new enough, it does not mean the obliteration of capitalist entrepreneur holds the world stage. “harder” masculinities. The election of George The political leadership of the major powers, W. Bush to the U.S. presidency, the political through such figures as Clinton, Schröder, and aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Blair, for a while conformed to this model of Center in New York, and the remobilization of masculinity, working out a nonthreatening nationalism and military force in the United accommodation with feminism. States culminating in the attack on Iraq in 2003 Transnational business masculinity, however, show that hard-line political leadership is still is not homogeneous. A Confucian variant, based possible in the remaining superpower. It has in East Asia, has a stronger commitment to hier- never gone away in China. Bush’s distinctive archy and social consensus; a secularized combination of U.S. nationalism, religiosity, “Christian” variant, based in North America, has support for corporate interests, and rejection of more hedonism and individualism, as well as alternative points of view is not, perhaps, an eas- greater tolerance for social conflict. In certain ily exported model of masculinity. But local arenas, there is already conflict between the equivalents might be forged elsewhere. business and political leaderships embodying If these are contenders for hegemony, they these forms of masculinity. Such conflicts have are not the only articulations of masculinity in arisen over “human rights” versus “Asian val- global forums. The international circulation of ues” and over the extent of trade and investment gay identities, discussed earlier, is an important liberalization. indication that nonhegemonic masculinities 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 85

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may operate in global arenas. They can find with discussions and policy formation in this political expression, for instance, around human area (United Nations Division for the Advance- rights and AIDS prevention (Altman, 2001). ment of Women, 2003). It seems that issues Another political alternative is provided by about changing men and masculinities have counterhegemonic movements opposed to the arrived on the international agenda. current world gender order and the groups dominant in it. They are sometimes associated with the promotion of “new masculinities,” but CONCLUSION they also address masculinity as an obstacle to the reform of gender relations. The largest The issues discussed in this chapter have only and best known are the profeminist men’s recently come into focus. The earliest discus- groups in the United States, with their umbrella sion I know of masculinities and global change group NOMAS (National Organization of Men was in a special issue of the magazine New Against Sexism), a group that has been active Internationalist in September 1987, and that since the early 1980s (Cohen, 1991). More was very exploratory (Brazier, 1987). Actual globally oriented is the “White Ribbon” cam- research on men and masculinities in transna- paign, originating in Canada as a remark- tional arenas is still rare. Most of the arguments ably successful mobilization to oppose men’s in this chapter have been built up from indica- violence against women, and now working tions in studies that have other primary con- internationally (Kaufman, 1999). cerns. Yet the issues discussed here seem of Such movements, groups, or reform agendas great importance. They bear on questions of exist in many countries, including Germany peace and war, global inequalities and economic (“Multioptionale Männlichkeiten?” 1998), Britain change, as well as change in intimate relation- (Seidler, 1991), Australia (Pease, 1997), Mexico ships and identities. I hope this tentative synthe- (Zingoni, 1998), Russia (Sinelnikov, 2000), sis will help to stimulate research and debate. India (Roy, 2003), and the Nordic countries (Oftung, 2000). The spectrum of issues they address is well illustrated by the conference NOTE of the Japanese men’s movement in Kyoto in 1996. This conference included sessions on 1. By metropole I mean the group of rich coun- youth, gay issues, work, child rearing, bodies, tries, mostly former imperial powers, that form the and communications with women—as well as core of the world capitalist economy. the globalization of the men’s movement (Menzu Senta, 1997). Most of these movements and groups are REFERENCES small, and some are short-lived. They have, however, been a presence in gender politics Allen, C. (Ed.). (1975). Plain tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the twentieth century. since the 1970s and have built up a body of London: Andre Deutsch. experience and ideas. These are circulated inter- Altman, D. (2001). Global sex. Chicago: University nationally by translations and republications of Chicago Press. of writings, by traveling activists and researchers, Baca Zinn, M. (1982). Chicano men and masculinity. and through intergovernmental agencies. Recently, Journal of Ethnic Studies, 10(2), 31-44. some international agencies, including the Bauman, Z. (1998). Globalization: The human conse- Council of Europe (Ólafsdóttir, 2000), FLACSO quences. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. (Valdés & Olavarría, 1998), and UNESCO Bitterli, U. (1989). Cultures in conflict: Encounters (Breines, Connell, & Eide, 2000), sponsored the between European and non-European cultures, first conferences to discuss the implications for 1492-1800. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. public policy of the new perspectives on mas- Brazier, C. (Ed.). (1987, September). Birth of a culinity. The role of men in achieving gender new man: The politics of masculinity. New equality emerged as an issue in the Program for Internationalist, (175, Special issue). Action that emerged from the 1995 Beijing Breines, I., Connell, R., & Eide, I. (Eds.). (2000). Male world conference on women, and a number of roles, masculinities and violence: A culture of United Nations agencies are currently involved peace perspective. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 86

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O’Donnell, M., & Sharpe, S. (2000). Uncertain I. Breines, R. Connell, & I. Eide (Eds.), Male roles, masculinities: Youth, ethnicity and class in con- masculinities and violence: A culture of peace temporary Britain. London: Routledge. perspective (pp. 201-209). Paris: UNESCO. Oftung, K. (2000). Men and gender equality in the Sinha, M. (1995). Colonial masculinity: The “manly Nordic countries. In I. Breines, R. Connell, & Englishman” and the “effeminate Bengali” in I. Eide (Eds.), Male roles, masculinities and the late nineteenth century. Manchester, violence: A culture of peace perspective England: Manchester University Press. (pp. 143-162). Paris: UNESCO. Smith, S. (1998). “Unacceptable conclusions” and Ólafsdóttir, O. (2000). Statement. In I. Breines, the “man” question: Masculinity, gender, and R. Connell, & I. Eide (Eds.), Male roles, international relations. In M. Zalewski & masculinities and violence: A culture of peace J. Parpart (Eds.), The “man” question in inter- perspective (pp. 281-283). Paris: UNESCO. national relations (pp. 54-72). Boulder, CO: Ouzgane, L., & Coleman, D. (1998). Postcolonial Westview Press. masculinities: Introduction. Jouvert, 2(1). Swart, S. (2001). “Man, gun and horse”: Hard Retrieved December 22, 2003, from http://social right Afrikaner masculine identity in post- .chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v2i1/int21.htm. apartheid South Africa. In R. Morrell (Ed.), Parker, R. (1985). Masculinity, femininity, and Changing men in Southern Africa (pp. 75-89). homosexuality: On the anthropological interpre- Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of tation of sexual meanings in Brazil. Journal of Natal Press. Homosexuality, 11(3-4), 155-163. Taga, F. (2001). Dansei no jendâ keisei: “Otoko- Pearlman, C. L. (1984). Machismo, marianismo rashisa” no yuragi no naka de [The gender for- and change in indigenous Mexico: A case study mation of men: Uncertain masculinity]. Tokyo: from Oaxaca. Quarterly Journal of Ideology, Tôyôkan Shuppan-sha. 8(4), 53-59. Tanaka, K. (1977). A short history of the women’s Pease, B. (1997). Men and sexual politics: Towards movement in modern Japan (3rd ed.). Tokyo: a profeminist practice. Adelaide, Australia: Femintern Press. Dulwich Centre. Taylor, D. (1985). Women: An analysis. In Women: A Peteet, J. (1994). Male gender and rituals of world report (pp. 1-98). London: Methuen. resistance in the Palestinian Intifada: A cultural Tillner, G. (2000). The identity of dominance: politics of violence. American Ethnologist, Masculinity and xenophobia. In I. Breines, 21(1), 31-49. R. Connell, & I. Eide (Eds.), Male roles, Phillips, J. (1987). A man’s country? The image of masculinities and violence: A culture of peace the Pakeha male: A history. Auckland, New perspective (pp. 53-59). Paris: UNESCO. Zealand: Penguin. Tomsen, S. (1997). A top night: Social protest, Poynting, S., Noble, G., & Tabar, P. (1998). “If masculinity and the culture of drinking vio- anyone called me a wog, they wouldn’t lence. British Journal of Criminology, 37(1), be speaking to me alone”: Protest masculinity 90-103. and Lebanese youth in Western Sydney. United Nations Division for the Advancement of Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, Women. (2003, June 30–July 25). The role of 3(2), 76-94. men and boys in achieving gender equality (On- Roper, M. (1994). Masculinity and the British orga- line discussion). Retrieved December 22, 2003, nization man since 1945. Oxford, England: from http://esaconf.un.org/~gender-equality- Oxford University Press. role-men-boys Roy, R. (2003). Exploring masculinities: A travelling Valdés, T., & Gomáriz, E. (1995). Latin American seminar. Unpublished manuscript, New Delhi. women: Compared figures. Santiago, Chile: Seidler, V. J. (1991). Achilles heel reader: Men, sex- Instituto de la Mujer and FLACSO. ual politics and socialism. London: Routledge. Valdés, T., & Olavarría, J. (1998). Ser hombre en Seidman, S. (Ed.). (1996). Queer theory/sociology. Santiago de Chile: A pesar de todo, un mismo Oxford, England: Blackwell. modelo [To be a man in Santiago, Chile: Despite Shire, C. (1994). Men don’t go to the moon: all, a model]. In T. Valdés & J. Olavarría (Eds.), Language, space and masculinities in Masculinidades y equidad de género en América Zimbabwe. In A. Cornwall & N. Lindisfarne Latina [Masculinities and gender equity in (Eds.), Dislocating masculinity (pp. 147-158). Latin America] (pp. 12-36). Santiago, Chile: London: Routledge. FLACSO/UNFPA. Simpson, A. (1993). Xuxa: The mega-marketing Viveros Vigoya, M. (2001). Contemporary Latin of gender, race and modernity. Philadelphia: American perspectives on masculinity. Men and Temple University Press. Masculinities, 3(3), 237-260. Sinelnikov, A. (2000). Masculinity à la Russe: Gender Waetjen, T., & Maré, G. (2001). “Men amongst men”: issues in the Russian Federation today. In Masculinity and Zulu nationalism in the 1980s. 05-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 89

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In R. Morrell (Ed.), Changing men in Southern Xaba, T. (2001). Masculinity and its malcontents: The Africa (pp. 195-206). Pietermaritzburg, South confrontation between “struggle masculinity” Africa: University of Natal Press. and “post-struggle masculinity” (1990-1997). Wajcman, J. (1999). Managing like a man: Women In R. Morrell (Ed.), Changing men in Southern and men in corporate management. Sydney: Africa (pp. 105-124). Pietermaritzburg, South Allen & Unwin. Africa: University of Natal Press. Wetherell, M., & Edley, N. (1999). Negotiating hege- Zalewski, M., & Parpart, J. (Eds.). (1998). The monic masculinity: Imaginary positions and “man” question in international relations. psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Psychology, 9(3), 335-356. Zingoni, E. L. (1998). Masculinidades y violencia White, S. C. (2000). “Did the earth move?” The desde un programa de acción en México hazards of bringing men and masculinities into [A Mexican program of action on masculinities gender and development. IDS Bulletin, 31(2), and violence]. In T. Valdés & J. Olavarría 33-41. (Eds.), Masculinidades y equidad de género en Williams, W. L. (1986). The spirit and the flesh: América Latina (pp. 130-136). Santiago, Chile: Sexual diversity in American Indian culture. FLACSO/UNFPA. Boston: Beacon Press. Zulehner, P. M., & Volz, R. (1998). Männer im Winter, M. F., & Robert, E. R. (1980). Male domi- Aufbruch: Wie Deutschlands Männer sich Selbst nance, late capitalism, and the growth of instru- und wie Frauen Sie Sehen [Men awakening: How mental reason. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, German men see themselves and how women see (24-25), 249-280. them]. Ostfildern, Germany: Schwabenverlag. 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 90

MEN IN THE THIRD WORLD

Postcolonial Perspectives on Masculinity

ROBERT MORRELL

SANDRA SWART

his chapter examines men and masculinity the developed and developing worlds. These in the postcolonial world, a world formerly concepts are crude, sometimes misleading, and T controlled by European colonizers. It often inaccurate. Yet they retain an undeniable considers how men and masculinity have been truth. As a shorthand, for all its shortcomings, analyzed using a number of different theories we shall in this chapter be using the term Third and literatures and suggests that the specific World to refer to the un- and underdeveloped gender conditions of the postcolonial world regions concentrated in South America, Africa, require a flexible, yet syncretic, approach if their and parts of Asia, an area often termed “the lives are to be understood and, more important, South” to distinguish its state from the industri- appreciated and improved. alized and wealthy “North.” Our starting point is that the world still The differences between the First and Third bears the mark of colonialism. The World Bank, Worlds can be found in the statistics shown in for example, divides the world into two eco- Table 6.1. nomic categories: “more developed regions”— People in different parts of the world have Europe, North America, Australia, New hugely divergent experiences of life. We can Zealand, and Japan—and “less developed make some generalizations that will underpin regions”—the rest of the world. A further sub- this study. Many babies never make it to their category (a part of the less developed regions first birthdays, and those who achieve this live in that includes the poorest countries of the world) poverty for much of their lives. Many will live in is “Sub-Saharan Africa.” There is still good rural areas, with little access to the technology reason to talk about the dichotomy between that people in the more developed world rely the metropole and the periphery and about on. And the situation is getting worse: The share

Authors’ note: We would like to thank R. W. Connell and Jeff Hearn for their helpful comments on this chapter.

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Table 6.1 Differences Between the First and Third Worlds

Life Life Life Births per Deaths per Infant Expectancy Expectancy Expectancy Percentage 1000 of 1000 of Mortality at Birth at Birth at Birth of Urban Population Population Rate (Total) (Male) (Female) Population

More 11 10 8 75 72 79 75 developed Less 25 8 61 64 63 66 40 developed Sub-Saharan 41 15 94 51 49 52 30 Africa

SOURCE: Population Reference Bureau (2001a, p. 2).

of the poorest 20% of the world’s population as we show in the third section of this chapter, the in the global economy in 1960 was 2.3%; in general approach has the potential both to focus 1997 it was down to 1.1% (Heward, 1999, p. 9). theoretical light on men in the periphery and to Beyond this generalization, there are gender prompt new angles of research into masculinity differentiations, which this chapter will explore. that give greater weight to alternative paradigms The Third World is still portrayed in the (particularly, indigenous knowledge systems). mass media in ways that Edward Said (1978) explained in terms of the concept “orientalism.” The (mostly) black people of the Third World were “othered.” Despite the vigorous debates SOME HISTORICAL about such (mis)representation, the Third World AND THEORETICAL STARTING POINTS is nonetheless represented as a combination of emaciated children, crying women, and men Postcolonialism refers to the period after colo- engaged in war. These gendered portrayals both nialism. Although the impact of colonialism is reflect global disparities and gravely misrep- contested, we take it to refer to a phase in world resent them. In this chapter, we set out to see history beginning in the early 16th century that how these global inequalities can be understood eventually, by 1914, saw Europe hold sway over in gendered terms. Following the main thrust more than 85% of the rest of the globe. of critical men’s studies, we move beyond gen- Another meaning of colonialism refers to dered essentialisms to examine how different the political ideologies that legitimated the masculinities are constructed and how men are modern occupation and exploitation of already positioned and act in the world. It is important settled lands by external powers. For the indige- from the outset to note that there has been little nous populations, it meant the suppression of analysis of men and masculinity in the Third resistance, the imposition of alien laws, and World. Anthropologists have left a rich descrip- the parasitic consumption of natural resources, tion of the doings of men, although seldom have including human labor. these been put into a conscious gender frame, Colonialism was a highly gendered process. and rarely have these scholars incorporated the In the first instance, it was driven by gendered history of colonial and postcolonial society into metropolitan forces and reflected the gender their ethnographic accounts (Finnström, 1997). order of the metropole. The economies of Two works consciously working from a critical Europe from the 16th century onward were men’s studies perspective provide exceptions to geared toward the colonies. The men who this generalization in South Africa (Morrell, were engaged in conquest and those who were 2001) and South America (Gutmann, 2001). It is absorbed into industry producing and profiting surprising that the emergence of postcolonial from the subordination of large parts of the theory, with a strong element of feminism in it, world, working and ruling classes together, were has done little to rectify this omission, although, complicit in exploitative practices, the most 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 92

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brutal of which was the nearly three-century-long policing of the “dangerous classes”: the working trans-Atlantic slave trade. Europe’s Enlighten- class, the Irish, Jews, prostitutes, feminists, gays ment ambitions, fused with its colonial past, and lesbians, criminals, the militant crowd and so were based on the power and symbolic potency on. At the same time, the cult of domesticity was of the nation-state. Today the process of the not simply a trivial and fleeting irrelevance, belonging properly in the private, “natural” realm transnational economy spells the decline of of the family. Rather, I argue that the cult of nation-states as principals of economic and polit- domesticity was a crucial, if concealed, dimension ical organization. The decline of the nation- of male as well as female identities—shifting and state and the end of colonialism also marks the unstable as these were. (McClintock, 1995, p. 5) concomitant historical crisis of the values it represented, chiefly masculine authority founded and In his chapter in this volume, R. W. Connell embodied in the patriarchal family, compulsory (see Chapter 5) argues for the need to look beyond heterosexuality, and the exchange of women— ethnography and local studies to comprehend all articulated in the crucible of imperial how globalization is shaping gender power in the masculinity. 21st century. In this chapter, we argue that a As many have argued—from one of the first necessary complement to this approach is the Africanist historians, Basil Davidson (1961), to need to recognize what anthropologists used to the historian of the transatlantic diaspora and its call “the Fourth World”—a world that policies of cultural impact, Paul Gilroy (1993)—the slave modernization did not touch, where life contin- trade changed the meaning of “race” and pro- ued much as it had always done except that the duced an equation of black with inferiority. ecological consequences of advanced industrial- Much of the research on race (Hoch, 1979; ization were experienced catastrophically in Staples, 1982; Stecopoulos & Uebel, 1997) is climate change and attendant natural disasters. still trying to make sense of the way in which Added to this is the need to examine contexts masculinities in the 20th century were shaped wherein development has failed and people no by the systematic elaboration of racist dis- longer believe in the promise of progress. In courses. A derivative of recent theoretical large parts of the world, people today are poorer advances has been to examine how the experi- than they were half a century ago. In most ence of race in the colonies (Stoler, 1989) influ- instances, the slide into poverty has not been enced class relations and identities in the linear but has been punctuated by moments of metropole (Hall, 1992) and how metropolitan material improvement. There are few places in ideas travelled into the periphery (Johnson, the world that still harbor the illusion that, in 2001). In Imperial Leather, Anne McClintock material terms at least, things will get better (1995) argues that to understand colonialism soon. and postcolonialism, one must first recognize Globalization has been described as another that race, gender, and class are not “distinct form of colonialism or imperialism. It has not realms of experience, existing in splendid isola- “corrected” the legacies of the uneven march of tion from each other”; rather, they come into capitalism or the differential impacts of imperi- existence in relation to each other, albeit in alism (Golding & Harris, 1997). Instead, global- conflictual ways. Others have argued before her ization has fostered media and cultural that the Victorians connected race, class, and imperialism. Information technologies have dis- gender in ways that promoted imperialism seminated Hollywood images around the world, abroad and classism at home, but McClintock giving an illusion of a homogeneous global argues that these connections proved crucial culture. This does not mean, as Anthony Appiah to the development of Western modernity. (1991) emphatically remarks, “that it is the “Imperialism,” she explains, culture of every person in the world” (p. 343). And, as Nyamnjoh contends, “globalization does is not something that happened elsewhere—a disagreeable fact of history external to Western not necessarily or even frequently imply identity. Rather, imperialism and the invention of homogenization or Americanization, [as] differ- race were fundamental aspects of Western, indus- ent societies tend to be quite creative in their trial modernity. The invention of race in the urban appropriation or consumption of the materials metropoles . . . became central not only to the self- of modernity” (Appadurai, 1996, p. 17; Gray, definition of the middle class but also to the 1998). However, he concedes that the developing 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 93

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world continues to bear the brunt of the risk therefore belongs to and is possessed by and volatility associated with the exploitation indigenous, formerly colonized peoples. This of information technologies and markets. type of knowledge offers different ways of Before turning to the different literatures understanding the world and making sense that bear on postcolonial men and masculinity, of life and death. Its assumptions are normally it is important to note that the term postcolonial quite different from those seen in Western, refers inexactly to a political and geographical subject-centered frames. For example, human terrain. On occasion, the term includes coun- existence is understood in terms of communal tries that have yet to achieve independence, or and environmental belonging rather than as people in the developed world who are minori- something intrinsically related to the fact of ties, or even independent colonies that now an individual’s birth. contend with “neocolonial” forms of subjuga- The claims made on behalf of indigenous tion through expanding global capitalism. In all knowledge have been generated by postcolonial of these ways, postcolonial, rather than indicat- conditions and the perceived condescension ing only a specific and materially historical of the First World for the Third. Objecting to event, seems to describe the second half of the the imperial gaze, Third World writers, instead 20th century in general as a period in the after- of using the sophisticated theoretical tools of math of the zenith of colonialism. Even more postmodernism, have trawled the past and generically, postcolonial is used to denote a interrogated cultural practices in the attempt to position against imperialism and Eurocentrism. give indigenous knowledge appropriate status Although technically postcolonial, Canada, the in the world. Indigenous knowledge claims United States, and Australia, for example, are autonomy and independence from metropolitan seldom analyzed in this paradigm (although, knowledge. It offers new ways of understanding see, as a counter, Coleman, 1998). Western ways the world that are sometimes at odds with West- of knowledge production and propagation then ern ways. It is, to use current South African become objects of scrutiny for those seeking and pan-African terminology, an attempt at a alternative means of expression. The term thus renaissance—to recover “old” ways of under- yokes a diverse range of experiences, cultures, standing and to restore “old,” lost, or forgotten and problems. ways of doing. As with postcolonial theory, one of the major concerns of indigenous knowledge is to reclaim agency and black (Third World) ANALYZING POSTCOLONIALISM: voices. THREE APPROACHES The third body of work (the gender and development literature) engages with postcolonialism This section examines three different literatures in terms of ongoing inequality between the First (postcolonial theory, writings on indigenous and Third Worlds. It responds to the challenge knowledge, and work on gender and develop- that this poses for an international community ment). All are, in one way or another, a response formally committed to human rights and equal- to postcolonialism. We start out by considering ity. This literature is not so much concerned with the reasons for the emergence of postcolonial representation as with actually effecting improve- theory and look at the intellectual and political ment in material life. Contributors speak from climate that spawned it. We then show how this both metropolitan and Third World contexts as new theory attempts to offer an alternative read- they collectively try to find effective ways of ing of agency and subjectivity and, at the same reducing inequality and promoting growth. This time, tackles the issue of representation and literature has been much more sensitive to power in the periphery. debates about gender and masculinity than the The second body of writing makes a claim first two, partly because the language of the for the status of indigenous knowledge. This international community (especially agencies is a type of knowledge that is site specific of the United Nations) has been particularly and claims no universal validity. Historically, receptive to developments in gender theory and it predates colonialism. It has been attacked and responsive to the suggestion that a gender (and marginalized by the processes of colonialism, latterly a masculinity) lens be used to assist the yet seldom has it been totally destroyed. It delivery of development projects. 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 94

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Postcolonial Theory Postcolonial theorists, and Bhabha (1994) in Postcolonial theory is not a coherent body particular, argue that colonial identities are of writing or theorization. In fact, its realm always about agony and transition or flux. is contested, and writers who ostensibly belong However, Bhabha does not accept a neat black- together as “postcolonial theorists” dispute its white division but subscribes to the idea of political mission and ambit. Its rise and entrench- “messy” borders, “the tethered shadow of defer- ment in academia may arguably be dated from ral and displacement” (cited in Loomba, 1998, the publication of Edward Said’s influential p. 176). Where he detects the mimicry of white critique of Western constructions of the Orient master by black subject, he argues that this actu- in his 1978 book, Orientalism. Its origins are ally undermines white hegemony and is there- diverse. It is easier to follow these if we recognize fore an anticolonial strategy. He further argues a basic split in postcolonial theory, one that that the identity of both colonized and the colo- Moore-Gilbert (1997) characterizes as post- nizer are unstable and fraught. This is because colonial theory and postcolonial criticism. of inherent instability and contradictions in the Postcolonial theory draws on postmodern theory modernist project. to unpick the modernist project, exposing its twin Postcolonial theory insists that everyone has nature: freedom, self-determination, reason—and some agency. This concept is both useful and yet also submission, marginalization, and inade- inadequate. It is useful in the sense that it pro- quacy of the “other.” Postcolonial theory is vides a constructive starting point in literary primarily associated with “the holy trinity” studies of representation and is very accepting (Young, 1995, p. 165): Said, Homi Bhabha, and of the idea of a fluid or “multiple” identity. This Gayatri Spivak. What unites them is their intel- balances the more rigidly Marxian and struc- lectual debt to postmodern writers, their focus turalist perspectives, with their linear trajectories on the importance of culture, and their political of class and power. However, postcolonial theory opposition to the cultural domination of the does not move the marginal to the center—it West. All three are based in prestigious Western does not invert the historical hierarchy— universities, something that has made some it critiques the center from both the periphery critics skeptical of the sincerity of their work. and the metropolitan core (Hutcheon, 1992). The originality of their work is best appreciated Bhabha (1994), for example, says “there is no by contrasting it with the work of Marxist schol- knowledge—political or otherwise—outside ars like Andre Gunder Frank (1971, 1978) and representation” (p. 23). Everything is thus ana- Colin Leys who, in the 1960s and early 1970s, lyzed in terms of linguistic interchange, offering pointed out that political independence had not vocabularies of subjectivity. What postcolonial ended the domination of the former colonies by theory often does not do is show how subjectivi- their metropolitan masters but had strengthened ties are shaped by class, gender, and geospatial the dependence of the former on the latter. context. Here the analysis highlighted ongoing material The emancipatory claims of postcolonial the- inequality. Postcolonial theory focused on the ory are contested in another way. Aijaz Ahmad role of culture in politics. The fact that the Orient (1992, 1996) and Ania Loomba (1998), particu- was “othered” and subjected to a Western gaze larly, have objected to the marginalization of pol- by colonial writers had consequence for the itics and the increasingly abstruse theoretical inhabitants of the Third World. They were direction taken, as well as to the decreasing deprived of a voice. Postcolonial theorists devel- purchase of this theory on Third World realities: oped theories of race and subjectivity that opened the truths of class, race, and gender inequality. up a new terrain of study and offered new con- Similar concerns have also been expressed in cepts with which to analyze. Possibly the most Third World contexts (Sole, 1994). Neil Lazarus influential was the term hybridity—a term devel- (1999) has characterized postcolonial theory as oped to try and capture the fluidity of post- “the idealist and dehistoricizing scholarship colonial life and the postmodern insights into the currently predominant in that field in general” multiple identities and subject positions avail- (p. 1). It is not incidental that for these scholars, able. Here the debt to postmodernism—the stress feminism and Marxism remain important in on conditionality and contingency and the suspi- understanding the world and that for them, that cion of absolutes and progress—was very strong. which Lenin said many years ago remains true: 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 95

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“Politics begin where the masses are; not where (1938/1989); and the Martinique-born resident there are thousands, but where there are millions, of Algeria who became famous as a revolution- that is where serious politics begins” (quoted in ary writer, the author of Wretched of the Carr, 1964, p. 50). Earth, whose writings had profound influence When it comes to gender, the impact of on the radical movements in the 1960s in the postcolonial theory has been disappointing United States and Europe, Frantz Fanon (Moore-Gilbert, 1997, p. 168). Spivak’s con- (1963/1986). cern for Third World women, particularly their The willingness to search for and listen to cultural position and representation, is univer- alternative narratives (penned by those subordi- sally acknowledged, but in the study of men nated by colonialism) also made possible a and masculinity, the impact has been slight, trans-Atlantic conversation that fed into post- limited to one particular work (Sinha, 1995). colonial debates and gave access to authors as One possible explanation for this is identified diverse as Henry Louis Gates, an authority in by Connell: African American identity studies who worked to include works by African Americans in the The domain of culture (all right, “discourse,” I American literary rights movement in the prefer the older language) is a major part of social 1960s; Walter Rodney, the radical Marxist from reality. It defines memberships of categories, and it defines oppositions between categories; hence, Guyana, killed by a car bomb in Georgetown the very category of gender is necessarily cultural in 1980; and Patricia Hill Collins (1990) and (or constituted in discourse). But it is not consti- bell hooks, prominent black American academic tuted only in discourse. Gender relations also feminists of the 1980s and 1990s. involve violence, which is not discourse; material inequality, which is not discourse; organizations Race and Gender: such as firms, which are not discourse; structures Black Men and Masculinity such as markets, which are not discourse. So the analysis of the discursive constitution of mas- Postcolonial theory draws attention to culinities, while often highly illuminating, can agency and is also powerfully subversive never be a complete, or even very adequate, regarding essentialisms. It is predicated on the analysis of masculinities. (Ouzgane & Coleman, deconstruction of the “essential.” Diana Fuss 1998, point 21) (1989) says,

A second type of approach to the study of [Essentialism] is most commonly understood the postcolonial is “postcolonial criticism,” as a belief in the real, true essence of things, the which is described as a “more or less distinct invariable and fixed properties which define set of reading practices” (Moore-Gilbert, 1997, the “whatness” of a given entity....Importantly, p.12), and which emerged within English essentialism is typically defined in opposition language and cultural studies. The close exami- to difference....The opposition is a helpful nation of texts permitted a critique of colonial one in that it reminds us that a complex system literary method and also focused attention on of cultural, social, psychical, and historical the representation of the racialized subject. Here differences, and not a set of pre-existent human essences, position and constitute the subject. it shared its field of study with postcolonial However, the binary articulation of essentialism thought, although it was much more sensitive and difference can also be restrictive, even to the existence of indigenous critique. Among obfuscating, in that it allows us to ignore or deny those whose writings have been acknowledged the differences within essentialism. (pp. xi-xii) are the South African author of Native Life in South Africa and one of the founders in 1912 of In the field of gender studies, reaction to the African National Congress, Sol Plaatje essentialism can be seen in the acceptance of (Plaatje & Head, 1996); Black American civil the concept of “masculinities” developed by, rights activist, author of Black Reconstruction, and among others, the Australian gender theorist cofounder of the National Association for the R. W. Connell in the 1980s and 1990s. Elsewhere Advancement of Colored People, W. E. B. du Bois in this volume, this development is exhaustively (1934/2001); the Caribbean author of The Black discussed, so we now move on to examine how Jacobins and theoretician of Marxism, cricket, the critique of essentialism has played out in the and West Indian self-determination, C. L. R. James analysis of black men. 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 96

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How are we to understand “black men”? This validates difference (Westwood, 1990). Elsewhere is not a question that has received the attention in the United States, a similar marginal position it deserves, as the focus of gender work in with regard to societal power has resulted in the underdeveloped world contexts and in terms of construction of African American masculinities race has been insistently on women. An ironic that are also subordinate to the hegemonic ideal. consequence has been to silence or to render Such constructions include, among other things, black men invisible. For example, Heidi Mirza the emphasis of physicality, a particular cultural (1997) refers to “Black Feminism” as anything style (“cool pose”), music (hip-hop and rap), that is recognizably antiracist and postcolonial: and investment in sporting achievement. But “the political project has a single purpose: to there is a danger of essentializing black men by excavate the silences and pathological appear- fixing and generalizing these choices to all ances of a collectivity of women assigned to black men (Majors, 1986; Staples, 1982). This the ‘other’ and produced in gendered, sexual- has resulted in the stereotyping and demonizing ized, wholly racialised discourses” (pp. 20-21). of black men as either thugs or sportsmen Black men need to be understood as (Jefferson, 1996; Ross, 1998). “multidimensional social subject(s)” (Mac an The focus on race generally and black men in Ghaill, 1996, p. 1). The masculinity of black particular reflects a concern with politics and a men needs to be considered in the “ambivalent desire for emancipation of the subject and the and contradictory sites of black identity and eth- eradication of inequality. The foregrounding of nicity and their complex interaction with state the black subject (and race as analytical cate- institutions and racial ideologies” (Marriott, gory) constitutes, according to Marriott (1996), 1996, p. 185). This involves highlighting the “black political and cultural attempts to stabi- relationship between masculinity, sexuality, lize ‘blackness’” and “a determined attempt to and power. One approach, which centralizes retain the position and influence of race authen- race, is suggested by Gayatri Chakravorty ticity over ethnicity, gender and class” (p. 198). Spivak (1996), who guardedly suggests the path This approach, with its emphasis on symbolism, of “strategic essentialism.” Trinh T. Minh-Ha subordination, and resistance, has given rise to (1995) personalizes the choices facing a post- many highly perceptive accounts of the experi- colonial subject struggling with identity issues: ence of colonialism. In the South African context, this approach has been used to explain Every path I/i take is edged with thorns. On the one apparent mental illness as a form of resistance hand, i play into the Savior’s hands by concentrat- (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1987) and has thus ing on authenticity, for my attention is numbed by steered analysis away from what some consid- it and diverted from other important issues; on ered to be a unidimensional materialist register the other hand, i do feel the necessity to return to my so-called roots, since they are the fount of my of racial oppression. In other Third World con- strength, the guiding arrow to which i constantly texts, such as India, a similar approach to the refer before heading for a new direction. (p. 268) understanding of oppression has been developed to demonstrate how identities shift and develop The black man is faced with a choice and in the interstices of society to accommodate has to exercise his agency. Identity becomes a highly unequal gender relations. At the same matter of choice, although it is a choice played time, transgressive and dissenting voices out against the backdrop of environment and emerge to challenge the patriarchal discourses history. centered on the family, community, and nation Another approach is sociological—to exam- (Rajan, 1999). ine collectivities of black men and the social Nonetheless, the focus on race cannot just constructions of masculinity. Black men and be about emancipation because black (just like boys in the British schooling system develop other) men are in oppressive relations with subordinate masculinities that reflect their women. The strained relationship between exclusion from hegemonic male power (Mac black women and men is carefully identified by an Ghaill, 1996). There is a defensive aspect bell hooks (1981, 1990). Compassionately, she to this construction of masculinity that per- observed, “Like black men, many black women mits the creation of safe space (both emotional believed black liberation could only be achieved and spatial), but it also signals a defiance and by the formation of a strong black patriarchy” 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 97

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(hooks, 1981, p. 182). But she went on to point at a Zimbabwe training college, homophobia out that black men were also responsible for (rather than misogyny) is one of the defining high levels of violence against women, as well features of an African nationalist hegemonic as against other men, and cautioned against masculinity (Pattman, 2001). romanticizing either black men or women. Her subsequent work has been filled with hope, and Indigenous Knowledge she looks to self-reflective, politically conscious black men working with black women as a The second response to postcolonialism means of advancing an emancipatory project. is presented here as an organic response of indigenous people struggling to be heard. In We need to hear from black men who are interro- reality, the notion of indigenous people or gating sexism, who are striving to create different knowledge itself runs the risk of essentializing and oppositional views of masculinity. Their and fixing. We refer to indigenous knowledge experience is the concrete practice that may influ- as a value system that predates colonialism and ence others. Progressive black liberation struggle was integral to, and supportive of, precolonial must take seriously feminist movements to end societies and life. Such a value system was sexism and sexist oppression if we are to restore to ourselves, to future generations of black people, often the explicit target of early colonization, the sweet solidarity in struggle that has histori- when missionaries sought to banish heathen cally been a redemptive subversive challenge to beliefs and replace them with the English lan- white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. (hooks, guage, English customs, and the Christian 1990, p. 77) Bible. Over centuries of colonialism, many of these value systems were eroded and disap- In a similar vein in South Africa, Kopano peared. Their material and social forms were Ratele (1998, 2001) has sought to combat often the first to feel the effects of colonial- black nationalist views that gloss over gender ism—buildings and space were regimented difference. Arguing against racial essentialism, along colonial lines and families shaped to meet he points out that misogyny is a deeply con- the requirements of the colonial and, later, cap- stitutive aspect of urban, emerging middle italist economies. What was more tenacious class, young, black men. For Ratele, black were values and rituals concerning deep exis- men have to face up to their masculinity if tential and philosophical questions such as they want to live in harmonious relations with “who am I?” and “what is the meaning of women and the broader society. life?” Throughout the formerly colonized Admonitions about black men are not world, there has been a movement to recover confined to heterosexual behavior. Jonathon this value system—in Australasia, in South Dollimore (1997) is critical of Frantz Fanon’s America, and in Africa there are now estab- homophobia, arguing that in Fanon’s writing lished movements to retrieve traditions and to there are places where “homosexuality is itself validate alternative ways of understanding. demonised as both a cause and an effect of This development makes sense when one the demonising psychosexual organization of considers Spivak’s (1996) deep skepticism about racism that Fanon elsewhere describes and the idea of “any easy or intrinsic fit between the analyses so compellingly” (p. 33). In attempting aims and assumptions of First and Third World, to explore “the racial distribution of guilt” that or postcolonial, feminism.” For Spivak, the results from the psychic internalization and ostensible emancipatory project of Marxism social perpetuation of discrimination between and Western feminism “runs the risk of exacer- subordinated groups, Fanon (says Dollimore) bating the problems of the Third World deploys some “of the worst prejudices [about gendered subject” (Moore-Gilbert, 1997, p. 77). the sexuality of women and the heterosexuality Other postcolonial writers have gone further. of men] that psychoanalysis has been used to Adam and Tiffin (1990) argue that “Post- reinforce” (p. 32). Homophobia has become a modernism . . . operates as a Euro-American feature of African nationalism, with leaders western hegemony, whose global appropriation such as Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Sam of time-and-place inevitably proscribes certain Nujoma (Namibia) launching witch hunts cultures as ‘backward’ and marginal while against gays (Epprecht, 1998). Among students co-opting to itself certain of their ‘cultural “raw” 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 98

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materials’” (quoted in Williams & Chrisman, the value of foundational feminist concepts and 1993, p. 13). has asked: Is gender still an appropriate unit of On the other hand, the claim for indigenous analysis, or is it merely a colonial imposition knowledge can easily be used to justify tyranny with limited value? Should the concept of gen- and injustice on the basis that practices are der be expanded to focus on its relational com- drawn from “our culture.” Indeed, the recent ponent by examining African constructions of debate in South Africa about whether HIV masculinities, as well as femininities? What cat- causes AIDS has seen President Thabo Mbeki egories of identity and personhood are more reject scientific evidence concerning this con- appropriate and germane to African societies? nection as Western arrogance and has linked The search for indigenous knowledge has his own position to a broader campaign for often been accompanied by hostility toward continental regeneration (called the African Western feminism. Ifi Amadiume (1987), for Renaissance), central to which is the restoration example, attacks feminist work because of its of indigenous knowledge to a position of respect binary use of the categories “man” and “woman” and honor in politics and policy (Freedman, and its assumptions that men and women are 1999; Makgoba, 1999; Mbeki, 1998; Msimang, different and that they therefore have fundamen- 2000; Mulemfo, 2000). tally different interests. She rejects analysis that Underpinning these weaknesses is the danger stresses the adversarial nature of gender rela- of romanticizing the past and underestimating tions. Along with others, she develops an alter- the responses of indigenous peoples to colonial- native approach, which attempts to retrieve ism, which altered their culture and left nothing indigenous knowledge that challenges the the same. There is a constant temptation to con- universalist claims of Western thought. She struct an imaginary precolonial heaven to drive describes gender fluidity and harmony (as home the point of the disastrous consequences opposed to fixed gender roles and gender con- of colonialism (see Epprecht, 2001; Salo, 2001). flict) in precolonial Igbo society (in present-day In theoretical terms, indigenous knowledge runs Nigeria). A similar argument is made for the the risk of trying to sit “outside” Western per- Yoruba (Oyewumi, 1997). In this view, gender spectives, a fruitless endeavor, according to all ceases to be the major category of analysis, Foucauldian theory. becoming one of many. In this tradition, the In Africa, the search for an independent voice consensual (rather than antagonistic) features of and, implicitly, indigenous knowledge has long African gender relations are stressed. These roots and was frequently intrinsic to anticolonial writings analyze social life in ways that stress struggles. In historical literature, distinctions are community not just in temporal but in spiritual often made between millenarian, backward- (“ancestral”) terms. In terms of these readings, looking, traditionalist uprisings (which attempted gender is part of a variety of relational under- to hold onto “the old ways”) and modern, nation- standings that are subsumed under a general alist opposition to colonialism (which attempts assumption about humanity. In this understand- to struggle for a share of colonialism’s “gifts”— ing, humanity is what is common among people citizenship, employment on equal terms, access and is what unites them. In some respects, this to land and public services, and so on). The view is incommensurable with modern world- defeat of first-wave anticolonial movements did views, which are distinguished by causal think- not end the commitment to indigenous knowl- ing, linear time, the idea of progress, the self edge. V. Y. Mudimbe (1994) observes that there as autonomous, the domination of nature, and exists a “primary, popular interpretation of representation as the way in which politics is founding events of the culture and its historical conducted. A “traditional” worldview, on the becoming.... Silent but permanent, this dis- other hand, has at its center a complex continu- creet and, at the same time, systematic reference ity with the past, with ancestors and spirits, and to a genesis marks the everyday practices of a is distinguished by correlative thinking, cyclical community” (p. xiii). time, the self as communal, the interdependence The search for, and retrieval of, historical tra- of people and nature, and the conduct of politics ditions has been taken up by Africanist scholars via participation.1 The idea of adhesion, what exploring questions of gender. An extreme makes people live together, is therefore the start- example (Oyewumi, 1997) has cast doubt on ing point. In the South African context, this can 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 99

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be seen in the concept of ubuntu (Broodryk, Yet although nativist approaches correctly 1995; Mbigi, 1995). highlight the importance of race, alternative value Ubuntu literally means “peopleness” systems, and global location, they can lose sight (humanity). It has recently become synonymous of enduring gender inequalities (Stichter & with a particular worldview. Ubuntu is a “pre- Parpart, 1988). Third World and African femi- scription or set of values for a way of living your nism provides a corrective to give the (black) life as one person” (Johnson, 1997). The mean- female subaltern a voice and draws attention ing of “being human” embraces values such as to the diversity of experiences among women “universal brotherhood of Africans,” “sharing,” (Mohanty, Russo, & Torres, 1991; Lewis, 2001). and “treating and respecting other people as In the process, the focus also falls on the rela- human beings.” Centrally, ubuntu is a notion of tionship of race to subordination and marginal- communal living in society. Being human can- ization. Concerns about injustice and exploitation not be divorced from being in society, and in blend with those that focus on the condition of this respect, it is fundamentally different from peoples in the developing (Third) world. Western notions, in which gender identities and other group identities are acquired individually Development and Gender (Johnson, 1997; Makang, 1997). Gender is an important constituent of the reality, but in the Postcolonial contexts are, by definition, long run historically, the vast scope of the past contexts that require or call out for develop- and the challenges of living join people (men ment. Postcolonial can refer to countries as and women) in the project of life. Individuals dissimilar as Canada and the Central African are the unit of analysis, but they are not Republic. In this chapter, the development chal- self-standing, being rather part of a collectivity. lenges of what we earlier called Third World or One obvious problem with this approach, underdeveloped countries will be discussed. particularly in analyses of the Third World, is The challenges of development in the Third that it has frequently been used to disguise the World are vast and have become greater with exploitation of women in African society. By globalization and the spread of free-market concentrating on racial and ethnic oppression ideology. The gap between the First and primarily as a result of external forces, the Third Worlds is getting larger, but of equal internal forces of gender oppression have been concern is the growing stratification of Third concealed or ignored. In this sense, there is a real World populations as the poor get poorer and a danger of focuses on ubuntu simply reflecting or new middle class (often associated with the reinforcing patriarchal discourses. In South apparatuses of the state) gets richer. As femi- Africa, the ubuntu approach has been used for a nists have remarked, this process has often hit variety of purposes—party political, nationalist, women the hardest, producing the “feminization and gendered (patriarchal). of poverty.” Impetus has been given to indigenous The challenges of development since the knowledge approaches (labeled by Williams Cold War period have been experienced in and Chrisman, 1993, as “nativism”) by colonial many different ways. Starting with a moderniza- legacies that still divide black and white women. tion paradigm, the emphasis was on a gender- In South Africa, for example, feminism and the insensitive use of technology to solve the goals of gender equality have been treated with supposed failure of Third World countries to suspicion and rejected outright by some black convert political independence into economic nationalists. Christine Qunta (1987) objected growth. The failure of this First World– that feminism was a Western, white philosophy sponsored approach caused a change of tack, that was irrelevant to African conditions and and in the 1980s, the importance of gender was designed to sow discord among black was acknowledged with the introduction of people fighting for freedom. This objection what subsequently came to be termed “women was more subtlely made, and with greater in development.” This approach introduced sophistication, in the early 1990s as white femi- women as a central element into development nists in the academy faced the wrath of black policy and implementation. It was recognized feminists “outside” (Hassim & Walker, 1992; that not only were women critical in reproduc- Serothe, 1992). tion issues (biological and social) but that they 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 100

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also did much of the work. Programs then began that was only beginning to redress the legacy to focus on delivering development to women. of neglect of women. Would men once again It was recognized within a decade that this dominate and pervert development for patriarchal approach was flawed: It focused in a simplistic purposes? A more recent query has been about way on a set of agents (women) and ignored the appropriation of gender into global gover- the context of relationships and power relations nance discourses. With gender becoming main- in which these women operated. streamed, the concern has been raised that it “Women in development” perspectives also has become depoliticized, and women’s were part of, and contributed to, international interests have thus become decentered and work that focused on the subordinated position subject to marginalization (Manicom, 2001). of women. Such work included, as a corrective, Two influential special issues of development arguments about the hitherto neglected cen- journals, edited by Caroline Sweetman (1997) trality of women in resisting globalization and Andrea Cornwall and Sarah White (2000), (and patriarchy) (Mohammed, 1998; Oduol & have done much to clarify thinking and raise Kabira, 1995). In these analyses, masculinity the critical issues of gender and development. was, for the most part, overlooked, and men Developments within the United Nations— all too often tacitly were regarded as obstacles for example, the work of the U.N. International to gender justice. Research and Training Institute for the Thus it was that in the late 1980s and 1990s Advancement of Women—have begun to insert gender and development (GAD) perspectives masculinity perspectives into influential develop- emerged. It was now acknowledged that not ment agencies (Greig, Kimmel, & Lang, 2000). all women suffered equally (that it was poor There are two basic themes that emerge from women who should be the main beneficiaries these debates. The first concerns the politics of of development) and that gender inequalities development and gender transformation. The required not just a liberal feminist ministering key question here has been how GAD programs to “women” but a more sophisticated grap- have actually affected gender relations and con- pling with relationships that generated gender tributed to the reduction in gender inequality. inequality. The new approach broadened the Without wishing to impose a false uniformity on focus of development work so that even though the debate, it would seem that a number of issues women remained an important focus as the emerge. GAD has not yet fully acknowledged intended beneficiaries in the delivery of pro- the importance of men in development work— grams, it was now recognized that it was men are ignored, or, as Andrea Cornwall (2000) unhelpful to simply target them for “help.” puts it, “missing.” Following from this observa- Attention had to be paid to context, and here the tion, Sylvia Chant (2000) argues that GAD pro- complexity of gender relations was acknowl- grams would be strengthened if they paid more edged. Development could only be sustainable attention to men and included masculinity work. if gender inequalities were addressed. Projects She notes that such an approach could promote designed to address this, however, soon found men working together with women. The impor- that attacking patriarchy head-on (and casting tance of working with masculinity and the new men as the enemy) was not a solution. Such acceptance that this is not a fixed gender identity projects divided communities and undermined also features powerfully in this work. Develop- the goals of development. It was in this context ment initiatives should focus on men’s self- that, in the mid-1990s, a focus on men and image, their involvement in parenting and caring, masculinity emerged. reproductive health issues, and reducing violence The introduction of masculinity into develop- (Engle, 1997; Falabella, 1997; Greene, 2000; ment debates was contested. The discussions Greig, 2000; Large, 1997). Reflecting initiatives within feminism concerning the political loca- elsewhere (for example, in refocusing domestic tion and purpose of feminist men’s involvement violence work from female victims onto male in gender-emancipatory projects were also perpetrators), development agencies and govern- played out in the development realm. The con- ments have begun to include work with and on cerns were that so much development work had men in their programs. historically been directed at men that they should The second issue that has been raised is that of not be reinserted into a development agenda the specificity of context and the appropriateness 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 101

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of the theoretical framework currently used. nuclear family, have not filled the real or imagined Sarah White (2000) has argued that the shift to void left by the breakdown of time-honoured work with men and masculinity is predicated on ways. (Frederiksen, 2000, p. 221) eurocentric conceptions of development and of In the African context, the importance of gender. Here she has drawn on Third World fem- indigenous knowledge and context is made inism (itself connected to postcolonial theory) to abundantly clear in the work of Paul Dover urge a rethinking of development work in post- (2001), an anthropologist whose work was colonial contexts. She also begins to suggest that conducted in rural Zambia in the 1990s. Dover indigenous knowledge systems need to be taken locates his argument (specifically about repro- into account in prosecuting a development ductive health in Third World contexts) in a agenda with gender results. context in which development is seen to have White’s cautions draw on debates outlined failed. Zambia is a country where hope for earlier, about indigenous knowledge and post- an improvement in the material quality of life, colonial contexts. The concept of a “new man,” carried by the copper boom of the 1960s, has developed first in socialist literature in the Soviet evaporated. People have thus turned from the Union and Cuba and transformed by masculinity optimistic Western development discourses and scholarship into the image of a woman-friendly have sought understanding of their lives in older, man wholeheartedly committed to gender equity, indigenous discourses. Colonialism was never is not appropriate to many Third World contexts able to eradicate these, but now they have greater when it is used as a model for change. The idea visibility and acceptance. These discourses place of the “new man” was really developed for cosmology at the center of a person’s worldview. Northern, white, middle class, urban men. It In terms of this perspective, the body and soul misses men in the Third World whose situations are not separate, and any problem has therefore are different. This does not mean, however, that to be tackled by ministering to both. Because there is not something very important about cosmology is gendered and particular qualities developing new role models and visions for are held to reside discretely in men and women, masculinity. The transformation of male roles gender roles have a fixity that postcolonial theo- and identities (which, in a theoretical sense, ries are reluctant to grant them. But this does not draws on the postcolonial theory described mean they are fixed. Rather, it means that there earlier) is a key part of development work. In the are limits to change and that these are deter- Caribbean, Niels Sampath (1997) shows how mined by the parameters of the indigenous belief men are open to messages of transformation but system. In other words, Dover is not saying that will use local idiom to make sense of the possi- men cannot change. He is not invoking primi- bilities and will attempt change within existing tivism or essentialism. He is arguing for the need parameters rather than aspiring to externally to take full account not just of material circum- prescribed norms. In Africa, the context for stances (which so tragically speak of inequality), development work and the tenacity of indige- but of culture. In the next section, we return in nous value systems remain important factors. more detail to the implications of these views and detail his arguments. Traditional ordering of relations between genders and generations based on hierarchy and authority is now largely history, and more clearly so in towns than in the countryside. A moral ordering MEN AND MASCULINITIES in this area survives, however, as social memory, IN A POSTCOLONIAL WORLD as scattered practices, particularly important in relation to reproductive strategies, and most of It is undoubtedly the stuff of caricature, but all with poor urban youth, as an absence and a there is also a great deal of truth in the observa- yearning. Poor families have less opportunities of substituting old orders with new ones, because tion that the Third World is characterized by of a situation of instability and lack of material poverty and subject to wars and violence. In and immaterial resources....Generally speaking, 1999, Africa alone was the site of 16 armed con- modern socializing practices, such as we find flicts, with 34% of countries hosting conflicts, them in poor sections of the cities, undertaken making up 40% of global conflicts. Recent broadly by religious institutions, schools and statistics show that since 1970, more than 30 wars 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 102

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have been fought in Africa. In 1996 alone, 14 of the extension of under- and unemployment in the 53 countries of Africa saw armed conflicts, the Third World (Rifkin, 1995) has profoundly accounting for more than half of all war-related affected masculinities. Modern masculinities deaths worldwide and resulting in more than are centrally constructed around work. The lack 8 million refugees, returnees, and displaced of work and engaging in labor which no longer persons (Diallo, 1998; King, 2001; Regehr, has an associated status or meaning have pro- 1999). Some of these conflicts lasted for several duced a variety of responses from men. These decades (such as the one in the Sudan, often have ranged from middle class men protesting called a “forgotten conflict”). inroads made into their privilege (Lemon, 1995; The relationship of poverty to war is complex. Swart, 1998), to older men striking out at There is no doubt that wars produce poverty and younger pretenders to enforce the power of patri- that poverty creates conditions fertile for the archy, to the subordination of juniors (Campbell, prosecution of wars. As wars have historically 1992) to passivity by men in rural areas who no been highly gendered—declared and fought longer can support their families and thus no primarily by men but with civilian (primarily longer command respect (Silberschmidt, 1992). women) casualties an increasingly prominent There are two cases that we briefly want to feature of modern wars—it is important that we discuss. The first concerns men in employment. now look at constructions of masculinity in In much of Africa, and particularly in the former the Third World. settler colonies, African men have found jobs Approximately 33% of the Third World’s by migrating to the places of employment. population is under 15 years old (Population This has not only given them access to money Reference Bureau, 2001a). Most young people and the power that goes with it, it has placed (about 85%) live in developing countries. Youth them outside the power of traditional chiefs, are numerically the largest and arguably the whose authority rests on patronage and kinship. most significant political constituency. They Globalization has meant that men who have are the group most subject to the scourges of managed to hold on to jobs have become “big unemployment, most vulnerable to AIDS, and men” (Dover, 2001). They are, relative to the most likely to be involved in wars. Media unemployed, well off, although this should not images in 1999 and 2000 brought this home divert attention from the fact that, relative to the to the world—boys as young as 10 years old bosses, they are poor, and they probably support recruited to fight and excited to commit brutali- a great many family members on their wages. In ties that included large-scale amputations and a recent examination of contemporary migrant systematic rapes (not infrequently of family labor in South Africa, Ben Carton (2001) has members). More than 50 countries currently described how African men negotiate issues of recruit child soldiers into the armed forces, and identity in this context. He looks at a poverty- it is estimated that child soldiers are being used stricken area and witnesses the arrival of the in more than 30 conflicts worldwide (Goodwin- young men from the city. Bumptious with the Gill & Cohn, 1994; Peters & Richards, 1998). power of money, they bring their urban style There are dangers in focusing on wars into this rural context. They pay only some and bloodshed because this can easily distract attention to the chiefs who notionally are in from other less dramatic but equally important charge. The tempo of rural life picks up. There developments. There is a similar danger in is carousing and celebrating, and then they leave limiting discussion of violence to wars alone. and return to the cities, leaving the chiefs to Violence takes many forms, and these are by reclaim their positions. What makes the story no means confined to theaters of war. The rest interesting is that the men in employment still of this section, therefore, will examine men acknowledge their rural origins. Even if they and masculinity in three contexts: poverty, do not fully pay the respects expected, they violence, and AIDS. acknowledge the position of the chiefs, although briefly usurping it. We see in their behavior Poverty, Work, Family, and Identity the residue of tradition and the penumbra of indigenous knowledge. We see also how they The changing nature of work that has been a negotiate different identities—urban and rural, feature of globalization in the First World and modern and traditional—but at the center is 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 103

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the image of adult male. In another African men no longer found work in the cities and context, Paul Dover (2001) identifies the dif- returned to the rural areas. Here, cattle villages ferent constituent components of manhood—a no longer existed (one of the effects of land loss mature body, a wife and children, an education and overcrowding). There was no alternative and labor, and the reciprocal expectation for lifestyle to adopt, and men busied themselves tsika—respect and moral behavior (p. 156). with odd jobs and informal activity. They now The second case is of those men who have earned very little, and what they did earn, they failed to retain a grip on the labor market. chose not to spend on their households but on The literature that correctly identifies the femi- alcohol and women. nization of poverty unfortunately all too often The problem has three further dimensions. neglects to examine the consequences of The economic position of women has not dete- poverty on men. Most African men do not “have riorated as it has with men. Women remain work” in the Western sense of the word (a job). involved in subsistence agriculture. However, This is not surprising given the shrinkage of households still need the involvement of all the world of careers and jobs, which has been family members, and the refusal and failure of more severe on the periphery. There are many men to contribute has produced great tension. consequences of this; among the foremost are This is exacerbated by the lapsing of bride- a rise in domestic violence, alcoholism, and wealth payments and the decline in marriage suicide (Gemeda & Booji, 1998; Mayekiso, rates. Men are no longer bound into families as 1995). they were in the past. They thus escape respon- Margrethe Silberschmidt, who conducted sibility, but they also lose status, because being anthropological research in East Africa for 20 married remains an important part of manhood. years, made it the focus of her work to examine Other aspects of masculinity that have their the changing position of African men living in a roots in the precolonial period and are still val- rural community in Kenya. The story is of ued are in the following list of “what a respected the impact of colonialism, of changes in the and good man should do”: political economy and in local gender roles. The result is that men lose their status, power, and • [He] takes care of his family self-esteem, and there is heightened gender • [He] educates his children and pays school fees antagonism (Silberschmidt, 1992, 1999). • His wife does not roam about Colonialism came relatively late (in the • He marries many wives and gets many second decade of the 20th century) to the Kisii children • He is friendly and shows respect toward his district. It was not welcomed, and the area was people among the slowest to embrace Christianity, • He assists his people when they have problems schooling, and wage labor. The imposition of and gives good advice taxes forced men to seek work. This produced • He is generous and does not quarrel a major change in their societal roles. Before • He respects himself (Silberschmidt, 1999, colonialism, p. 53)

manliness was based on a father’s and a husband’s Most men cannot live up to these ideals, dignity, reflected in respect from juniors in his and thus their self-esteem has dropped dramati- family, his wives and most importantly, his own cally. One response has been a rise since the self-restraint. The male head of the household was its decision-maker and controller of its wealth.... 1960s in assaults and rape of women. This As long as he lived, he was the only person who response has drawn on an available gender could officiate at sacrifices [to] the ancestors, dictionary. Traditional conceptions of manliness whose goodwill controlled the health and fertility stress “men’s ‘role’ as a warrior i.e. men in Kisii of the whole family. (Silberschmidt, 1999, p. 36) were defined by violent deeds” (Silberschmidt, 1999, p. 36) and include “command over women The advent of migrant labor produced a in all matters, and, in particular, sexual control” change in the role of men—they became “bread- (p. 70). winners.” While men remained in employment, Thus men in Kisii have an uneasy and antag- this change did not cause social problems, but onistic relationship with women as they try to with the postindependence slump of the 1960s, control their fertility and women resist. The men 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 104

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have not responded to their problems by moving often claimed the status of manhood by defining back into the family and becoming good fathers. themselves violently against their fathers and They have sought solace in alcohol and love against authority (Carton, 2001; Everatt, 2000)? affairs. This is, however, not continentally or There is a continuum, from outright rejection of universally the case. Paul Dover’s (2001) work family and fathers to a difficult tension held by shows that although men in Zambia seem dis- young men between independence and a residual tant and emotionally unengaged as fathers, in connection (maintained in memory or in reality fact there is a widespread belief that it is best for by occasional trips to family in rural areas) with a child to have a mother and a father. In this con- family and fathers. For many Third World youth, text, a father gives emotional succor to a child two realities exist—an urban, modern reality and when the child is young and commands respect a premodernist and traditional reality. They exist later on. The process of distancing that accom- side by side and can operate simultaneously panies the aging of the child is not considered to (Niehaus, 2000). Thus we need to explore the be damaging but rather is an integral and impor- backward and forward effects on identity, created, tant part of the whole process of parenting for example, by the Gisu circumcision ritual, (Dover, 2001, p. 139). which is specifically designed to make the boys With the decline of work, men have had “tough” and “fierce” (Heald, 1999, p. 28), and opportunities to shape their gender identities in urban socialization processes, by which young new ways. As indicated, the response has been urban boys are initiated into gang cultures that varied, but the option of becoming more also stress violent behavior (Mager, 1998; Xaba, involved in family matters has remained. Such 2001). involvement can take many forms. In some cases, it can represent a reactive response to a Violence and Men loss of power and involve the assertion of the rights of the father within the family. In other This section began by noting the prevalence of circumstances, it can involve greater engage- wars and societal violence, which prompts this ment with parenting. The place of the father is, question: Is violence a postcolonial problem? of course, a key issue in meditations about a Amina Mama (1997), Third World feminist, “crisis of masculinity.” First World literature has has argued that violence in the Third World is a debated the absent father ad nauseam. Some direct legacy of colonialism. Although the con- have identified him as the cause of the malaise nection between historical and contemporary of masculinity (Biddulph, 1997; Corneau, violence is strong, it does not alone explain the 1991). Others have argued that “absent fathers” current phenomenon. There is the temptation to are but one of a number of issues which need to excuse the Third World’s violence by relating it be taken into account in understanding modern causally to poverty, which in turn can be associ- masculinities. In terms of this view, no special ated with colonialism. These factors are impor- status should be given to “the father.” tant, but it is important to note that most Third Increasingly, work set in rural African contexts World inhabitants are not violent, and those who reminds us of the tenacity of traditions (Dover, sometimes are are not violent most of the time. 2001; Heald, 1999; Moore, Sanders, & Kaare, To examine men and violence, we need, in the 1999; Silberschmidt, 1999). Within these tradi- first instance, to reject “Dark Continent” theo- tions, manhood, as a concept, is not questioned. ries about this being a normal or natural condi- Rather, it is the content of manhood and the way tion. In the second instance, without denying the men exercise their powers that have become criti- importance of these factors, we need to note that cal issues. In exploring this, Heald (1999), in her poverty does not cause violence. In the context study of the Gisu of Uganda, argues that the dis- of Central America, it has been noted that course of masculinity and its power to set moral misogyny, rather than poverty, causes violence agendas is widely acknowledged but that “this is (Linkogle, 2001). This observation takes us not necessarily in a way that is comfortable for directly to the issue of men and masculinity. men as the privileged gender” (p. 4). Although there can be little doubt that the But what of black youth, particularly in urban arbitrary nature of the way in which colonial settings or where authority structures (the state, borders were established, colonial and imperial for example) have lost their strength, who have meddling in ethnic and regional politics, and 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 105

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subsequent international machinations and global thought that the strength and formation of this politics have contributed to wars, in this sub- male character has much to do with militaristic section, we turn to look at the way in which con- past, its continuing salience can just as easily be structions of masculinity have been implicated in related to the very loss of a warrior role. No less spectacular, if equally deadly, forms of inter- simple anachronism, it keeps it alive as a possibility and provides the discursive justification for personal violence. To give some sense of this, male claims to status. And . . . this, in turn, creates here are some recent details from Zimbabwe. its own characteristic moral dilemmas. (p. 165) In 1993, domestic violence accounted for more than 60% of murder cases that went through the The warrior role of Gisu men is a deeply courts. Although wife battery is more common entrenched part of ethnic identity, which is itself in rural areas, there are no accurate figures for an expression of autonomy, of resistance to the phenomenon there. In towns, wife battering colonialism and postcolonial forces that beat at occurred among about 25% of married women the specificity of the local and penetrate it with (Getecha & Chipika, 1995, pp. 120-124). global goods, messages, and technologies. To How can we make sense of this? As a start- criticize the warrior image is to threaten Gisu ing point, we take Suezette Heald’s (1999) life itself. And yet this does not give rise to a sit- anthropological study of the Gisu people in uation of unbridled violence. As Heald (1999) Uganda, which is unusual for its focus on men. observes, She finds that manhood is synonymous with violence, but she does not stop there. “The attribution of violence is profoundly ambivalent. Gisu ethics addresses the problem of social control through the necessity for self-control. Might only sometimes equals right and, even Self-assertion as the right of all men is thus when it does, its legitimacy and limits are open coupled with restraint as the mark of the social to question.” She then examines self. This gives a particular understanding of African selfhood in the context of male egalitari- the extreme way in which violent power is located anism in which the use and control of force is at in men, a source of their rights but also...a the disposal of all. (p. 3) source of self-knowledge and responsibility.... Men fear their own violence, their own violent The critical issue for Gisu society is not responses and the onus throughout, therefore, is upon self-control. The good man is one who is his whether men are violent but how they use this own master, and can master himself well. (Heald, violence. This is not just a social issue; it is a 1999, p. 4; see also Wardrop, 2001) profoundly spiritual one. One can see this most clearly in the circumcision ritual (imbalu), Trying, in the first instance, to make sense during which 17- to 25-year-old men are cir- of Third World violence and, in the second cumcised. If one is not circumcised, one is not instance, to help in reducing levels is only par- a man. The process is highly ritualized, very tially assisted by referring to the huge First painful and frightening. The young man must World literature on families, youth, and violence stand before a large group of people while the (e.g., Hearn, 1998, 2001; Messerschmidt, 2000). procedure is performed. He must show no sign As already indicated, it may make sense in of “fear, pain or reluctance....Failure threatens certain contexts to promote men as fathers, but on many counts. Most evidently in the display it makes less sense in societies in which the of cowardice or fear....the whole of his adult fathers (and other esteemed men, such as teach- life is also seen as dependent on imbalu” (Heald, ers) are among the major perpetrators of rape 1999, pp. 50-51). (Hallam, 1994; Jewkes & Abrahams, 2000; The ordeal needs and nurtures two things: Jewkes, Levin, Mbananga, & Bradshaw, 2002). strength (of both mind and body, although Gisu To reflect on a postcolonial masculinity, we does not distinguish along such Cartesian turn again to the work of Heald (1999) on the lines) and violent emotional energy (lirima), Gisu of Uganda in the late 20th century. She which is needed and harnessed in the process. concludes, “A good man is one whose lirima is strictly under control” (Heald, 1999, p. 18). Lirima is The Gisu imagining of their identity as male citi- a “basic fact of life” and is associated with zens is deeply “essentialist” and, while it might be men, not boys or women. “It is not something 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 106

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which can be tampered with or altered. It is little doubt that what started out as a homosexual, inherent in the nature of men” (Heald, 1999, white, Northern disease has become a hetero- p. 19). sexual, black, Southern catastrophe. Sub-Saharan Through circumcision, all men become Africa is by far the worst affected. In 1999, there heroes. They are heroes because they have sur- were nearly 24 million people living with HIV in vived the ordeal with dignity. “Having faced this region. The area with the next most seri- ‘death’ he is deemed free from the fear of it and ous rate of infection was Latin America, with capable of taking responsibility for himself 1.3 million. The adult prevalence rate in Africa is amongst other self-determining Gisu men....It 8%. The next highest is the Caribbean (1.96%). is thus, above all, a rite of emancipation from Australia and New Zealand have a rate of 0.1% parental authority” (Heald, 1999, p. 52). Here- (Whiteside & Sunter, 2000, p. 38). Of the world’s after, a man is expected to marry, set up a house- HIV-infected people, 70% come from hold, and look after dependants. But the ritual is an area that contains only 10% of its population. even more important, for, in proving their own In Sub-Saharan Africa, 55% of HIV-infected manhood, the young men “are in effect proving people are female. the identity of all Gisu as men and validating the In Africa, the disease is overwhelmingly power of the tradition which unites them all. spread via unprotected heterosexual acts. Many Caught by the ancestral power of circumcision, young Africans (15-19 years old)—many more the boys, in effect, personify the power of the than in the equivalent age-group in developed ancestors and the continuity of tradition” countries—have had sex. In most African coun- (Heald, 1999, p. 51). tries, about 30% of boys are sexually experi- So, for Heald, Gisu men must be violent to be enced, whereas for girls, the rates vary from men. Their violence is an affirmation of their fewer than 10% in Senegal and Zimbabwe to collective being, a rejection of the modern, an more than 45% in the Côte d’Ivoire (Population affirmation of their past. Yet, and this is the key Reference Bureau, 2001b). Despite the fact that point, the violence is not unrestrained. It is not boys are generally more sexually active than girls, either “good” or “bad.” Men have power and the it is the girls who, for reasons of biology and obligation to use it wisely. gender inequality, are more seriously affected by HIV/AIDS. In every country surveyed by the This is not necessarily in a way that is comfortable Population Reference Bureau, girls were two to for men as the privileged gender. The attribution three times more likely to be infected than boys of violence is profoundly ambivalent. Might only (Population Reference Bureau, 2001b, p. 19). sometimes equals right and, even when it does, its Until recently, the focus of attention on AIDS legitimacy and limits are open to question. As was either on homosexual men or on women. already implied, in the West, as the older codes of masculinity have come under threat, a crisis of It has only been since the late 1990s that masculinity is now more apparent than one researchers, policy workers, and AIDS activists involving women. (Heald, 1999, p. 4) have begun to call for the issue of heterosexual men to be involved. Mostly, these are calls for Violence, then, belongs to men, but it is the the involvement of men, recognizing that gender source of self-knowledge and responsibility. inequality is at the heart of the pandemic and “Men fear their own violence, their own violent that constructions of masculinity therefore need responses and the onus throughout, therefore, is to be taken into account (Bujra, 2000; Foreman, upon self-control. The good man is one who is 1999; Tallis, 2000). his own master, and can master himself well” Masculinity is constructed in many different (Heald, 1999, p. 4). ways. Two major concerns in AIDS scholarship are how sexuality is expressed and how this is linked to issues of gender power, especially in AIDS and Men hyperheterosexuality contexts. Sexuality is In 1999, worldwide, there were 33.6 million most publicly on display as heterosexuality. In people living with AIDS: 16.4 million men, 14.8 Africa, this is partly an effect of high levels million women, and 1.2 million children under of homophobia and partly because in some 15 years (Whiteside & Sunter, 2000, p. 36). contexts, homosexuality has no resonance in Although these figures are contested, there is indigenous culture (Epprecht, 1998). This has 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 107

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not prevented, especially in South Africa, a associated with poorer and marginalized black strong gay movement from emerging (Gevisser men is not a feature in their relationships, the & Cameron, 1994). As already indicated, gay black ouens (“guys”) are nevertheless heavily men are no longer the most afflicted by AIDS, invested in the possession of women (Ratele, but in South Africa it has been gay men, by and 2001). None of these men is concerned about large, who have led and propelled social move- inequalities in their relationships. The power ments around AIDS. Zackie Achmat, Simon of men over women is a foundation of their Nkoli, and Edwin Cameron (Gevisser & masculinity. Cameron, 1994, pp. 10-11), for example, We now turn to an anthropological study that declared their support for people living with investigated HIV/AIDS in Zambia. Paul Dover AIDS while promoting messages of gay toler- (2001) starts with power—in Shona, simba. It ance. Elsewhere in the Third World, in Brazil, can be understood as social as well as physical. for example, the gay world has also been thrust It is an amoral force that can be tapped, into the forefront by the pandemic, and, in the although it resides, in bodily terms, in a man’s process, masculinities have publicly been prob- body in terms of vitality and potency (p. 113). lematized. The heterosexist norm has been In Shona thought, power is at the center of reli- shaken by AIDS (Parker, 1999). gion. It is ambiguous and can be used for good And yet, in Africa, compulsory heterosexual- and evil. Age and ancestors are venerated ity is a key feature of hegemonic masculinity. because social power is granted as one moves Numerous studies now testify to the importance through the (social and age-structured) system. among young and old men of having sex with To use power for “fighting” leads to punishment women and having many female sexual part- by the ancestors and “failure” (p. 115). In this ners. These preferences might not individually system, which is rather like that of feudal be problematical except for the insistence on Europe, (male) chiefs do not only occupy secu- penetrative sex (MacPhail & Campbell, 2000), lar positions of authority, they are also people the levels of force, and the disregard for safety with specific spiritual powers and alone officiate that accompanies sexual transactions (Wood & in rituals that confirm the ongoing importance Jewkes, 1997). of tradition, the spirits, and the ancestors. In three revealing studies in South Africa, the And yet, “as well as achieving community or constructions of masculinity are revealed to be lineage positions of power, male roles are bound critical for the way in which pleasure is sought up with modern ideals of being the ‘head of and obtained. Thokozani Xaba’s (2001) study of household’ bread-winner” (p. 120). Thus the cadres recently demobilized from the ANC’s modern and the traditional are fused. military units shows how their disillusionment In Zambia, power and gender are conceived in with the new political order and their failure to ways that do not fit snugly into Western modes of find a place in the new South Africa drove them thought. In terms of understanding HIV/AIDS, to crime, including armed robbery and rape. In the significant points are that body and mind- another context, young black men in an impov- spirit are not separated and that to cure a body erished township engage in a headlong pursuit requires ministering to the whole person, also of sex and girlfriends as they try to obtain status taking into account ancestral influence. Simba is and self-esteem. But they are caught on the a male attribute, and HIV symptoms and modes horns of a dilemma—if they all want lots of of transmission are understood and treated in girlfriends, it will mean that they will compete gender-specific ways. Calls by government and with one another, and this produces homosocial health NGOs to use condoms as the main way of tensions. These tensions are most often taken reducing HIV transmission have not been suc- out on their sexual partners (who are assaulted), cessful precisely because they do not take into but at the same time, their predicament—no account indigenous gendered understandings and life trajectory out of intense poverty—reminds are therefore resisted by men. them that love is “dangerous” (Wood & Jewkes, How does one acquire masculinity in 2001). Even among young, rising, middle Zambia? Dover (2001) identifies a life course class, urbanized African men, the importance similar to that described by Silberschmidt and of “having a girl” is central to constructions of Heald. “Becoming married and having children masculinity. Although the levels of violence are [also] important markers of having achieved 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 108

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adulthood” (Dover, 2001, p. 136). As a boy virginity testing problematic, however, is that it matures physically, makes girls responsible for the spread of the disease—boys are not tested. The international he will increasingly be expected to help his father focus on gender inequality and masculinity is and other kinsmen with male tasks. He also takes thus left out (Leclerc-Madlala, 2001). on less deferential body postures to older males. It is easy to condemn such local interventions At the same time a male superiority is assumed on many grounds, including the violation of even to his mother: he sits on the stool while she children’s rights. Yet to do so runs the risk of sits on the floor. (Dover, 2001, p. 136) negating indigenous knowledge and of preach- ing to the very people who are most affected and Men have the capacity for action and agency, who, in these kinds of initiatives, are trying to which is captured in the saying, “Men’s hearts regain control of their lives. Fortunately, there is are different because they accomplish what they evidence of sensitivity in many areas of gender desire, but women often fail!” This is translated work that suggests that in the response to AIDS, into all areas of activity but specifically in space will be made for indigenous knowledge regard to women. Men are seen as not being and the people who are affected. satisfied with what they have; women, by con- There are, of course, difficulties. To get trast, are held to be “easily satisfied” (Dover, men to change and be more responsive toward 2001, p. 146). And yet, as both Chenjerai Shire and respectful of women requires overcoming (1994) and Dover point out, women are appreci- obstacles that are rooted in men’s position and ated for their capacities and play a major part in power in the spheres of production and social the development of masculinity. Although they reproduction. Yet programs that work with may not have simba, this does not mean that men have been successful. In Jamaica, 50% of they are powerless. urban fathers reported changes in domestic In terms of AIDS, there is nothing intrinsic to roles, including significant involvement in the indigenous value system that promotes non- family life (shopping, cooking, and cleaning). consensual sex even though the inequalities in In Brazil, young men are far more flexible (than social power and material wealth provide reason the men of the previous generation) in their role to expect that women’s voices, in the negotiation expectations and are much more willing to take of sex, are not always heard or heeded. on caring duties (Greig et al., 2000, p. 8). As indicated earlier, the initial focus in the For rural people who still revere “tradition,” AIDS pandemic was not on heterosexual men, there are also possibilities. In Zambia, a pro- although this is changing. One of the major ways gram of “responsible patriarchy” has been disin which men are engaged in prevention cam- seminated by the church. This has been very paigns is via sex education. Many of these inter- popular but runs the risk of reestablishing male national campaigns focus on the technology of power in the home (Dover, 2001, p. 242; see sex (condoms) or on communication style. The also Schwalbe, 1996). It is important to remem- transmission of information is often the central ber that most African men are poor and not well plan of programs (Varga, 2001). Dissatisfaction educated in Western school terms. It is not easy with these interventions, as well as a profound to see how Connell’s “patriarchal dividend” disillusionment with the idea of development plays out in their lives. Yet, Paul Dover (2001) and the promise of modernity, has produced a argues, “The roles of responsibility in hege- number of indigenous responses. In South monic models of masculinity have many posi- Africa, the best known is “virginity testing” tive aspects, but a basic question is how to among Zulu speakers in KwaZulu-Natal. The promote these without reproducing the under- initiative draws on an old practice conducted by lying system of gender inequality” (p. 243). women and bound up with bride-wealth prac- Turning from approaches stressing a “softer” tices. Young girls are physically inspected in masculinity that includes introspection and car- public to see if the hymen is intact. Girls are ing, Dover looks at the areas of joint interest given a certificate, which is synonymous with between men and women for hope. Men and being HIV negative. In this process, old African women pursue common community and politi- women are resurrecting a role that has fallen into cal goals. They are also increasingly sharing disuse and are asserting their power. What makes tasks and responsibilities at the household level. 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 109

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The explanation for these changes is that masculinity and to the danger of ignoring local “women’s and men’s common interests are conditions and knowledge has provided some usually more important than other differences room for cautious optimism. Initiatives are and working together gives better opportunities bringing men and women together to build a new for achievements” (Dover, 2001, p. 244). This future. They are helping to shape fresh and inno- approach gets away from the binary, almost vative ways of “being a man.” Manichean, view of women as victims and men as perpetrators and promotes an approach rooted in the material realities of the Third NOTE World and in local (indigenous) value systems as well. 1. These ideas are drawn from seminars delivered by James Buchanan at the University of Natal, Durban, in March 1997. CONCLUSION

Men in the postcolonial world face many REFERENCES challenges. Poverty, violence, and AIDS are among the most daunting. Yet, they do not Adam, I., & Tiffin, H. (1990). Past the last post: face these challenges alone or without resources. Theorizing post-colonialism and postmodernism. Theoretical attention given to postcolonial situa- Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press. tions shows that men already are responding Ahmad, A. (1992). In theory: Classes, nations, liter- creatively to their marginalization, not least by atures. London: Verso. understanding what this marginalization means Ahmad, A. (Ed.). (1996). Lineages of the present. and how, historically, it has come about. The rep- New Delhi: Taluka. resentation of black and postcolonial masculin- Amadiume, I. (1987). Male daughters, female ity can now no longer be taken for granted as husbands: Gender and sex in an African society. London: Zed Press. neutral. The way in which black men are posi- Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural tioned has become central to the ways in which dimensions of globalisation. Minneapolis: we think about men in postcolonial contexts. University of Minnesota Press. Postcolonial men use a variety of cultural Appiah, K. A. (1991). Is the post- in postmodernism resources to give their lives meaning and to shape the post- in postcolonial? Critical Inquiry, 17(2), their interaction with their social environment. 336-357. Indigenous knowledge offers ways of understand- Berger, R. (1992). Review of Adam, Ian, and Helen ing life in terms that are not derived from the Tiffin, eds. Past the last post: Theorizing post- metropole or necessarily mediated by the cultural modernism and post-colonialism. Calgary: U effects of globalization. Such understanding can Calgary P, 1990 [Book review]. Postmodern Cul- promote harmonious and communal living and, in ture, 2(2). Retrieved January 31, 2004, from http:// muse.jhu.edu/journals/postmodern_culture/ this way, provide a buttress against the corrosive, toc/pmc2.2.html individualizing imperatives of globalization. Bhahba, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Yet globalization undoubtedly affects the London: Routledge. postcolonial world. It aggravates class divisions Biddulph, S. (1997). Raising boys. Sydney: Finch. and deepens poverty. Fortunately, it also provides Broodryk, J. (1995). Is ubuntuism unique? In the possibility for new forms of collective action J. G. Malherbe (Ed.), Decolonizing the mind and politics (Hyslop, 1999). People in the Third (pp. 31-37). Pretoria, South Africa: Research World wrestling with the depredations of global- Unit for African Philosophy, UNISA. ization have been able to take some comfort Bujra, J. (2000). Targeting men for a change: AIDS from the growth of the “third (service) sector,” in discourse and activism in Africa. Agenda, 6-23. Campbell, C. (1992). Learning to kill: Masculinity, which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) the family and violence in Natal. Journal of have proved to be critical in fostering develop- Southern African Studies, 18(3), 614-628. ment. In many countries, NGOs have become the Carr, E. H. (1964). What is history? Harmondsworth, primary agents for the delivery of services. England: Penguin Books. Growing sensitivity in the development sector Carton, B. (2001). Locusts fall from the sky: Manhood to the importance of working with men and and migrancy in KwaZulu. In R. Morrell (Ed.), 06-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:16 PM Page 110

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MASCULINITIES IN LATIN AMERICA

MATTHEW C. GUTMANN

MARA VIVEROS VIGOYA

BACKGROUND In addition to noting its origins in earlier feminist efforts, the study of masculinities in The embryonic study of men and masculinities Latin America was born from practical efforts to in Latin America has already made rich theoret- understand and combat AIDS. In this respect, ical and empirical contributions to the field as a the study of AIDS illustrates another noteworthy whole. Covering an area of several hundred mil- characteristic of the study of masculinities in lion men and women within some two dozen Latin America: its attention to social problems countries and well over 100 language groups, and their solutions. In line with scholarship scholarly research in the 1980s and 1990s more generally in the region, and at a time when on hombres and homens in the region emerged class was no longer seen as a relevant distinction as a crucial component of gender studies as in other regions of the world—when, instead, a whole.1 issues of ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation One of the outstanding features of scholar- received far more attention in scholarship of ship on men and masculinities in Latin America masculinities elsewhere—class inequalities stems from the fact that the field was initiated have remained far more consistently embedded and developed by feminist women as an out- in the research of Latin American social scien- growth of their previous work in the 1970s on tists. Part of the reason for this undoubtedly women’s oppression and feminist movements. relates to the fact that the process of moderni- Men’s studies were envisioned from the begin- zation in Latin America has always been ning as a component part of gender studies and extremely uneven. The crises of the 1980s, for the struggle against gender inequalities overall. instance, were catastrophic for masses of people Thus, their origins stand somewhat in contrast in Latin America, and governmental responses to the study of men and masculinities in the merely accentuated the differences between rich Anglo-Saxon world, where it was far more a and poor, broadened unemployment among case of men studying other men—men like men, and forced women to find new ways of themselves in at least some respects. Indeed, to surviving in ever more precarious circum- this day, feminist women continue to play a par- stances. As we will see, these crises also con- ticularly prominent role in the study of men and tributed to the transformation that some in the masculinities in this region. region termed “an erosion of machismo.”

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The ideology of mestizaje, racial and ethnic these Spanish and Portuguese studies were mixing, has been so strong historically in Latin translated into English, and for this reason, America that the relevance of race and ethnicity many English-only scholars have not had for the study of masculinities in Latin America access to the investigations and conclusions of has not been recognized nearly as much as is their Latin American colleagues. To be sure, necessary in the region. Historically, ethnicity more than a matter of translation is involved, has been understood in Latin America as a ques- because there are not only linguistic obstacles tion of triethnic societies of Spanish, Indian, and to collegial exchanges but a need to facilitate Black peoples, which were somehow magically the ongoing process of learning from different molded into a mestizo whole. Only in the final conceptual frameworks, methodological styles, years of the 20th century did people in Latin and research questions. America begin to talk seriously of multiculturalism and pluriethnicity.2 Consequently, only a few studies of masculinities in Latin America to date KEY THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES have focused on Indian and black populations. As is true for other parts of the world, there is By the end of the 1980s in Latin America, the a tendency in research on masculinities in Latin two theoretical paradigms that had been domi- America to oversimplify supposed common nant in the 1970s—North American functional- traits found among men in the region as a whole ism and Marxism—came under sharp critique. and to equate manliness with particular national In their place, in distinct disciplines of the or regional qualities, as if distinctions among social sciences, renewed attention was paid to men within the region mattered little and as if questions of daily life, emotions and feelings, women were not also active participants in the and gender relations. As soon as the working creation and transformation of cultural traits class became less central, for example, the in general. The tension between generalizing for so-called new social movements (among them, Latin American men overall and emphasizing the feminist movement) opened the way for cultural diversity between men continues to new theoretical conceptions and new social provoke debate and controversy. Similarly, the concerns. Feminist women historians, anthro- impact on the region of gender stereotypes about pologists, and philosophers provided new theo- the region that emanate from elsewhere is a retical and political frameworks; Joan Scott reflection of the conceptualization outside Latin (1999) and Marta Lamas (1986, 1996) pointed America of a solitary Latin American mestizo to the ways power is articulated in gender male. Other men—for example, blacks, Indians, relations; Henrietta Moore (1988) and Verena and men who have sex with other men—have Stolcke (1992) underlined articulations between been largely ignored or misrepresented. gender, class, race, ethnicity, culture, and history; Most of the initial studies of masculinities and Gayle Rubin (1993) developed a widely in Latin America have been conducted by used framework for understanding the relation- anthropologists, historians, psychologists, soci- ship between gender and sexuality. The work ologists, and researchers in public health. of authors like Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Although some disciplines and concentrations Giddens, and Norbert Elias also proved espe- in particular areas and interests have been better cially influential in Latin American studies of represented than others in the field, feminist masculinity. studies on the relationship of men to gender Bourdieu’s (1990, 1998) discussion of inequality and attention to AIDS and same-sex Mediterranean beliefs organized around “the cult sex have been consistent concerns within the of virility,” for instance, has been used to discuss emerging scholarship on men and masculinities more generally questions of male domination in throughout Latin America. In the 1990s, several relation to other forms of power inequalities. North Americans wrote outstanding ethnogra- Research in Latin America on sexuality, love, phies and histories in English of men and mas- the body, and personal negotiations that take culinities in Latin America. During the same place in intimate spaces has drawn on the work period, there was a simultaneous “boom” in of Giddens (1991, 1992). Elias (e.g., 1994) has research on this subject written in Spanish and been employed to explore the relationship Portuguese in Latin America. But very few of between broad social transformations and 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 116

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daily life with respect to power equilibriums. Fatherhood and Family Although not focused on questions of gender, the work of Néstor García Canclini (e.g., 1995) on Santiago Bastos (1998) seeks to understand questions of “hybridity” (cultural mixing) is also gender relations as they are manifested in inter- worth mentioning for its general influence in nal dynamics of households in popular sectors understanding the particularities of modernity in indigenous and nonindigenous households and masculinity in Latin America, although it in the same working class neighborhoods of must be added that this concept has been criti- Guatemala City. Bastos examines the manner, cized when employed to promote a kind of “neo- often implicit, in which economic responsibility exotic” Latin America in which hybridity is and domestic authority operate and proposes simply the source of pleasure, in contrast to a that we conceptualize the activities of heads view of the region grounded in an understanding of households as analytically discrete, in part of the politically challenging and incompatible normative and in part actual and practical. differences that exist there. Elsewhere, Bastos (1999) explains certain Theories of hegemonic and marginal mas- ambiguous behavior by men in popular sectors culinities by R. W. Connell (1987) and others through the “double system” of masculinity in have been adapted to specific local conditions relation to men’s capacity to fulfill their roles as in studies throughout the region (Viveros, economic providers and men’s need to present Olavarría, & Fuller, 2001), and more recently, themselves as free from social ties, in particular concepts developed in queer theory (e.g., those with women. Butler, 1993) have helped researchers frame In their study on heads of households certain aspects of their investigations relating and fatherhood among popular sectors of the to subordinate forms of masculinity (Fuller, population of Medellín, Colombia, Marie 1997). Among the important studies of mas- Dominique de Suremain and Oscar Fernando culinity and the body in Latin America have Acevedo (1999) use a similar analytic per- been those by Jardim (1995), Leal (1995), and spective to show that, along with new social Viveros (1999). In his influential formulation and parenting demands on fathers, the objec- linking questions of hegemonic masculinity tive obstacles—unemployment and unstable with studies of the body, Benno de Keijzer employment, “displacements,”3 marital separa- (1998) advances the notion of “masculinity as tions, and women’s adoption of new roles— a risk factor”; in the field of public health, for impeding a positive realization of this paternal instance, issues of domestic violence, reproduc- role have multiplied. As one of the few scholars tive health, and alcoholism are directly traced to deal with the construction of masculinity in by de Keijzer to hegemonic patterns of male dominant social sectors in Latin America, embodiment. Norma Fuller (1997, 2001) demonstrates that in the middle class, Peruvian men have not experienced significant changes as much as women, because the latter have entered spheres KEY EMPIRICAL RESEARCH traditionally considered masculine and have in this way acquired new freedoms. Thus, if Among the areas of research that have been men have seen reason to question existing developed in the study of masculinity in Latin male models, it is due to the transformations America, some of the most promising have undergone by women. focused on questions of family divisions of In O Mito da Masculinidade, Nolasco (1993) labor, parenting, and housework; homosoci- argues that paternity in Brazil represents the ality in friendship and social spaces; mascu- most conflictive dimension of masculine iden- line identity construction; reproductive health tity. Nolasco examines the father-son link to issues concerning same-sex sex, active and better understand what happens to men who passive sexuality, AIDS, and male reproductive attempt to create a sense of belonging and rights; ethnicity and masculinity among indige- involve themselves with their own children nous, African Latino, and mestizo populations; more completely than did their own fathers. For class and work; and the infamous matter of Nolasco, fatherhood is a manner in which men machismo. insert themselves into society to fuse the 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 117

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processes of masculine identity construction institutions, researchers, and individuals affected with the authoritarian role that is performed in Brazil. He suggests that even when an adoles- by men. cent father tries to play an active role in rearing Hernán Henao (1997) describes recent his son or daughter, social institutions may changes in the manner of being a father in impede or deny him the right to take on this Colombia. Drawing on a series of field studies role. Cardoso’s study concludes that by cul- in the Antioquia region of that country, Henao turally attributing conception and child rearing points out that the image of the traditional father to women alone, the widespread perception in has existed precisely because of the discourse Brazilian society that children belong exclu- promoted by mothers and priests. The tradi- sively to their mothers is perpetuated, and ado- tional father has been “an unreachable being, lescent fathers continue to be regarded merely one who disappears in everyday events.” Today, as sons and not as potential fathers. on the contrary, fathers are men expected to These studies illustrate the contradictions of interact more with family members and to enjoy contemporary fatherhood in Latin America, the their home environment, very different from the impact of socioeconomic and political changes fathers of bygone times, when male roles and on intrafamilial relations, the progressive dein- values were determined by men’s lives outside stitutionalization of fathers’ role—increasingly the domestic sphere. As Henao suggests, these more independent of authority—and the grow- new demands on the father began taking shape ing importance of fatherhood for masculine in the 1960s, with the feminist movements at the life projects. As noted, many authors point to a time, and acquired a particular salience in the great variability in the experience of father- 1990s, when Colombian men began to become hood according to men’s socioeconomic and aware of the gender problem. ethnic-racial allegiances, their generation, their In his ethnographic study on changing primary experiences, the specific moment of gender relations in Mexico City, Matthew the life cycle in which they find themselves, and Gutmann (1996) explores themes associated the sexes and ages of their children. with fatherhood, such as the precarious connection between masculine sexuality and reproduc- Homosociality tive imperatives; the importance of blood ties and their relation to abandonment and adoption; With respect to the expression of masculinity and popular concepts about family, adultery, and in public spaces, including symbolic spaces polygamy. For Gutmann, diverse paternal prac- of power in which women have traditionally tices existing in Mexico reveal the ambiguous not been present, Marqués (1997) points out, “in character of masculinity there. In this context, earlier Western patriarchal societies, most social he argues that there exists no solitary model life took place in exclusively male spaces, so of Mexican masculinity against which men can that homosociality was an inevitable fact” compare themselves or be compared. The results (p. 28). Denise Fagundes Jardim (1992) pre- of his research lead to an opposite conclusion: sents a similar reflection about the social con- For many men, being a committed parent is a struction of male identity among the working central characteristic of being a man. Further, class in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In her description Gutmann shows how the ideas and practices of the butecos (bars where working class men related to fatherhood are elaborated differently gather), Jardim shows how men in Porto Alegre in a range of social classes. Thus, in popular appropriate this social space to construct mas- classes with lower educational achievement and culine territories. In these transitional spaces few economic resources, it is not rare for men to between the public work space and the private care for small children; in social sectors with space of family life, conversations about poli- more resources, on the other hand, maids and tics, sports, or business are privileged, and when nannies assume the majority of child care. someone touches on a topic about private life, it Adolescent fatherhood has been largely is discussed from an impersonal and coded per- ignored in examinations of fatherhood in Latin spective, with little direct reference to the per- America. In a recent study on adolescent sonal lives of those gathered. In another article male fatherhood in Brazil, Jorge Luiz Cardoso about the same topic, Jardim (1995) highlights (1998) points to a “wall of silence” erected by the importance for men of being able to share 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 118

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moments with other men in which they can to the ideas and actions of heterosexuals reflect on ideal masculine behavior. In particu- against homosexuals, or it may be understood in lar, they seek to present themselves as workers a broader sense, as incorporating feelings of and providers for their families and to con- homosocial discomfort and engendered ide- trast this image with the negative figure of the ologies of domination and subordination. It is Brazilian malandro (vagabond). not surprising that the issue of homophobia is In his article on sports in Brazil, Edison Luis given more systematic attention in studies of Gastaldo (1995) describes male relationships subordinate masculine practices (e.g., homo- within a martial arts academy, Full Contact, and sexual, transvestite, cross-dressing, gay, drag analyzes the practices and representations of the queen) than are heterosexual men in Latin body by one group of participants. According to America. Just as surely, however, scholars Gastaldo, the men’s discourse about the relation whose research is more concerned with self- of their bodies to this sport is characterized by identified heterosexual men also address matters three traits in particular: the use of the body for like homosocial desires, fears, experiences, and sparring, the rejection of pain, and the accep- prejudices in relation to topics like male friend- tance of rules that control this martial art. The ships and social spaces. In Quibdó, Colombia, description and discourse analysis of the practi- for instance, Mara Viveros (2002) reports that tioners of this sport suggest that the emphasis male youth routinely use the epithet maricas placed on overcoming pain and exhaustion (queers) when referring to other youth who have by submitting to a strict regimen is part of demonstrated a lack of lealtad (loyalty). As constructing a masculine form of perceiving Viveros concludes, “To betray the group con- and molding the body. stitutes the worst crime and a youth who was The work site is another location affected by accused of being a traitor was labeled a ‘mar- gender relations, involving as it does differences ica,’ not for his sexual practices but because and inequalities in jobs, income distribution, of his disloyalty” (p. 208). working conditions, and the classification of Such studies highlight the importance that work as male or female. This is illustrated in men ascribe to these spheres of masculine a study by Virginia Guzmán and Patricia homosociality in Latin America, where the very Portocarrero (1992) through analysis of the competition among men allows them to vali- life histories of male and female workers in date their maleness. In a sense, one could say Lima, Peru. In particular, Guzmán and that encounters between adult men in these Portocarrero examine the value assigned to spaces mitigate the forces that drive the mas- women’s and men’s work within factory work culinity of young gang members. With modernity, spaces and the ways in which gender and there emerges a feminine presence in spaces that broader social identities are linked. The authors have been regarded as proverbially masculine, maintain that women’s presence in factories is such as cafés, bars, places of recreation and not entirely accepted and that the values most sport, workshops, and factories. Despite the fact esteemed in this environment are those most that there are multiple concepts of masculinity, associated with “virile” qualities such as and despite the recent increase in encounters strength, capacity for resistance, the possession between men and women in time and space, of technical knowledge, and the exercise of however, there has often, in Latin America, been power. They also point out that the factory is a tendency to reproduce relations grounded occupied materially and symbolically by men in hegemonic masculinity; that is, to ignore or and that discourse in the union is also dominated subordinate women. by notions of dominant masculinity, clearly linked in turn to a conceptualization of public space and Identity Construction citizenship as male privileges. As in other parts of the world, homophobia Two pioneering studies, largely exploratory in in Latin America is a widespread source of vio- character, have faced the challenge of recogniz- lence directed at men who are seen as in some ing and analyzing what it means to be a man and sense effeminate or are believed to have sex the consequences of being a man within a Latin with other men. Homophobia in Latin America American context. Indeed, one of the principal can be approached narrowly, as applying only themes analyzed is the construction of masculine 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 119

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identity. Among the first Latin American studies representation of women as virtuous and men as seeking to answer these questions was the work fundamentally bad. of Sócrates Nolasco (1993) and that of Rafael L. Ramírez (1993/1999). Reproductive Health and Sexuality In the first case, in a study of 25 middle class men between 25 and 35 years old, Nolasco In recent years, men’s role in reproduction (1993) analyzes the oppressive forms in which has become an important focus of studies on Brazilian men are traditionally socialized—their masculinity in Latin America (see, for example, relation to work, themselves, partners, friends, Lerner, 1998). Scholars began by questioning and children—thereby questioning the social the exclusive emphasis on women in reproduc- parameters through which to define what a man tive health research, seeking instead to examine is. Nolasco proposes that in various countries, men’s influence on women’s health and on increasing numbers of men are seeking other reproductive decisions in general (Tolbert, paths, therapies, and communities that will Morris, & Romero, 1994). Important studies, allow them to discover another kind of subjec- such as those of Juan Guillermo Figueroa tivity, one in which emotions are not classified (1998) in Mexico, Hernando Salcedo (1995) according to a sexist referent and in which emo- and Viveros and Gómez (1998) in Colombia, tions are not regarded as something harmful and Tolbert, Morris, and Romero (1994) in and irrational. The stereotype of the macho male Latin America overall, have attempted to fill excludes such subjective dynamics, making this void. Figueroa (1998), for example, seeks individuals believe that men are made from a to conceptualize the ways in which Latin series of absolutes: They never cry, they must American scholars, educators, and activists be the best, they must always compete, they have interpreted reproductive health in the must be strong, they must not get affectively male sphere and to analyze how men may be involved, and they must never retreat. “located” within reproductive health processes. In his study, Ramírez (1993/1999) explores A particular theme discussed by Salcedo (1995) the construction of masculinity in Puerto Rico. and Tolbert et al. (1994) has been the way in The study begins with a critique of how the which gender relations overall affect decisions term machismo has been used and continues made in relation to abortion. Viveros and Gómez with a description of diverse masculinities in (1998) discuss male sterilization in Colombia distinct ethnographic contexts. Ramírez also as a contraceptive decision taken in a specific insists that the dominant ideology of masculin- social context that defines and limits men’s ity is reproduced among men in homosexual contraceptive options, models of masculinity, relations and concludes his study by suggesting and the meanings of fatherhood and sexuality. the possibility of constructing a new masculine To incorporate men more explicitly in repro- identity, one stripped of the power games and ductive health research, Figueroa (1998) uses competition present in the traditional male aspects of traditional demographic analysis role. Ramírez concludes that in Puerto Rico, linked to fertility to identify more comprehensive “masculine identity is embodied in the genitals indicators of individual experiences involved and is articulated with sexuality and power” in fertility and the reproductive process overall. (p. 48) and that “encounters between men Subsequently, Figueroa argues that by ignoring are based on power, competition, and possible existing power relations between men and conflict” (p. 58). women, the medicalization of fertility can tend to In contrast to Ramírez (1993/1999) and endorse existing and exclusive “gender special- others, such as Olavarría and Parrini (2000), ization.” Men are, in effect, treated as agents who Sócrates Nolasco (1993) attempts to distinguish can impede or facilitate the regulation of fertility his study from feminism, arguing that the but are, ultimately, incapable of regulating it. He organization of groups of men cannot be char- concludes by proposing several analytical and acterized as a political movement and that methodological strategies to uncover the pres- each of these movements has its own character- ence of men in the reproductive health sphere. istics and dynamics. Nolasco also criticizes In their research, Tolbert et al. (1994) dis- what he sees as the association made by early cuss the relationship between gender relations feminism between patriarchy and men and the and decisions to have abortions by couples in 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 120

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Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and elsewhere. In sterilization) has been made problematic. At particular, they note that couples whose rela- the same time, it is clear that a rift still exists tionships were characterized by a greater gender between adoption of a modern discourse equality were more candid in their negotia- emphasizing male participation in reproductive tions about abortion. In a similar fashion, based decisions and the construction of new models on 72 formal interviews with Colombian men of family life and gender relations on a more who wrestled over abortion decisions, Salcedo democratic and equal basis throughout the (1995) analyzes the relationship between mas- region. culinity and abortion, including masculine Several studies (e.g., Cáceres, 1995; Serrano, representations of sexuality, reproductive life, 1994) point to the fact that adoption of traits or and feelings of desire. Salcedo evaluates men’s behaviors identified as masculine or feminine first reproductive event as a male rite of passage, because they represent active or passive roles in discusses men’s tendency to separate repro- sexual relations is independent of sexual orienta- ductive and sexual desires, and examines the tion. Thus, many scholars have attempted to relation between men’s desire for heirs and show that homosexual or heterosexual behavior women’s own affective lives. Salcedo concludes is not necessarily linked to a differentiated sense by calling on men to participate more in repro- of sexual identity (Parker, 1999). Writing in ductive decisions and to seek alternative ways Colombia, José Fernando Serrano (1994) argues of thinking about fatherhood. that homosexuality is a constructed category that In his study of 300 Uruguayan men, refers to certain aspects of human life, that it Gomensoro (1995) comes to similar conclusions. involves more than sexual components, and that His findings show that men may change some it carries with it certain implications for how life opinions about family, couples, sexuality, and may be lived and a way of understanding and some of their social roles but that they often pre- experiencing the world. Drawing on interviews serve a deeper set of “existential infrastructures.” with homosexual men from urban, middle class For this reason, relationships between couples sectors in Colombia, Serrano determines that and families are paradoxically more conflictive there exists no unitary homosexuality but rather than ever before. In response to this crisis, he pro- a diversity of situations—multiple homosexual poses a “new masculine condition.” de Keijzer genders in which feminine and masculine com- (1998) links masculine socialization to certain ponents interact, varying according to individual forms of intrafamilial violence, abuse, and sexual lives. At the same time, through their practices, punishment; to the limited use of birth control homosexual men in urban Colombia assign new and participation during pregnancy; and to the meanings to categories and roles imposed by principal causes of male mortality. He (1998) society, in this way resolving the tension conceives of “masculinity as a risk factor” in between the identity socially suggested to them three arenas: men’s relationships with women, and the identities they develop and recreate. with other men, and with themselves. In each In his article on health and bisexuality arena, he explains how hegemonic masculinity in Lima in the 1990s, Carlos Cáceres (1995) has a notably harmful impact on men’s health. proposes a taxonomy of the range of experi- A common denominator in each of these ences of homosexual men in Lima. The “char- studies is to reveal men’s involvement in a realm acters” described by Cáceres are neither static traditionally assigned to women—the reproduc- nor clearly defined but rather in a process of tion of the species—and to study male behavior appearance and disappearance. In this way, in and attitudes in sexual and reproductive health working class sectors, for instance, one finds separately and from male points of view in the “active” or “mostacero” bisexual man, who various cultural contexts in Latin America. does not question his basic heterosexuality; the Although it has generally been argued that mas- effeminate “marica” or “cabro,” who will not culine sexuality is characterized by its separa- call himself a man; and the transvestite, who tion from reproduction, these studies show how, expresses himself through aggressively exag- by questioning the relationship between mascu- gerated feminine mannerisms. In middle class line identity and values associated with sexual- sectors, one finds the “entendido,” who partici- ity, male participation in different reproductive pates in clandestine homosexual encounters, events (e.g., birth control, abortion, fatherhood, and the “married bisexual,” the “bisexual gay,” 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 121

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and the “gay,” who participate fully in local sexual experience in different contexts have homosexual culture and assume a macho style. been increasingly emphasized, as it has become Based on these characterizations, Cáceres pro- evident that categories such as homosexuality poses programs for AIDS prevention and sexual and heterosexuality do not reflect the diver- health that take into account the heterogeneity sity and complexity of the lived sexual experi- of sexual meanings. ences and that homosexual and heterosexual Richard Parker (1999) is also interested in behavior have been disconnected from a distinct problems of sexual and reproductive health in sense of gender identity. relation to the development of sexual communi- Despite the work of gender studies to break ties in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America. with binary thinking, such models die slowly, Parker argues that some studies about gay com- and male-female divisions are still the founda- munities in various developed countries point tion for much gender research in Latin America. to an important correlation established between A parallel model is found in some studies whose social development and support networks for subject is same-sex sex among men, where rigid gay communities and the resulting reduction of active-passive contrasts aim at explaining why risk in sexual behavior. According to Parker, the active, penetrating men are not necessarily con- absence of such structures in developing coun- sidered homosexual or gay by themselves or tries largely explains the limited behavioral by others in society more broadly. As Richard changes in sexual matters in these regions. The Parker (1999) shows, although retaining useful spread of HIV/AIDS and the emergence of new elements, the active-passive taxonomy can miss homosexual communities, each with its own as much as it captures with respect to changing institutional structures and social representa- norms and actual sexual practices (see also tions, have called attention to specific social Lancaster, 1998; Núñez Noriega, 2001). With dynamics and economic and political processes both so-called political passivity and sexual found in sexual communities, particularly in passivity there is evidently more at play than is developing countries, albeit within the context perhaps immediately apparent; both forms of of an increasingly globalized system (see also assumed passivity represent territories that Parker, 1994; Parker & Terto, 1998). remain to be more fully charted. Clearly, one Based on the studies examined, we may obstacle that must be overcome in studying conclude that the relationship between sexual sexual passivity in Latin America is the notion behavior and gender identity in Latin America that passivity is the mirror opposite of activity. is a very complex one and that the way in which Part of this conflation is confusion over power sexual identities are constructed in different and control in sexual politics and choice. In cultural contexts depends to a large degree on her study of transvestites, queens, and machos the categories and classifications used in each in Mexico City, Annick Prieur (1998, p. 129) culture to treat sexuality. The focus of these makes a similar point when she insists that, studies has evolved from concern with actual although her informants are victims of symbolic sexual behavior to explorations of the sociocul- (and not so symbolic) violence, they are also in tural conditions in which such behavior occurs just as real a sense actors who choose certain and to the cultural norms that organize sexuality. elements of their lives; they are not simply the How men and women in the region engage in passive subjects of history. verbal play with these corporal reference points, how they perform with more or less skill the Ethnicity and Race gestures associated with masculinities and femininities, and how they defy concepts and prac- In Latin American societies—multicultural, tices prevalent in the worlds into which they with a broad array of social classes—it has were born are the subjects of Claudia Fonseca’s become necessary to think about the various (2001) examination of the discourse and sub- ways in which masculine identities are con- stance of philandering in Porto Alegre, Brazil, structed in various social sectors, ethnic groups, and Xavier Andrade’s (2001) look at political and sociocultural contexts. Although still pornography in Guayaquil, Ecuador. From this too few in number, studies already conducted point of view, local cultural categories and the on ethnicity, race, and masculinity in Latin classification schemes structuring and defining America have drawn important conclusions 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 122

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and indicate several new areas for future corporeality in constructing their ethnic-racial research. Work in Brazil by Ondina Fachel identities as much as they have their gender Leal (1992a, 1992b), for instance, considers identities. More recently, Fernando Urrea and the connection between cultural identity and Pedro Quintín (2001) have conducted important gender identity. Drawing on her work on gaúcho4 research among Afro-Colombian males younger culture, Leal noted that gaúcho identity is than 25 years old in the city of Cali in the Pacific strongly linked to masculine identity and region of the country, seeking to understand the described cultural expressions of the former relationship between forms of sociability and such as myths, enchantments and seduction magic, conditions of socioracial exclusion there, as verbal duels, and representations of death. Leal well as the production of subjectivities and iden- (1992a) looks at the meaning of masculine tities among these young men. suicide in Rio Grande do Sul, the region where Work by others, such as Santiago Bastos gaúcho culture is concentrated in Brazil, where (1999) in Guatemala and Thomas Gregor suicide is a common practice and death rep- (1985) in the Amazon region, represents resents a challenge and an opportunity for men pioneering explorations of the largely untap- to prove their masculinity. ped topic of men and masculinity among Men in the Afro-Colombian population have indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. been the focus of several studies. Joel Streicker Taken as a whole, these initial forays into ques- (1995) analyzes the links established between tions of ethnicity, race, and masculinity in class, race, and gender in daily life in the coastal Latin America demonstrate that just as it is city of Cartagena, Colombia. In particular, important to recognize multiple masculinities Streicker examines the interactions between across ethnic and racial lines, it is also neces- these three categories in the everyday discourse sary to understand that there is no essential of the residents of one barrio in Cartagena, claim- black, gaúcho, or indigenous masculinity in ing that the interdependence of race, class, and Latin America. gender is related to the naturalization of difference and provides a powerful way of neutral- Work izing social and individual subjectivities. The notion of masculinity is constructed not only in The connection between men’s employment opposition to femininity but also in contrast to and their financial “maintenance” of a house- the masculinity of black men and rich men: The hold and the connection between paid work and first group is considered dangerous and asso- male identities is developed by numerous schol- ciated with what is animal; the second is per- ars, such as Agustín Escobar Latapí (2003), who ceived as more feminine because rich men are looks at the impact of economic and social seen as more interested in themselves and more restructuring in Mexico on the lives of Mexican subject to restrictions imposed by their wives. men in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico From this perspective, Mara Viveros (1998, City in relation to their families, schooling, 1999) analyzes the representations of masculin- migration, and work. In Chile as elsewhere, as ity of a group of adult men from middle class José Olavarría (2001) demonstrates, the indus- sectors of Quibdó, the capital of the Chocó trial revolution separated the workplace from region of Colombia, where the largest percent- the home. This was particularly true in urban age of the Afro-Colombian population lives. areas. Such a separation detached the place The author contends that sexual performance where people lived from sites where they pro- and a capacity for seduction and conquest are duced. As the familial division of labor between traits linked to black and masculine identities. wage-earning father-provider and domestic, Rather than confirming the racist stereotype that child-rearing mother became general and rou- black men are obsessed with sex, this finding tinized, men came to assume ever more patri- illustrates the overlap between gender and ethnic- archal roles at the head of nuclear families; racial identities. If one takes into account that women took charge of few outside matters. identity is a relational construct, it is evident Especially in the 20th century, this type of that Chocoan male masculinities have emerged family became idealized by a large sector of the in contrast to nonblack masculinities, because urban poor in Santiago as the normal and natural Chocoan men have in this manner used their model. In fact, the existence and perpetuation of 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 123

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the patriarchal nuclear family was turned into is alive and well. Without doubt, throughout the an ideological truth through theories of sex- world today, machismo is a common expression determined roles (see Chant, 2002b). Steve for sexism, yet it is a term with a remarkably Stern (1995) shows, in his study of colonial short history as a word, and its etymology Mexico, certain of the historical permutations derives as much from international political and that eventually led to a system in contemporary social currents as from cultural artifacts peculiar Mexico whereby remunerated labor was socially to Latin America (see Gutmann, 1996). compulsory for men.

CURRENT DEBATES AND CONTROVERSIES Machismo Men in Mexico, Latin America, and indeed Of the many specific topics of significant dis- all Spanish-speaking countries have often been cussion and disagreement in the study of men characterized as uniformly macho by anthropol- and masculinities in Latin America at the begin- ogists, other scholars, and journalists. Despite ning of the 21st century, we would highlight the fact that the terms macho and machismo three. One, as indicated earlier, is the subject of have short histories as words, many writers same-sex sex. By the late 1990s, most scholars from all over the world have seemed intent on carefully avoided simplistic employment of discovering a ubiquitous, virulent, and “typically the term “homosexual” to refer to men who Latin” machismo among men from these areas. have sex with other men in the region. Studies In the 1990s, there was a veritable boom in of Brazil and Mexico have been especially ethnographic and kindred work on machismo; fruitful in developing these distinctions (for for instance, the works of de Barbieri (1990), Brazil, see, for example, Beattie, 2001; Green, Parker (1991), Lancaster (1998), Limón (1994), 2000; Kulick, 1998; and Parker, 1991, 1999; for Brusco (1995), Carrier (1995), Gutmann (1996), Mexico, see Carrier, 1995; Hernández Cabrera, Mirandé (1997), Fuller (1998), and Ramírez 2001; Higgins & Coen, 2000; Núñez Noriega, (1993/1999). 1994, 2001; and Prieur, 1998). The central claim of Brusco (1995), for Another topic of controversy in the region example, is that evangelist Protestantism in relates to understanding change and resilience; Colombia has liberated women because it has more specifically, how much men have changed “domesticated” men: Evangelist husbands and in recent years. One area of research has been fathers eschew “public” machismo—drunken- new forms of masculine domination and con- ness, violence, and adultery—and return to their tradictions between modern discourses and family responsibilities. Ramírez (1993/1999) so-called traditional practices. More generally, notes that the expression machismo is not used there has been considerable debate regarding in the working class areas he studied in Puerto diverse factors involved in change, such as polit- Rico, yet it is commonly employed in academic ical movements and modernization efforts with and feminist circles on the island. Lancaster respect to education, reproductive health, and (1992) reports that particular and unequal male- changing employment patterns. male sexual relations are what ultimately Finally, it is important to note certain general “grounds” the system of machismo in general differences evident in studies conducted from in in Nicaragua. Women may be ever present in contrast to those about Latin America. Scholars men’s lives, but they do not factor into the mas- from Latin America often are especially con- culinity equation for basic bodily reasons. cerned with developing and adapting theories In short, the word machismo has become a for the complex conditions pertaining in dif- bellwether term in nearly all discussions of men ferent parts of their region, and they have shown and masculinities in Latin America. Although themselves more reticent to adopt wholesale fewer scholars today argue that all Latin theories of, for example, hegemonic masculinity American men exhibit an obvious and identical that initially emerged from distinct European machismo and that machismo, in the sense of and U.S. historical and cultural contexts. It goes sexism, is unique to Latin America, still, both without saying that sweeping generaliza- popularly and in most scholarly literature, a tacit tions about “Latin American men” or “Latin view that machismo is ubiquitous in the region American machismo”—stereotypes, as often as 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 124

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not, grounded in the colonial imaginary and commonalties with respect to certain aspects of European notions of modernity—are encountered gender and sexuality. That is, despite the real and far more in studies written by scholars writing unanimous acknowledgement of the profound outside Latin America than in research performed impact of globalization on sexualities throughout by those writing from within the region. Latin America, there is still simultaneously the deep-seated sense that these global influences were still filtered through particular, local, Latin FUTURE WORK American contexts. For this reason, to understand men and masculinities in the region, we are In the 1980s and 1990s, studies of “men-as- compelled to seek more than simply the Latin men” in Latin America developed in the wake of versions of global trends and transformations. earlier feminist research by women and as an Although we find pan-Latin frameworks extension of these other studies. More than was altogether inaccurate, we are compelled nonethe- true in the United States, studies of men-as-men less to ask how sexualities in Latin America are in Latin America were usually framed by femi- part of global processes of change, those trans- nist theories of gender oppression, regardless of formations under way in the late 20th century whether the primary focus was on heterosexual that carry profound implications for sexualities men or men who have sex with other men. That in the Latin Americas (see Olavarría, 2001; is, from the beginning, in studying men as Parker, 1999). engendered and engendering beings, in Latin Economically, these changes are evident in America there was a more unambiguous adop- tracing the impact of neoliberal programs on tion of critical feminist lenses for understanding reproductive health programs, the growing men-as-men within general paradigms delineat- numbers of women working outside the home ing power and inequality. The “me too-ism” that for money, and the expansion of international developed in parallel in certain wings of men’s sex markets (see de Barbieri, 1990; García, studies in North America and Europe has been 1994; Viveros, 1999). Politically, men and mas- far less influential in Latin America, although, culinities in Latin America have been affected to be sure, a translation into Spanish of Robert regionally in dramatic ways by feminist projects Bly’s mythopoetic manifesto on Iron John, and globally by urban movements for social Hombres de Hierro: Los ritos de iniciación services in which women have often played a masculina del Nuevo Hombre, was quickly significant role and in which men have been brought into print in 1992. Scholarship on men challenged by women’s independence and and masculinities in Latin America has been initiative (see Chant & Gutmann, 2000; Fuller, marked by feminist theoretical frameworks, and 1997; Gutmann, 1997; Valdés, Benavente, & many women who have long been active in Cysling, 1999); by general trends toward research and activism concerning women’s democratization that have raised new issues oppression have been leaders in the emerging of cultural citizenship, including issues con- study of men and masculinities in the region. cerning gender differences (see Gutmann, 2002; With respect to announcements of the death Viveros, 2001); and by AIDS activism in many of antiquated masculinity, one need not adopt countries of the region (see Parker & Cáceres, the view that there is a New Man who has sur- 1999). faced from the Argentine pampas to the shal- Demographically, mass access to modern lows of the Rio Grande River, nor claim that forms of contraception and the consequent fall challenges to men and masculinity are novel in birth rates has tested gender and sexuality phenomena of our contemporary age, to recog- identities, behavior, and roles in intimate nize that men and women throughout Latin and associational ways (see Figueroa, 1998; America have been grappling with what seem to Salcedo, 1995), and the fact that girls’ atten- many to be new ideas and relationships related dance rates at school have risen more quickly to their masculine identities. than boys’ has had obvious implications in Despite differences of class, ethnic group, numerous ways, including the training and qual- region, and generation, Latin America is still ifications of women and men for various sectors seen by many as constituting, in some palpable of employment. The shift from more uniformly sense, a coherent area of historical and cultural differentiated divisions of household labor in 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 125

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the countryside to situations that have given NOTES rise to greater fluidity in gender employment patterns as a result of modernization and urban- 1. For the sake of simplicity, in this chapter, ization has, accordingly, had dramatic conse- Latin America refers to the peoples living in countries quences for men and women as they have in the Western Hemisphere where the Spanish and become more thoroughly incorporated into Portuguese languages predominate, as well as to the wage labor relations. 35 million Spanish-speaking people in the United Research is needed in several areas relating States. For a recent, excellent survey of gender in the to men and masculinity in Latin America. As region, see Chant (2002a). 2. This new emphasis on multiculturalism is mentioned, the relationship between ethnicity, also reflected in changes made to several national race, and masculinity in the region is an impor- constitutions in Latin America during this period in tant topic for future work. Another concerns which nations were redefined as multiethnic and various aspects of masculinity and violence, pluricultural. from state-sponsored wars to domestic abuse 3. “Displacements” refers to the more than one to questions of criminality. Despite recent million people in Colombia who, in the 1990s, were work on reproductive health, additional studies forced to abandon their homes, fleeing violence per- on issues as diverse as AIDS and vasectomies petrated by one or another military group in that are necessary, including further applications country. of de Keijzer’s (1998) formulation regarding 4. The gaúcho is defined by the author as a rural cattle worker who lives in the pampas of southern “masculinity as a risk factor.” Although some Latin American. histories of masculinity in Latin America have appeared in English (e.g., Beattie, 2001; Green, 2000; Stern, 1995), we need to better distinguish between more genuinely novel identities REFERENCES and social relations involving men and women and those sometimes too casually termed “tradi- Andrade, X. (2001). Machismo and politics in Ecuador: The case of Pancho Jaime. Men and tional.” More generally, there is some urgency Masculinities, 3(3), 299-315. in the need for gender analysis to be brought Bastos, S. (1998). Desbordando patrones: El compor- into areas of research involving men but in tamiento doméstico de los hombres [Going which men have not been treated as engendered beyond the standard: Domestic behavior of and engendering beings, such as the displaced men]. La Ventana, 7, 166-224. of Colombia, Mexican immigrants to the United Bastos, S. (1999). Concepciones del hogar y ejercicio States, and the political hierarchies throughout del poder: El caso de los mayas de ciudad de the continent. Guatemala. In M. González de la Rocha (Ed.), Divergencias del modelo tradicional: Hogares de jefatura femenina en América Latina (pp. 37-75). Mexico City: CIESAS/Plaza y ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Valdés. Beattie, P. M. (2001). The tribute of blood: Army, Throughout this chapter, we draw liberally from honor, race, and nation in Brazil, 1864-1945. our other work on men and masculinity in Latin Durham, NC: Duke University Press. America. We would like to express our gratitude Bly, R. (1992). Hombres de hierro: Los ritos de ini- in particular for the opportunities we have ciación masculina del Nuevo Hombre [Men of had in recent years to participate in conferences iron: Masculine initiation rituals of the New and panels on various aspects of this theme— Man]. Mexico City: Planeta. ranging from fatherhood to homosociality to Bourdieu, P. (1990). La domination masculine reproductive health—in Bogotá, Cambridge, [Masculine domination]. Actes de la Recherche Cartagena, Chicago, Lima, Medellín, Porto en Sciences Sociales, 84, 3-31. Bourdieu, P. (1998). La domination masculine Alegre, Providence, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, [Masculine domination]. Paris: Seuil. and Santiago. On every occasion, we have Brusco, E. E. (1995). The reformation of machismo: learned from each other and from other col- Evangelical conversion and gender in Colombia. leagues about the specific meanings and reali- Austin: University of Texas Press. ties of being a man historically and today in Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discur- Latin America. sive limits of “sex.” New York: Routledge. 07-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:17 PM Page 126

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he recent expansion of research on men issues concerning men and masculinities in and masculinities is phenomenal. One contemporary East Asia. Finally, I introduce the T after another, different aspects of the current trend of research (especially in Japan) social construction of masculinity in various and consider the future of research on men and moments and milieus have been disclosed. masculinities in East Asia. Most of the research published in the English- speaking world, however, comes from within the Western world and from Western perspec- PREMODERN SOCIETY tives. Although it is important to consider the construction of masculinity in the worldwide In premodern East Asia, although there was a context with the background of globalization definite distinction between men and women, (Connell, 2000), non-Western masculinities are and male dominance was notable (especially likely to be distant from the concerns of interna- among the ruling class under the influence of tional academic work, both in terms of the Confucianism), a softness of manner and even object of knowledge and the viewpoint. East homosexual behavior did not threaten a man’s Asia is no exception, even though it contains manliness. At the same time, there seems to one of the three great economic powers in the have been diversity in the construction of mas- world. Research on East Asian masculinities is culinity according to class and region. small in quantity and is relatively unknown, East Asia has many kinds of cultural and reli- compared with that on Western masculinities. gious traditions. Confucianism, Buddhism, and In this chapter, through a review of the main Taoism have each had a great influence over a literature, both in English and Japanese, I will wide area. Relations among the three are trace in outline the history of East Asian mas- ambivalent. On the one hand, each has regarded culinities and present the main findings and the others as heresy and disapproved of them. On the nature of the research in East Asia. To the other hand, by gradual introduction of doc- begin with, I will describe the characteristics of trine derived from the others, each has under- East Asian masculinities in premodern society gone significant changes over the centuries and and then discuss the impact of the foundation of has had much effect on the construction of the modern capitalist nation-state. Next I pre- masculinity (and femininity) up to the present. sent the dominant forms of masculinities after In regard to the definition and symbolization World War II in each country and then discuss of gender relations among the ruling class,

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Confucianism has been the most influential of martial ideals). The balance between wen and all. Confucianism is a series of ideas that origi- wu and the notable presentation of both were nated in the instructions of an ancient Chinese supposed to lead to masculinity at its highest great thinker, Confucius (551?–479 B.C.). His level. This is most obvious in Ruhlman’s (1975) teachings and related texts became the core three types of hero, seen in Chinese popular curriculum of Chinese education in the fiction: scholar, swordsman, and prince. The Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), after which scholar is the symbol of wen and the swordsman Confucianism spread to other East Asian coun- represents wu. The prince plays only a passive tries (Tu, 1998). One of the main characteristics part but is skilled in choosing scholars and of Confucianism is the definite distinction swordsmen who will enable him to fulfill his between the public (outer) space occupied by destiny. In other words, he sits between and men and the domestic (inner) space occupied by above wen and wu. Significantly, in Chinese tra- women. These spaces were linked by a firm dition generally, it has been considered that wen hierarchy of the sexes that was dominated by would be superior to wu and that scholars and men. For example, Li-chi, one of the traditional officials would be more respected than soldiers. Confucian textbooks, says that the woman must In addition, wen is closer to women than wu, in practice the art of “following”—following her contrast with Western concepts. For example, as father as a daughter, following her husband as a Louie and Edwards point out, although a wife, and following her son as a mother. romance of scholar and beauty is a common In the period when China was divided theme in Chinese fiction, the wu hero shows between the northern dynasties and the south- his strength and masculinity by containing his ern dynasties (A.D. 220–589), against the sexual and romantic desires. background of the flourishing of Taoism and The second distinctive characteristic of East the consolidation of the philosophy of “greater Asian traditional masculinity is the tolerance vehicle” Buddhism, the influence of Confu- of male homosexual relationships. According cianism was weakened. In the Sung period to Hinsch (1990), Chinese men were not (960-1279), however, Confucian thought was divided into strict categories of “homosexuals” restored as neo-Confucianism, which brought and “heterosexuals” and experienced a relaxed renewed emphasis on familial duty and moral bisexuality, at least before the 20th century. asceticism. In the Choson dynasty of Korea Based on literary and historical documentation, (1392-1910), which was the most Confucianized Leupp (1995) argues that male homosexual of all dynasties in East Asian history, the con- behavior was celebrated rather than tolerated tinuation of the family lineage is one of the most in premodern Japan. Nanshoku (male-to-male important duties for yangban upper class. A sex), which was one of the two subconcepts of woman who did not have a son was considered shikidô (the way of sexual behaviors; the other a nonperson (Cho, 1998). In Tokugawa Japan subconcept being joshoku, male-to-female sex), (1603-1867), neo-Confucianism was a funda- began to spread within the Buddhist monastic mental basis of spirit and behavior for the community in the ninth century and permeated samurai warrior class (De Vos, 1998). In China, the samurai (warrior) class as well by the 12th neo-Confucianism reached its apex during the century. Nanshoku did not necessarily contra- Ch’ing dynasty (1644-1912) (Tu, 1998). dict the Confucian code of Japanese feudal At first glance, it seems that gender relations society. Because of men’s bisexuality, homo- in East Asia were not much different from those sexual behavior did not threaten the continua- of Western countries under the influence of tion of the family lineage, which was dependent Christianity. But we can see specific character- on the birth of male offspring. The “high and istics of the construction of traditional East low” structure in sexual relations between Asian masculinities in regard to heroic images nenja (the lover, of elder or upper status) and and male homosexual behavior. Louie and chigo (the loved, of younger or lower status) Edwards (1994) argue that, in Chinese cultural was also concordant with this hierarchical tradition (and probably also in other parts of social structure. According to Furukawa Asia), concepts of manliness have been con- (1995), nanshoku was thought to bring mas- structed around the intertwining of two ideals: culinity to a man; joshoku was thought to make wen (mental or civil ideals) and wu (physical or a man weak. 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 131

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On the other hand, it is argued that, in the and political systems. Contrary to general popular classes, more egalitarian gender rela- assumptions, however, modernization rein- tions were constructed compared with those in forced and reconstructed gender division and the ruling class. For example, Brugger (1971) hierarchy in East Asia rather than leading to argues that within the Chinese peasant family in liberation and equality between sexes. precommunist traditional society, the roles of Japan succeeded earliest in East Asia in the men and women were determined by economic transformation into the modern nation-state. As necessity rather than by Confucian ideology. in the birth of the modern European nations, Certainly, a rough distinction would be seen only men were given citizenship rights, such as between a woman as the domestic manager and the vote and the right to own property. Women a man as the breadwinner. However, at the lower were not to win those rights until the end of social levels, the husband’s power over his wife World War II. Against a background of strong was not as strong as Confucian ideology pre- nationalism, the ryôsai kenbo (good wife, wise scribed because of the woman’s participation in mother) ideology was formed through a rein- physical labor and the vague boundary between terpretation of Confucian virtue. Although it domestic management and breadwinning. Women legitimized the modern gender division of as well as men are thought to have enjoyed labor, this ideology ranked both sexes equal sexual freedom outside marriage. in the sense that women also contribute to the In addition to the difference by class, we may nation through the production of high-quality also see regional differences in gender patterns children. The formal curriculum of primary and within each country. For example, Edo (today’s secondary education was designed in the 1880s Tokyo) in the Tokugawa period is characterized with that ideology in mind. Boys and girls were as a “masculine city” (Nishiyama, 1997). The indoctrinated with the idea of different duties population of Edo in the early 18th century was for men and women through moral education, calculated to be around a million and was and only girls were taught needlecraft and divided roughly equally between samurai and domestic science (Fukaya, 1966). A similar chônin (townspeople). Building the metropolis educational system for girls was introduced to had required the influx of a great number of Korea under imperial Japan’s control in the individuals with traditional skills and knowl- early days of the 20th century (Sechiyama, edge, ranging from craftsmen to scholars, most 1996, p. 142). of whom were male. According to a census In China, after the beginning of the 20th taken during the Kyôhô era (1716-1739), two century, the disorganization of rural peasant thirds of the chônin population was male. As for communities and the increase of factory work- the samurai class, present in large numbers ers reinforced male power and the demarcation because daimyo (provincial lords) were required between the roles of breadwinner and domestic to be in the capital, with vassals, in alternate manager. Although the Kuomintang government years, the armed force was exclusively male. legislated for equality of the sexes in the rights There were constant conflicts among the chônin of property, inheritance, and divorce in 1931, over their rights and interests and also between these rights did not work in practice in districts the samurai and chônin, who managed to use controlled by traditional gentry. The recruitment the authority of the bakufu (feudal government) of large numbers of men into the army during or their lord to gain advantage over competitors. the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and the Such demography and social structure formed Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) accelerated an atmosphere in which justice usually meant gender division (Brugger, 1971). violence. The influence of industrialization and militarization, interwoven with Western science and Christian ethics, produced changes in men’s THE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION sexuality. As progressive scholars supported Western medical and psychological doctrines Social conditions in East Asia experienced and Christian notions that the only purpose of great changes in the latter half of the 19th cen- sex was reproduction, the Chinese and the tury. Each country aimed to build a modern cap- Japanese began to see homosexuality as patho- italist nation, introducing Western technology logical or criminal (Furukawa, 1995; Hinsch, 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 132

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1990). Gradually, most Japanese men became AFTER WORLD WAR II: careful neither to display homosexual behavior SALARYMAN AND SOCIALISM nor to realize their own homosexual desire. Watanabe and Iwata (1989) argue that, from the demographic viewpoint, such a change of After World War II, each country in East Asia sexuality was reasonable, especially in Japan, witnessed a different construction of masculinity whose fukoku kyôhei (enrich the country and according to the prevailing political-economic strengthen the military) policy encouraged structure and the attitude toward Confucianism having as many children as possible, to provide (Sechiyama, 1996; Shinozaki, 1995). large-scale manpower to growing labor markets In Japan, after the defeat in the war, and military forces. The population of Japan, Confucianism was denied, at least officially, as which was about 33 million in the 1870s, was a feudal idea. Democracy and modernization already steadily increasing and reached about were encouraged under the guidance of the 55 million in 1920. Allied Powers. During the period of economic The conversion of masculinity in the con- growth starting in the 1950s, the sarariiman text of modernization can be confirmed most (derived from the neologism “salaryman,” remarkably in the portraits of the Japanese meaning a salaried, white-collar employee of Meiji Emperor Mutsuhito (1868-1912) and his private-sector organizations) became the hege- family (Osa, 1999). The emperor, who had been monic discourse of Japanese masculinity merely a noble and had little political power (Dasgupta, 2000). in the Tokugawa era, suddenly became a top This term has different connotations in manager of politics and the military of a different contexts. Within the job context, modern nation-state because of the Meiji “salaryman” is one side of a dualistic gender Restoration (1868). In that year, Mutsuhito discourse, the other side of which is the “office looked androgynous in traditional Japanese lady,” a female employee who generally has no clothes. It was more important for his appear- chance for promotion and mainly serves as ance to display his nobility than his maleness. an assistant for male employees (Ogasawara, In the portrait of 1888, however, he was drawn 1998, p. 12). In the mirror of the office lady, in the style that gives dignity to European the salaryman represents male privilege, domi- monarchs in the 19th century: sitting on a chair nance, and centrality in the company and the with a sword; wearing Western military cere- society. In the family context, the salaryman is monial dress; with moustache, beard, and thick one side of another duality in gender discourse. eyebrows. The emperor’s masculinity was Here the opposite is sengyô-shufu (full-time represented more clearly in relation to the housewife), whom, ideally, he is supposed to empress and their children. Although female marry (Dasgupta, 2000). As the breadwinner, emperors had existed in the past, the Imperial the salaryman husband was accustomed to Constitution of 1889 limited the succession demanding the services and attention of his explicitly to male descendants. Subsequently, indulgent wife in an authoritarian manner in the empress was located as support behind the what was referred to as teishu kanpaku. This emperor rather than represented as a political pattern of relationship was considered normal leader. In the newspaper images of the imperial until the 1970s (Salamon, 1975). Within this family that were distributed as an appendix in discourse, a salaryman represents not only the 1905, we can clearly see the emperor’s figure as heterosexual but also the provider and domina- husband and father. tor of woman. Further, Ueno (1995) points out We may find similar changes in the that men’s activities in Japanese industrial iconography of political power in the process of society have been expressed by terminology China’s modernization. When Sun Yatsen that has strong military connotations: for declared the foundation of the Republic of example, kigyô-senshi (corporate soldier) and China and took the temporary presidency in shijô-senryaku (market strategy). Although the 1912, he was wearing modified Western dress. military has not represented a Japanese mascu- The last emperor of the Ch’ing dynasty, Puyi, line ideal since the defeat in World War II, the was still wearing traditional hair style and dress military image has survived in the masculine in the picture taken that same year. field of the economic war. 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 133

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Although the term sarariiman, with its of masculinities. First, there was a contradiction implications of middle class, white-collar regarding gender between the Maoist regime’s employees in a large company, is almost syn- official policy and the actual power structure onymous with masculinity in contemporary (Brugger, 1971; Sechiyama, 1996). On the one Japanese discourses, the majority of male work- hand, the regime actually promoted more egali- ers do not fit with this image. More than half tarian gender relations. Women’s status was of all private sector male employees in the improved not only economically but in the Japanese economy (excluding agriculture) were private arena through various policies, such as employed in small firms (fewer than 100 work- rural collectivization; the mobilization of ers) in 1960, in 1980, and again in 2000. The women to the labor force; the revision of the percentage of white-collar workers (the total of Marriage Law, which legalized divorce; and the professional and technical workers, managers, propaganda campaign for gender equality, which and officials; clerical and related workers; and was represented by the unisexual “Mao jacket” sales workers, including self-employed and and Mao’s words “Women hold up half the sky.” family workers) grew slowly over this period On the other hand, the political, economic, and but had reached no more than 46% by 2000. military power was kept almost exclusively in Clearly, the classic salaryman was always in a the hands of men. minority. Second, as far as the ideal masculine image We can get a glimpse of working class men’s goes, there seemed to be a contradiction between lives from ethnographic research. Most of those the Confucian cultural tradition and Maoism. As laborers who are paid daily lead a life that is far related earlier, Chinese tradition has shown from both “the company” and “the marriage” respect for the intellectual who exemplified wen. indispensable to the image of the salaryman By contrast, Maoist policy regarded intellectuals (Fowler, 1996; Gill, 1999). Many are single; live with hostility and idealized violence and manual in cheap, poor-quality lodgings; and look for labor. We can find the images of heroic mas- 1-day contract jobs every morning. Although culinity in the People’s Liberation Army soldier the pay for day labor is not bad compared with and the manual worker painted on a campaign that of the salaryman generally, the salary parity poster in 1971 (Honig, 2002). tends to disappear into a hedonistic lifestyle Korea was divided into two countries in 1948. (mainly gambling and alcohol). Although the In the capitalist state of South Korea, rapid salaryman enjoys the seniority system, confi- industrialization and urbanization from the dently expecting pay increases and promotion 1960s increasingly conspired to place a man in with increasing age, the day worker finds it the position of breadwinner. Like the Japanese more and more difficult to endure hard manual salaryman, the Korean husband and father came labor and eventually is thrown into unem- to spend most of his time and energy on work ployment. Roberson (1998), through participant and on his association with colleagues outside observation research in a small company, argues the house. The result was a “fatherless” complex that, unlike the stereotypical image of the where the wife and mother took over the role of salaryman who swears loyalty to his company head of the family (Lee, 1998). under the life-long employment system, the Although the socialist nation of North Korea workers in that small company create their mobilized women into the labor force, it was identity more through leisure and relationships different from postrevolutionary China with outside work rather than through work and the respect to the powerful influence of Confu- company. cianism (Sechiyama, 1996). Intellectuals were Although there is a general lack of research, respected in North Korea. We can learn this we can draw some limited conclusions about from the symbol of the Korean Worker’s Party, the construction of masculinities in the socialist in which a pen (intellectual) is centrally located states in this period. In China, the Maoist regime between a hammer (worker) and a sickle (beginning with the Socialist Revolution in 1949, (farmer). Because of tendencies that retained the through the Great Leap Forward in 1958-1959 difference between men and women, gender and the Cultural Revolution that began in 1965, equality had not been achieved as much as in ending with Mao’s death in 1976) provided China, and men participated less in housework, conflicting social contexts for the construction although women worked as hard as men. 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 134

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CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN of suicides by men who experienced anxiety RECENT DECADES about work brought on by the continuing recession and the collapse of the old corporate safe- guard system prompted a reappraisal of men’s The recent promotion of equality between the former working style (Fuyuno, 2001; Kashima, sexes on a global scale has had a great impact on 1993). In 1997, when personnel downsizing the construction of masculinities in East Asia. went into full swing, the number of men’s sui- In the capitalist nations of Japan and South cides per 100,000 population in Japan rose Korea, the governmental policy of gender equal- rapidly from 26 to 36.5 in 1 year; that of women ity, the economic recession, and demographic rose from 11.9 to 14.7. In 1997, suicide moti- change threatened the hegemonic form of mas- vated by economic or occupational problems culinity that had been established after World made up 25% of all suicides among men, War II. As a reaction to this situation, some men although it made up only 5% among women. tried to redefine masculinity. In the People’s Analyzing the articles in postwar Japanese Republic of China, in which the sociocultural newspapers, Okamoto and Sasano (2001) traced distinction between the sexes had been the most a transition in images of the salaryman. The ten- revised in East Asia, gender relations are being dency to take the term salaryman for granted reconstructed along with the introduction of the appeared at the beginning of the postwar eco- capitalist market economy. In the complex of con- nomic boom in the 1950s. In the latter half of ventional and alternative values, we can see the the 1960s, the post–oil crisis period, salarymen complicated conditions in which masculinities are were expected to be good taxpayers, to be constructed. breadwinners, and to go straight home after In Japan, a series of governmental policies work. The self-evident nature of the salaryman, aimed at gender equality undermined the legiti- however, came to be doubted in the latter half macy of male dominance and gender division of the “bubble economy” period in the 1980s. of labor (Ôsawa, 2000). The symbolic event was The traditional images regarding salarymen the enactment of the Basic Law for the Gender- have been marginalized in the 1990s. Equal Society in 1999. To promote equality Demographic changes have also had a strong between the sexes and to stop the birthrate impact on Japanese masculine identity. The decreasing, the government admitted men’s Japanese enjoy the longest life span, on average, parental leave by law in 1991. An official cam- in the world. In 1955, the average life expec- paign also began to promote men’s participation tancy of Japanese men and women was about in child care. A poster and TV advertisement 63 and 67 years old, respectively. This became published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare 71 and 76 in 1975 and 77 and 83 in 1995. This became topical in 1999. In both, the husband of extension of the average life span brought to Japan’s most popular female singer cradled his salarymen a new problem of “the second life” child, saying, “A man isn’t called a father unless after retirement (K. Itô, 1996). The fast-growing he takes part in raising his child.” The Tokyo elderly population has increased the numbers of metropolitan government began to grope for men who must take care of aged parents or an ways in which a man could be independent of elderly wife (Harris, Long, & Fujii, 1998). the company and strike a balance between work, In light of these social changes, negative family, and community (Metropolitan Tokyo images of the salaryman have come to the Women’s Foundation, 1998). These efforts had fore. “Sarariiman as beleaguered and rou- limited success. Despite the 1991 law, Japanese tinized, forever cogs in someone else’s wheel, men rarely take parental leave. The reasons are common images in the popular culture” include insufficient pay guarantees and the resis- (Allison, 1993, p. 1). Ogasawara (1998) found tance to a man’s absence from the workplace for that female employees tended to resist control “private” reasons. For example, among govern- at work more than male employees, despite the ment employees in 1998, of all men who were inferiority of their place in the company system. entitled to take parental leave, only 0.2% did so; The seeming lack of male resistance may be the percentage among women was 86.2%. understood as the consequence of their personal Economic recession also delivered a blow to assessment and identification with company and salaryman masculinity. The increasing number management goals. According to a case study of 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 135

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a Japanese security company by Shire (1999), majority of men’s movements take a profeminist male employees are encouraged to align their stance, an essentialist discourse, which advo- individual attitudes and behavior with company cates a clear distinction of paternity from mater- goals through company socialization, but the nity on the basis of Jungian psychology, is meaning of social adulthood for a female gaining popularity (Hayashi, 1996). employee is related to future family roles. In Men’s movements are budding little by little Japan’s salaryman culture, in contrast to Western in South Korea, as well. The main example is counterparts, group acceptance and membership the “fathers’ movement,” which aims at good in successful groups are more respectable than a relations between a man and his wife and display of individual aggressiveness. Karôshi children. In 1997, this movement organized the (death from overwork) is more a result of National Organization of Fathers Club, in which “hyperdevotion” to the company than a result about 70 groups joined, and established the of a “hypercompetitive” orientation (Kersten, Father Foundation as an NGO. With the recent 1996). Seeking after-work relaxation, salarymen recession, however, fathers are primarily often go out to hostess clubs where the hostesses expected not to be sacked rather than actually “treat them like men” and make them feel expected to be a “good father.” In Japan, the important and privileged while drinking. 50-year-olds of the postwar baby boom gener- However, such “masculine privilege depends on ation are at the center of the men’s movement, the ability and willingness of males to continue but in South Korea, the 30- and 40-year-olds to work as productive and compliant workers” who are the first nuclear family generation (Allison, 1993, p. 2). These observations indicate lead the men’s movement. Also in South Korea, how pervasive and effective are corporate con- there are Christian men’s movements, which trol mechanisms for male employees. work together with the U.S. Promise Keepers; Likewise, in the home, the status of salarymen’s movements for egalitarian culture; and men as husbands or fathers is increasingly telephone counseling for men (Chung, 2000). ambivalent. Their teishu kanpaku behavior has Against the background of social changes increasingly been viewed as problematic and in which traditional sexist ideology and egalitar- unsupportive (Salamon, 1975). Because of the ian antisexist ideology coexist, more men are surviving custom that husbands should hand experiencing conflicts concerning gender and their salary over to their wives, combined with are being encouraged to cope with them. the “fatherless household” syndrome similar to According to Soh (1993), men (and women) in that in South Korea, a situation has developed South Korea, who are faced with contradictory in which more power in domestic management dual gender role ideologies, organize their lies with the wife. As may be discerned from everyday life by compartmentalizing their inter- the popular saying that was prevalent in the actional situations: public versus private and 1980s—“It’s important that husbands are formal versus informal. healthy and not at home”—salaryman fathers Japanese men’s conflicts about gender are tend to have only guest status in the family the subject of my recent research with young (Kersten, 1996). men of the middle class (Taga, 2001, 2003). In response to such trends, “men’s move- This interview-based project explored the areas ments” that question assumptions about mas- of life in which men experienced gender conflict, culinities began to spread in Japan (Ôyama & how they came up against it, and how they dealt Ôtsuka, 1999). One group established the with it. Some wondered how a husband should “Men’s Center Japan” in Osaka in 1995 share paid work and housework with his wife, (Menzusentâ, 1996). Otoko no Fesutibal (men’s some questioned the validity of male dominance festival), the national annual conference that over women, and some were rethinking the “tra- aims at the solution of men’s problems and ditional” definition of masculinity. Some expe- serves as an interchange for men’s groups, has rienced conflict and were encouraged to rethink been held since 1996. The workshops in this gender relations because they fell in love with a conference cover a lot of issues: men’s sexual- career-oriented girl. The ways they dealt with ity, domestic violence, working life, communi- the conflicts are various. Some tried to suppress cation between husband and wife, fatherhood, conflict concerning the definition of masculinity and so on (Menzusentâ, 1997). Although the and to achieve a stable masculine identity, 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 136

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regarding the career as the most masculine patrilineal family is still a very important principle practice. Some responded by converting sexist for Korean life (Lee, 1998). In China, although views to an antisexist perspective, preserving the the Confucian tradition has been denied offi- partnership with a career-oriented girlfriend. cially, the idea that the male succeeds to the Some tried to get over the conflicting situation family name does not change easily. Having by avoiding commitment to any ideologies con- children, particularly boys, is also very impor- cerning gender before marriage or getting a tant for the future labor force, as well as for steady girlfriend. Others avoided conflicts by security in old age for the farmer and the self- choosing as wife a woman who agreed with employed family under the imperfect social their sexist beliefs. security system. The capacity to determine sex Although some subjects in the study were in utero resulted, under the “One Child Policy,” reappraising traditional masculinity, the mean- in widespread abortion of female fetuses. On ing of “becoming a man” (ichininmae ni naru) the other hand, a preference for girl babies has for Japanese men seems to be fundamentally become stronger in Japan recently. It seems that unchanged. Most took for granted that they more Japanese began to want their own daugh- would take a decent job and get married to a ter to look after them in their old age rather than woman at some point in the future. Even a a daughter-in-law (Wakabayashi, 1994). senior student who envied women for what he perceived to be their lack of need to find a career could not imagine a workless life in any realistic way. Among 21 subjects of that study who RESEARCH ON MEN seemed to be heterosexual, only one student had AND MASCULINITIES IN EAST ASIA no interest in getting married. One of two subjects who confided their homosexual orientation Judging from the limited literature in English hoped to get married to a woman and to have and Japanese, Japan has made the greatest children. Despite the recent climate in which advances in research on men and masculinities books dealing seriously with homosexuality in East Asia. Most of the research published have been published both in academic (Vincent, in English reflects work done by Western Kazama, & Kawaguchi, 1997; Yajima, 1997) researchers or by East Asian researchers who and nonacademic fields (S. Itô, 1996), and some are studying in Western countries. In the kinds of manga (comics) glamorize male homo- Japanese literature, there is hardly any research sexuality (McLelland, 2000), nonheterosexuals on men and masculinities in Asian countries still tend to be derided in everyday life. other than Japan. In South Korea, according to In China, with the return of capitalism after Chung (2000), men’s studies were introduced in Mao’s death, arguments have been heard that the official curriculum for the first time in Pusan encourage women to stay home. The growth of University in 1998, but Korean men have paid the private sector seems to cause a revival of the less attention to the issue than Japanese so far. gender division of labor (Entwisle, Henderson, Therefore, in this section, I will focus on the Short, Bouma, & Fengying, 1995). But the rate trend of research on men and masculinities of men’s participation in housework in China is in Japan, referring to works not cited in the still particularly high in comparison with other previous sections. Asian countries (Sechiyama, 1996, p. 189). Although a large number of studies about Underlying views about masculinity, and sex roles had been done (Azuma & Suzuki, their relation to the social conditions of each 1991; Shirakawa, Shiraishi, & Sukemune, 1992; country, can be seen in preferences for a baby’s Sugihara & Katsurada, 1999), there were few sex. In China and South Korea, there is a strong Japanese academic studies focusing on men and preference for male babies, even now. According masculinities until the mid-1990s. There were, to statistics, the ratio of boys’ births to girls’ is however, a few pioneering works. about 116 to 100 in South Korea and 114 to 100 In the 1980s, feminist researchers and women in China; the ratio in Japan and some Western journalists who came under the influence of countries is generally about 105 to 100, which Japan’s women’s liberation movement in the may be the biological standard (Sômuchô- 1970s began research on men and masculinities. Tôkeikyoku, 2000). The continuity of the To begin with, they translated into Japanese 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 137

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Western literature such as The Hazards of Being studies session was held for the first time at the Male (Goldberg, 1976) and Dilemmas of Mas- conference of the Japan Sociological Society. culinity (Komarovsky, 1976) and introduced The titles of the presentations were “An the realities of men’s lives in the United States Analysis of Masculinities as an Arena and the (Shimomura, 1982) and Sweden (Jansson, 1987). Scope of Men’s Studies” (Tadashi Nakamura); Original studies appeared in the late 1980s. “Sociology of Gender Formation: Men’s Studies Kasuga (1989) is one of the most representative. Perspective” (Futoshi Taga); “The Invisibilized: Based on field observation and interviews in Sport-Maladapted Men” (Takao Ôtsuka); “The single-father circles, she pointed out the contra- Sexuality of Disabled Men and the Culture diction that patriarchal society created for single of Disability” (Tomoaki Kuramoto); and “On fathers. They were alienated from the supposed the History of the Men’s Movement in Japan” dominant position of men because of their (Haruhiko Ôyama). parental role and by virtue of their singleness. In This attention to the male gender awakened the mid-1990s, when Japan’s representative fem- Japanese researchers’ interest in the perfor- inists published the seven-volume collection mance and plurality of masculinities and Feminism in Japan, they included a volume of brought some unique approaches to the con- Japanese men’s studies as an addendum (Inoue, struction of nondominant forms of masculinity. Ueno, & Ehara, 1995). Although most of the Sunaga (1999), interviewing men who recog- essays in this volume were nonacademic, the nized themselves as hage (bald), argues that the various issues were covered: sexuality, family, interaction between a bald man and people who labor, men’s movements, and so on. All contrib- deride him contributes to the reproduction of the utors were men who had experienced the impact dominant images of masculinity. Most bald men of feminism. thought that there was no way other than endur- A short time after the female pioneers, ing and laughing along with the taunting, male researchers started their own research. because if they tried to conceal their bald head Watanabe (1986) is the pioneering empirical or got angry with it, they would be seen as work. Based on observations of transvestite unmanly not only because they were bald but circles and using psychoanalytic theory, he also because of their attitude. Another unique argued the necessity of men’s liberation approach to Japanese marginal masculinity is from the current repression and argued for Ukai’s (1999) case study of “trainphiles,” most danseigaku (men’s studies) to complement of whom are men. Trainphile men tend to be joseigaku (women’s studies). The same author ridiculed and thought alienated from company also edited the first interdisciplinary anthology work, family, normal dress, and relationships of men’s studies, in which both men and with women. But they are very competitive in women researchers contributed articles from their own circles in relation to knowledge of the perspective of sociology, psychoanalysis, trains and the collection of train-goods. Ukai sexology, and anthropology (Watanabe, 1989). suggests that they have retreated from the com- The 1990s witnessed the burgeoning of petition for hegemonic masculinity in the wider Japanese men’s studies. Kimio Itô is one of social context and are chasing it within a local- the leaders (Itô, 1993). It is said that he opened ized context. As related earlier, Taga (2001) the first men’s studies class in Japan at Kyoto shows that among middle class young men with University in 1992. After he published Dansei- similar living conditions, diverse masculine gaku Nyûmon (Introduction to men’s studies) identities develop. explaining men’s studies and issues about men for nonacademic readers (K. Itô, 1996), men’s studies began to diffuse not only in acad- CONCLUSION emia but also within adult education. Texts also appeared discussing men’s movements in the This chapter has presented, in a broad per- United States (Nakamura, 1996), reviewing the spective, the main features of the construction books about men and masculinities (Nakamura & of East Asian masculinities. Similarities and Nakamura, 1997), and considering the history continuities may be observed to some degree of Japanese men’s movements (Ôyama & against a background of cultural tradition, but Ôtsuka, 1999). In 1998, a substantial men’s masculinities have also displayed differences 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 138

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corresponding to the social milieu and the Asian perspectives. It seems that Western historical moment. I conclude this chapter by perspectives and international statistics do not offering several suggestions for further develop- always mirror East Asian realities. As noted ear- ment in this field. lier, Louie and Edwards (1994) argue that the First, the more the public interest in men’s inappropriate application of Western paradigms issues keeps growing in East Asia, the more of masculinity to Chinese men led to the notion research from a practical perspective will be that Chinese men are effeminate and “not quite required. On the one hand, we need to reinterpret real men.” They propose an alternative para- women’s issues as men’s issues. For example, digm of masculinity. Hoffman (1995) observes although most discussions about domestic vio- that in South Korea, despite the official ideology lence and prostitution focus on women as the of gender difference, there exists an underlying victims, we should also inquire why men batter cultural psychology that stresses a fundamental women and why men buy the services of prosti- intimacy between men and women in which tutes. On the other hand, it is also important to gender categories are blurred. Among older explore the negative consequences of being mas- Japanese couples, the tendency of the wife to culine for men themselves. It was pointed out in take the initiative with the family budget the previous section that men’s suicide and over- (Kersten, 1996) and the husband’s emotional work (i.e., the behavior of “company-first men”) dependence on his wife (Salamon, 1975) are increasingly seen as problems in Japan. The implies a complexity in the power relations social background of such men’s behaviors, between men and women in East Asia that is not however, has not been explained sufficiently. easily captured by superficial observation. English-speaking countries have made advances If the modernization of masculinity in global in research studies that illuminate men’s motives society means the Westernization of masculin- for domestic violence and propose counter- ity, we may get a hint for the deconstruction of measures (Dutton & Golant, 1995), that explain masculinity (and femininity) from non-Western men’s depression in relation to adherence to cultural traditions. Although the recent global manliness (Real, 1998), and that propose anti- movements for gender justice seem to offer sexist programs for boys in school (Askew & some challenge to the hegemony of modern Ross, 1988). We must examine the applicability masculinity, they have not necessarily suc- of these findings to East Asian countries and ceeded in offering an alternative vision that can develop programs suitable for the region. As one take over from the current gender order. In cre- of the vanguard, a citizens’ group in 1998 set out ating an alternative vision of gender in global a program of violence prevention for men in society, what East Asian experiences and per- Japan (Nakamura, 2001). spectives can offer must be considered. Second, we should promote research on the construction of East Asian masculinities in a comparative perspective. If the characteristics REFERENCES of a society are illuminated by comparison with other societies that seem similar (Sechiyama, Allison, A. (1993). Dominating men: Male domi- 1996, p. 4), a comparison with other societies nance on company expense in a Japanese host- within East Asia is as important as comparisons ess club. Genders, 16, 1-16. with countries outside the region. The compari- Askew, S., & Ross, C. (1988). Boys don’t cry: Boys son between socialist societies (China and and sexism in education. Buckingham, England: North Korea) and capitalist societies (Japan Open University Press. and South Korea) would be a typical approach. Azuma, K., & Suzuki, A. (1991). Seiyakuwari-taido- For example, the impact of the military on the kenkyû no tenbô [Review of research on sex construction of masculinity could be explored role attitudes]. Sinrigaku Kenkyuu, 62(4), 270-276. by comparison between South Korea, which Brugger, W. (1971). The male (and female) in practices conscription, and Japan, which has Chinese society. Impact of Science on Society, renounced war under the constitution created 21(1), 5-19. after World War II. Cho, H. (1998). Male dominance and mother Finally, it is important to show the interna- power: The two sides of Confucian patriarchy in tional audience East Asian realities from East Korea. In W. H. Slote & G. A. De Vos (Eds.), 08-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 139

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Nishiyama, M. (1997). Edo culture: Daily life a business context. International Journal of and diversions in urban Japan, 1600-1868 Japanese Sociology, 8, 77-92. (G. Groemer, Ed. & Trans.). Honolulu: University Soh, C.-H. S. (1993). Sexual equality, male superior- of Hawaii Press. ity, and Korean woman in politics: Changing Ogasawara, Y. (1998). Office ladies and salaried gender relations in a “patriarchal democracy.” men: Power, gender, and work in Japanese com- Sex Roles, 28(1/2), 73-89. panies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Sômuchô-Tôkeikyoku. (2000). Sekai no tôkei [World Okamoto, T., & Sasano, E. (2001). Sengo Nihon statistics]. Tokyo: Ôkura-shô Insatsu-kyoku. no “sarariiman” hyôshô no henka [Changes in Sugihara, Y., & Katsurada, E. (1999). Masculinity representations of “salarymen” in postwar and femininity in Japanese culture: A pilot Japanese newspapers]. Shakaigaku Hyôron, study. Sex Roles, 40(7/8), 635-646. 52(1), 16-32. Sunaga, F. (1999). Hage wo ikiru [Getting through Osa, S. (1999). Tenshi no jendâ: Kindai tennô-zô ni the hairlessness]. Tokyo: Keisô Shobô. miru otokorasisa [Emperor’s gender: Masculinity Taga, F. (2001). Dansei no jendaa keisei [The in the image of the modern emperor]. In gender formation of men]. Tokyo: Tôyôkan Y. Nishikawa & M. Ogino (Eds.), Kyôdô-kenkyû Shuppan-sha. dansei-ron [Discussions about men: A collabora- Taga, F. (2003). Rethinking male socialization: Life tion] (pp. 275-296). Kyoto, Japan: Jinbun Shoin. histories of Japanese male youth. In K. Louie & Ôsawa, M. (2000, April). Government approaches to M. Low (Eds.), Asian masculinities: The mean- gender equality in the mid-1990s. Social Science ing and practice of manhood in China and Japan Japan Journal, 3(1), 3-19. (pp. 137-154). London: RoutledgeCurzon. Ôyama, H., & Ôtsuka, T. (1999). Nihon no dan- Tu, W.-M. (1998). Confucius and Confucianism. In seiundô no ayumi 1: Menzuribu no tanjô [On the W. H. Slote & G. A. De Vos (Eds.), Confucian- history of men’s movements in Japan. Part 1: ism and the family (pp. 3-36). Albany: State The birth of the Menzuribu movement]. Nihon University of New York. Jendâ Kenyû, 2, 43-55. Ueno, C. (1995). Kigyô senshitachi [Corporate sol- Real, T. (1998). I don’t want to talk about it: diers]. In T. Inoue, C. Ueno, & Y. Ehara (Eds.), Overcoming the secret legacy of male depres- Danseigaku [Men’s studies] (pp. 215-216). sion. New York: Fireside. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Roberson, J. E. (1998). Japanese working class lives: Ukai, M. (1999). Tetsudô mania no kôgengaku An ethnographical study of factory workers. [Ethnography of the trainphile]. In Y. Nishikawa & London: Routledge. M. Ogino (Eds.), Kyôdô-kenkyû dansei-ron Ruhlmann, R. (1975). Traditional heroes in Chinese [Discussions about men: A collaboration] popular fiction. In A. F. Wright (Ed.), Confuci- (pp. 96-121). Kyoto, Japan: Jinbun Shoin. anism and Chinese civilization. Stanford, CA: Vincent, K., Kazama, T., & Kawaguchi, K. (1997). Stanford University Press. Gei sutadîzu [Gay studies]. Tokyo: Seidosha. Salamon, S. (1975). “Male chauvinism” as a mani- Wakabayashi, K. (1994). Chûgoku jinkô-chôtaikoku festation of love in marriage. Journal of Asian no yukue [China: The future of the superpopu- and African Studies, 10(1-2), 20-31. lated country]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Sechiyama, K. (1996). Higashi-ajia no kafuchô-sei Watanabe, T. (1986). Datsu-dansei no jidai: [Patriarchy in East Asia]. Tokyo: Keisô Shobô. Andonojinasu wo mezasu bunmeigaku [The age Shimomura, M. (1982). Amerika no otokotachi wa of demasculinization: The study of civilization ima [The contemporary lives of American men]. toward androgyny]. Tokyo: Keisô Shobô. Tokyo: Asahi Shinbun-sha. Watanabe, T. (Ed.). (1989). Danseigaku no chôsen: Y Shinozaki, M. (1995). Higashi-ajia no kafuchô-sei no higeki? [The challenge of men’s studies: The kazoku no henyô to jizoku: Souru, Bankoku, tragedy of Y?]. Tokyo: Shin’yô-sha. Fukuoka, Pekin chôsa kara [The transformation Watanabe, T., & Iwata, J. (1989). The love of the and continuity of the East Asian patriarchal samurai: A thousand years of Japanese homo- family: Research in Seoul, Bangkok, Fukuoka, sexuality (D. R. Roberts, Trans.). London: Gay and Beijing]. Syakaibunseki, 22, 71-85. Men’s Press. Shirakawa, Y., Shiraishi, T., & Sukemune, S. (1992). Williams, W. L. (1994). Sexual variance in Asian Current research on gender roles in Japan. cultures. Amerasia Journal, 20(3), 87-94. Psychologia, 35(4), 193-200. Yajima, M. (Ed.). (1997). Dansei dôseiaisha no raifu- Shire, K. A. (1999). Socialization and work in Japan: hisutorî [Life histories of male homosexuals]. The meaning of adulthood of men and women in Tokyo: Gakubun-sha. 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 141

MEN,MASCULINITIES, AND “EUROPE”

CRITICAL RESEARCH ON MEN IN EUROPE (CROME): IRINA NOVIKOVA,KEITH PRINGLE,JEFF HEARN, URSULA MUELLER,ELZBIETA OLEKSY,EMMI LATTU,JANNA CHERNOVA, HARRY FERGUSON,ØYSTEIN GULLVÅG HOLTER,VOLDEMAR KOLGA, EIVIND OLSVIK,TEEMU TALLBERG, AND CARMINE VENTIMIGLIA

n this chapter, we provide a broad view of survey of what is occurring with regard to men’s the dynamic changes that seem to be occur- practices in each European country, in the lim- I ring in Europe in relation to men and men’s ited space available to us we have chosen to practices. This is an especially interesting focus on the wider European canvas, a “bigger and, from feminist and profeminist points of picture” that we believe has, to a considerable view, a rather anxious time to be surveying the extent, been neglected in recent European European field. In particular, as we will demon- writings on men and masculinities. At the same strate, the momentum of an enlarging European time, we seek to make links between these Union (EU) and of a broadening NATO alliance processes in Europe and even broader, more is pushing forward crucial changes of emphasis global, trends in relation to men’s practices that in dominant relations of power associated with have received some attention in recent years issues of gender in both Eastern and Western (Connell, 1998, 2002; Pease & Pringle, 2001; parts of Europe—changes that generate oppres- Pringle, 1998a, 1998b). sive and hegemonic forms of masculinities. Given what has just been said, in a task such Indeed, we will argue that the very project as ours, it is crucial to access a broad range of of creating and re-creating the idea and the prac- materials relating to men’s practices across tice of “Europe” is itself central to this process. Europe. Consequently, among other sources, Therefore, instead of providing a detailed this chapter explicitly draws on the work carried

Authors’ note: We are extremely grateful to all scholars from the countries of East-Central Europe, the Baltic regions, and Russia who have been helpful in providing information and critical insights for this chapter. We are, of course, well aware that we have not addressed the issues in such countries as Hungary, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia. Other scholars would be welcome in this field.

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out by a thematic research network titled “The that some more general problematization of Social Problem and Societal Problematisation men and masculinities may now be observable of Men and Masculinities.”1 The central objec- in many, perhaps most, European societies (for tive of the network (to which all the coauthors instance, in terms of media and public policy belong) is “to analyse men’s practices, gender debates), the form this problematization takes is relations and policy responses to them in their very different indeed from society to society. social and cultural contexts, as both socially and Such an approach clearly leads to awkward culturally constructed and with real material questions about how one can actually speak of forms, effects and outcomes for people’s lives” men and masculinities “in Europe” or provide a (Hearn & Pringle, 2001). It therefore collates, comparative analysis of men and masculinities assesses, and disseminates data on men and across Europe. This awkwardness arises partly masculinities from across Europe from an from the massive cultural variations in social explicitly critical, feminist, and profeminist contexts encountered across Europe, as well as perspective (Hearn et al., 2002; Pringle et al., from the fact that the issue of men and mas- 2001). The very formation and operation of the culinities has been studied to very different network for this purpose suggests some impor- extents and in very different ways across Europe tant issues central to our chapter. Consequently, (Hearn et al., 2002). However, the awkward- we here consider the reasons for the network’s ness also derives from the question of what we existence, as well as some major conceptual and mean by Europe. Like, say, “Asia,” the concept practical challenges it has faced in relation to of “Europe” is a social construction. Moreover, the topic of men and Europe. Later we will dis- that process of social construction has at least cuss more broadly what we regard as the most two aspects. The first aspect focuses on which critical of these issues. geographical areas are deemed to be European as One of the reasons for developing a European opposed to other—and by whom such definitions research network focused on the issue of men are set. The second aspect considers whether has been the gradually growing realization that there are some countries deemed to be more men and masculinities are just as gendered as European than others and, within specific coun- are women and femininities (Hearn et al., tries, whether there are certain sections of 2002). Gendering of men is both a matter of society that are similarly deemed to be more or changing academic and political analyses of men less European—and, once again, attention needs in society and of contemporary changes in the to be paid to who has the privilege of definition form of men’s own lives, experiences, and per- in such situations (Pringle, 1998a). ceptions, which often develop counter to their Issues of “being European” are of central earlier expectations and earlier generations of concern for several reasons. First, the defini- men. However, the network is also premised on tional processes involved are highly political, the recognition that these gendering processes in and, as we shall show, the relations of power relation to men often have a particular quality. associated with them are deeply gendered Not only are men now increasingly recognized, (Yuval-Davis, 1997). Second, these processes of albeit to varying extents, as gendered, but they, definition have very material consequences for or, rather, some men, are also increasingly rec- individuals, consequences that depend upon the ognized as a gendered social problem in many individual’s precise social location, one very European countries. This can apply in terms of important determinant of which is gender. men’s violence to women and children, crime, Moreover, for the last 45 years, but especially drug and alcohol abuse, health problems, buying in the last 10 years, one particular institution that of sex, accidents, and so on—as well as, indeed, has become increasingly crucial in debates about the denial of such problems as sexual violence. what, who, and where is Europe and European Such problematizations of men and construc- and who, what, and where is more or less other is tions of men as gendered social problems in the the European Union. The EU is an economic, European context apply in academic and politi- social, and political union, initially of six coun- cal analysis and in men’s own lives and experi- tries in 1957, that has sought to increase the har- ences. They also exist more generally at the monization of economic and social policies societal level, and in quite different ways in across member states but still respect the princi- different societies. Although it may be expected ple of “subsidiarity” (decisions being made at the 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 143

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lowest appropriate level). The EU is premised on masculinities in all of Northern, Southern, and a “single market” among member states and on Western Europe. Nor, from our perspective, parliamentary democracy, albeit of different would such a survey necessarily be useful. forms in the member states. Over the years, this Indeed, many analyses of social phenomena in has inevitably involved tensions between the Europe concentrate on just those geographical push to economic and social convergence and segments and scarcely mention countries in the the defence of national political interests. As it central or eastern parts of Europe; or, if they has expanded, these tensions have become more do mention the latter, these are frequently complex, although it is probably fair to say that treated as a homogeneous bloc (Pringle, 1998a). the “strong agenda” toward greater unity has This is one simple example of how hegemonic become more dominant in recent years.2 judgements are made about what constitutes The current dynamics regarding men and Europe or which parts of Europe are deemed masculinities between EU member states and more (or less) worthy of attention or respect. those countries in Central and Eastern Europe It is important that we do not compound this generally labeled as other, many of whom are tendency here, either by focusing dispro- acceding to the EU, provide a clear illustration portionately on those parts of Europe that hold of the issues mentioned earlier. This is true in relative dominance in a range of social and terms of the definitional processes concerning economic domains, including the academic, or “otherness,” the close associations of those by dismissing the individuality and complexity definitional processes with gendered power of countries in the central and eastern parts relations, and the central implication of the EU of Europe. Rather, our aim is, at least partially, project itself in those processes. In this chapter, to look critically at men’s practices and mas- we focus on these dynamics partly because we culinities in terms of the processes of the believe they tell us something very important European Union project itself. about being a man and being a woman in Moreover, in terms of the amount of critical Europe now. Thus, rather than producing some academic and analytical material available, it monolithic and (probably Western dominated) would be easy to write a chapter on men in survey of men’s practices across Europe, we Europe that was dominated by the situation in examine patterns of hegemonic and nonhege- Northern, Southern, and Western Europe. The monic men’s practices in terms of the processes extent of critical academic analysis on men and by which the concept and the practice of Europe masculinities varies greatly across Northern, is currently being constructed. Southern, and Western Europe, both in terms of The next section of the chapter considers its overall content and in terms of which topics the current dynamics concerning “masculinities” related to men’s practices receive coverage and in some of the countries of Northern, Southern, which do not (Hearn et al., 2002). Nevertheless, and Western Europe—specifically, the countries compared with the situation in central and eastern of the European Union pre-2004 and nations sectors of Europe, the North, South, and West already closely associated with the EU (for have been the location for a massive proportion instance, Norway and Switzerland). What, in of the relevant academic material on men in particular, are the trends regarding dominant and Europe. In some countries, especially Germany, less dominant forms of masculinity there, and Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, how far do such trends relate to the European there is now some form of relatively established Union project? The third section of the chapter tradition of research on men, albeit of different considers the trends in some of the countries of orientations. In many countries, the situation Central and Eastern Europe and the impact of the is made complex by a difference between the European Union project on those trends. amount of research that is relevant to the analysis of men and the extent to which that research is specifically focused on men. For example, in NORTHERN,SOUTHERN, Finland and Italy, there is a considerable amount AND WESTERN EUROPE of relevant research, but most of it has not been constructed specifically in terms of a tradition of In a chapter of this size, it is not possible to explicitly gendered research on men (Hearn provide a comprehensive survey of men and et al., 2002). 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 144

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Critical research on men’s practices in engaged in creating and reproducing social Northern, Southern, and Western Europe on exclusion, for example, in regard to racism. forms of masculinity formation in those regions The recurring theme in the Western European highlights several significant patterns.3 In terms literature on men’s violence takes the form of of issues that concern home and work, recurring the widespread nature of the problem of men’s themes across nations include men’s occupa- violence toward women, children, and other men, tional, working, and wage advantages over and in particular, the growing public awareness women; gender segregation at work; and many of men’s violence against women. Men are over- men’s close associations with paid work. In represented among those who use violence, espe- many countries, there are twin problems of the cially heavy violence. This violence is also age unemployment of some or many men in certain related, with a weighting toward younger men. social categories along with work overload Violence against women by known men is and long working hours for other men. These becoming recognized as a major social problem can especially be a problem for young men in most countries in Western Europe. The abu- and young fathers, and they can affect both sive behaviors perpetrated on victims include working class and middle class men, as, for direct physical violence, isolation and control of example, during economic recession. Another movements, and abuse through the control of recurring theme is men’s benefit from avoidance money. There has been much feminist research of domestic responsibilities and the absence on women’s experiences of violence from men of fathers. In many countries, there is a gen- and the policy and practical consequences of that eral continuation of traditional “solutions” in violence, including those of state and welfare domestic arrangements, but there is also grow- agencies, as well as some national representative ing recognition of the micropolitics of father- surveys of women’s experiences of violence. hood, domestic responsibilities, and homework Gendered studies of men’s violence toward reconciliation, for at least some men. At the women is a growing focus of research, as is same time, there are counter and conflictual ten- professional intervention. Child abuse, including dencies. On the one hand, there are increasing physical abuse, sexual abuse, and child neglect, emphases on home, caring, and relationships. is now being recognized as a prominent social This may be linked to “family values,” from problem in many countries. Both the gendered either a politically right wing or gender-equal nature of these problems and how service status perspective. On the other hand, there are responses are themselves gendered are beginning tendencies toward more demanding and turbu- to receive more critical attention, in terms of lent working life, through which men may be both perpetrators and victims or survivors. There more absent. is some research on men’s sexual abuse of As regards social exclusion, this can figure in children, but research on this is still under- the research literature in different ways, such as developed in most countries. In some countries, unemployment, ethnicity, and homosexuality, sexual abuse cases remain largely hidden, as and with considerable variation between coun- does men’s sexual violence toward men. tries. The social exclusion of certain men links In terms of health issues and men’s practices, with unemployment of certain categories of the major recurring themes are men’s relatively men (such as those less educated, rural, ethnic low life expectancy, poor health, accidents, minority, young, older), men’s isolation within suicide, and morbidity. Some studies see and separation from families, and associated traditional masculinity as hazardous to health. social and health problems. These are clear Men also constitute the majority of drug abusers issues throughout all countries. Globalizing and are far greater consumers of alcohol than processes may create new forms of work and women, although the gap may be decreasing marginalization. Some men find it difficult to among young people. It is surprising that there accommodate to these changes in the labour has been relatively little academic work on market and changed family structure. Instead of men’s health from a gendered perspective in going into the care sector or getting more edu- many countries. Socioeconomic factors, qualifi- cation, some young men become marginalized cations, social status, lifestyle, diet, smoking from work and family life. It should also be and drinking, hereditary factors, and occupa- noted that there is a lack of attention to men tional hazards can all be important, and they 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 145

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seem to be especially important for morbidity and the United Kingdom, the attention accorded and mortality. Gender differences in health also to it being far greater in the latter than in the arise from how certain work done by men is former (see also Hearn, 2001). Exactly the hazardous. Evidence suggests that generally same point could now be made in relation to men neglect their health and that for some men, Sweden, following the recent survey there of the at least, their “masculinity” is characterized by experiences of 7,000 women (Lundgren, Heimer, risk taking, an ignorance of the male body, and Westerstrand, & Kalliokoski, 2001). That reluctance to seek medical intervention for sus- Swedish study also provided some significant pected health problems. Risk taking is espe- evidence of high levels of child sexual abuse in cially significant for younger men as regards Sweden committed primarily by men against smoking, alcohol, drug taking, unsafe sexual children, another issue that has been promi- practices, and road accidents. nently researched and addressed in the United One particularly noteworthy pattern that cuts Kingdom to a far greater extent than anywhere across issues of home and work, social exclu- else in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe sion, violence, and health is the different extents (Hearn et al., 2002; Pringle, 1998a). An even to which research in various countries has more recent qualitative study of the Swedish addressed one or both of two categories of welfare system by one of the coauthors of this men’s practices: first, the problems some men chapter (Pringle, 2002a) suggests that dominant create for women, children, other men, and discourses within the system routinely seek to themselves, and second, the problems some downplay forms of oppression perpetrated by men have to endure as a result of patriarchal men upon women and children, especially relations of power in society. For instance, to where such forms of oppression are mainly per- some extent, the focus of research in Finland petrated by men from within the white ethnic tends to have been on the misfortune of some majority. That study also suggests a tendency men in respect to issues such as mortality, within the Swedish research infrastructure to unemployment, job insecurity, and alcohol and avoid topics or research methodologies that drug abuse. In Germany, too, in recent years, might bring such forms of oppression by men there has been a significant growth in studies into clearer view. This state of affairs can once of men who are said to represent disadvantaged again be contrasted with that in the United groups in society (Hearn et al., 2002). Similarly Kingdom where such forms of oppression (yet differently), considerable research in Norway toward women and children are far more fully has focused on the positive value of men as problematized publicly, professionally, and in fathers and the various societal barriers that terms of the research community. Moreover, an may be limiting their ability to fulfil that posi- earlier qualitative research study of the Danish tive potential. By contrast, the emphasis of welfare system seems to suggest a pattern in critical research on men in the United Kingdom Denmark similar to those described earlier for has been much more on the problems some Finland and Sweden, compared with the United men may create for women, children, and (to Kingdom (Pringle, 2002c; Pringle & Harder, perhaps a lesser extent) men, particularly in the 1999). form of violence (Hearn, 1998; Hearn et al., As a generalization, we may say that even 2002; Pringle, 1995, 1998a). though there are indications that men’s violence Such differences of emphasis do not by any is beginning to receive more attention as a means simply represent differences in the actual whole, the bulk of critical research on masculin- size of social problems as far as we know them. ities in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe For instance, the issue of men’s violence toward has focused considerably more on the problems women in Finland is a massive one socially that men endure than on the problems men (Heiskanen & Piispa, 1998), with levels of create (Pringle, 1998a, 1998b, 2002b), with the violence comparable to community-based stud- United Kingdom and, to some extent, Germany ies in the United Kingdom (see, e.g., Mooney, (Hearn et al., 2002) being slight exceptions. 1993). However, this comparability between the The division of research attention between two countries in the statistical size of the prob- the problems men endure and the problems men lem is not represented in the amount of critical create is not tenable in scholarly terms. Instead, scholarly activity devoted to the issue in Finland the frequent analytic unity of “the problems 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 146

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men endure” and “the problems men create” has largely ignored the systematic abuse and has to be recognized. For instance, one cannot exploitation of children within the confines adequately address the issue of men’s health of the EU itself. The development of EU policy without in various ways considering the pro- on these issues as some of those countries in found linkages between that subject and men’s Central and Eastern Europe themselves become violence more broadly: for example, as regards EU members is of considerable interest. accidents, mortality rates, drug and alcohol An obvious illustration of EU priorities in abuse, and inattention to self–health care (Hearn relation to men’s practices is the trafficking of et al., 2002; Pringle et al., 2001). Similarly, women. In recent years, this topic has been one cannot adequately address either the issue placed relatively high on the EU agenda, par- of promoting men as carers or the issue of ticularly in relation to women from the central men’s violence without a mutual consideration and eastern parts of Europe. Although this may of the linkages between the two topics (Pringle, seem to contradict the previous argument, the 1998b). context of the EU’s interest in trafficking in fact supports that argument. EU interest has largely been framed in terms of the fight against crime EUROPE AND THE EU associated with migration into the EU from outside its borders rather than arising primar- The implications of the current imbalance of ily from concern with women’s well-being research attention devoted to “the problems men (Pringle, 1998a, 2001). The emphasis of this EU endure” in the countries of Northern, Southern, anticrime initiative on cross-border trafficking and Western Europe should be considered seems to have largely ignored the male users more broadly. In many countries of Central and of trafficked women—most of these users are, Eastern Europe, profound transformations in of course, citizens within existing EU member gendered power relations are occurring as a states. There are clearly a considerable number result of the social and economic upheavals of these men, and it is their activities within the since the late 1980s and due to the increasing EU that fuel trafficking. This relative invisibility links being forged with countries of the West. of users within the EU’s approach to trafficking Moreover, a considerable number of these remains true despite the recent EU presidency states are, at the time of writing (2003), them- of Sweden (Pringle, 2002b), the country that has selves shortly due to accede to the EU within the led the way in antiprostitution policy in Europe next year. Interestingly, the EU’s own research by placing the emphasis of prosecution on the and policy approach to men’s practices has users rather than the women (Månsson, 2001). largely mirrored the imbalance in the majority The focus of EU concern has not primarily been of the current 15 member states. The EU has on its own citizens who create the trafficking tended to concern itself far more with issues problem; instead, the focus has been on external such as reducing the limitations on men as migrants and their countries of origin outside carers, men’s working conditions, and men’s the EU, not least the Baltic states. health rather than on topics such as men’s This outward focus, also observable in violence toward women and children (Pringle, relation to the commercial sexual exploitation 1998a, 2002b). Although there are signs that of children (Pringle, 2002b, 2002c), is a clear some shift is beginning to occur in EU priorities, example of that hegemonic definition of “other- EU policy and research priorities overall remain ness” to which we alluded in the first section of tilted very much in favor of “the problems men this chapter. The commercial sexual exploita- endure.” For instance, even the very consider- tion of children and the trafficking of women able concern of the European Union with child are intensely gendered and are direct outcomes prostitution and pornography and the sexual of practices associated with hegemonic forms exploitation of children betrays this order of of masculinity. In both cases, the reaction of priorities. That concern has largely focused on the EU and most of its existing members has the activities of EU citizens (mainly men) out- been to divert attention to the non-European side the territory of the EU—typically in parts sphere or to the citizens of allegedly problem- of Central and Eastern Europe, South Asia, and atic European nation-states currently outside East Asia (Pringle, 1998a, 2002b). This emphasis the EU. The implications of this are that they 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 147

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are defined as less civilized, less “European” issue of migration. The part played by power than the existing member states of the EU to relations associated with hegemonic forms of whom they supposedly pose threats from out- masculinity in the processes of “Europe creation” side. It is again interesting to consider (a) how has been disguised and ignored. We need to ask EU policies and practices in relation to such ourselves what impact this state of affairs is hav- gendered issues will develop when some of ing on conceptions and practices of gender across those stigmatized “others” become member the countries within the central and eastern parts states in the next year and (b) what messages of Europe, many of which have been defined regarding gender are already being received and by the processes noted earlier as “other.” This is constructed in those countries about to accede especially the case given their growing economic, to the EU. In other words, how will gendered social, and cultural dependence on the states of otherness be dealt with by both the existing Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, as well EU members and the candidate states as they as the imminent prospect for some of the EU’s make the transition to membership? membership. The EU and its member states have conflated This situation, whereby the states of Central the issue of women trafficking with the broader and Eastern Europe are gravitating economi- subject of inward migration. The latter subject, cally, socially, culturally, and politically toward along with the allied topic of racism, offers their neighbors in the West, raises important yet another example of the way in which power issues about complex hegemonic and nonhege- relations associated with hegemonic forms of monic forms of masculinity developing in both masculinity are entering into the processes by the (culturally) Western and Eastern segments which the idea and practice of Europe is being of Europe and the complex relationships constructed. Racism, in one guise or another, between those segments. One way of opening up seems to be very widespread in virtually all the some of those issues may be by considering countries of Europe. Social exclusion and models by which men’s practices have been processes of social marginalization are often conceptualized transnationally. Transnational defined (Hearn et al., 2002) and constituted comparative analyses of men and masculinities (Pringle, 2002c; Pringle & Harder, 1999) dif- are still relatively scarce. Significant exceptions ferently in the various European countries. to this include Connell (1991, 1998, 2002), Nevertheless, very many of the national reports Cornwall and Lindisfarne (1994), Hearn (1996), produced by the thematic research network part- and Pease and Pringle (2001). This scarcity also ners acknowledge racism as a highly significant applies to Europe. In fact, our survey here and issue, even if its precise configuration varies some earlier articles produced from the out- from one cultural context to another. The issue comes of our network (e.g., Hearn & Pringle, of hegemonic masculinity is remarkably absent 2001; Hearn et al., 2002; Pringle et al., 2001) in debates about the dynamics of racism represent considerable advances in this respect. (Mueller, 2000) in Northern, Southern, and As regards developing an initial analysis of the Western Europe (Hearn et al., 2002; Mueller, interactions between processes of masculinity 2000; Pringle, 2002c). The relative silence formation in the Eastern and Western parts of about men’s practices and racism in European Europe, Connell’s model of changing historical academic and policy considerations seems forms of “globalizing masculinities” offers particularly strange (Pringle, 2001). particular assistance (Connell, 1998). Although Often central to the issue of racism in Europe his thesis may be criticized for an overreliance and the issue of how EU member states treat on Western-oriented globalization theories migrants are questions about what Europe is, (Pease & Pringle, 2001), there seems no reason who is European, and who is “more European”— to doubt his central contention about the ongoing and who is, once again, “other”? Such questions development of a “global business masculinity.” may often be partly about whose masculinity is As he argues, certain hegemonic masculinities purer or more superior. Yet both the current have now been globalized, with the making of member states of the EU and the European masculinities shaped by global forces. Thus, to Commission itself have largely avoided con- understand masculinities in specific local confronting those highly gendered issues in their texts, we need to think in global terms, at least policies to combat racism and in addressing the to some extent (Pease & Pringle, 2001). 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 148

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The main axes identified by Connell for find a rather confused and confusing mélange this “global business masculinity” are the “met- of statements. Many of these clearly do espouse ropolitan societies,” particularly those of the a form of neoliberalism, as expected. However, North Atlantic such as North America and more unexpectedly, a significant number of Western Europe (Connell, 1998). This concept others apparently derive from a more socially has proved useful for analyzing some develop- responsible conservative corporatist or even ments in Western Europe: for instance, the recent social democratic ideology (Pringle, 1998a). history of masculinity formation in Ireland A similarly mixed picture emerges regard- (Ferguson, 2001). It may also be relevant to a ing mainstream EU policies toward Central range of broader issues in the northern, south- and Eastern Europe. On the one hand, a heavily ern, and western parts of Europe. For example, neoliberal agenda is often apparent. The criteria there are the issues of growing job insecurity, set by the EU for states hoping to accede to the more unemployment, and longer working hours EU have strong neoliberal overtones. This (Hearn et al., 2002). Moreover, one highly approach is similar to the often socially regres- underresearched issue across Europe is the sive criteria set by the EU, the World Bank, and topic of men in power (Hearn & Pringle, 2001; the International Monetary Fund whereby some Hearn et al., 2002). It is true that dominant and of the states of Central and Eastern Europe were diverse genderings of mainstream business and given financial support in the 1990s (Pringle, governmental organizations have been subject 1998a). The message clearly being sent by the to research and analysis. Moreover, feminists European Union and its member states to the and critical, feminist-influenced studies have central and eastern parts of Europe has been, spelled out the explicit and implicit gender- and still is, that highly capitalist values (which ings of business organizations and management we may regard as consonant with global busi- (Acker, 1990; Collinson & Hearn, 1994, 1996; ness masculinity) are to be prized and pro- Ferguson, 1984; Hearn & Parkin, 1983, 1995; moted. What is the impact of such an approach Mills & Tancred, 1992; Powell, 1988). Never- on those countries in Central and Eastern theless, much research on gender relations in Europe already seeking to cope with major organizations has not considered the gendering social and economic transformations? In partic- of women and men in organizations with equal ular, what is the impact on gender relations, thoroughness. This is despite the fact that the which have also been undergoing various forms explicit gendered focus on men and masculini- of transformation in those countries? On the ties in organizations and management is impor- other hand, the European Union has placed tant in several ways, including the analysis of policies in a central position that are clearly not national and transnational private and public consonant with the values of global business sector managers and managements. This ongo- masculinity. An obvious example is the EU’s ing relative silence in itself attests to the critical emphasis on gender equality mainstreaming, importance of hegemonic forms of masculinity, which necessarily applies to acceding states as not least those associated with global capital. well as to existing members. What might be the For present purposes, it may be useful to con- complex consequences of such policies for gen- sider the concept of global business masculinity dered power relations in those acceding states? in relation to the European Union as a whole. In this section, we have reviewed various On the one hand, if that concept is particularly complex ways by which gendered power rela- consonant with a “neo-liberal” welfare model tions associated with dominant forms of mas- (Esping-Andersen, 1990, 1996), as it seems log- culinity are entering centrally into the hegemonic ical to assume, and if the European Commission processes whereby the European Union, its espouses certain neoliberal approaches (as it member states, and associated countries are often seems to do in prescribing budget strin- seeking to redefine “Europe” and what it is to gency), then the economic and social profile be “European.” Moreover, as we have also seen, of European Commission policies might be the part played by gender relations within these expected to promote global business mas- processes has largely been kept invisible. culinity. On the other hand, if we consider the In the next section, we consider how gender European Commission’s (1994) first White relations within some of the countries in the Chapter on Social Policy, The Way Forward,we central and eastern parts of Europe have been 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 149

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undergoing transformation arising from the The breakdown of the socialist bloc in the social and economic changes occurring there past 10 years has brought a radical change in the since the late 1980s and the influence of trends development of Europe and, indeed, the whole in the northern, southern, and western parts of world. It has also turned out to be an experience Europe, particularly via the activities of the EU beyond its categorization as a “transitional” and NATO. period to the world of capitalism and the free market. Most countries of the region have experienced the resurgence of a nationalism that has THE COUNTRIES OF EAST-CENTRAL incorporated elements of an agrarian “return to EUROPE, THE BALTIC REGIONS, AND tradition” (or “roots”), together with an urban populist perspective of the “return of the nation” THE NEW INDEPENDENT COMMONWEALTH and a “transitional” feedback in the shape of a Gendered Transitions “return to Europe.” The reunification of the nation in the countries that received indepen- The issues of men and masculinities in East- dence, reclaimed their political independence, Central Europe, the Baltic states, and the coun- or renationalized their postsocialist political tries of the Commonwealth of Independent spaces meant transforming trajectories of terri- States are to be contextualized within regional torial imaginations of state and nation in the and national developments and the ways in newly rebordered community and reunified which the gendering of cultures and nations identity of Europe. have “organized” variable routes into modern The dissociation of the socialist economic formations of nation-state and citizenship. Most and political system was seen as men’s return of the states and cultures of the region, together from their “satellite” emasculation in the social- with their perceived European identity, have ist hierarchy of political power to their tradi- been historically shaped by forces of exclusion tional power positions in family and in society. and marginalization as well as by shared periph- As Zarana Papic (2000) points out, erality between the German, Russian, British, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires. Gen- The most influential concept in post-communist der, men, and women are themes that require a state-building was the patriarchal nation-state long-term comparative analysis of how cultural concept, the ideology of state and ethnic national- meanings of gender were constituted and sta- ism based on patriarchal principles inevitably bilized in these specific settings. A related and became the most dominant building force. Various forms of ethnic nationalism, national separatism, fascinating issue is how meanings of gender chauvinist and racist exclusion or marginalisation framed individual experiences of men and of old and new minority groups are, as a rule, women who have embodied “the historical closely connected with patriarchal, discriminatory structures of the masculine order in the forms and violent politics against women, and their civil of unconscious schemes of perception and and social rights, previously guaranteed under the appreciation” (Bourdieu, 2001, p. 4). old communist order. National histories of the region represent an extremely rich and yet unresearched potential Arguments that blame women’s eman- archive in constructing gender orders so that cipation for social problems such as falling there is a danger of simplification and general- birth rates, “emasculation” of men, “selfish- ization in an attempt to overview men’s prac- ness” of women, and sexual depravity every- tices, research on men, and critical studies on where are not unique. There are precedents in men in the complexity of postsocialist political, European social history before World War II economic, social, and cultural restructurings. As (Brittan, 1989; Segal, 1990). The difference is well as the many points of similarity, there are that we reproduce these “backlash” arguments also critical points of deep and significant in a new transitional situation, marked by an difference that constitute “what men really are” endless political crisis. Political effeminacy can or rather—as history has intervened—“what be compensated for, in nationalist and religious men have become” (Blom, Hagemann, & fundamentalist moods, by media imagery of a Hall, 2002) and what “men of Europe” are “powerful politician” or a “strong businessman” becoming. (Novikova, 2000). 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 150

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Ethnicization of political processes in as well” (Wenk, 2000, p. 69). Anne McClintock postsocialist states, a shared regional charac- emphasizes that teristic, incorporated the politics of “gender restoration” (Eley, 1998). It has been somewhat the temporal anomaly within nationalism— similar to the arguments about motherhood in veering between a nostalgia for the past and the the welfare politics of welfare states during the impatient, progressive sloughing off of the interwar period when “maternalism was the past—is typically resolved by figuring the con- medium of restabilization, of reestablishing tradiction in the representation of time as a natural division of gender. Women are represented women’s place in the home—not as the founda- as the atavistic and authentic body of national tion of female emancipation...but as the basis tradition, . . . embodying nationalism’s conserva- of gender restoration” (p. 514). This “gender tive principle of continuity. (Wenk, 2000, p. 69) restoration” as a backlash response to socialist “sex equality” projects in a national, regional, Silke Wenk (2000) continues: “Men would and European setting has been instrumentalized then stand ultimately for the opposite, for progress and deployed in several scripts—starting from and also for discontinuity. Nationalism’s anom- economic shock therapy in Poland, combining alous relation to time is thus managed as a natural with antiwomen social policies, and leading to relation to gender” (p. 69). the tragic Balkan decade. At the same time, var- The explicit mobilization of masculine ious neoethnicity scripts of postsocialist nation “bias” (Connell, 2002, pp. 58-59) in the political rebuilding have been carving out the related leg- restructuring of the postsocialist “easts” of islation in national labor and family codes, thus Europe, informed by the post–Berlin Wall refor- reflecting a targeted, active reconstruction of mation of strategic geoeconomic interests, men’s social roles and representations, as well explicitly gendered explosive “transitions” in as images of masculinity. existing concepts of gender stereotypes, images, Ethnicization of postsocialist national proj- roles, and values in the societies. The Balkan ects has been actively feeding into con- tragedy exposed violence as a transnational issue structions of national hegemonic masculinity of violence across Europe—beyond the regional models, or the rise of masculinism (Watson, transparency of the extreme levels of men’s vio- 1996). It formed the bedrock of “order” and lence against women and children and other men “rationality” in reunifying political imagi- in situations of armed conflict. The exposure to nations. In their turn, these have been bringing forms of “gendercide”—either rape of “enemy” in resistant discourses of manhood, male roles, women or massive murder of battle-age “enemy” and male behavior in subordinated groups of men—affected gender relations, systems, and populations (e.g., Latvian-Russian in Latvia, traditions dramatically and structurally. Rumanian-Hungarian in Rumania, Ukrainian Somewhat similar syndromes are character- versus Roma people in Ukraine) in the immi- istic of warless countries of the region who are nent presence of minority homelands over the going through “peaceful” marketization of their border. economies. Zarana Papic (2003) writes, On the other hand, in the complexities of the transnational “east-east” divide, the politi- Although some post-communist states with a cal, economic, and military “completing of more or less ethnically “pure” population struc- Europe” controversially urges the construction ture, like Poland, were not practising extreme of the “bedrock” male identity in state- and ethnic violence, all of them violated women’s nation-building projects. This transnational essential human rights, above all the right to bedrocking process has actually exposed certain abortion, thus showing that the colonisation of shared characteristics in the gender histories of women’s bodies is central to post-communist nations and states, specifically, scenarios “with processes of nation-building. Because men have the doubled or contradictory temporal concep- gained decisive political and reproductive control over women, these societies are often labeled tion of the nation” (Wenk, 2000, p. 69). As as “male democracies,” or “new patriarchies.” Silke Wenk argues, following Anne McClintock, The absence of women from politics in post- “on the one hand, the nation presents itself as a communist transitions reveals the damaging project of the future, and, on the other hand, as effects of the patriarchal communist legacy, which a project grounded in a mythically original past gave women the right to work, education, divorce, 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 151

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abortion, but prevented them from becoming of men and women is in rural areas, where men active political subjects of their own destiny. commit suicide seven times more often than Along with the nations’ new legislatures becom- women do. The proportion of young people who ing masculinised, Eastern European gender rela- commit suicide remains high....women in tions have become predominantly sexualised. Lithuania live almost ten years longer than men on average. (Maniokas et al., 2000) In Poland, for example, the research on unemployed men under 36 years old (performed In Estonia, and more generally, in many from 1994 through 1996; Pielkowa, 1997, cited other countries of East-Central Europe, “men’s in Novikova, 2000) shows that “after they lost low life expectancy is a major health problem” their jobs 40% of them reported the loss of (Kolga, 2001). Across the region, life expectan- family leadership which was taken over by cies of men have dropped, and the life-span gen- their working wives. 23,4% of the unemployed der gap varies from 10 to 15 years. There is an husbands assumed household responsibilities increase in coronary heart disease. Stress as a and 3,8% took over the upbringing of children gender-related process and the cardiovascular from their wives” (Oleksy, 2001). The loss of heart disease epidemic among middle-aged men jobs also affected their lifestyles: Unemployed are again common features of dysfunctional men spend most of their time watching sports on social welfare, health care, and body politics. TV and playing cards with friends. Twenty- Cardiovascular mortality, chronic stress, and eight percent of these men perceived the change male suicide rates in former communist coun- in family relations as negative after they had tries are 73 per 100,000 in Russia and Lithuania, become unemployed; 32% reported the worsen- 64 in Estonia, 59 in Latvia, 49 in Hungary (coming of husband-wife relations (Oleksy, 2001). pared with 19 per 100,000 in the United States Clearly, the effects of men’s unemployment and an average of about 28 in Western Europe). bring us to address the issue of men’s health. In Poland, according to Oleksy (2001), In Lithuania, an ethnically heterogeneous and neighboring country of Poland, such factors The number of suicide attempts registered by the as military conflicts in the Balkans and citizen- Militia in the 1980s went down from 4.7 thousand ship issues, as in Latvia and Estonia, have not in 1980 to 3.7 thousand in 1989. . . . Men consti- arisen, and the “transitional” period has been tuted ca. 79% of suicides then. The number of sui- considered as another instance of a “peaceful” cides increased greatly in the 1990s in comparison scenario. Lithuania is the only country in the with the 1980s, and men were still more numerous region with a law on equal opportunities for in this population—81%. Public statistics for 1990 show that for every 100 thousand men there men and women and an ombudsman’s office. were 17 suicides and for every 100 thousand However, the Lithuanian Human Development women there were 4 suicides, and in 1998 26 and Report 2000 points out, 6, respectively....The analysis of the data given in the report shows that there may exist intercon- The demographic situation in Lithuania began to nections among the four areas discussed, they are deteriorate in 1990. Since then the birth rate has not, however, scientifically justified ([there are] been declining continuously, resulting in a nega- no surveys in this area on a sample in [all of] tive natural increase in population even though Poland). Increasing unemployment, especially mortality—after an increase in the first half of the among men, may be connected with crime com- decade—has decreased slightly in the past five mitted by men in Poland, also domestic violence, years and in 1999 reached the same level as deterioration of the condition of health of Poles, 1990....Mortality among men of all age groups an increase in suicide committed due to hardship living in either rural or urban areas was 1.2-1.3 following a job loss and inability to find new times higher than that of women....People of employment. working age accounted for 23.7% of the total mortality rate; 3.6 times more men from this age In Russia, as Janna Chernova (2001) argues, [group]. . . . Mortality among men of all age groups living in either rural or urban areas was one of the probable explanations of the new rise 1.2-1.3 times higher than that of women....men in the death rate is massive stress caused by the commit suicide far more often than women do macroeconomic instability that leads to uncer- (73.8 and 13.6 people per 100,000, respectively). tainty about the future of Russian society. This The greatest difference between the suicide rates explanation is supported by two important facts: 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 152

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First, the rise in the death rate at the beginning charity, explicit or implicit, becomes a dominant of the 1990s was not caused by children and old feature in organizing the “citizen-consumer.” people; second, it was men who suffered the Yuval-Davis (1997) argues that in this dis- most. One of the primary reasons for these course, “Citizenship stops being a political dis- deaths was the rise in alcohol consumption in course and becomes a voluntary involvement the beginning of the 1990s (compared with the within civil society, in which the social rights of low level reached at the time of the antialcoholic the poor, constructed as the passive citizens, campaign of 1985-1988) (Chernova, 2001). would be transferred, at least partly, from enti- All these examples explicitly show how tlements into charities (p. 84). important it is to observe political, economic, Yuval-Davis (1997) emphasizes that and social developments from the point of view of men to integrate the gender analysis of the in the name of social cohesion, obligations are processes of men’s social and cultural self- being shifted from the public sphere of tax- identifications in these developments. At the financed benefits and services to the private same time, data from several countries indicate sphere of charity and voluntary services. And that research and statistics are concentrated charity, usually, assumes the dependency and passivity of those given the charity. Rights become on men’s misfortunes (somewhat similarly to gifts and active citizenship assumes a top-down pervasive themes in Finnish research) (Hearn notion of citizenship. (p. 84) et al., 2002). However, such studies are not based on gendered analyses of men’s practices, This discourse implies the hegemony of an values, roles, and so on. Such analyses should enterprise culture, either national or transna- pursue the formation of specific multinodal tional, “with an economically successful middle identities of men as a gendered process reflected class male head of a family” (Yuval-Davis, by the structuring of men’s positions in labor 1997, p. 84). This is particularly important to markets (and their “shadow” aspects). The key consider, for example, in such societies as questions here are how men see themselves Estonia, in which and how the diversity of men’s roles in this dispersed space is constructed in contrast to the the population is basically divided into two major essentialist notion of the nation-state that has classes: economically active and non-active popu- excluded or marginalized them in the formal lation. The relation between these two classes structures of national cultures. depends from two main factors: economic situation and population age structure. As we see, more than half the population is economically inactive Labor and Family (713 000 persons are economically active and 390 000 are non-active persons). From the economi- Family patterns and division of labor, as well cally active population ca 10% is unemployed, as self-perceptions of men as agents of family and almost half (172 300) the economically non- and the private sphere, cannot escape deep, con- active people are retired, pensioners. The relation sequential transformations. One may assume of self-employed and employees is now ca 1: 10. that hegemonic masculinity in diverse national (Kolga, 2001) contexts is based on the role of a family man and breadwinner, and as such, dictates choices The related question is how the forms of and the form of social welfare policies today. citizenship inspired with neoliberal economic Moreover, the Lithuanian Human Develop- politics transform the gender relations of men ment Report 2000 (Maniokas et al., 2000) notes and women as well as relations between men specifically that “the breadwinner is a farmer.” in their private and public practices. With However, for the families that have a “bread- economic restructuring and the development of winner with no income,” the report points out, social forms of gender related to the nonmone- “These households have only 59% of the aver- tary economic sector, the deterioration of the age household income. Social assistance bene- former social welfare system brings the “wel- fits are the major source of the household’s fare” function of women (taking care of children survival.” This suggests a specific formation of and the elderly) into the family. A woman takes a passive receiver-consumer model, or, in other back her “natural” functions in the family with words, a reobjectification process in which the collapse of social care and health care. She 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 153

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also takes part in the nonmonetary productive population in the 1990s. In this group, both in part of a family, in addition to her monetary 1988 and 1998, single fathers constituted ca. income, which is likely to be insufficient for the 11%, single mothers—89%” (Oleksy, 2001). family’s survival. In Latvia, for example, it is Polish researchers have represented further not unusual to have urban families involved in portrayals of men. For example, Kostyla and monetary sectors of the national economy spend Socha (1998; cited in Oleksy, 2001) write about large amounts of time in the countryside during typical Polish young men of the 1990s who planting, growing, and harvesting seasons, thus assist in the delivery of their children, take their organizing their gendered time use accordingly. children for walks, share household responsibil- Postsocialist women may also be invited into ities with their wives, and cook for their women. the service sector of a transitional economy as They devote over 10 hours daily to professional an offshoot of their functions in the family. activities, avoid medical doctors, eat unhealthy The postsocialist woman definitely experiences food, smoke cigarettes, and drink alcohol to deprivileging moments differently from men, overcome stress. And although Polish young as she was brought up in the socialist (but still men follow the European trend, playing squash patriarchal) system and has now finally been and bicycling during the weekend, only 65 “caught up” in the repatriarchalization of her out of 100 will live to the age of retirement society. (65 years old in Poland). Moreover, men “con- At the same time, in this variegated national stitute about 70% of drug abusers and they and transnational context, the family is becom- drink 3-4 times more alcohol than women. The ing a site of men’s practices, roles, and values rate of suicides shows a consistency which has that seek new microsocial forms of gender con- been detected for many years—the relation tracts within the family itself. Voldemar Kolga between men who commit suicides and women (2001), for example, points out that in the who commit suicides is 3:1” (Oleksy, 2001). 1990s, traditional families—couples (officially These examples, whether from the Balkans married or cohabiting) with children—still form or the Baltic regions, testify to the issues of men the largest group, as in Estonia. However, he and masculinities in these regions as differ- notes the growth of the number of childless entiated contextually. On the other hand, these couples (22% in Estonia, compared with 19% in examples, at least partially, expose some patri- the EU) as a sign of the new times. archal processes, tendencies, and structures In Russia, as Janna Chernova (2001) argues, (Holter, 1997, p. 281) of men’s individual and the number of men is greater than the number collective uses, practices, institutions, identifica- of women in the cities when both are under tions, and values of masculinities. Governance, 30 years old, and in the villages when both are army, family, work, health care, and social under 50. She indicates that these tendencies security are regarded as highly risky and destruc- have not resulted in an increase in marriages. tive forms of men’s “gender privilege” (Greig, Kimmel, & Lang, 2000, p. 1) that need transfor- Since 1994 the situation with the two most impor- mative change. The Balkan decade shows how tant marriage indexes has changed: the tendency an armed conflict brings in the essential mean- of a decrease in the summarial marriage coeffi- ings of gender as part of a nation’s sense cient is still taking place but there is an increase in of continuity. The Lithuanian, Polish, Estonian, middle marriage age. The number of officially and Russian examples show a different and registered marriages decreases among younger differentiated landscape of transition in which generations....Thus, the main tendency in the the naturalizing of gender has been taking place, process of family forming is that young people of both sexes give up a traditional form of marriage with the aggressive entry of capitalism acting as more often, and its official registration, in particu- a break to the former economic and political lar. As results of different researches show, young system by gender as its “evaluative code” people prefer living together as an alternative to (Holter, 1997, p. 65). official marriage. (Chernova, 2001) Transition Toward “Europe” In Poland, a comparative analysis of family type “shows that the number of single mothers In this context, the process leading toward a and fathers rose together with the rise in unified Europe and its recentering strategies 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 154

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along the geopolitical axis West to East were opportunity for women’s movements to carve articulated in the early 1990s (Modood & themselves out of the democratic process of Werbner, 1997) as coming back to the “normal” the late 1980s and early 1990s. The democratic and to civilization, or as a recivilizing process. process instrumentalized women’s experiences of participating in environmental, popular mothers’ Return to Europe! Every day the Polish press movements by coopting them into the indepen- brings new articles about the conditions of our dence, reconstruction, and revival agendas. return to Europe. We are returning to Europe At the same time, a complex relationship because we just had our first free elections. We are between local, traditional gender systems returning to Europe because we expect Poland to (themselves in transition) and the production become a member of the Council of Europe. And yet we cannot return to Europe as long as our of manhood in the socialist mythology of men’s towns are dirty, our telephones dysfunctional, our roles and hegemonic masculinities (them- political parties reactionary and parochial, and selves in crisis) was contested, reworked, and our mentalities sovietised. Europe is a measure, a reaffirmed as a relationship between residual purpose, a dream. (Jedlicki 1990, p. 6 cited in (traditional and socialist) and emergent (neolib- Kürti, 1997, p. 27) eral) institutions, practices, and ideologies. Symptomatically, this is how Dimitar Kamburov, Cultural and “civilizational” normalization a profeminist researcher from Bulgaria, argues rhetoric implicitly pulls in the rhetoric of differ- about men’s issues in his country and culture: “A ence between the European (“normal”) self of general understanding that males’ positions are the recovered nation and its “other,” thus OK historically and socially in this region switching public visions of “East” from a com- somehow cancels the very vision of issues munist virus to the alien and contaminating like men and masculinities” (D. Kamburov, presence of “strangers inside” (Bauman, 1998), personal correspondence, April 26, 2001). He added to a long list of forms of postsocialist also emphasized that “the historical ambiguities, abjections.4 The progressivist discourse of “the of men’s position are in the social, cultural return to Europe” has been incorporated into and everyday structure of Bulgarian, Southeast reimaginations of national fraternal projects that European and East European communitarian ensure protection to economic power concen- structure,” and he indicated that this is the “prob- trated in the hands of men. This concentration of lem of hidden matriarchy and men’s fictive financial power and resources resulted from the power and spurious authority in the region. The economic discrimination against women and question of traditional labour distribution as an their alienation from political power in the implicitly subversive agent of men’s domination” socialist period. Another important factor was is part of the same argument. that the socialist period had blocked ways in In Estonia, as Voldemar Kolga (2001) argues, which women’s movements could have devel- the patriarchal structure of society has changed oped their autonomy, diversity, advocacy, and over time, but many attitudes and stereotypes empowerment mechanisms, which were sub- treating men’s central role as universal and merged under the populist and nationalist natural have survived until today. “Men in agendas of the 1990s. Estonian society have traditionally been attributed In terms of Europe and, specifically, the the role of a leader, strong actor and punisher, European Union, the demand of the EU to har- while women have been viewed as caretakers, monize national legislations of the accession subordinates and those expressing compassion” countries with gender policies of the European (Kolga, 2001). At the same time, with economic Union does not “bypass” developmental connota- restructuring, from 1995 onward, “the unem- tions. The demand actually minimizes an impor- ployment rate among men has been somewhat tant recognition that women’s and men’s higher than among women. According to [a] 1997 economic and social situations in East-Central labour survey, women’s unemployment rate was European countries radically worsened in the 9.7% and men’s 11.2%” (Kolga, 2001). postsocialist liberalization of national markets. The return into “ethnic authenticity,” into It vacuum cleaned the space of social policies “normal statehood and nationhood” as the rather successfully, having thrown out an retrieval of “natural gender order” was trau- unwanted baby together with the bathwater—the matically compromised by the tsunami-like 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 155

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transformations in national labor markets, their 20 years ago, and (surprise!) the public discourse transnationalization, and the political “re- since then has similarly condemned women Europeanization” of the region (marked as a occupying men’s places. Neither the Russian West-East relationship). Mass media celebrated “masculinity crisis” nor the “Eastern male the survival of the “strongest.” As a form of inferiority complex” (labeled as “men’s effemi- wishful thinking, they also fabricated the nization,” “men’s emasculation,” “men’s infan- view of “successful” First World projects, such tilization”) seem to be just national or regional as the Nordic, American, West European, and symptoms of socially gendered transformations. Japanese, as normative (because economically A social and psychological crisis of masculinity successful) models of gender relations (Novikova, is not the first attempt of its “justified” reaffir- 2000). In this context, what Dimitar Kamburov mation in modern times. However, its postmod- underlines as a problem for men in the Balkan ern manifestation is mobilized across Europe regions can be referred to as common to the in an overall utterance of denouncement that east-central part of post–Berlin Wall Europe. As speaks against epistemologically informed polit- he writes, ical and social practices that delegitimize the gender of hegemonic conceptualizations of The advent of machismo as an overreaction to the “equality” and, at least in Eastern Europe, enjoy new crisis of masculine positioning is related to the steady cannibalization of gender equality the crisis of men’s self-reflection as an outburst of packaged as sexual transgression and perversion. the radical change of values of success and sense Meanwhile, as Stephen Whitehead (2002) of life in the process of transition. (D. Kamburov, points out, in the West, men in crisis either personal correspondence, April 24, 2001) should find their “authentic selves” outside of the stereotypical machismo that damages In Russia, however, there has developed a and imprisons them or reassess their mas- discourse, defined as “masculinity crisis,” with culinity by adopting roles that are “relevant to major indicators of low life expectancy com- modern times.” They might also “find their pared with women, self-destructive practices (e.g., identity in fraternal projects and missions” to so-called bad habits such as hard drinking and restore a “damaged inner psyche” that has alchoholism, smoking, excessive eating), and been “damaged through consumerism and/or high rates of morbidity and mortality that make domestication” (p. 55). He then argues that it a “sad privilege” to be a man (Chernova, 2001). Demographic, health, and birth and death the crisis of masculinity discourse suggests that rate studies; new studies of men and violence; the inability of many men to cope with the new exclusion of some men’s groups (homosexuals, expectations of women (feminism), combined for instance) from the field of the normative with the demise of traditional work patterns and masculinity—all this led to the emergence of a male roles, makes them especially vulnerable to peculiar “victimization theory.” According to engaging in forms of resistance that lead on to this theory, men are passive victims of their bio- criminal behaviour....In short, women’s new- found expectations and achievements are a social logical nature and structural (cultural) circum- problem, not a social good—not least because stances. In other words, men are represented in they serve to put those males who are seen as most this theory as victims who can hardly be called likely to offend (working-class white and black “actively functioning” social agents of their own youths) in an untenable situation whereby their lives (Chernova, 2001). Finally, the rhetorical “natural” masculine inclinations have no ready triumph of nationalists’ “man as a victim” who outlet. Thus the relation between feminism, male is not responsible for the political, economic, criminality and redundant and dysfunctional and social malfunctioning in the (not uniquely) forms of masculinity is reified. (p. 53) Russian context has been developing into a multifunctional instrument that can attack In different situations, however, either low either “those emancipated women” in the past professional competitiveness or the effects of or “feminist (Western and rotten) spoils” in the economic restructuring on different social present. groups of men are easily transformed into mas- The victimization and infantilization of men tering the public desire for narratives of violated became a topic in the Soviet territories at least maleness naturally embodied in men’s practices 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 156

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as performances of dominant masculinity restructuring) can fit “into a right-wing family images: “Significantly, the male crisis discourse values agenda, almost suggesting that children has seeped out of cultural discussion and is now need fathers more than they need mothers (if increasingly being used to inform public policy” not fathers, at least patriarchs)” (Aronson & (Whitehead, 2002, p. 51), and this looks true of Kimmel, 2001, p. 49). Let me dwell on this postsocialist policy developments as well. argument and add that professionalism remains In Latvia, for example, the new labor code a central value in the practice of masculinity, has a clause on paternity leave as a right for the along with the appropriated (or “retrieved,” or working father. On the one hand, it is an attempt “returned”) caring function of a father. to reclaim men as active fathers by practicing “Return to Europe,” as the mainstream polit- gender equality in the family and the labor mar- ical and economic agenda of the countries ket. However, contextually, this legislative mea- included in the EU-accession cohort, is part of sure addresses the issue of absence of fathers the globalization process. In these terms, mili- from their families—discursively constructed as tarization of Europe as part of global militariza- “men’s crisis” and “crisis of a Latvian family.” tion is a “‘technical modality’ of connectivity” Returning a father to a family has been a signif- (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 4) in the package of icant component of the “healthy normal nuclear processes that are rewriting the autonomy prin- family” discourse, against the reality of the ciples of the nation-state in its supranational and single-parent (mainly single-mother) family. regional negotiations and involvements. The Another implication lies in the valorization of boundaries of regional military blocks are the private sphere by enhanced paternity rights, becoming actual borders of global mapping of although there is not a parallel enhancement in power relations, within which, for any country terms of valorizing women’s jobs in the labor to join the EU, the metonym of Europe, means market (at least in terms of their salaries). The to prove exactly that “I am not a stranger.” “cultural image of the New Father” (Hondagneu- It achieves this by diffusing angst to those either Sotelo & Messner, 1994, p. 206), accepted in their territories (diasporas, clefts in the Baltic unproblematically, is not linked up with career regions, new vs. old in East-Central Europe) and pay equity for women as “a structural as extensions of strangers outside their coun- precondition for the development of equality tries or through Islamization of angst expressed between husbands and wives in the family” in the works of theorists as a major trait of (p. 205). Moreover, domesticity can become a globalization. In this context, the outcome of territory for conservative familism to “conquer” this gendered social and economic process in terms of expanding new gender privileges and awaits research, with the focus on men’s (and disadvantages in family socialization patterns for “new” minority or transnational men’s) self- children. The initiatives for changing a father’s identifications and views about their situation role in the family are not adequately accompa- in the 1990s, following the radical economic nied by gender-informed educational reforms and political change in gender regimes. Its cen- and creation of societal awareness about the plu- tral questions should be (a) What is considered rality of family models and their social valoriza- relevant in the self-articulation of cultural and tion beyond a “universal” nuclear, heterosexual, social identities of men in minority, diasporic, “normal” family. and transnational communities? and (b) How One can also presume that reevaluation of a do men consider the democratic management father’s role in the family is negotiated in revis- of their societies with regard to the specific ing gender orders of welfare regimes across problems of diversity and transformation? Europe; thus the private sphere is gradually “Completing Europe” is likely to remain a completing the gendered power mapping of the battlefield, an explicitly gendered project. That private, but also the public. Family has been, project may manifest itself either in rebuilding increasingly, an extremely important social and small nation-states and their armies or in con- economic agent in the transnational gendered structing a new role of a future European soldier economic circuit and a revised site of crumbling in high-tech, “remote-control” wars. The latter social policies, with the return of caring func- will be “an anonymous legionary supporting a tions to the private domain. However, inviting a European/international order in invisible and father’s caring (apart from hidden social welfare intangible wars, with invisible, media-defined 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 157

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enemies” (Novikova, 2000). Whatever language is recruiting the “innocently” class-blind but used, militarization of the economy, accompanied “perfectly” gender-friendly language of negoti- with the European Monetary Union, betrays the ation, partnership, and cooperation. We are two gendered dimensions of the nation-state, obviously dealing with forms of misogyny that translated into a supranational formation—army work covertly in the space between politically and money—recarving new visions of hegemonic correct legislations and destructive social and masculinities out of “soldiering and sea trading,” economic environments. In this, the notion of the men’s occupations that, as R. W. Connell collectivity as providing values of gender equal- argues, gave rise to early modern Europe as a ity is being devalued. The return of “biology” is gendered enterprise (Connell, 1987). bound up with high levels of violence against The globalized international market is women and men, homosexuals, children, old another projection of the global “battlefield” people, and immigrants across Europe (burning within which postsocialist countries must elabo- of Turkish houses in Germany, murdering of an rate their gendered projects and schemes of wel- immigrant boy in Norway, harassment at a gay fare regimes. The national economies have been rally in Belgrade), which is what lies behind the structured and perceived so that the private discourse of multiculturalism across Europe. sector is more “male” and the public sector The skinhead actions in Russia and anti-Semitic concentrates men mainly in the upper echelons outbursts across Europe in 2002 are symptoms of power and salaries. The picture, however, is of the processes in which the mosaic of “biol- even more complicated by the presence of what ogy,” “strongest,” “authenticity,” “enemy,” and is called an “informal economy” in all countries “order” is brewed into the Molotov cocktail of the transitional belt. It definitely is another legitimation of a reconstructing word (e.g., sphere of male dominance in regard to produc- peacekeeping), as West-East European male ing transnational, regional, national, and local “rationality” claims to progressively reproduce hierarchies and patterns of men’s social identi- a new European social world and its gender ties and representations. order. As the past 15 years have shown, postsocialist societies have (possibly unknowingly) worked to restore a man-as-breadwinner model of family STUDIES ON MEN IN (variable) and related private-public divisions of gender roles. A man is defined in his social role THE COUNTRIES OF EAST-CENTRAL and social identity of breadwinner as dominant, EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION thus involving implicitly his control over income and possession. As such, this role is granted a At the same time, it is difficult to disagree with social representation of hegemonic masculinity Elzbieta Oleksy (2001) that, due to little interest imageries. R. W. Connell (1987, 1995), however, in “men’s” issues in our countries, “it is difficult argues about the historical production of contem- to talk about men’s politics.” In Poland, for porary Euro-American masculinities. The issue example, there is only one organization that here is dominance-inequality as the dimension of addresses men exclusively: the Association for social structures in dominated European coun- the Defense of Fathers’ Rights (Stowarzyszenie tries whose gender relations have historically Obrony Praw Ojca). been part of European imperial configurations Across the region, men are active in organiz- and very diverse men’s practices, cultural forms ing gay groups; there are men who are interested and norms, and identifications. The “frontiers” in organizing fathers’ groups (e.g., in Poland) of Europe offer new “Eastern” leverages for and men’s groups analogous to Robert Bly’s new policies for European and global coproduc- mythopoetic trend. However, it is extremely dif- tion of “a dominance-based masculinity” that ficult to collect information on men’s groups R. W. Connell sees as operating in “a technocratic and organizations across the region. rather than confrontationist style” and, moreover, Academic communities of the regions and as “misogynist as before.” countries were exposed to women’s studies in The misogyny is not a static phenomenon, the early 1990s, when family and demographic and gender regimes on both national and supra- sociologists were searching for promising areas national levels avoid confrontational politics by of research that would open roads to the West. 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 158

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Thus there was an attempt to translate women’s “norm” and point to prejudices will be a delicate studies in a way that was relevant to our envi- task. (p. 1; see also Smidova, 2003, 2004) ronments, as something parallel to that which traditional women’s research had been doing There, however, has emerged a new type of in Soviet socialist times. Gender studies were research on changes in men’s practices and appropriated with less difficulty because images (Smidova, 2002). Smidova points to an the word feminist meant everything alien to the important, specific feature that might be attrib- ideas and traditions of those nations in the uted to the development of feminist and gender process of self-reconstruction after regaining studies in other countries of East-Central political independence from the USSR in 1991. Europe: a tendency in the Czech Republic to Gender studies promised something that could study women in relation to men and not to more easily work with mainstream academia. exclude men from feminist studies and research. At the time of state and nation rebuilding, the Issues of men’s practices, values, and power of the nation had to be in the hands of masculinity images have been among the- men. All problems related to men were labeled matic interests for scholars in the Balkan as men’s crises because, according to wide- countries such as Svetlana Slapsak (Slovenia), spread opinion, the Soviet socialist regimes had Rastko Mocnik (Slovenia), Marina Blagoe- infantilized and feminized them in the ideology vich (Yugoslavia), Zarana Papic (Yugoslavia), of sexual equality. The nationalist discourses Tomislav Longinovich (Yugoslavia), and others. of the early 1990s literally did not leave any In the Baltic regions so far, several attempts to room for forming influential and independent attract academic and public attention to men’s women’s movements, and women’s and gender issues were made at the Valmiera conference studies centers were politically ghettoized in the in 1998: Nordic men involved in men’s studies academic communities. organized a special workshop with a focus on Apart from societal transformations having men and violence and men and family roles. brought new values and identities into gender Publications and translations of works about relations, research on women had been active in men and masculinities are gradually and the former socialist and Soviet academic institu- steadily becoming part of our research horizon, tions, as women had been viewed in terms of as, for example, the collections on integrating their productive as well as reproductive value in post-socialist perspectives on men (Novikova & every nation. What research there was on men Kambourov, 2003), and on men and masculini- had “accompanied” the research on women. It ties in Russia (Oushakine, 2002). The latter was becoming of more importance in the 1980s, includes scholars who have done individual with demographic decline and growing alco- research on men’s issues in politics, business, and holic consumption, in particular in the regions culture in Russia and outside it. However, they of the USSR. are not united in networks, seminar programs, or What Elzbieta Oleksy (2001) notes for team research projects. The academic settings Poland is also true for other countries: “mas- are structured so that women researchers in gen- culinity as an independent research topic has der, women’s, and feminist studies remain in enjoyed little if not marginal popularity among their peripheral spaces, with no potential for a Polish authors.” Iva Smidova (2002), a researcher career in mainstream academia. Thus women from the Czech Republic, writes, researchers practice a “borderland” strategy by combining research they are personally interested In the Czech Republic, men have not been studied in with research that will be beneficial for their yet; the theme of masculinities is often considered career. A man who would pursue the goal of as unproblematic, or “men’s role” is only dis- making a career in the national academy certainly cussed under other branches of sociological excludes the “feminized” periphery from his inquiry—mainly research on family. Men (and ambitions, apart from exceptional cases in which women still) are an “exceptional” topic for the general public opinion; for they must understand gender studies are used as a route for an acade- and know “what is going on here.” To question the mic jump into a Western program or institution. everyday experience and (re)define it as problem- There are no research projects on the issues atic, to list men’s problems and study them, or just identified in this chapter that have been con- deconstruct men’s position and stereotypes of the ducted by scholars in the regions and countries 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 159

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we deal with here and, more specifically, by distinctions and contrasts can be made in the scholars from those regions and countries work- welfare regimes of Western Europe (see Esping- ing in a concerted way. There is an obvious con- Andersen, 1990, 1996, for one influential model nection between the noticeable absence of such and, for a critique, Pringle, 1998a, 2002b), the scholars among male academics engaged in crit- historical trajectories of gender orders and state ical and feminist research on men and masculin- regimes in the countries of Central and Eastern ities and their marginal presence in mainstream Europe will need to be brought to the level of academic research. This is not to assert that a comparative analysis, together with research on particular experience is crucial to the research of how the ongoing gendering of these nation-states particular issues. It is to say that the exclusion incorporates and transforms these trajectories. and marginalization of particular issues in poli- A gender analysis of the constructed welfare tics and research explicitly tells us more about regimes should be combined with a critique and general moments in the gendered structuration greater attention to conscious gendering of men’s of the region’s democratic deficit. practices and relations to the welfare regime developments by taking into account their interaction with dominant cultural, regional men’s CONCLUSION practices, and traditional views of men and masculinities. This challenge involves an emphasis As should be clear from our analysis in this on the relatively weak connection (or its absence) chapter of the underlying (and often hidden) between gender research and statistical reporting gender processes that permeate the current on men’s practices within the countries of Central (re)creation of “Europe,” the EU research net- and Eastern Europe—in contrast, for example, work on men, from whose outcomes we have to such countries as Germany, Norway, and the mainly drawn, represents a significant step in United Kingdom. Moreover, gender as a category bringing together women and men researchers in statistical reporting and analysis is not used for the development of good quality European in Central and Eastern Europe to the extent to research on men in Europe. The research and which the data can be used for research on men’s network team has included scholars from practices as gendered process. This points Poland, Estonia, Russia, and Latvia and has emphatically to the shortage and even public and provided an excellent opportunity for colla- academic invisibility of feminist, women’s, and gen- boration with and learning from the expertise of der studies in the countries of the region and the colleagues, as well as promoting comparative politically grounded transplantation of gender into methodologies and disciplinary developments mainstream academic language to neutralize the of men’s research into national and regional critical stance of this category of analysis. settings. It is particularly important because the Thus, in this chapter, we have not only research network addresses men and masculini- demonstrated that the “re-creation” of the “New ties in the four main aspects that have never Europe” centrally involves gendered and gen- found direct relevant research and policy state- dering processes; we have suggested that these ments in the East-Central European states, the processes cannot be fully understood without Baltic states, and Russia. These aspects are consideration of the complex interaction of men in relation to home and work, men in rela- oppressive power relations operating between a tion to social exclusion, men’s violence, and dominant West (partly in the form of institutions men’s health. such as the European Union and NATO) and the For the future, the outcomes of the network countries of Central and Eastern Europe. How point to the urgent necessity for researchers to far those power relations can be subverted in address all these aspects—most of all, in terms of transformation by the rapidly changing societies which models of differential welfare regimes are of that part of Europe will be a crucial issue over being constructed in the countries of East-Central the next decade for the well-being of those liv- Europe, the Baltic states, and Russia. This is in ing there—especially women and children, but the context of the EU’s eastern enlargement and also men. In this context, it is to be hoped that the demands of the EU on accession countries to those institutions that generate transnational harmonize their legislations with acquis commu- research (such as the European Union) will nataire (the entire body of European laws). If develop further projects, such as the thematic 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 160

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research network from which the coauthors Aronson, A., & Kimmel, M. (2001). The saviors have drawn here, to carefully scrutinize these and the saved: Masculine redemption in contem- processes. Current indications, such as the porary films. In P. Lehman (Ed.), Masculinity: recent publication of the European Commission Bodies, movies, culture (pp. 43-50). New York: Framework 6 Programme, are not necessarily Routledge. Bauman, Z. (1998). Europe of strangers. Retrieved encouraging. December 31, 2003, from http://www.transcomm .ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/bauman.pdf Blom, I., Hagemann, K., & Hall, C. (2002). Intro- NOTES duction. In I. Blom, K. Hagemann, & C. Hall (Eds.), Gendered nations: Nationalism and 1. This network is funded by the European gender order in the long nineteenth century Commission (Contract Number HPSE-CT-1999- (pp. xv-xviii). Oxford: Berg. 0008). The Web site for the network is http://www Bourdieu, P. (2001). Masculine domination. Cambridge, .cromenet.org. England: Polity Press. 2. The EU currently comprises 15 countries: Brittan, A. (1989). Masculinity and power. Oxford, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, England: Blackwell. Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Chernova, J. (2001). Russia national report on Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United statistical information on men’s practices work- Kingdom. At the time of writing (the very beginning package 2. Retrieved January 1, 2004, from of 2003), 10 more countries have been formally http://www.cromenet.org/customers/crome/cro invited to join the EU by 2004, subject to positive me.nsf/resources/A203BD5911CF9CB9C2256 outcomes in national referenda: Cyprus, the Czech A3B004F0A68/$file/Russia+WP2.rtf Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Collinson, D. L., & Hearn, J. (1994). Naming men Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In addition, it is pro- as men: Implications for work, organisations jected that Bulgaria and Romania should be able to and management. Gender, Work and Organiza- join by 2007. In addition, 12 of the 15 EU member tion, 1(1), 2-22. states (all except Denmark, Sweden, and the United Collinson, D. L., & Hearn, J. (Eds.). (1996). Men as Kingdom) now have the same currency (the Euro), as managers, managers as men: Critical perspec- part of the European Monetary Union. tives on men, masculinities and managements. 3. The summary that follows, of current research London: Sage. on men’s practices in Western Europe (including Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, brief considerations of men at home and work, under the person and sexual politics. Stanford, CA: conditions of social exclusion, men’s violence, and Stanford University Press. men’s health), draws heavily on the outcomes of the Connell, R. W. (1991, June 7-8). The big picture—a European Commission-funded thematic network little sketch: Changing Western masculinities in mentioned earlier (see Hearn et al., 2002; Hearn & the perspective of recent world history. Paper Pringle, 2001). presented at the Research and Masculinity and 4. The notion of “abjection” as an explanation Men in Gender Relations Conference, Sydney. for oppression and discrimination is derived from Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: Julia Kristeva’s (1982) book Powers of Horror: An University of California Press. Essay on Abjection, in which she succinctly says, Connell, R. W. (1998). Masculinities and globaliza- “The abject has only one quality of the object and tion. Men and Masculinities, 1(1), 3-23. that is being opposed to I.” Kristeva’s theory of abjec- Connell, R. W. (2002). Gender: An introduction. tion is concerned with figures that are in a state of Cambridge, England: Polity Press. transition or transformation. The abject is located in a Cornwall, A., & Lindisfarne, N. (1994). Intro- liminal state that is on the margins of two positions; duction. In A. Cornwall & N. Lindisfarne it has to do with “what disturbs identity, system, (Eds.), Dislocating masculinity: Comparative order. What does not respect borders, positions, ethnographies. London: Routledge. rules” (Kristeva, 1982, p. 4). Eley, G. (1998). From welfare politics to welfare states: Women and the socialist question. In H. Gruber & P. Graves (Eds.), Women and socialism, socialism and women: Europe REFERENCES between the two World Wars (pp. 507-516). New York: Berghan Books. Acker, J. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of of gendered organizations. Gender and Society, welfare capitalism. Cambridge, England: Polity 4(2), 139-158. Press. 09-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 5:10 PM Page 161

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Novikova, I. (2000). Soviet and post-Soviet Conference, Gender and Social Exclusion, masculinities: After men’s wars in women’s Copenhagen, Denmark. memories. In I. Breines, R. Connell, & I. Eide Pringle, K. (2002c, August). Trouble in paradise? (Eds.), Male roles, masculinities and violence: Comparing perspectives on gender and ethnicity A culture of peace perspective (pp. 117-129). in the Danish, Swedish and English child Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. welfare systems. Paper presented at the Nordic Novikova, I., & Kambourov, D. (2003). Men in the Sociological Congress “Nätverkssamhället— global world: Integrating post-socialist perspec- frihet eller fjättrar,” University of Reykjavik, tives. Helsinki: Kikimora. Reykjavik, Iceland. Oleksy, E. (2001). Poland national report on statis- Pringle, K., & Harder, M. (1999). Through two pairs tical information on men’s practices workpack- of eyes: A comparative study of Danish social age 2. Retrieved January 2, 2004, from http:// policy and child welfare. Aalborg, Denmark: www.cromenet.org/customers/crome/crome.nsf/ Aalborg University Press. resources/FA555552F4288EEDC2256A3B004E Pringle, K., Hearn, J., Mueller, U., Oleksy, E., B7A0/$file/Poland+WP2.doc Chernova, J., Ferguson, H., et al. (2001). The Oushakine, S. (Ed.). (2002). O muzhe(N)stvennosti European Research Network on Men in Europe: [On masculinity]. Moscow: Novoe Literaturnoe The social problem of men. Journal of European obozrenie. Social Policy, 11(2), 171-173. Papic, Z. (2000, September). Violence: Eastern Segal, L. (1990). Slow motion: Changing mas- Europe. Paper presented at the first Helsinki culinities, changing men. New Brunswick, NJ: Forum—Whose Europe?, Helsinki, Finland. Rutgers University Press. Retrieved January 1, 2004, from http://www. Smidova, I. (2002). Men in the Czech Republic: A few mv.helsinki.fi/helsinkiforum/english/text/papic. questions and thoughts on studying (some) men. html Unpublished manuscript, Masaryk University, Pease, B., & Pringle, K. (Eds.). (2001). A man’s world: Brno, Czech Republic. Changing men and masculinities in a globalized Smidova, I. (2003). Men in the Czech Republic: world. London: Zed Books. According to selected “different men.” In Powell, G. (1988). Women and men in management. I. Novikova & D. Kambourov (Eds.), Men in the Newbury Park, CA: Sage. global world: Integrating post-socialist perspec- Pringle, K. (1995). Men, masculinities and social tives (pp. 159-175). Helsinki: Kikimora. welfare. London: UCL Press. Smidova, I. (2004). Czech Republic: Domination Pringle, K. (1998a). Children and social welfare in and silences. In J. Hearn et al. (Eds.), Men and Europe. London: Open University Press. masculinities in Europe. London: Whiting & Birch. Pringle, K. (1998b). Profeminist debates on men’s Tomlinson, J. (1999). Globalization and culture. practices and social welfare. British Journal of Cambridge, England: Polity Press. Social Work, 8, 623-633. Watson, P. (1996). The rise of masculinism in Eastern Pringle, K. (2001, June). Some reflections on issues of Europe. In M. Threlfall (Ed.), Mapping the racism and xenophobia in the European Union. women’s movement: Feminist politics and social Paper presented at the International Seminar on transformations in the North (pp. 216-231). Racism and Xenophobia, Uppsala Universitet, London: Verso. Uppsala, Sweden. Wenk, S. (2000). Gendered representations of Pringle, K. (2002a, March). Comparing perspectives the nation’s past and future. In I. Blom, on the Swedish child welfare system: Current K. Hagemann, & C. Hall (Eds.), Gendered and future challenges. Some initial reflections nations: Nationalism and gender order in the long from a qualitative study. Paper presented at a nineteenth century (pp. 63-77). Oxford: Berg. National Seminar on Swedish Child Welfare, Whitehead, S. M. (2002). Men and masculinities: Key Linköping Universitet, Linköping, Sweden. themes and new directions. Cambridge, Pringle, K. (2002b, September). Risks in childhood: England: Polity Press. Processes leading to social exclusion. Keynote Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Gender and nation. London: address presented at the European Union Sage. 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 163

PART III

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CLASS AND MASCULINITY

DAV I D MORGAN

Students of gender tend only to see gender; class analysts tend only to see social classes. The research questions are often crudely put as being questions of gender or class instead of asking how gender and class interact in the lives of historically situated social groups. —Marianne Gullestad (1992, p. 62)

lass is one of a number of social some kind of hierarchical organization and hierarchies or systems of social stratifi- inequalities of power. They are structured in that C cation that have represented core ele- they, to a greater or lesser extent, exist outside ments in sociological analysis. Other systems individuals and persist over time. And they are, include slavery and caste and feudal systems, again to varying degrees, seen as significant dis- and these are usually seen as being distinct from tinctions in the societies in which they exist. class relationships in that they are associated Sociological analysis, until fairly recently, has with particular historical epochs or geographical tended to focus on class and class relationships, areas. Class stratification is seen as the form although there may be considerable variation in most closely associated with industrial and cap- the ways in which these terms are understood. italist societies, although elements of other This is partly because of the influence of at least systems may also be present. In addition, there two of the discipline’s “founding fathers,” Marx are hierarchies that can overlap and coexist with and Weber, and partly because of sociology’s any of these particular systems of stratification. central interest in the defining and distinctive These can include gender, age, and generation, characteristics of “modern” societies. as well as race and ethnicity; some more recent It should be noted at the outset that there is analyses would argue for the inclusion of hier- a particularly British or European focus in this archies based on sexualities and forms of ability chapter, although the chapter does not, as we and disability. shall see, exclude wider considerations. This is All these sets of differences have some fea- partly because of my own intellectual back- tures in common. They are relational in that the ground as a British academic but also partly various elements (working class, slave, women, because many of the key debates and modes of black, etc.) cannot be considered apart from analysis originated in Britain, although they other, usually opposed, elements. They refer to made use of some of the key theories from other

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parts of Europe. Class has sometimes been seen Toward the latter part of the 20th century, there as a particularly British obsession, and this in appeared to be a general impression, at least part relates to its historical position as the first within the United Kingdom, that class analysis industrial capitalist society, a point recog- no longer had a “promising future.” This was nized by Marx and many of the early socialists. in part a consequence of a recognition of other, However, questions of origin are here less at least equally important, social divisions, such important in a chapter that is exploring the inter- as those of gender or race and ethnicity. Class relationships between masculinities and class, analysis also appeared to be less relevant with and I hope that, in the course of this discussion, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the erosion of some general principles may be developed that many communist societies. With a developing may be found useful in analyzing a wide range global perspective, many of the traditional, often of social and historical contexts. eurocentric, class divisions seemed to be less Questions about the relationships between able to explain social inequalities and conflicts different social hierarchies developed in the all over the world. Class increasingly has global last part of the 20th century, and one of the more dimensions, and these do not necessarily link heated sociological debates has revolved around easily to categories developed in other times issues of class and gender, more specifically and under other conditions. Even within the about whether women have been marginalized countries where class analysis had originated, in traditional class analysis. Joan Acker (1973), there was a growing suspicion that although in an influential article, claimed that the relative inequalities clearly persisted, the old language invisibility of women in class analysis was a of class was inadequate when it came to under- case of “intellectual sexism”; John Goldthorpe standing these inequalities. The development of (1983) presented a vigorous defense of the terms such as “underclass” and “social exclu- traditional view. One important issue raised in sion” seemed to bear witness to a diffuse sense the course of this debate was whether the of unease about traditional class categories. individual or the “family” should be treated Finally, there was a growing popular perception as the unit of class analysis (Crompton, 1993; that class divisions were old-fashioned and that Lee & Turner,1996; Morgan, 1996). the remaining remnants would be swept away in As was so often the case when gender a fluid, increasingly open, postmodern society. was discussed, the focus was almost wholly More recently, however, class analysis seems on women and their marginal position within to have returned, albeit with some important traditional class analysis. As such, the debate modifications (Devine, 1997; Savage, 2000). could be seen as part of the wider feminist One interesting question, however, remains. critique of conventional social science and the How far was this apparent erosion—or at least way in which, whatever the topic, women were transformation—of class analysis linked to either marginalized or stereotyped. What was shifts in the gender order and the possible ero- not explored in the course of the debate was sion of patriarchal structures? If, as the class and the position of men within class analysis. Yet a gender debates suggested, class had been fairly moment’s thought would seem to suggest that strongly linked to themes of men and masculin- men and masculinity were heavily implicated in ity, were there links between changes in the gen- class analysis, where, in British iconography at der order and changes in the position of class least, the bowler hat of the upper middle class within the analysis of social structures? hangs between the cloth cap of the working man In this chapter, I shall enquire what it was and the top hat of the traditional upper class. about class, and class analysis, that seemed to Was it simply an accident that led to men being encourage a particularly strong identification presented as the key class actors, or were the with men and masculinities. However, this iden- connections between class and masculinity tification was implied rather than explicit, latent closer than might first have been suspected? rather than manifest. Part of the story is the way About the same time as the gender and class in which questions about the gendering of class debate, there was another loosely associated were avoided or remained invisible for so long. debate concerning the centrality (or otherwise) I shall present a fairly closely integrated and rel- of class analysis (Devine, 1997; Lee & Turner, atively stable model closely linking the two and 1996; Pakulski & Waters, 1996; Savage, 2000). contrast this with a more fluid and open set of 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 167

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connections that may be said to be characteristic and inequalities. A kind of more or less explicit of late modern times. Before this, however, I Weberian analysis would seem to be at the heart shall need to consider what is meant by class of much empirical class analysis. This entails and some differences in emphasis and approach looking at the unequal distribution of life within class analysis. chances insofar as these deal with the ownership or nonownership of different forms of property and different levels of income. Weberians DEFINITIONS AND DISTINCTIONS would argue that such a mode of analysis is more inclusive than a more strictly Marxist Picture a first-year sociology class in, say, the analysis in that Marxist class and class action 1980s or even later. The topic for discussion is remains a potentiality within Weber’s categories, what we mean by class. Is it income? But what although not the only one. about the rock star or a sports personality who Within class analysis, there are a range of may, at his peak, be earning more than the prime qualifications and distinctions, some of which minister? Is it occupation? If so, on what basis have a particular relevance when it comes to do we say that one occupation ranks higher than considering the relationships between mas- another? Perhaps it is education. But does this culinity and class: not depend on income and occupation? Then, especially if the discussion is taking place in a • Objective and subjective understandings of British university, someone will raise questions class. This is the distinction between the cate- of accent and how a person talks, arguing that gories that are established in class analysis and you can place individuals as soon as they open the way in which class is actually understood their mouths. and experienced by individuals or, indeed, Much of the discussion, you conclude, whether the term class has any meaning at all. revolves around particularly British obsessions • Class in itself and class for itself. This well- known distinction, deriving from Marxist to do with relatively fine distinctions, snobbery, analysis, contrasts class as a category, a mode Oxbridge, and the old school tie. The concern of distinguishing and classifying people and seems to be more at the individual level, about class as the basis for some form of collective how to place that individual in relation to action. This entails the development of some another, rather than more abstract concerns form of class consciousness, an awareness of about social structure. When British social crit- some shared fate, and collective experiences, ics refer to “outmoded” class distinctions, it is together with some understanding of the possi- usually these distinctions, which are manifested bilities of challenging or even changing the at the interpersonal level, that are being refer- class system. red to rather than wider structural differences • Bipolar models of class and more complex associated with a capitalist society. But a little hierarchical models. This may refer to sociological accounts or social actors’ own per- reflection on these debates might suggest that ceptions of the class structure. Bipolar it is important to distinguish the particular his- models may be more or less simple descrip- torical experiences of any one particular society tions (mental-manual) or imply some degree of from understandings of class in a more general, class antagonism (bourgeoisie-proletariat) or structural sense. fall somewhere in between (them-us). The In this chapter, I am less concerned with the more complex models see the class structure as differences between different theoretical tradi- a sort of ladder with three or more levels. tions—notably the Marxist and the Weberian— • Class and status. Although, strictly speaking, and more concerned with some of the more this takes us beyond class analysis, it is impor- common features of and issues within class tant, as several popular and social-scientific understandings of class contain elements of analysis. Thus there will be general agreement both. Roughly speaking, class in this instance that we are dealing with inequalities that are the refers to the unequal distribution of life chances; products of social structure rather than the pres- status refers to the social distribution of honor ence or absence of individual attributes, such as or prestige. It could be argued that the popular intelligence, physical strength, and so on. There and widely used distinction between upper, is also a general agreement that in talking about middle, and working contains elements of both class, we are talking about economic divisions class and status. 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 168

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• Class as based on individuals and class as individual or collective class actors. But we based on families or households. This is a dis- may also see men involved in the central distinction with particular relevance for a gen- courses about class power. Many of the key dered analysis of class (Curtis, 1986). Much theorists of class have been men, and it is rea- class analysis takes individuals as the units and sonable to suppose that their location in gender then aggregates them. However, several sociol- hierarchies is as important in shaping, if not ogists have argued that the family or the household should be the unit of analysis, although in determining, their worldviews as their loca- the matter becomes complex once one moves tions within a class system. Of course, in real- away from assuming that the class position of ity, this distinction becomes a little blurred, a household is determined by the class of the as discourses and practices are always closely main (male) breadwinner (Morgan, 1996). related. Put another way, modes of understand- • One final distinction deals with the historical ing and researching class may reflect gendered location of the idea of class. The Communist perspectives just as the class practices them- Manifesto famously begins with the words selves will also be gendered. “the history of all hitherto existing society We may see these issues below the surface is the history of class struggles” (McLellan, of the gender-class debate already mentioned. 1988, p. 21). Much of its actual focus, however, is on classes under capitalism. Socio- Goldthorpe’s (1983) defense of the “conven- logical analysis has tended, explicitly or tional view” of class claimed that he was repre- implicitly, to limit the idea of class to capi- senting the world as it was rather than the world talism and postcapitalism. Thus there is a dis- as we might like it to be. If that world be male tinction between an almost timeless notion of dominated or patriarchal, then, to simplify con- class divisions, popularly outlined in terms of siderably, that is how we should represent it. the “haves” and the “have nots,” and one that is Up to a point, Goldthorpe’s argument was much more historically situated and identified correct in its generality, if not in its particul- with modernity. arities. In everyday as well as in social science discourse there does seem to be something What I have presented here is a highly particularly masculine about the idea of class. simplified version of some complex debates. And class practices, although much more open Their relevance for the exploration of the rela- to variation, might seem to reflect these dis- tionships between class and masculinity will, courses, at least for much of what we describe I hope, emerge in the subsequent discussion. as modern times. Put simply, class is gendered, One final set of issues remains for clarification. and men have assumed, or have been allocated, In common with much current discussion, the role of class agents. reflected elsewhere in this volume, I shall hence- How has this identification, albeit often sub- forth write of masculinities rather than mas- merged, between men and class come about? culinity, although I recognize that there are There are several overlapping reasons. some difficult issues associated with this move. If we return to the key elements in the Within this framework, as will appear later, the (broadly Weberian) model of class, we find idea of hegemonic masculinity is important. strong connections between property, occupa- These ideas are discussed at greater length else- tion, and masculinities. In the case of property, where in this volume. we find, historically, strong identifications between ownership of different kinds of property, family and family name, and inheritance THE MASCULINITIES OF CLASS and the male line. In the case of occupation, the connections are perhaps less strong, although it There is one further distinction that should be can be argued that most occupational titles have made before continuing with the analysis. We strong masculine connotations. Some occupa- may see, as has already been suggested, men as tional titles (e.g., policeman) are explicitly gen- holders of class power. Thus men will be found dered, and popular speech still talks of sending disproportionately located in the highest levels for a “man” to come round and repair the central of political, economic, educational, and cul- heating or the dishwasher. Other titles have tural organizations. In this respect, we may see strong historical and symbolic associations with men as centrally involved in class practices, as prized masculine characteristics such as physical 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 169

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strength or group solidarity, coal mining and modern cultures, right up to the present day steel working, for example. Even less physical (e.g., for Warin, Solomon, Lewis, & Langford, occupations, clerical workers for example, or 1999; also, Hobson, 2002). It can be argued, in bank clerks, initially were associated with fact, that the idea of the provider is a major ele- “respectable” men until these occupations ment in the construction of masculine identity; became feminized (Lockwood, 1958). The same it is a moral as well as an economic category. is true for a whole range of professions, and Hence the devastating personal effects of unem- many of these occupational boundaries were ployment that have been documented by many often fiercely defended against the incursions researchers over many years. of women through the practices of trade unions In a somewhat more abstract vein, we may and professional associations (Walby, 1986). We consider the contribution of the ideological can say, therefore, that occupational titles and construction, which sees men, in contrast to occupational boundaries were policed by the women, as effective actors. This is partly practices of men and that, insofar as occupation because the public sphere, as outlined earlier, is became a key indicator of social class, the iden- not simply different from the private sphere but tification of masculinities and class can be seen is also seen as being, in many ways, more sig- as having deep historical roots. The same is also nificant than the private sphere. The elevation of true in terms of property, the other basis of class the economy and the spheres of war and politics distinctions, where the links between property, are accompanied by the downgrading of the class, and masculinity were often given legal domestic. Thus public statues celebrate warriors underpinnings. This is not to say that women did and statesmen, and the large-scale heroic canvas not have occupations or property but that male is given greater significance than the miniature property and male occupations became the more or the still life. On the one side there is risk and dominant. danger, the possibilities for heroic achievement Another set of distinctions reinforced the or spectacular downfalls; on the other side there masculine character of class: those between the is the routine and the everyday (see Morgan, public and the private. Conventionally, the ter- 2003). The very word “actor” (which has been rain of class and class struggle is located in the taken over into sociological analysis) still has public sphere, the sphere of employment, where some masculine connotations. Wherever the the deployment of wealth and property and pol- “action” is, it is not in the home. Action and itics is easily seen. The public sphere was also actor merge with active, which in its turn con- the sphere dominated by men as they engaged trasts with passive. in employment or class and political action. Finally we need to emphasize the distinction Women might be seen as backstage or “behind- between production and reproduction, which the-scenes workers” in class struggles, their own some writers see to as a key to understanding class position reflecting that of their husbands the masculinization of class. O’Brien (1981), in (Porter, 1983). In some cases, they provided very particular, recognized the contribution to class obvious and significant support, but this was analysis made by Marx and Engels, but she also usually defined as “support,” secondary to the demonstrated how the Marxist tradition tended main action. Only rarely, in the public imagina- to focus on labor and production and played tion, did women appear as class actors in their down reproduction. Indeed, it could be argued own right. that, within Marxism, reproduction tended to be Drawing together the two last points, we seen in more metaphorical terms (stressing the have the development of the idea of “the bread- reproduction of class relationships) rather than winner” and “the family wage.” Conventionally, as something to do with gendered relationships or so it emerged from the early 19th century, the (O’Brien, 1981). head of the household was a man, and he con- It can also be argued that class contributed to stituted the main or sole provider for his wife both a unified sense of masculinity and more and children. It was on this basis that claims diffused, perhaps more conflictual, models of were made in terms of “the family wage.” In masculinities. On the one hand, we have the practice, the reality was much more compli- identification of men, all men, with the public cated, but the idea of the man as “provider” sphere, the sphere of production, which con- remains remarkably persistent in a wide range of tained those areas in society where the action 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 170

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was. Many men, whatever the amount or source said that the class struggle was represented in of their income, could identify with the provider terms of these contrasting versions. role and the sense of moral responsibility that Within the writings on men and masculini- this implied. But at the same time, class experi- ties, class and gender converge in the concept of ences and practices pointed to different ways of “hegemonic masculinity” (Connell, 1995). The being men, different ways of being constituted main argument here is that the recognition of a as effective social actors. These differences diversity of masculinities should not obscure the (which will be explored in more detail later) fact that in a particular social formation, certain could be polarized between “them” and “us” or masculinities are more dominant, more valued, become embodied in a range of finer dis- or more persuasive than others. In part, these tinctions, such as those between “mental” and refer to characteristics that have little directly to “manual,” “skilled” and “unskilled,” or even do with class, such as heterosexuality or respon- workers in different departments or offices. sibility. But in part, they also have strong con- Other masculine themes that might be woven nections with class. A good example of this is into class analysis are notions of collective soli- the idea of rationality. However defined (and darity (traditionally associated with the working this is clearly a complex, multistranded con- class) and individual achievement and risk tak- cept), rationality is associated with the practices ing, associated with the classic bourgeoisie, or of men and, increasingly, with the public life the middle classes. Yet again, we can contrast a and with those most visibly or actively involved sense of masculinity that derives from having in public life. It is associated with the abstract authority or control over others and the solidar- logic of the market, the dominant principles ities of the shop floor or the coal face. of bureaucratic organization, and the general Representations of class struggle and class conduct of private life. The idea of rationality differences traditionally drew from masculine is an ideological theme that brings together imagery. Although the rhetoric might refer to both class and gender, forming a core feature “working people,” the representations of the of modern hegemonic masculinity. working class frequently included masculine symbols (such as the hammer or clenched fists) and emphasized collective solidarity. At the very THE CLASS OF MASCULINITY least, such representations of solidarity dissolved gender differences in a large class iden- One of the earliest books in the recent flood tity and frequently went further than this to of texts on men and masculinities specifically convey collective, embodied masculinity. The placed class and class differences at the center language was the language of struggle, of class of its analysis (Tolson, 1977). To a large extent, war and conflict. Representations of the opposi- Tolson takes it for granted that class provides a tion also deployed masculine, if negatively major framework within which masculine expe- valued, images of wealth and luxury. riences and contradictions may be explored. Media representations of industrial disputes Thus he begins a section titled “Working-class in the latter part of the 20th century frequently masculinity” with these words: “The paradox of seemed to play on these understandings. On masculinity at work is most apparent within the the one hand, we have the raised arms of the experience of manual labor” (p. 58). mass meeting; on the other, we have men in A later section within the same chapter suits, more individualized, leaving or entering focuses on the distinctive features of middle cars or making public statements in an abstract class masculinity. As already noted, we can see language of rationality (Philo, 1995). Here, in two contrasting ways of “doing” masculinity, contrast to the working class images, workers and these are easily recognized within certain were presented as sheep who were easily led by constructions of social class. The one is collec- politically motivated leaders or group pressure. tive, physical and embodied, and oppositional. Management, on the other hand, was presented The other is individualistic, rational, and rela- as dealing with some of the key issues in the tively disembodied. These can be broadly national economy. However valued, both sets of described as working class and middle class representations drew on different strands in the masculinities, respectively. Of course, more construction of masculinities, and it could be detailed probing will reveal complexities and 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 171

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ambiguities. There are, for example, the middle models, comes to be seen as something that class (and often embodied) solidarities of clubs, is played out in different sites that do not sports teams, public schools, and so on. And necessarily have much to do with each other. there are working class individualities repre- Divisions at the workplace, in terms of skills, sented in popular social types such as “Jack the pay, privileges, and so on, do not necessarily lad,” “the cheeky chappie,” and “the hard man.” carry over into the areas where these individuals It is, indeed, difficult to come to terms with live their family lives or enjoy their leisure some of the contradictions within constructions activities. Class as experience needs to be fil- of masculinity without taking on board some tered through particular agencies, such as hous- sense of class distinction. Masculinities are both ing, residential area, educational experience, solidaristic and individualistic, both embodied and so on. Further, although masculinities may and disembodied. An understanding of class and be shaped by or play a part in shaping these dif- of historically constructed class differences ferences, this is by no means inevitable. Some helps us to explore some of the tensions and divisions, indeed, such as the divisions between ambiguities of masculinity. the “rough” and the “respectable” working class Up to now, we have tended to focus on a or the fine gradations recorded by Robert bipolar, largely oppositional model of class, Roberts (1971) in his account of The Classic and it may be argued that this focus on struggle Slum may be as much maintained by the work of or opposition conforms to one influential model women as by the occupational status of men. of masculinity. However, there are other models Further, one of the key features of a class of class and class differences that point to three system, as opposed to feudalism or a caste or more classes. Clearly, the very notion of the system, is its relative openness and the degree “middle” class implies at least three classes, of mobility, both social and geographical, that although much sociological analysis that uses is allowed. Recognizing the possibilities of class classifications tends to leave out the upper social and geographical mobility does open up class, largely because the numbers involved are the possibility for more complex masculinities assumed to be too small to influence analysis of, and their relationship to class. Here we have the say, health or voting patterns. However, more “failed” masculinity of the downwardly mobile structural analysis should include the upper class individual whose failure in class terms may be (or power elite or any alternative term), as it is read as an indication of a weakness of character, clearly highly influential, if numerically small. which might also be gendered (lack of ambition, Moreover, such a class is both constructed by alcoholism, etc.). Here we have the defensive and has a major role in constructing dominant or and uneasy masculinity of the recent arrival into hegemonic notions of masculinity to do with middle class occupations, localities, or lifestyles. control, the exercise of power, rationality, and so This may contrast with the apparently more on. C. Wright Mills’s (1959) The Power Elite, for stable masculinities of those who have managed example, can be read as a study of masculinities. the easier passage from the middle class family, Once we move beyond the bipolar model, a through school and university, into a middle range of possibilities become open to us. There class occupation and a lifestyle enhanced by an is, first, the possibility of three or more classes, appropriate marriage and the “right” location. usually based on some classification of occupa- This may also contrast with the, probably dwin- tions. Occupations are implicated, in different dling, traditional working class communities ways, in the classifications developed by the that provide another basis for the reaffirmation British Registrar General, Goldthorpe, and Erik of masculinities through shared experiences Olin Wright (see, e.g., Marshall, Rose, Newby, & and lifestyles. Geographical mobility (with or Vogler, 1989, pp. 13-62). The trouble with many without social mobility) may also play its part of these classifications is that they do not neces- in blurring or sharpening masculine identities. sarily map easily into class experiences; the fact Community studies have explored differences that certain occupations may be grouped between the “established” and the “outsiders” together for the purposes of analysis does not that, to some extent, cut across class divisions necessarily mean that the individuals so grouped (Elias & Scotson, 1994). will understand their commonalities in class Watson developed the useful term “spiralist” terms. Class, once we move from bipolar to describe those who are both geographically 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 172

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and socially mobile (Watson, 1964). Such terms, a relatively tight association between mobilities may now, increasingly, take on a class and masculinity may be characteristic of global dimension. Whether such complexities modern or capitalist societies (for a historical contribute to an overall eroding of hegemonic analysis, see Davidoff & Hall, 1987). Some of masculinity or whether they open up the possi- the relevant features of these societies are rela- bilities for a much wider range of masculine tively clear distinctions between home and practices is a matter for further investigation. work, clear and relatively stable occupational It might also be argued that the experience titles, the dominance of a male breadwinner and practice of mobility itself is related to model, and the continuing importance of heavy the construction of masculinity in opposition and manufacturing industry. With a return to to femininity and the experiences of women. more blurred distinctions between home and Thompson (1997), using more qualitative oral work, the decline of clear occupational titles and historical material, argues (in the British con- jobs or careers for life, the decline of the male text) that the generation of men born in the breadwinner model, and the growth of a service 1930s and 1940s experienced some modest economy, we may also have a weakening of the improvements in the course of their life. This relationship between masculinity and class. This was not the case with the women in the sample. will be explored in the next section. For women, marriage often has a depressing effect on social status. Thompson argues for the importance of considering the interplays MASCULINITY AND between family, occupation, and gender in CLASS IN LATE MODERNITY exploring the processes of social mobility and the numerous, often unrecognized or unacknow- The last three decades has seen a ledged ways in which women assist in men’s subtle reworking of the relationship experiences of upward mobility. between class, masculinity and the We may reach an interim conclusion at individual. this point. We have seen a two-way interaction between class and gender, with particular refer- Mike Savage (2000, p. xi) ence to masculinities. Masculinity remains a relatively underexplored aspect in the examina- Probably one of the most significant influ- tion of class practices. Yet the position that class ences on the changing relationship between analysis plays, or at least has played, in socio- class and masculinity has been the decline of logical analysis as a whole and the continuing the male breadwinner model in practice and, importance of class as a social division may in although perhaps to a lesser extent, in ideol- part derive from this close but largely unrecog- ogy. In the past, it might be argued, men were nized masculine character of class. Conversely, more strongly “classed” than women because one of the reasons why it has been found neces- they had closer associations to the key practices sary to pluralize “masculinities” is that ways of and institutions that maintained class. For many doing masculinity are always mediated through men, of course, this might be an illusion; never- other social divisions, of which class remains one theless it might be possible for the more weakly of the most important. The connection between “classed” men (perhaps because of unemploy- class and masculinity is an intimate one. When ment, disability, or simply having a wife who I see a middle class man, I do not see some- was the main breadwinner) to continue to derive one who is middle class and then someone who some class identity from their more fortunate is a man, or vice versa. I see both at the same brothers. Hence there was some partial justi- time. The major social divisions—class, gender, fication for the traditional practice of locating ethnicity, age, and so on—may be likened to a household in terms of the class of its head primary colors, which are more often seen in and for women to be allocated class posi- their many combinations than individually. tions on the basis of their husbands’ or Up to now I have suggested a relatively close fathers’ class positions. With a weakening of association between class and masculinity, men’s attachment to the labor market and a although the last few paragraphs have pointed strengthening of women’s attachment, some to some possible complexities. In very broad revision was clearly necessary. 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 173

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As has already been noted, two analytical objective measures of class might not necessarily strategies emerged in response to the growing translate into more subjective processes of class involvement of married women in the labor experiences and identities. However, the presence market and the related decline in relevance (but of cross-class households constituted one piece not always in ideological importance) of the of a larger jigsaw that, when completed, would male breadwinner model. The first was to state show a much more complicated relationship clearly that the unit of class was the individual between class and gender. rather than the household. Various consequences One relatively underexplored theme might followed. Both men and women could be seen be mentioned. Classically, class (based on eco- as units within the class structure, although men nomic criteria) was distinguished from status, tended to occupy higher class positions than where issues of prestige and esteem were cen- women. It is also likely that the issues around tral. However, as both were aspects of social which everyday class struggles were fought stratification, it was frequently the case that the became more various. Notions of “the family distinctions became blurred. Status considera- wage” became less important and issues to tions could reinforce class distinctions (as in do with working conditions, hours of work, cases where we get a merging of economic and parental leave, and so on came more and more cultural capital) or could cut across them and, to the fore. It would not be true to say that class presumably, weaken their political effective- itself became feminized, but it could certainly ness. In the male breadwinner model, it could be argued that it became less masculine. almost be said that class and status frequently The other strategy was to take seriously the overlapped and, further, that the distinction idea of the household as a unit and to explore between them was gendered. Thus men tended the consequences of this. However, there were to be to the fore in matters of class and class also shifts in the idea of the household as a struggle, and women were involved in maintain- unit so that new models no longer treated the ing and reproducing everyday status distinctions household as an undifferentiated “black box” through their domestic labor, their parenting, and came to take account of differences within their organization of consumption, and their the household. For example, an interest in general moral demeanor within the local com- “cross-class marriages” (in which husbands munity. Partly as a result of the changes already and wives were, in terms of occupation, of discussed, men come to be more involved in different classes) developed, and the conse- status work and women in class work, and the quences of these differences were explored in distinction between the two modes of stratifi- a variety of ways (McRae, 1986). Particular cation, always difficult to maintain in practice, attention was paid, as might be expected, to becomes even less easy to maintain. those households wherein the wife was of a It is likely, in fact, that the tensions between higher social class than her husband. One might class and status have always been present and argue that this might further lead to the weaken- that a gendered understanding of stratification, ing of the association between class and mas- especially one that takes masculinities seriously, culinity or serve to remind us that, in interactional might highlight some of these. Thus it can be terms, the impact of class and the elaboration of argued that different ways of doing masculinity class-based identities might vary according to or of “being a man” can themselves constitute the different sites within which an individual status divisions. This, indeed, is one of the con- was involved. Thus a working class man mar- sequences of thinking about hegemonic mas- ried to a middle class women might have a culinities. One complex set of examples may be different sense of class at home than at work, derived from considering issues of sexualities. where some of the more traditional solidarities Studies of young men, in particular, have shown might still be relevant. how a notion of aggressive heterosexuality may Such conclusions, however, may be prema- be the basis of positive and negative status ture. For one thing, the class differences within (Mac an Ghaill, 1994). However, sexual status many cross-class households were relatively hierarchies might not necessarily correspond small and were based on occupational criteria to conventional notions of heterosexuality or that might not necessarily be of any relevance, homosexuality, as Lancaster’s (2002) study of certainly outside the workplace. In short, the Nicaraguan men indicates that what is often 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 174

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more important is a distinction between taking international top-level gatherings to become the active or passive role rather than the gender aware that we are dealing with the practices of the sexual partner. Clearly, such distinctions of men and the reproduction of hegemonic take place within conventional class divisions, masculinities. although they do not necessarily undermine At the lowest level, we have those with them. relatively little economic and cultural capital What of the alleged decline in the centrality (certainly little economic capital!) and with of class and its possible impact on hegemonic highly uncertain life chances. Terms such as masculinity or patriarchy? Speaking very gener- underclass or the socially excluded have been ally, it is possible to talk about a late-modern developed to capture this group, although both development whereby class and class divi- terms have their problems. Thus Devine (1997, sions became less central and more complex. pp. 220-221) concludes, along with numerous Alternatively, we may talk of a late-modern other commentators, that the idea of an “underdevelopment in which class has become more class” is flawed, although it is possible to simplified. In terms of the first, the lines of recognize the growth of a sizable minority argument have already been indicated. This (sometimes estimated as around 20%) of people includes a decline in the overall salience of in poverty in both the United States and the class (especially as related to occupation); a United Kingdom. This is, clearly, not an exclu- growing emphasis on other social divisions; a sively masculine group, and, indeed, it is often fragmentation of class divisions, identities, and the case that the burdens rest more heavily the sites where class work is performed; and a on women, whether as single parents or as blurring of the distinction between class and workers in low-paid, uncertain jobs. The domi- status. This last reflects a context within which nant characteristics of this “class” become consumption and leisure assume greater impor- magnified when seen through a global lens. tance. We may also note organizational changes; It is doubtful whether there is a single mas- for example, the development of “flatter” culinity that can be identified with the socially hierarchical structures, which might be seen as excluded, although certain public representa- having the consequence of a reduction of class tions are highly gendered. Thus media represen- and status divisions at the place of work. These tations stress themes of masculine violence, factors, in combination, might contribute to a either collective (as in rioting) or more individ- weakening of patriarchal structures in general ualistic. Or there are themes that concern absent but will certainly undermine the masculinity of fathers and the lack of a stable adult male role class. However, these finer, more complex class model. Dominant themes are those to do with and status divisions might still be important in either a failed masculinity, the lack of opportu- exploring the varieties of masculinities present nity to live up to what is expected in terms of in a late modern society. being a provider, or stigmatized forms of mas- A more simplified model, however, emerges culinity. Thus Savage (2000) writes, “working- if we take the idea of “life chances” seriously. class work has been constructed as ‘servile’ Here we look at different combinations of work, which no longer bestows mastery or economic and cultural capital and assess the autonomy on its incumbent” (p. 153). However, consequences of these for the life chances of even attempts to live up to hegemonic models of individuals. Theoretically, a large number of masculinity (as in the case of asylum seekers combinations may be possible, but in practice, who might otherwise be characterized as heroic we may talk of three major divisions. At the individuals) also become stigmatized. highest level, we have those with considerable Between these two extremes, there is the amounts of cultural and economic capital and more fluid class situation characterized by who are at the highest level of private organiza- different mixes of economic and cultural capital tions and state bureaucracies. This is clearly a and different life chances. The middle group minority, but also, increasingly, a global minor- (which is not the same as some theoretical ity. For the most part, we are talking about notion of “the middle class”) may, for example, men so that there are clear interactions between be ranged in terms of relative stability, and masculinities and class and status situations. certainty of life chances, from the very stable One only has to look at the photographs of or predictable at the top to the highly uncertain 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 175

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at the bottom. It is here that the links between very particular historical events, can simply be masculinities and class are becoming more translated to this more global framework. various or more fluid. Although there are con- Similarly, it is doubtful whether a simple siderable differences within this broad middle upgrading of the class struggle from the national category, whether these differences coalesce to the global arena can be anything more than into class differences is a little more difficult to a first approximation of what is an increas- determine. Clearly, there are some occupations ingly complex situation. Thus Waters (1995), in that are still shaped around strong constructions a useful survey of globalization theories, argues of masculinity; on both sides of the Atlantic, against the strong model for the development firefighters constitute one such occupational of transnational classes. There are, however, an identity (Baigent, 2001). But whether members increasing variety of transnational class experi- of such occupations construct themselves in ences (which also have relevance for the terms of wider class identities remains open to constructions of masculinities). A more fruitful question. The same might also be said of some line of analysis would seem to be to explore the newer occupational identities, such as “bounc- different interpenetrations of the global and the ers” or doormen, associated with developing local and the ways in which these shape and are leisure industries. shaped by classed and gendered experiences. Up to now, apart from a few passing refer- For example, Waters notes how processes of ences, the analysis has been based largely in consumption and production mingle in global material and theories developed in the United cities: “Under globalization, migration has Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, the United brought the third world back to the global cities States. In terms of traditional class analysis, where its exploitation becomes ever more there might be some justification for this, as has apparent” (p. 93). Such meetings do not neces- already been argued. However, there are good sarily undermine the close associations between reasons to doubt whether such an analysis can masculinities and other social divisions; indeed, be straightforwardly transplanted to countries they may well intensify them. outside Europe and Anglophone nations. For example, Scott (1996) argues for a variety of capitalist classes and suggests that the variations CONCLUSION such as the “Latin” model might be shaped by familistic and kinship ties to a greater degree This chapter has argued that there has been a than late-modern models in the West. Such relatively underexplored theme in the analy- models of the capitalist class also deploy differ- sis of social class; namely, its association with ent constructions of masculinity. Bertaux (1997) the construction of masculinity. Very broadly, it argues that most studies of social mobility (the could be argued that in the early stages of indus- kinds that have proliferated in Britain and the trial capitalism and up until the late 20th century, United States) tend to assume a relatively stable there was a relatively strong association between political order, within which such class move- class and class practices and masculinities. As ments take place. However, notions of mobility we move close to our own times, these connec- become much more problematic for those coun- tions have, in some cases, perhaps become more tries (such as the formerly communist nations of apparent, although in other cases, the links have Eastern Europe) that experienced revolutionary become more obscure. The growing uncertainty upheavals that challenged notions of privilege in class analysis perhaps reflects and has an and inequalities. The gendered implications of impact on what is sometimes, rather too loosely, these major transformations have not been called the crisis of masculinity. explored to any large extent. This is not the place to elaborate on the prob- A further challenge emerges when we aban- lematic idea of that “crisis,” which is discussed don the implicit assumption that the nation-state elsewhere in this volume. However, very simply, is our unit of analysis and, instead, begin to we may identify a model of stable masculinity explore flows and movements on a global scale against which any sense of crisis might be mea- (Urry, 2000). It remains an open question as to sured. Such a model would include a relatively whether the class models, developed from the high degree of congruence between public dis- core writings of Marx and Weber and reflecting courses about masculinity and the public and 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 176

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private practices of masculinity. For individual REFERENCES men, there would be a sense of ontological security—a relatively stable sense of “being in Acker, J. (1973). Women and social stratification: A the world.” Even where a man may feel that he case of intellectual sexism. American Journal of has fallen short of his responsibilities as a man Sociology, 78(4), 936-945. (reflected, perhaps, in notions of dishonor or Baigent, D. (2001). One more last working class unmanliness), the standard by which he is seen hero: A cultural audit of the UK fire service. Cambridge, England: Fire Service Research and to have fallen short remains relatively clear. Training Unit, Anglia Polytechnic University. Such an ideal, typical model of masculinity Bertaux, D. (1997). Transmission in extreme could clearly accommodate and interact with situations: Russian females expropriated by the hierarchies based in social class. Class divisions October Revolution. In D. Bertaux & P. Thompson may have underlined the fact that there were (Eds.), Pathways to social class: A qualitative different ways of “doing” masculinity (collective approach to social mobility (pp. 230-258). Oxford, versus individual, hands versus brains, and so England: Clarendon Press. on), and these different modes of masculinity Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: were reinforced by clear distinctions at work and University of California Press. between communities. To some extent, however, Crompton, R. (1993). Class and stratification. Cambridge, England: Polity Press. these differences might be seen as variations on Curtis, R. E. (1986). Household and family in theory a theme; the “respectable” breadwinning work- on inequality. American Sociological Review, ing man and the sober, rational member of the 51, 168-183. bourgeoisie might have a lot in common in terms Davidoff, L., & Hall, C. (1987). Family fortunes. of a sense of what it is to be a man, despite the London: Hutchinson. large differences and oppositions in class terms. Devine, F. (1997). Social class in America and Britain. Put another way, class might be seen as a prob- Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press. lem in terms of Marxist contradictions or more Elias, N., & Scotson, J. L. (1994). The established liberal notions of citizenship and social justice, and the outsiders (2nd ed.). London: Sage. but masculinity was not seen in this light. Hence Goldthorpe, J. H. (1983). Women in class analysis: class analysis remained ungendered for a long In defence of the conventional view. Sociology, 17, 466-488. period of time, and it has been only in relatively Gullestad, M. (1992). The art of social relations: recent times that any discussions of gender and Essays on culture, social action and everyday class have come to focus on the practices of men life in modern Norway. Oslo, Norway: Scandi- rather than on those of women. navian University Press. It is part of the argument of this chapter that Hobson, B. (Ed.). (2002). Making men into fathers: the undermining of a relatively stable sense of Men, masculinities and the social politics of masculinity (at least in its more public discourses) fatherhood. Cambridge, England: Cambridge was associated with growing uncertainty about University Press. the nature and significance of class. Thus, the Lancaster, R. (2002). Subject honor, object shame. In growing “presence” of women in all areas of R. Adams & D. Savran (Eds.), The masculinity studies reader (pp. 41-68). Oxford, England: social, political, and economic life presented a Blackwell. problem for conventional class analysis, just as it Lee, D. J., & Turner, B. S. (Eds.). (1996). Conflicts presented a problem for established or hege- about class: Debating inequality in late indus- monic masculinities. Both class and gender trialism. Harlow, England: Longman. became challenged by the recognitions of other Lockwood, D. (1958). The black-coated worker. social divisions, such as race and ethnicity, age, London: Allen & Unwin. sexualities, disabilities, and abilities. A great Mac an Ghaill, M. (1994). The making of men: sense of fluidity in social life, brought about by Masculinities, sexualities and schooling. flexibilities in working practices and the various Buckingham, England: Open University Press. complex strands of postmodernity and globaliza- McRae, S. (1986). Cross-class families: A study tion, provided yet further challenges to both of wives’ occupational superiority. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. class and gender. More detailed historical and Marshall, G., Rose, D., Newby, H., & Vogler, C. social analysis will be required to unravel the (1989). Social class in modern Britain. London: connections between class and masculinities, but Unwin Hyman. it is hoped that this chapter makes clear that such McLellan, D. (Ed.). (1988). Marxism: Essential writ- a program would be worthwhile. ings. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 10-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 177

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Mills, C. W. (1959). The power elite. New York: class: Debating inequality in late industrialism Galaxy Books. (pp. 159-170). Harlow, England: Longman. Morgan, D. H. J. (1996). Family connections: An Thompson, P. (1997). Women, men and trans- introduction to family studies. Cambridge, generational family influence in social mobility. England: Polity Press. In D. Bertaux & P. Thompson (Eds.), Pathways Morgan, D. H. J. (2003). Everyday life and family to social class: A qualitative approach to social practices. In E. B. Silva & T. Bennett (Eds.), mobility (pp. 32-61). Oxford, England: Clarendon Contemporary culture and everyday life. Durham, Press. NC: Sociologypress. Tolson, A. (1977). The limits of masculinity. London: O’Brien, M. (1981). The politics of reproduction. Tavistock. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Urry, J. (2000). Sociology beyond societies: Pakulski, J., & Waters, M. (1996). The death of class. Mobilities for the twenty-first century. London: London: Sage. Routledge. Philo, G. (Ed.). (1995). Glasgow Media Group reader Walby, S. (1986). Patriarchy at work. Cambridge, (Vol. 2). London: Routledge. England: Polity Press. Porter, M. (1983). Home and work and class con- Warin, J., Solomon, Y., Lewis, C., & Langford, W. sciousness. Manchester, England: Manchester (1999). Fathers, work and family life. London: University Press. Joseph Rowntree Foundation/Family Policy Roberts, R. (1971). The classic slum. Manchester, Studies Centre. England: Manchester University Press. Waters, M. (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge. Savage, M. (2000). Class analysis and social Watson, W. (1964). Social mobility and social class in transformation. Buckingham, England: Open industrial communities. In M. Gluckman (Ed.), University Press. Closed systems and open minds: The limits of Scott, J. (1996). Patterns of capitalist development. In naivety in social anthropology (pp.129-157). D. J. Lee & B. S. Turner (Eds.), Conflicts about Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliver & Boyd. 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 178

MALE SEXUALITIES

KEN PLUMMER

I want to fuck. I need to fuck. I’ve always needed and wanted to fuck. From my teenage years I’ve always longed after fucking. —A male friend speaking to social psychologist Wendy Hollway (1996)

Men have an overwhelming desire to relieve themselves upon a woman’s body. —Roger Scruton (1986)

I just like screwing. I can remember going back when I was six, seven, eight, nine, ten, we had a pub in [country town]. Saturday, Sunday morning, I’d lay in bed and flip myself ten or twelve times, and get the thrill of not being able to ejaculate. I’ve always been highly sexed. —Barney, a gay man, speaking to Gary Dowsett (1996)

For a man, sex instinctively is a testosterone drive towards the ultimate release of climax. When he becomes aroused, he automatically seeks release. His fulfillment in sex is mainly associated with the release of tension leading to and including the orgasm. —John Gray (1998, May 8)

have started this chapter with these quite and been told many times, it is overwhelmingly provocative quotes because they capture the men who rape, who buy pornography, who I very common and very simple story that is develop sexual fetishes, who engage in sexual most frequently told of male sexuality. It is pow- violence of all kinds, and who become the serial erful, natural, driven; it is uncontrollable; it is killers. It is men who are driven to seek sex penis centered; it seeks to achieve orgasm in all its diversities. They are the assertors, the whenever it can. The truth of this is often not insertors, and the predators. Of course, some very nice. After all, as we have seen depicted women—perhaps a growing number—do these

Author’s note: I would like to acknowledge here the thoughtful and helpful comments of Jeff Hearn and Bob Connell on an earlier draft.

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things. But overall, sex is seen to have a much source of the male’s erotic pleasures—a feature more driven quality for men. They are pressured that even young boys can learn, and one that to have sex as some intense inner need and, in can make masturbation such a prominent turn, they may well pressure others into it.1 feature of male sexuality—but it is also an Thus, men are much more likely than women enormously potent symbol. Engorged and erect, to become sexual consumers: They will pay for it is a sign of male power, assertion, and sex in all its varieties—prostitution, pornogra- achievement, a gun to conquer the world. But phy, striptease, sex tourism, massage, lap danc- flaccid, it is also a sign. It has become “weak, ing, telephone sex, fetish sales. They are much soft (or semi-soft), less active; it has no stamina, more likely to feel that they can assert them- no control. It cannot perform ‘like a man’” selves to take sex when they want it, not just in (Potts, 2002, p. 142). At its worst, it is a sign obvious rape situations, but more routinely, with of impotence, and, as Paul Hoch (1979) once their wives (wife rape), girlfriends (date rape), remarked, “absolutely the worst thing a man children (son or daughter rape), and other men can be is impotent” (p. 65). In the microcosm (homosexual rape). They are much more likely of an erotic encounter, a man seems always to than women to feel they have a specific turn- have to worry over the performance of his penis, on—a little out of the ordinary—which must be and this—combined with the pleasure goal— met. Where are all the women who “must” steal gives a significance to the penis that is hard to male underwear, who must expose their genitals ignore (Hoch, 1979).2 to men passing by in the street, who must make All this connects to another version of obscene phone calls to unknown men? “Perver- male sexuality that is a seemingly rather sadder sion,” says Robert Stoller (a leading psychiatrist story—the flip side of the coin, but a perhaps of sexual diversity), “is far more common in more tragic vision. Male sexualities are also signs men than in women; women practice almost of weakness and vulnerability. Many accounts none of the official diagnoses” (Stoller, 1976, of male sexualities start from a sense of man’s p. 34). Men are much more likely than women insecurity and fear. Most commonly, the issue of to be driven to break the sex laws and become the penis is raised. The penis in itself is a rather sex offenders; male sex offenders overwhelm- poor appendage of the male body. It is “fragile, ingly outnumber female sex offenders in all squashy, delicate...even when erect the penis is areas except one—prostitution—and although spongy, seldom straight, and rounded at the tip, women may commit crimes of passion, they are while the testicles are imperfect spheres, always not the same as the so-called lust murders of vulnerable, never still” (Dyer, 1985, p. 30). The men (Caputi, 1988). Most recently, with the cre- phallus (the erect penis), however, is a different ation of the new so-called diseases of “sexual story. As Richard Dyer (1982) once said, “The addiction” and “sexual compulsion,” it is again fact is the penis isn’t a patch on the phallus” overwhelmingly men who identify with this cat- (p. 71). The point is that although the penis egory and seek help through compulsive anony- communicates messages of sexualities, it is mous groups. Patrick Carnes, the guru of sexual immensely symbolic as well as physical. Thus addiction theory, has described the seemingly the need to conceal an erection at certain times extraordinary lengths to which some men will go or to have and maintain an erection at others to get their sex (Carnes, 1984). Many become is crucial. The penis can betray the man, and it “sex addicts.” Again, only a minority of men has to become socialized and able to perform may be involved in all of these, but it seems that in the right ways at the right moments (Tieffer, many, many fewer women are. 1995). As Reynaud (1981) has argued, “Man’s misfortune is that his penis, the symbol of power, is in fact one of the most fragile and HEGEMONIC SEXUALITY: vulnerable organs of his body” (p. 36). THE PENIS-CENTERED MODEL OF SEX Men’s sexuality so frequently seems to come to focus on the penis (physical) and the phallus At the center of this image of male sexuality, (symbolic): Both can bring problems. Thus there both physically and symbolically, lies the are worries of size when it is flaccid, worries of penis. As feminists so clearly know, ours is a it not getting erect quickly enough, worries of it phallocentric culture. Not only is the penis the being too erect too often, worries of it not 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 180

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staying erect long enough, and severe worries of Male sexuality is most certainly not any single it not getting erect at all. Then there are problems shared experience for men. It is not any single or of ejaculation—of coming too soon, too late, or simple thing at all—but the site of any number of not at all. Often, all of this is significant because emotions of weakness and strength, pleasure and men let it—or make it—define their masculinity. pain, anxiety, conflict, tension and struggle, none of them mapped out in such a way as to make the Sexuality, it has been argued, is “the mainstay obliteration of the agency of women in heterosex- of male identity” (Person, 1980, p. 605). As the ual engagements inevitable. Male sexuality cannot psychoanalytic theorist Ethel Person (1980) be reduced to the most popular meanings of sex once famously argued, “There is a wealth of acts, let alone to sex acts themselves. It becomes evidence to suggest that in this culture, genital intelligible only if placed within actual histories of sexual activity is a prominent feature in the men’s intimate relationships with others—or the maintenance of masculine gender, while it is a lack of them. (p. 215) variable feature in feminine gender....In men, gender appears to lean on sexuality” (p. 619). I think Lynne Segal is correct, but you would All this may seem obvious to many students not really know this from the spate of studies of male sexualities. True, this is the common- that support the view I have outlined. Indeed, sense story, and it is mirrored a thousand times what we may have here is a case of hegemonic by more scientific stories. Indeed, while writing male sexuality,4 buttressed by a series of scien- this chapter, I was persistently drawn to it. Yet, tific and cultural props pointing in the same obvious as it may seem to many, I kept thinking direction and telling us what men are really like. that sexuality is not really like this at all for all Hegemony expresses the privileged positions men at all times. To argue so would be to fall of dominant groups and establishes “the fund into the trap of essentialism and, worse, to see of self evident descriptions of social reality male sexuality as overdetermined. If male sexu- that normally go without saying” (Fraser, 1992, ality were really just like this, we surely would p. 179). Hegemonic male sexuality works to find even more problems concerning it than essentialize the male sexualities of some men we do. We can, indeed, find enough problems into the sexualities of all, as well as reinforcing around it to make some feminists argue that this assumptions about a bipolar feminine essential is precisely their point: Sexuality is male, and it sexuality. is trouble. In this chapter, I look a little at these hege- In the face of a wave of research and writing monic stories; there is no doubt that they are that I have come to call the “new theories of sex- very common, but they are not definitive. I will ualities,”3 we can now see that men change (just look at the persistent reinforcement of this hege- like women) across time, space, and contexts. monic model in nearly all directions, and then Sexualities are never simple biological facts, turn to changes that suggest that the sexualities however much some people protest that they of men may well not be as unified or as simple are. Indeed, for some commentators, “Sexuality as commonly outlined. Focusing on hegemony is so diverse, confusing and culturally informed is important, but it fails to take into account the that perhaps it is beyond any real understand- fact that human beings are agents and actors ing” (Whitehead, 2002, p. 162). who resist and transform hegemonies (Connell, In this view, human sexualities are complex 1995). This will take me into what may be called historical actions, relations, and practices the “new sexualities studies” and into contem- performed through metaphors and languages, porary social changes that some identify as queer shaped by social divisions, lodged in political postmodernism. A sense of some of the new processes, and always open to change. Recent male sexualities that challenge and fracture the work shows very definitely that sexualities are hegemony will be highlighted. patterned by cultures; they are shaped by class, gender, and age; they are negotiated through institutions of family, religion, education, and STORIES OF HEGEMONIC MALE SEXUALITY economy; they shift across the life space and cycle; and they are enmeshed in all manner of In what follows, I plan to quickly raid a sample power relations. More generally, as Lynne Segal of stories. They all point toward a major narra- (1997b) comments, tive of an essential male sexuality, mirroring 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 181

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what I have located so far. In various ways, they women as they can; for women, the task is to find help to assemble the resources through which the best man and the best seed. male sexuality comes to be seen as given and This popular argument of evolutionary psy- normal. Any one account on its own would not chology hence argues that men are much more stand, but I hope to show that there is a massive sexual and that this serves evolutionary adaptive convergence into a particular version of what it needs. The male is seen as more sexual and is to be a sexual male. more likely than the female to desire sex with a variety of partners. Of course, this theory may Evolution and the Biological Story also be seen as a major device to legitimize these behavioral patterns in men and women: Perhaps the major contemporary account of They are natural, adaptive, and, hence, neces- male sexuality to display this story line has grown sary. In more extreme versions, they can even from biology and evolutionary theory. For many, come to legitimize phenomena such as rape and it mirrors common sense so perfectly that its sexual violence. One example of this new evo- validity seems almost irrefutable and inevitable. lutionary thinking is the controversial study of Although there are many variations on the theme, rape by sociobiologists Randy Thornhill and the core position is that gender differences in Craig Palmer (2000). Drawing on the evolution- regard to sexuality are striking and given “in ary theory of sex, they claim that rape is a nec- nature.” In one version, the presence of testos- essary part of the evolutionary process. They see terone in the male is seen as a prime driver of it as completely congruent and compatible with sexuality (e.g., Goldberg, 1973). In another, the the development of sex differences. In this view, biological significance of a single sperm and a rape becomes a device in which men can have single egg are seen to differ dramatically. Thus, a sex no matter what. Male rape “arises from physically adult man releases hundreds of mil- men’s evolved machinery for obtaining a high lions of sperm in a single ejaculation and then number of mates in an environment where makes more, whereas a newborn female’s ovaries females choose mates” (Thornhill & Palmer, contain her entire lifetime allotment of follicles 2000, p. 190). Sociobiology suggests that cul- or immature eggs; a woman commonly releases tural patterns of reproduction, promiscuity, the a single mature egg cell from her ovaries each double standard, and, indeed, rape, like many month. Thus, although a man is biologically other patterns, have an underlying biologic. capable of fathering thousands of offspring, a Simply put, male sexualities have developed woman is able to bear only a relatively small around the world because women and men number of children. It is but a short step from everywhere tend toward distinctive reproductive this biologically based difference to argue that strategies that reinforce hegemonic sexuality. It each sex is well served in long-term evolutionary is seen as an evolutionary necessity. adaptations by distinctively different “reproductive strategies.” From a strictly biological Conventional Sociological Stories perspective, a man reproduces his genes most efficiently by being promiscuous—that is, A quick version of hegemonic masculinity readily engaging in sex with many partners. This may also be found in one of the earliest socio- scheme, however, opposes the reproductive inter- logical statements of men’s studies (David & ests of a woman, whose relatively few pregnan- Brannon, 1976; see pp. 11-35). This study is cies demand that she carry the child for 9 months, organized around four key dimensions of the give birth, and care for the infant for some time male sex role, and although these are stereo- afterward. Thus, efficient reproduction on the types, and knowledge has moved beyond them part of the woman depends on carefully selecting as the world of their existence has changed, they a mate whose qualities (beginning with the likeli- may well serve as a useful starting point when hood that he will simply stay around) will con- applied to sexuality. David and Brannon suggest tribute to their child’s survival and successful that men in general are bound into the following reproduction. For reproductive potentials to be expectations (and here they can also be seen to fulfilled and humans to satisfactorily reproduce embody their sexualities more particularly): themselves, there is an evolutionary necessity for “No sissy stuff”—the stigma of anything men to have sexual intercourse with as many vaguely feminine. The implication here is that 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 182

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sexuality for men must not involve anything to avoid discovery? Is it such prolonged childhood remotely feminine (emotional, passive, etc.). It silence that leads men into valuing loud noises, hints at the way in which homophobia (the fear yelling out “dirty words,” or into a dependency on of homosexuality) may serve to partially struc- repetitious, visually exaggerated, closely detailed ture male sexuality, and it also suggests that pornographic displays? (pp. 224-225) men’s sexuality must indeed be different from that of women. Certain themes consistently reappear in femi- The “big wheel”—success, status, and the nist discussions of male sexuality, and accounts need to be looked up to. The implication here is of male sexuality as prone to violence, pressure, that sexuality for men must involve being seen coercion, and objectification abound. For some, to be successful, that a man must be looked up sexuality is almost defined as male; for others, to for his sexual competence. And, as suggested it is seen as a major device through which earlier, for men, sexual competence may well men maintain their positions of power and keep have a lot to do with the effective working of women under a constant state of threat. One group their well-socialized penises: getting it up and of English feminists, writing in the 1980s, cap- getting to ejaculate. tured such themes succinctly under seven head- The “sturdy oak”—a manly air of toughness, ings. Asking themselves what male sexuality was confidence, and self-reliance. The implication like, they concluded that it was about power, here is that sexuality for men must be assertive. aggression, penis orientation, the separation of sex Men should not have any self-doubt about their from loving emotion, objectification, fetishism, and sexuality. uncontrollability (Coveney, Jackson, Jeffreys, “Give ’em hell”—the aura of aggression, Kay, & Mahony, 1984). There is no doubt from violence, and daring. The implication here is their discussions that they saw each of these that sexuality for men must conform to that features not only as male but also as very damag- most worrying of expectations—rough and vio- ing and destructive to women, creating the com- lent sex. For some this may mean that coercive posite stereotype of the traditional macho man: sex (from rape to harassment) may be felt as a an emotionally crippled, sex-obsessed, aggressive central feature of good sex. dominator. Taken together, many of these attri- Each of these broad themes, then, can be butes could highlight a whole structure of fear and seen to characterize aspects of hegemonic male violence imposed on women by men—of sexual sexuality. Men must not be like women in any slavery, sexual exploitation, and sexual terrorism. way; must succeed in sex; must exude a manly The theoretical analyses and the empirical sexuality; and must be forceful, assertive, and evidence brought to focus on male sexuality aggressive.5 led to an inexorable logic: Sexuality is male. Once women recognized this, they had only a few options: Attack sexuality with all their might, Feminist Stories for “we are fighting for our lives; we are dealing Although it is well recognized that there are with a life and death situation” (Dworkin, 1981, many contrasting feminist positions, at the heart p. 26); retreat entirely from it, leaving men to their of many accounts of male sexuality, of whatever sexuality and women to establish alternative persuasion, lies a description of men that is worlds; or both. In any event, a woman-identified hardly flattering—one that is likely to arouse world—without men—became the goal (Dworkin, considerable discomfort, if not outright anger, in 1981; Leidholdt & Raymond, 1990; Vance, 1984). men. In the 1970s, for example, Phyllis Chessler As Andrea Dworkin (1981) remarks, (1979) almost groans with pity for us: Man fetishizes [the woman’s] body as a whole What demon do men run from? What enemy and in its parts. He exiles her from every realm hovers behind them, what enemy waits to envelop of expression outside the strictly male-defined them from within, if they pause a bit in the sexual or male-defined maternal. He forces her to taking—if not the giving—of sexual pleasure? Is become that thing that causes erection, then holds this style the inevitable conclusion of a childhood himself helpless and powerless when he is in which boys spend years trying to hide their aroused by her. His fury when she is not that erection, years of trying to masturbate in the thing, when she is either more or less than that dark—as quickly, as silently as they can, in order thing, is intense and punishing. (p. 1) 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 183

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More nuanced readings still agree that men model. Viagra is a clear case of this. Hitting the are the problem, but they also highlight the headlines during the 1990s, it signposted what linked problems of women’s sexuality and, was a hitherto unknown sexual problem, but sometimes, the role of women in mothering one that now appeared on a massive scale. The men. In a gentler form, Dorothy Dinnerstein problem was impotence. If sales of Viagra are says that “a central rule under a strikingly wide- any indication (nearly 200,000 prescriptions spread set of conditions is, first, that men act are filled each week, and some 17 million sexually more possessive than women, and Americans use the drug), then it could flag a new second that women act less free than men to seek (even global!) social problem for men—and ‘selfish sexual pleasure’” (cited in Williams & women, too. Erectile dysfunction now becomes Stein, 2002, p. 5). Even here, in this weaker the issue. This also suggests a model of dys- form, male sexuality is more possessive and function for the aging male, with Viagra and selfish than female sexuality. medicalization as the solution.6 Both Leonore Tiefer (2000) and Barbara Research Stories: Marshall (2002) suggest that the story of Viagra The Clinical Therapy Tradition and, indeed, medical interventionism over the “science” of sexual dysfunction is a wholly Another tradition for looking at sexuality mechanical way of looking at sexual issues, and takes it increasingly into the realm of the clini- one that most of the world had not even dreamt cal and therapeutic. This is a deeply normative of before its arrival in the mid-1990s. At its and prescriptive view of the world. It establishes heart, it deflects attention from all the political broad, normative models of what human sex- and cultural concerns of sexuality and works to uality is really like, identifies problems people make cultural expectations of gender become experience because they do not fit the model, more rigid (Marshall, 2002). and then proceeds to assist people to follow that model. In the early days, much of therapy Research Stories: concerned issues of object choice (the “clinical The Empirical Tradition disorder” of homosexuality, for example), but since the 1960s, a major sex therapy “industry” Much research during the 20th century has has grown up that maps out the proper routes catalogued the differences between male and for male and female sexualities. The work of female sexuality. The mammoth volumes pro- Masters and Johnson (1966) was most duced by Kinsey and his colleagues (Kinsey, famous for its “discovery” of a sexual response Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948; Kinsey, Pomeroy, cycle: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolu- Martin, & Gebhard, 1953) provide a mound of tion. This model is almost entirely focused on a data based on some 12,000 (nonrandom) North sequencing of arousal and orgasm—establishing, Americans living in the 1930s and 1940s, and in in effect, that whenever a firm erection is not Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Kinsey possible, or orgasms do not take place, there is et al., 1953), some key contrasts are brought sexual dysfunction. Although on an individual out in Part 3. level, therapy may be able to provide support Another major example can be found in the and change, on a wider public level, it has the studies of Shere Hite (1981), conducted in the 1970s consequence of reinforcing what male and and early 1980s and providing one of the larg- female sexualities should be like. It is highly est surveys of male sexuality ever produced. normative and prescriptive. Although it is very detailed—7,239 men returned The ideological functions of sex research a 13-page questionnaire, and this was turned into have been much discussed. Janice Irvine’s a 1,000-page book composed of their comments— (1990) study Disorders of Desire is a fine it has been much criticized on scientific (and account of just how coercive much sexology and political) grounds. Nevertheless, it does contain a sex research has been over the past century. wealth of detail from men willing to write about Indeed, much contemporary therapy and sexol- their sex lives. At the heart of the study, once ogy continues in the same vein today, with the again, is the idea that sex is very important to help of new technologies, all usually bringing men. They like intercourse because of the potential reinforcement to the hegemonic physical pleasure, because of psychological and 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 184

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emotional support, and because in part it is a The interviewer asks one young man: “and validation of their masculinity (p. 333). They did the girls enjoy it?” and the response comes: have a fear of impotence or loss of erection (p. 340). Hite claims that a traditional model of I don’t know. I didn’t really ask. As long as I sex—foreplay, intercourse, male orgasm in the enjoyed it I weren’t bothered. I am now, but then I didn’t know, I just thought it was their duty. I vagina—is “far and away the most usual type was a bit sexist. (young male, working class, A, 17 of sex” (p. 414) and, indeed, suggests that for years old) men, the male orgasm is “the point of sex and intercourse” (p. 454;. although they have their Likewise, in New Zealand, Louisa Allen strongest orgasms in masturbation [p. 431], and (2003), studying some 500 young people, found nearly everyone in the study masturbated [a mere that the major discourses among the young 1% did not]). Often sex was accompanied by replicated classic positions. Her article is even guilt (p. 486). “Love” was important but often called “Girls Want Sex, Boys Want Love,” and painful; marriage, even when difficult, was liked in one focus group, we hear the following: (p. 206) because there was someone to care for them and because of the stability, domestic Michael: Guys are basically always ready. warmth, and regularity of home life (p. 209). It Anabella: I heard some statistics...and guys was common to have sex outside of marriage, supposedly think of sex six times an hour unknown to their wives; many had little guilt on average. about it and even felt it had enhanced their mar- Darren: Oh it’s heaps more than that. (all laugh) riage (p. 142). In a slightly different vein, research stories Tim: If I wanted to ejaculate, I could probably from young people suggest these differences do so in less than a minute.... appear at an early age. James Messerschmidt Chris: ...a guy is sort of almost guaranteed to (1993), in a review of many contemporary feel good (having sex you know, feel the studies of young men across class and ethnicity, same in the end anyway so....) suggests that “normative heterosexuality is con- Darren: Guys have got a lot to prove. There’s a structed as a practice that helps to reproduce lot . . . there’s a lot for guys to live up to the subordination of young women and to like uhm gotta be all macho and gotta be produce age specific heterosexual styles of cool and all this sort of stuff, gotta score masculinity, a masculinity centering on an nice chicks or if you have got one chick, uncontrollable and unlimited sexual appetite” you have got to score often.... (p. 90). “Natural sex” serves as a routine resource in accomplishing and reinforcing young men’s But they do go on to suggest a change in the emerging manliness.7 making: Likewise, in an influential U.K. study, Peter: Sex is good. It’s nice but its not essential. Holland, Ramazanoglu, Sharpe, and Thomson I’d still love her...I’d still want to be (1998) found that “many of the young men with her. So you know it’s nice but I implicitly concur with the absence of subordi- mean if it had to stop then it would, and I nation of female desire in the very commonly would still go out with her....(p.227) expressed view that while men want sex, women want love and relationships” (p. 124). “Pop Narratives” Some boys’ voices from the study make this clear: Then there are the immensely popular cultural texts, such as John Gray’s (1992) Men Are Most boys can have sex without any feelings, From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Here men whereas a girl has to have feelings. It’s totally dif- and women are seen as being so very different ferent. It’s much deeper for a girl than it is for a that they might as well come from different boy. (young male, middle class, AC,8 18 years old) planets, and their lives are lives of inevitable conflicts. Thus Gray’s task is to act as an omni- Sometimes I just want to have sex, and I am going scient interpreter of all this and to help show to have sex, but it is only going to be for me. what the differences are and what can be done (young male, working class, ESW, 19 years old) about them. “Great sex,” as he calls it, involves 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 185

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connecting up these differences. Great sex definition, hegemonic male sexuality is defined connects the core selves of men and women. through heterosexuality, and gay relations are Graphically, he says, “He is trying to empty out ostensibly excluded. And yet there is one major while she is trying to be filled up” (p. 27). He strand of “gay” analysis in the gay male com- is force and active—she wants it. Women are munity which suggests that gay male sexuality told that “sex is the direct line to a man’s takes us closer to what “true” male sexuality is heart” (p. 18); men have a need for “quickies” or all about. In the 1980s, for instance, there was a “fast food sex” (pp. 77, 82, passim); and women notorious debate with certain feminists over should be patient; because men become aroused whether gay men were more phallic centered very quickly (indeed, it is “as easy as shaking a and more male in their sexualities than hetero- can of beer and then letting it pop”) (Gray, 1992, sexual men—who at least had their sexualities 1995, 1998, and as discussed in Potts, 1998). (partially) regulated by (some) women. Liz Bernie Zilbergeld’s (1999) best seller, The Stanley (1982), an English lesbian sociologist, New Male Sexuality, provides a guide that is could remark that much more cautious than Gray’s.9 Although in this book he starts by suggesting that most gay men, perhaps more than any other men men are engulfed in a “Fantasy Model of Sex” ally themselves with the activities and products of (for which the claim is, “It’s Two Feet Long, sexism. More than any other men they choose to Hard as Steel, and Will Knock Your Socks Off,” act and construe themselves and each other in p. 15), the main message of the book is that ways dominated by phallocentric ideologies and activities. (pp. 210-211) this fantasy model is breaking down, and a new openness is starting to appear. At the start of the But there are also those within the gay book he is at pains to suggest some of the myths movement who see that sex is the core of that surround men’s sexuality. In a sense, they the gay male experience and is too often sani- do constitute some elements of the main male tized and demeaned. Gay sex is revolutionary story line of sex, and so they are worth repeating sex. Repeatedly, gay men rehearse the idea that here—not so much as myths, but as key plots that often shape the workings of male sexuality. gay sensibility is truly subversive because it Slightly abridged, they include the following: insists on the primacy of sexuality beneath its adoration of the civilized. While ostensibly it is • A real man isn’t into sissy stuff like feelings concerned with disseminating new ideas about and communicating. culture, its real concern is the dissemination of • All touching is sexual or should lead to sex. sexual knowledge, with which it is obsessed.... • A man is always interested in and always ready Gay sensibility sexualizes the world. (Kleinberg, for sex. 1980, pp. 62-63) • A real man performs in sex. • Sex is centered on a hard penis and what’s In a recent and very engaging history of gay done with it. • If your penis isn’t up to snuff, we have a pill culture, Michael Bronski (1998) suggests that it that will take care of everything. is male sexuality that heralds gay radicalism. • Sex equals intercourse. For him, gays signpost a very positive but very • A man should make the earth move for his threatening pleasure class that embodies “the partner or at the very least knock her socks off. possibility of freedom of pleasure for its own • Good sex is spontaneous with no planning and sake” (p. 214). And because, he says, “our most no talking. (Chapter 2) fundamental experience of pleasure is essentially sexual in nature” (p. 213), gay men pro- We have been here before. The list vide the means for us to reconnect our bodies to rehearses most of the features we have already our minds, to experience wholeness, to avoid encountered.10 splitting. It is a lot to ask from “sexuality”—and gay men. Gay Male Sexual Stories Much research on the sexualities of gay men documents the sheer quantity and range of Gay male sexuality poses a curious series sexual experiences that many gay men have and of questions for the hegemonic model. By how they have built sexualized communities and 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 186

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institutions to embody them: car parks, woods men would take if they were not shaped by and parks, toilets and beaches, parties, bath- relations with women. Gay men become the houses and clubs become colonized for male champions of the pleasure principle. And yet, desires (Delph, 1978). One recent study finds once again, although this may be a feature of just how central a sense of masculinity may be some parts of the gay world, I would worry if for gay male sexuality: this were presumed to characterize it all. Once again, we are on the verge of a sexualized essen- I was just thinking how incredibly hot it was to tialism that will need challenging.11 have this stud sort of fucking me....That he was inside me and giving himself to me and so on. And Research on HIV/AIDS in that sense he represented all the, you know,... all the masculinity and that strength and so on that One last comment. Since the 1980s and I, you know, wanted it up inside me.... the growth of the worldwide pandemic of And it’s like . . . it’s almost like this man in HIV/AIDS, there has been a growing industry of injecting some of his masculinity into me ...giv- research into sexual behavior. Most of this sug- ing me some of that. And so I find it [receptive gests just how driven male sexualities are, more anal sex] a very augmenting experience as or less across the world. Whether this drivenness opposed to a diminishing experience....In a is biological or cultural is largely beside the sense it’s like me sort of taking something from point. In AIDs prevention work, over and over him.... It was quite a sexual thrill to do something again, men talk of how it is their right to have dangerous. It is going beyond the boundaries, that sex; to have unprotected sex, which is more is what sex is all about ...about breaking the natural; that they have the need for outlets; that taboos....It was an incredible thrill....(Ridge, if their partners will not give them sex, they have 2004) to take it. As a global Panos report indicates,

For some (but by no means all or even most) Thais of both sexes say men “have strong sexual gay men, then, this meant the creation of a desire and need some outlet”; South African min- macho culture of sleaze and leather, where the ers claim that regular intercourse is essential for a notion of desire or lust took precedent over man’s good health; and in Indian society “it is considered natural for men to be ‘lustful.’” This other concerns. Male pleasure is closely linked viewpoint appears universal. (Panos, 1999, p. 17) to male fetishism and male power. The pleasure of the penis takes over—a gay phallocentric culture is invented. The gay male culture of sleaze and leather can be seen as a model of truly lib- DISMANTLING THE erated lust—sex for pleasure’s sake, uncontami- HEGEMONY? TRANSFORMING nated by bourgeois notions of intimacy and WESTERN MEN’S SEXUALITIES relationships. One example of political pornography put it like this: From the snapshots I have displayed, there would almost seem to be a universal conver- Meat may be the most moral book ever assem- gence on the nature of male sexuality, from bled; a morality of participants in which being many different perspectives. There would seem “good” is giving a good blow or rim job, being to be a hegemonic male sexuality. And yet, this “good” is being hot and hard, being good is letting is far too generalized a picture. An essentializ- it all come out: sweat, shit, piss, spit, scum; being ing narrative has taken hold that portrays men good is being able to take it all, take it all the way....Story after story in Meat expresses the as driven by sex; focused on their penises; in sheer joy and exuberance—the wild pleasure in persistent need of orgasm; and often as border- licking assholes, eating shit, drinking piss— line, if not actual, rapists. This may be the hege- taking it all. ...The truth is the biggest turn on. mony, but I for one am not really happy with (Gay Sunshine Press, 1981, pp. 6-7) this. True, I can see many signs of all this in many men in many contexts, including myself, So here is a curious paradox. Gay male as I move through my daily round. Yet it is sexuality may be the key to heterosexual male a very dark picture, and there is something sexuality—it may suggest the routes that most worryingly inaccurate about it. 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 187

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What, then, is to be made of all this? being highly resistant to gender; and others may Certainly not that all men are like this and no be marginalized (e.g., those patterns outside of women are: The first key thing to notice is that authorization). there are significant overlaps between male and Third, we do need to realize that human female sexualities, overlaps that may even be sexualities are forms of social actions. That is, increasing for some. Indeed, sociologists Pepper people compose their sexual lives—their feel- Schwartz and Virginia Rutter (1998) have made ings, actions, talk, identities, even body work— a surprising claim—based largely on research out of the social resources at hand. Sexualities evidence. They suggest that there is a bell curve are messy and ambiguous social practices, not continuum of women’s and men’s sexuality. As fixed and straightforward “drive releases.” It is they say, true that the hegemony can provide guidelines for many men across the world, centrally, A large proportion of both female and male popu- because it enhances their power, but it is never lations share much of the middle ground...sex- just a straightforward matter; it always has to be ual experience isn’t all that different for men and worked at. This means that much sexual action women, but perhaps like us you wonder what will take different pathways from that of the causes men and women at one end of the contin- hegemonic model.12 uum to be so different from other men and women. (pp. 37-38)

It is these differences at the ends of the con- THE NEW THEORIES OF SEXUALITIES tinuum that seem to be highlighted in research. Given the evidence shown earlier, there is surely All this is to enter what has been called “the new a general contrast that may be unmistakable at theories of sexualities” (Plummer, 2002). When the ends of these bell curves, but to focus exclu- sociologists, historians, feminists, and anthro- sively on this is to miss vast areas of overlap. pologists started to study human sexuality, they Another key thing to notice is that the sexual- soon realized that it was often profoundly unlike ities of men are decidedly not all cut from the that found in other animals. Of course there is a same cloth. Indeed, many of the studies cited ear- biological substratum that connects us to all ani- lier, although giving prominence to what we call mal life, but what is distinctive about human the hegemonic model, also show that male sexu- sexuality is that it is both (a) symbolic and alities do vary according to class backgrounds, meaningful and (b) linked to power. In all of positions in the age cycle, ethnicities, relation- this, we see that the simple study of sex as sex, ships with peers, wider cultures, and personali- of sex sui generis, has gone from the agenda. ties. Men are manifestly not all the same. Many Human sexuality is always conducted at an men, then, are decidedly not like the conventional angle: It is never “just sex.” There is no straight- portrait. Just as Connell (1995) recognizes that forward (male) drive pressing for release; sex is this is not the full story for men in general (there not a simple property of people (or men); it does are many “masculinities”), so, too, we may be not exist in a social vacuum but is flooded with sure that there are many male sexualities. We the social. Human sexualities are interactive, need only look around to see that many of the relational, structural, embodied, and organized men we know do not (at least on the surface) within a broad template of power relations. seem to follow the standard model. Despite the They connect to identities, interactions, and popular adages, all men are not rapists; all men institutions. They are fashioned by patriarchal are not demons. Following Connell’s line of argu- relations, sex negativism, homophobia, and het- ing, there may be many different responses to erosexism, as well as by continuums of sexual hegemonic male sexualities. Some may be com- violence. People “do” sexualities as well as plicit (different from hegemonic but in support of telling stories about them. As such, human sex- them, e.g., in marriage); some may be subordi- ualities are far from biologically fixed. These nated (practices that expel some men, such as are the wisdoms of the new sexualities theories gays, from a “circle of legitimacy” [Connell, (although the theories themselves come in many 1995, p. 79]); some can be very different— forms). A key feature of much of this new theo- emphasizing femininity, or homosexuality, or retical work is to locate sexualities within 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 188

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frameworks of scripts, discourses, stories, and hegemonic male sexual drive discourse, she male power (e.g., Foucault, 1976; Gagnon & also saw a “have-hold” discourse (linked to Simon, 1973; Jackson, 1999; Plummer, 1995). monogamy, partnership, and family life, within In general, these new social accounts offer up which women are more likely to experience sex more modest accounts of sexualities than those as a lack and move on to mothering and emo- found in the sexological world. They throw into tional bonding) and a permissive discourse doubt any “grand narratives” of sexuality (such (within which women are more likely to be as that of an essential male sexuality) that have coopted into the male drive model). Although haunted much of the modern world’s analysis there is a clear recognition that “the male sex of sexuality. “Sex” is no longer the source of a drive discourse” is dominant and hegemonic truth, as it was for the moderns with their strong (Hollway, 1996, p. 85), there is also space for belief in science. Instead, human sexualities other patterns of sexualities to emerge for have become destabilized, decentered, and women. In contrast, Matt Mutchler (2000), in de-essentialized: The sexual life is no longer seen his study of young gay men, sees a wider range as harboring an essential unitary core locatable of scripting for men. Four dominant gendered within a clear framework (such as the nuclear sexual scripts among young gay men are high- family), with an essential truth waiting to be dis- lighted: romantic love, erotic adventure, safer covered. There are only fragments. There is an sex, and sexual coercion. These are hybrid affinity here with some versions of postmod- models, as, traditionally, romantic love is seen ernism, and links can be made to the growing as the main script for women and erotic adven- interest in queer theory. One of the key tenets of ture as the main script for men, but young gay a postmodern approach to the world is to high- men navigate their way through a mix of both.13 light the dissolution of any one grand account, Although recently there has been a great narrative, or story of the world. In effect, this deal of talk about “New Men” and “masculinity means that much of what has been presumed in crisis,” much of this can be seen as backlash about sexuality, or gender, or intimacy in the against women in general and feminism in past simply no longer holds. The “grand story” particular, and much of it is not even new of male sexuality—that hegemonic male sexual- (Whitehead, 2002, pp. 54-59). Much of it sees ity described in the opening sections of this women and feminism as a threat and proceeds chapter—does, of course, continue. But it is to assert some kind of new essential man as a now challenged from many sides. The idea of response to it. My view, however, is that sim- any fixed, essential, or dominant version of men ultaneously (maybe more slowly than some and their sexualities becomes weakened, frag- suggest), we are moving into a new set of rela- mented, and deconstructed, and we are left tionships in what might be called postmodern with multiple tellings and more fluid patterns times (for some at least), where certain worlds (Halberstam, 1998). Of course, this also means are becoming less sure of themselves, more that what it is to do sexualities at the start of the fragmented and shifting, pluralistic, and so on. 21st century is altogether less clear, and this It is a world I have described elsewhere, of post- brings anxieties with it. This is also what queer modern intimacies, which brings a whole array theory aims to do: It seeks to persistently sub- of new conflicts and problems (Plummer, 2000, vert and deconstruct commonly held polarities, 2003). It touches on shifts in gender, bodies, categories, and ideas about sexuality and relationships, eroticism, identities, and families. gender. Postmodern and queer thinking seek both In its wake, it brings massive anxieties: As a 44- to find new ways of thinking about sexual cate- year-old client of the therapist Zibergeld puts it, gories (and hence male sexuality) and to recognize that a new kind of society may be in the The one sure thing I know about life right now is making in which new patterns of sexuality may that it’s bewildering. It’s not clear what it means to be a man or a woman, how to have a relationship, be starting to emerge (and, hence, changing or even how to act in bed. I see lots of people try- forms of male sexualities) (Simon, 1996). ing to get clear by reading John Gray’s books, but Some researchers have already suggested an I don’t think it helps. Things are in flux; there are array of discourses or scripts that help fashion no answers. While I know that’s the truth, I wish sexualities. Wendy Hollway (1996) saw three it were otherwise. It’s so much hassle the way it is. gendered sexualities discourses. Apart from the (“Z,” in Zilbergeld, 1999, p. x) 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 189

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For Zilbergeld, the traditional or fantasy and are placed in dialogues with other stories, so model of sex is being replaced by a “new model the possibility of shifts in male sexualities starts of sex” (p. xiv) that is no longer focused on a to be extended. pressurized male performance but instead focuses on “pleasure, closeness, and self and partner enhancement rather than performance The Deconstructive-Renarrating Dialogue and scoring” (p. xiv). He suggests there are One of the ways in which radical dialogues now “whole menus of choices.” I think he is over the nature of sexualities have been right. What we are seeing is a progressive post- proceeding in recent years can be found in modernization of sex that brings an array of the stories of deconstruction that pit them- new sexual stories, new options for living, and selves against the idea of language as a natural a series of continuing dialogues, all of which reflection of sexual life and of sexuality as a are likely to change the workings of male sexu- given, unchanging essence. In his telling study alities in the future, possibly rendering them of male sexual language, for example, Peter more diverse and less open to hegemonic male Francis Murphy (2002) shows that male sexuality. I stress that they are dialogues rather sexuality is often trapped in a discourse of than monologic assertions. They harbor con- machines, sports, and bodies that work to flicts and potentials for disagreements through make sexuality for men appear more driven. which new sexualities will be negotiated. Thus, Once we become aware of these linguistic for example, we have the growing impact of strategies that “assemble” male sexualities, the newish forms of cybersexualities on our lives, possibilities of changing them and creating and we have the increasing linkages between new ones can become more possible. Another sexualities and other spheres of life—from study, by Annie Potts (2002), draws together consumption to work (Hearn & Parkin, 2001). much of this deconstructive work to show how To briefly conclude, let me suggest just a few male-female heterosexualities are drenched in of these new, storied dialogues that are now a language that gives priority to orgasm and opening up. the penis, an outer world of men and an inner world of women. She argues the case for “deprioritizing coital sex” as the cornerstone NEW STORIED DIALOGUES FOR of sexuality and suggests this may have posi- RETHINKING MALE SEXUALITIES tive impacts:

The Family-Heterosexuality Dialogue A cultural deprioritization of penile vaginal sex would profoundly alter the relevance of contem- The traditional order of family life is chang- porary constructions of male and female so-called ing as we enter a period of postmodern families sexual problems....Men may no longer have to and “families of choice” (Weeks, Donovan, & conform to a phallic ideal, and women’s bodies Heaphy, 2001; Weston, 1990). In the recent may no longer be the targets of their penetration. past, families have been predominantly het- (Potts, 2002, pp. 260-261) erosexual and so have child rearers. But now, even as many elect to stay with traditional She also argues (as many recently have) for a patterns, there are large numbers exploring challenging of the masculine (active)–feminine many newer forms of living together and child (passive) dichotomy and for a search for alter- raising: assisted conception, cohabitation, living native versions of sexuality from women alone, single parenting, same-sex partnerships, (which, by implication, will start to rewrite the divorce, stepparenting, serial relationships, scripts of male sexualities as well).14 What is polyamory—and all the new patterns of rela- required is a concern with the building of new tionships that these bring. Words have not yet narratives of sexuality that are much more open, even been invented for some of these new pluralistic, diverse, and hence that may create “familial” roles, and they pose challenges for the possibility for future change. conventional ways of thinking about sexualities One way of sensing this change and working and gender. But as the new stories of these ways with it is to listen to what may be called the of living come more and more to the forefront “deep, thick stories” of sexualities. Elsewhere, 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 190

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I have made a number of claims about the Sexual Violence and importance of story work in both understanding New Men’s Groups Dialogue sexualities and in bringing about political change (Plummer, 1995, 2001). I see deep Although it is true that there are few signs of stories as a little like Geertz’s (1973) “thick any decrease in violent male sexualities across description”—they are the very rich, deep, the world, it is likely that there has been a grow- extended stories people tell of their sexual lives. ing awareness of them and of what needs to be They contrast with shallow, brief, quick, linear done. Not only have laws and policies changed, stories. Deep storytelling is encouraged in giving credence to the need for hegemonic male a postmodern or queer world and enables us sexualities to change (debates over rape in mar- to see more clearly that lives are not simply riage, sexual harassment, date rape, child abuse, straightforward in their genders, bodies, sexual- and hate crimes, all linked to the rise in the ities, or relationships. We may dwell in simple number of women’s shelters, rape hot lines, and polar categorizations, but lives are usually the like), so too has there been a heightened much messier than this. To get at a person’s awareness of the role of media representations sexual story requires burrowing deep down. of masculinities of this kind. It has made some The stories men tell of their sexualities may men very aware of the problematic nature of look straightforwardly hegemonic, but men their sexualities vis-à-vis women, and men’s groups have consequently been set up that work may also negotiate with their stories, resist 16 them, or even transgress them in multiple ways to challenge the hegemony. Thus we have Men (Geertz, 1973).15 Against Pornography, Men Against Rape, and the broader men’s Anti-Sexism Movement. At its most extreme, perhaps, are the men like John Stoltenberg (1990), who argue the case for a The Women’s Sexuality Dialogue sexuality that is consensual, mutual, and There has been a striking attempt to break respectful—one not shaped by the images of down the representations of what it means to pornography, not molded by drugs, and not be a woman, and under this guise now many “fixated on fucking” (pp. 36-39). women appear to be at least as sexual as men. Watch any “reality show” that has anything The Gay Dialogue to do with relationships (usually youthful), and you will see women behaving in ways that Gay men also raise issues about sexualities mirror the male hegemonic model: They are and men. At one extreme is the situation in assertive, objectificatory, lustful—not only do which gay men have friendships and relate to they want to have fun, they also want to fuck. each other in nonsexual ways (Nardi, 1999).17 Likewise, the whole issue of women’s At the other, as we have seen, gay men parade agency—of their acting sexually in the world the importance of sex—and not just sex, but and of having rights to sexuality—has been wide-ranging sexualities that can range from placed on the agenda in ways it was not before anal sex to what might best be called “sleazy the latter part of the 20th century. Of course, it sex.” For many, there is a pure delight in uncon- is always true that some women (often on the strained bodily lust. One of Dowsett’s (1996) margins) have “liked to fuck” (Vance, 1984), respondents has 10,000 partners, and many have but the idea that women have gone actively a parade of partners each night. Often they lose in pursuit of their men (or women) without themselves to kinds of sex that take over their stigma or shame seems somewhat recent. It is whole body: Men in this situation may want part of what Ehrenreich, Hess, and Jacobs to turn themselves into sex objects, gear them- (1984) have dubbed “the feminization of sex” selves into being desired rather than simply in their account of this change during the mid- desiring. Indeed, Leo Bersani (1988) accuses 1980s. In all, women are repositioning them- gay male sexuality and writings about it of selves in relation to power and being under being too frequently merely conventional, control, and this, in turn, pushes the definitions whereas he himself looks for the “redemptive of male sexualities (often rendering them less reinvention of sex” (p. 215). In this he seeks the sure and stable). radical potential that actually comes from being 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 191

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fucked (with the loss of a presumed manhood, Past thinking on sexual identities has the loss of self, the engulfment). Gay male sex- depended on a rather crude binary system, but ualities may have potential for transgressing the this is starting to change. At the very least, in male hegemony in major ways.18 the modern Western world, new identities may be starting to appear: the “S&M,” the fetishist The Identity Dialogue (e.g., foot fetishist, underwear fetishist, armpit fetishist), the macho gay, the passive gay, the Social identities designate the ways we define chubby gay, the “buff” gay, the queer, the ourselves, and they change a lot over time (both vanilla gay, the hypersexual, the man who is historically and biographically). In the past, iden- not really interested in sex, the sex crazed, the tities were often just given and taken for granted; “chicken hawk,” the “bear,” the jock, the good they were unproblematic. In the modern world, husband, the voyeur, the heavy pornography they become more self-conscious and worked— user, the masturbator, sugar daddies, rent boys, less taken for granted than invented. In the post- the polyamorous—to name only a few. Start modern–late modern world, identities proliferate to put adjectives in front—sexy, unsexy, attrac- and have become much less stable and coherent. tive, unattractive, rough, tender, insatiable, Identities mark out a past; create boundaries in dysfunctional, impotent, normal, abnormal, the contemporary world of who we are and who assertive, expressive, caring, single, philander- we are not; and anticipate a future, laying guide- ing, serial killer, aging, married—and a fur- lines down of how we should behave to be con- ther world of proliferating sexual identities sistent with our self-created identities. opens up. Use the world “sexual” to identify The model of male hegemonic sexuality the kind of body you have—beautiful, macho, tends to presume the idea of a male heterosexual thin, sick, fragile—and whole new embodied identity. This, in turn, implies some sense of sexual identities appear. Put them alongside sameness, commonality, and continuity. If not other categories—man, woman, Asian, Chicano, actually present, the search is nevertheless at African American, Japanese—and another least on for an identity—a project of knowing world of “hyphenated” sexual identities starts who one is as a man. The category behind the to appear. New dialogues work to splinter and identity is presumed and is often stridently clear. fragment any one unitary model of the male Being a man often means adopting the hege- sexuality. monic identity; a man’s identity may be defined though his sexuality. Postmodern queer theory suggests that this world of presumed and clear sexual identities (invented during the 19th and IN CONCLUSION:AN AGENDA 20th centuries [Foucualt, 1976]) is being chal- FOR QUEERING MALE SEXUALITIES lenged and is starting to break down. The categories and narratives of the modernist era are Hegemonic male sexuality is, by definition, under threat in postmodern times. As grand pervasive and dominant. It has a long history stories of sexual lives break down, identities and wide support. Some new developments— now become unsettled, destabilized, and open from Viagra to evolutionary psychology—may to flux and change. Indeed, queer theorists often well reinforce the immutability of male desires. suggest that sexual identities are becoming At the same time, we are also entering a (post- permanently unsettled, destabilized, under modern) era in which a plethora of new possi- provisional construction, very much a project bilities are opening up. Hegemonic sexuality and never a thing. This renders the whole idea may continue to dominate or be negotiated (as it of male sexualities much less clear and sure. often has in the past), but it may also be increas- (Although even in this most extreme form it ingly resisted and even transgressed. Taking may well have to continue to recognize the need seriously the view that people are not just for and the power of categories and boundaries regulated by hegemony but are also actors in the organization of the social. It is just that who transform their social worlds, the second these continuities and samenesses are much half of this chapter has looked at a few of the more pluralized, shifting, and fragmented than dialogues in the making that suggest changes they were previously thought to be.) from a penis-centered model of male sexuality. 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 192

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Thus we have seen, inter alia, attempts 9.6% “completely impotent.” At the same time, it to make male sexualities less penis centered and should be noted that the “men in their sixties reported to weaken the link between sex and orgasms. levels of satisfaction with their sex life and partners at We have seen analyses of the connection about the same level as younger men in their forties” between masculinities and sexual violence and (p. 272). 7. A good ethnography to look partially at this how possibly the enhanced understanding of is Elijah Anderson’s (1999) Code of the Street (see this may lead to changes. We have sensed the Chapter 4). growing awareness of the diversities of male 8. Initials indicate the ethnic location. AC sexualities across cultures, classes, ages, ethnic- means African Caribbean; ESW, English, Scottish, ities, and so on. We have seen how queer theory Welsh; A, African. and feminism work to challenge the polarities 9. Zilbergeld’s (1999) model is entirely hetero- and dualities of men-women, gay-straight, and sexual—he does not discuss gay sex, gay relations, or others. We can increasingly appreciate how the homophobia that underpins much male sexuality. male insecurities, especially in adolescence and Missing out on this is a serious weakness for a book early manhood, can harden hegemonic male called The New Male Sexuality! sexuality. And most of all, we have seen how it 10. Even though the work of Duncombe and Marsden (1996) suggests that many women find it is in the creation of new stories, narratives, and unfulfilling. dialogues regarding men’s different sexual lives 11. During the 1970s, at least one pronounced that we can start to glimpse the potential for sector of gay culture came to organize itself around changing the hegemony. “lust” and “desire,” which became graphically portrayed in novels such as Larry Kramer’s Faggots (1989), nonfiction such as Rechy’s (1977) The Sexual Outlaw and White’s (1980) States of Desire, in films NOTES such as Taxi Zum Klo (Ripploh, 1981), and in more “academic” texts, such as Lee’s (1978) Getting Sex or 1. There are a number of studies on male sexu- Delph’s (1978) The Silent Community. A set of locales ality, but many of them, such as Larry Morris’s and spaces emerged where sex became the central (1997) The Male Heterosexual, have a tendency to rationale, and in these locales, thousands of men depict the sexuality of men as unproblematic and to would gather for millions of sexual excitements. In the see it passing through various key stages: from early bathhouse, the back room, the club, or the cruising acts of penetrative sex through marriage, fatherhood, ground, a large number of men could be found who and divorce. My article treats the whole idea as had organized themselves around their desires. deeply problematic. 12. This is, of course, part of the famous debate 2. There have been a number of histories of the in sociology between action and structure: The most power of the penis and the phallus across society. See, recent discussants of this include Anthony Giddens, for example, Klaus Theweleit (1987, 1989). It poses Margaret Archer, and Rob Stones. This is not the for me the interesting question: Could male sexuality place to consider this debate, except to say that there exist without the penis? is room to develop some of these ideas in the field of 3. There is not space to review all the new writ- sexuality—a task I start in a minimal way in the intro- ing usually associated with names such as Foucault, duction to Sexualities: Critical Assessments Butler, Weeks, and others. For some overviews and (Plummer, 2002). samples, see Lancaster and di Leonardo (1997), 13. Michelle Fine (1988) also suggests four main Jackson and Scott (1996), Parker and Aggleton (1999), discourses: those of “silence, danger, desire, and vic- Williams and Stein (2002), and Plummer (2002). timization.” Much of this is fully supportive, how- 4. The recent use of the term derives, of course, ever, of what I am calling hegemonic male sexuality from Gramsci. Blye Frank introduced the idea of and does not anticipate radical changes. “hegemonic heterosexual masculinity” in 1987. The 14. Likewise, Philaretou and Allen (2001) have work of Bob Connell takes it further. shown how an essentialist or masculine scripting is at 5. Although David and Brannon’s listing is old, work that “signifies the beginning of the heterosexual has become more nuanced, and links to a rather old- act with male erection and its end with ejaculation” fashioned role theory, it still serves well as an open- (p. 303). As I have suggested earlier, much research ing set of images of hegemonic male sexuality. and thinking reinforces this masculinist model of a 6. In a recent but already classic study, natural sexuality. McKinlay and Feldman (1994) report on 1,290 men 15. A small sample of 55 stories by men of their from 40 to 70 years old: 17% found themselves “min- different sexualities can be found in Kay, Nagle, and imally impotent,” 25.2% “moderately impotent,” and Gould (2000). 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 193

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16. Kenneth Clatterbaugh (1997) has outlined a sexuality and the social control of women. spectrum of positions of the Men’s Movement—not London: Hutchinson. all are sympathetic to the critique of hegemonic male David, D. S., & Brannon, R. (Eds.). (1976). The sexuality. forty-nine percent majority: The male sex role. 17. Peter Nardi has provided the most compre- London: Addison-Wesley. hensive discussion of gay men’s friendships and how Delph, E. W. (1978). The silent community: Public they usually do not intersect with sex. He discusses homosexual encounters. London: Sage. many possible permutations (Nardi, 1999, p. 80; see Dowsett, G. W. (1996). Practicing desire: Homosexual his Figure 4.1). Although for many, sex is off the sex in the era of AIDS. Stanford, CA: University agenda, for those who do have sex with a close friend, of Stanford Press. it seems to be a quick sexual fling that then gets Duncombe, J., & Marsden, D. (1996). Whose orgasm defined into a friendship. It is widely perceived that is this anyway? In J. Weeks & J. Holland (Eds.), sex complicates things too much—even if there is little Sexual cultures. London: Macmillan/Palgrave. actual evidence for this! Dworkin, A. (1981). Pornography: Men possessing 18. John Alan Lee (1979) suggests that in general, women. London: Women’s Press. “sex is an artificially scarce resource in our society” Dyer, R. (1982, September/October). Don’t look but that one group of people—modern male homo- now: The male pin up. Screen, 23(3/4), 61-73. sexuals—have been able to develop gay connections Dyer, R. (1985). Male sexuality in the media. In through an urban gay community that enable them to A. Metcalf & M. Humphries (Eds.), The sexu- enjoy “considerable sexual opportunities at any hour of ality of men (pp. 28-42). London: Pluto Press. the day or night.” They are usually “inexpensive or Ehrenreich, B., Hess, E., & Jacobs, G. (1984). free,” “convenient and accessible” (p. 175). Re-making love: The feminization of sexuality. 19. A useful bibliography on male sexuality, “The New York: Anchor. Men’s Bibliography: A Comprehensive Bibliography Fine, M. (1988). Sexuality, schooling and adolescent of Writing on Men, Masculinities, Gender, and females: The missing discourse of desire. Sexualities,” compiled and recently updated by Harvard Educational Review, 58, 29-53. Michael Flood, is available on the Internet at http:// Foucault, M. (1976). The history of sexuality: Vol. 1. www.xyonline.net/mensbiblio/ An introduction (R. Hurley, Trans.). London: Penguin Books. Frank, B. (1987, autumn). Hegemonic heterosexual masculinity. Studies in Political Economy, 24, 19 REFERENCES 159-170. Fraser, N. (1992). The uses and abuse of French dis- Allen, L. (2003, May). Girls want sex, boys want course theories for feminist politics. In N. Fraser & love: Resisting dominant discourses of (hetero) S. L. Bartky (Eds.), Revaluing French feminism: sexuality. Sexualities, 6(2), 215-236. Critical essays on difference, agency and culture Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, (pp. 177-194). Bloomington: Indiana University violence and the moral life of the inner city. Press. New York: W. W. Norton. Gagnon, J. H., & Simon, W. (1973). Sexual conduct: Bersani, L. (1988). Is the rectum a grave? In The social sources of human sexuality. London: D. Crimp (Ed.), AIDS: Cultural analysis/ Hutchinson. cultural activism (pp. 197-222). Cambridge, Gay Sunshine Press. (1981). Meat: How men look, MA: MIT Press. act, walk, talk, dress, undress, taste and smell. Bronski, M. (1998). The pleasure principle: Sex, True homosexual experiences from STH. San backlash and the struggle for gay freedom. Francisco: Author. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Caputi, J. (1988). The age of sex crime. London: New York: Basic Books. Women’s Press. Goldberg, S. (1973). The inevitability of patriarchy. Carnes, P. (1984). The sexual addiction. Minneapolis, New York: Morrow. MN: Compcare. Gray, J. (1992). Men are from Mars, women are from Chessler, P. (1979). About men. New York: Women’s Venus. London: Thorson. Press. Gray, J. (1995). Mars and Venus in the bedroom. Clatterbaugh, K. (1997). Contemporary perspectives New York: Harper Collins. on masculinity (2nd ed.). Westview Press. Gray, J. (1998). Men are from Mars, women are from Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge, Venus. The book of days: 365 inspirations to enrich England: Polity Press. your relationships. New York: Harper Collins. Coveney, L., Jackson, M., Jeffreys, S., Kay, L., & Halberstam, J. (1998). Female masculinity. Durham, Mahony, P. (1984). The sexuality papers: Male NC: Duke University Press. 11-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:20 PM Page 194

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n recent years, there has emerged a new and The social situation today is dramatically growing interest in the relationship among different. Second-wave feminism—originating I men, masculinities, and crime. Since the in the 1960s—challenged the masculinist nature early 1990s, numerous works have been pub- of academia by illuminating the patterns of gen- lished, from individually authored books dered power that to that point social theory had (Collier, 1998; Hobbs, 1995; Messerschmidt, all but ignored. In particular, feminism secured 1993, 1997, 2000; Polk, 1994; Winlow, 2001), a permanent role for sexual politics in popular to edited volumes (Bowker, 1998; Newburn & culture and moved analysis of gendered power Stanko, 1994; Sabo, Kupers, & London, 2001), to the forefront of much social thought. More- to special issues of academic journals (Carlen & over, feminist research—within and without Jefferson, 1996). This is not the first time criminology—spotlighted the nature and perva- criminologists have been interested in mas- siveness of violence against women. Since the culinity and its relationship to crime. Such mid-1970s, feminist scholars have examined luminaries as Edwin Sutherland and Albert girls’ and women’s crime, the social control of Cohen can be credited with actually placing girls and women, and women working in the masculinity on the criminological agenda by criminal justice system (see Daly & Chesney- perceiving the theoretical importance of the Lind, 1988; Naffine, 1995). The importance of gendered nature of crime. Yet these criminolo- this feminist work is enormous. It has con- gists understood gender through a biologically tributed significantly to the discipline of crimi- based sex-role theory, the weaknesses of which nology and has made a lasting impact. Not only are now well understood: It provides no grasp is the importance of gender to understanding of gendered power, human agency, and the crime more broadly acknowledged within the varieties of masculinities and femininities con- discipline, but it has led, logically, to the critical structed historically, cross-culturally, in a given study of masculinity and crime. Boys and men society, and throughout the life course (Connell, are no longer seen as the “normal subjects”; 1987). Moreover, the social and historical rather, the social construction of masculinities context in which Sutherland and Cohen wrote has come under careful criminological scrutiny. embodied a relative absence of feminist theorizing Feminism has exerted a major impact on my and politics and a presumed natural difference life personally, and academically it has influ- between women and men (Messerschmidt, enced me to concentrate my work on masculin- 1993). ities and crime. Two issues were critical in my

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decision. First, as R. W. Connell taught us, when situational ways. Crucial to this conceptualization we think about gender in terms of power of gender as situated accomplishment is West relations, as with any structure of power and and Zimmerman’s (1987) notion of “account- inequality (such as race and class), it becomes ability.” Because individuals realize that they necessary to study the powerful (men!). It is may be held accountable to others for their particularly important if we are committed to behavior, they configure and orchestrate their constructing a more equal society. Indeed, we actions in relation to how these might be inter- must examine the advantaged, analyze how they preted by others in the particular social context act to reproduce that advantage, and probe what in which they occur. Within social interaction, interest they may have in changing. Thus one then, we facilitate the ongoing task of account- reason for studying differences among men ability by demonstrating that we are male or and diversity of masculinities is to promote female through concocted behaviors that may be possibilities for change. interpreted accordingly. Consequently, we do Additionally, the gendered practices of gender differently depending on the social situa- men and boys raise significant questions about tion and the social circumstances we encounter. crime. Men and boys dominate crime. Arrest, “Doing gender,” then, renders us accountable for self-report, and victimization data reflect that our social action in terms of normative concep- men and boys perpetrate more of the conventions, attitudes, and activities appropriate to tional crimes, including the more serious of these one’s sex in the specific social situation in which crimes, than do women and girls. Moreover, men one acts (West & Zimmerman, 1987). have a virtual monopoly on the commission of Nevertheless, “doing gender” does not occur syndicated, corporate, and political crime. in a vacuum but is influenced by the social- Indeed, gender has been advanced consistently structural constraints we experience. Social by criminologists as the strongest predictor of structures are regular and patterned forms of criminal involvement. Consequently, studying interaction over time that constrain and enable masculinities provides insights into under- behavior in specific ways; therefore, social struc- standing the highly gendered ratio of crime in tures “exist as the reproduced conduct of situated industrialized societies and, perhaps, how to actors” (Giddens, 1976, p. 127). Following achieve a more equal society. Connell (1987) and Giddens (1976), I pointed out What follows is a “progress report” on that these social structures are neither external to current criminological thinking about men, social actors nor simply and solely constraining; masculinities, and crime. I begin with a brief on the contrary, structure is realized only through outline of my initial approach to masculinities social action, and social action requires structure and crime and then critically examine several as its condition. Thus, as people do gender, they new directions in the criminological literature. reproduce and sometimes change social structures. Not only, then, are there many ways of doing gender—we must speak of masculinities and femininities—gender must be viewed as struc- MASCULINITIES AND tured action, or what people do under specific CRIME AS STRUCTURED ACTION social-structural constraints. In this way, gender relations link each of us In Masculinities and Crime (Messerschmidt, to others in a common relationship: We share 1993), I combined the theoretical work of structural space. Consequently, shared blocks of Connell (1987), West and Zimmerman (1987), gendered knowledge evolve through interaction and Giddens (1981) to achieve a perspective in which specific gender ideals and activities that emphasized both the meaningful actions of play a part. Through this interaction, masculin- individual agents and the structural features of ity is institutionalized, permitting men to draw social settings. Following West and Zimmerman on such existing, but previously formed, mascu- (1987), I argued that gender is a situated, social line ways of thinking and acting to construct a and interactional accomplishment that grows out masculinity for specific settings. The particular of social practices in specific settings and serves criteria of masculinity are embedded in the social to inform such practices in reciprocal relation— situations and recurrent practices whereby social we coordinate our activities to “do” gender in relations are structured (Giddens, 1989). 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 198

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Accordingly, men are positioned differently Recently, two new directions in masculinities throughout society, and socially organized power and crime literature have emerged: (a) psycho- relations among men are constructed historically analysis and (b) difference, the body, and crime. on the basis of class, race, and sexual orientation. I discuss each of these directions in turn. That is, in specific contexts, some men enjoy greater power than do other men. In this sense, masculinity can be understood only as a rela- PSYCHOANALYSIS tional construct. Connell’s (1987) notion of “hegemonic masculinity” is crucial to under- Tony Jefferson (1996b, p. 340) noted 8 years standing the power relations among men. ago that contemporary work on masculinity Hegemonic masculinity is the culturally idealized and crime fails to address a crucial crimino- form of masculinity in a given historical and logical question: “why only particular men social setting. It is culturally honored, glorified, from a given class or race background (usually and extolled situationally—such as at the broader only a minority) come to identify with the societal level (e.g., through the mass media) and crime option, while others identify with other at the institutional level (e.g., in school)—and is resources to accomplish their masculinity” constructed in relation to “subordinated mas- (p. 341). More recently, John Hood-Williams culinities” (e.g., homosexuality) and in relation (2001, p. 43) echoed Jefferson by observing to women. Hegemonic masculinity influences, that most crime is not committed by men but, but does not determine, masculine behavior— rather, by a “highly specific sub-group of the the cultural ideals of hegemonic masculinity category ‘men’”—even though the group’s do not correspond to the actual identities of members do not form a unified subgroup. Thus most men (Connell, 1987, pp. 184-185). Thus, he asks this question: Why is it that “only a masculinity is based on a social construct that minority of men need to produce masculinity reflects unique circumstances and relationships— through crime rather than through other, non- a social construction that is renegotiated in each criminal, means?” (p. 44). Both are fair and particular context. In this way, men construct provocative questions. Hood-Williams did not varieties of masculinities through specific prac- offer an argument to resolve these questions, but tices as they simultaneously reproduce, and Jefferson, in sketchy form, has advanced what sometimes change, social structures. he calls a “psychosocial theory.” Let us then Following this approach, I conceptualized scrutinize Jefferson’s perspective. masculinity and crime in new ways—ways that Jefferson combines the postmodernist notion enabled criminologists to explore how and in of discourse with such psychoanalytic concepts what respect masculinity is constituted in certain as anxiety and the alleged unconscious defenses settings at certain times, and how that construct of “splitting” and “projection” to understand the relates to crime (Messerschmidt, 1993). I have discursive positions adopted by individuals.1 argued that one crucial way (not the only way) to Jefferson (1996b, p. 341) argues that social understand the “making of crime” by men is to structures are “dissolved into a plethora of dis- analyze “the making of masculinities.” Of course, courses” and criticizes postmodernism for mak- men’s resources for accomplishing masculinity ing the individual an effect of discourse, as this vary depending on position within class, race, simply reproduces the determinism of structur- age, and gender relations. These differences alism. In contrast, Jefferson contends that to break are reflected in the salience of particular crimes from this “deterministic impasse,” criminology available as resources for accomplishing mas- must conceptualize how individuals position culinity. Accordingly, different crimes are chosen themselves in relation to the discursive choices as means for doing masculinity and for distin- facing them and how they come to adopt partic- guishing masculinities from each other in differ- ular positions and not others: “how people ent social settings. My work not only criticized become invested in, motivated by, or identified traditional criminological theory and radical and with particular [discursive] positions” (p. 341). socialist feminism but explained class and race A return to psychoanalysis, Jefferson main- differences in male adolescent crimes and in a tains, would allow such an understanding of the variety of adult male crimes, from domestic vio- relationship among subjects, discourses, mas- lence to corporate crime (Messerschmidt, 1993). culinity, and crime. Jefferson turns to the work 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 199

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of the Austrian child psychoanalyst Melanie physically defeating the older bully. From that Klein (1882-1960) on how behavior allegedly is time on, Tyson no longer was compliant and related to unconscious defenses against anxiety. reserved in interaction with his peers, and he Following Klein, Jefferson argues that the key eventually became a “badass” member of the to understanding the discursive choices made by Jolly Stompers, a Brooklyn street gang. How individuals—which are choices that collectively does Jefferson explain this movement from constitute a person’s “identity”—is “to be found “little fairy boy” to “badass” gang member? in the defensive attempts people make to ward Because Tyson now embraced a “tough guy” off anxiety, to avoid feelings of powerless- discourse that denoted the ability to survive on ness” (Jefferson, 1996a, p. 158). Application of the street through the capacity to meet and resist this perspective has involved deconstructions of physical challenges. Not explaining why Tyson various journalistic accounts of sensational at this particular time chose to favor this specific crimes, as well as interviews with men and discourse—nor if the endorsement of this women on the fear of crime, highlighting how discourse was prior to or after the successful anxieties result from feelings of powerlessness assault of the bully—Jefferson (1996c, p. 102) and, thus, how individuals choose masculine does argue that, given Tyson’s powerless posi- “subject positions” that permit them to gain tion, based on his own unique biography, such a sufficient power over other people to protect discourse offered Tyson an attractive masculine their anxiety-driven, insecure selves. subject position because it protected him from The world heavyweight boxing champion the anxiety of powerlessness and vulnerability. Mike Tyson, and his involvement in crime as As Jefferson (1996c) notes, Tyson’s childhood a young boy, is a case in point. In a number experiences were “symptomatic of an unhealthy of papers, Jefferson (1996a, 1996c, 1997b, level of anxiety for a young child” (p. 94). 1998) examined the life of Tyson from a “little Consequently, these “anxiety-inducing” dis- fairy boy” to “the complete destroyer.” Although courses became the object of splitting and pro- Jefferson provides an account of Tyson’s life jection. In other words, the “little fairy boy” is from childhood to boxing career, our interest here is his analysis of Tyson’s eventual involve- split off and projected outwards, onto the new ment in youth crime. Thus what follows is a victims who then become despised (hence legiti- brief synopsis of Jefferson’s account of Tyson mate victims) for “possessing” the bad, weak “becoming delinquent.” parts which had become too painful for Tyson to accommodate in himself. This bullying, and the Jefferson (1996a) reports that as a child, accompanying crime, took Tyson from the ghetto Tyson experienced chronic poverty, emotional to the reformatory and, we can assume, new anxi- malnourishment (his father was absent and eties. But, rather than “own” these, his recidivism his mother drank, fought with her boyfriend, and growing reputation as a hardcore delinquent and eventually could not cope), “and a genetic suggests a continuation of the splitting. (p. 102) endowment that gave him a body and a head too big and bulky for either his years or his soft, In sum, Tyson experienced a specific set of lisping voice, the kind of combination that made social and psychic consequences that “add up him a constant target of bullying” (p. 155). It is to a compelling satisfaction in or desire to inflict not surprising that for most of his childhood, punishment and thereby triumph over the threat Tyson was passive and withdrew into a less- of having it inflicted” (Jefferson, 1998, p. 94). threatening “inner world,” but that withdrawal Jefferson’s psychosocial theory of masculin- did not save him from continued peer abuse. ity and crime clearly has intuitive appeal and One particular bullying incident was a turning is a provocative contribution to the literature. point in Tyson’s life. One day an older local Nevertheless, serious problems seem inherent in bully assumed Tyson was a safe target for abuse his perspective. Let me highlight a few. because of his reputation for passivity and, con- Although Jefferson (1997b) acknowledges sequently, the bully proceeded to rip the head that “the social world is traversed by relations off one of Tyson’s beloved pigeons (which he of power (class, gender, race, etc.)” (p. 286), kept as pets). In this specific situation, Tyson did such power relations quickly vanish from not remain docile as he had in the past; not only Jefferson’s analysis because allegedly they did he choose to fight back, he was successful in “can only signify, and hence be understood by 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 200

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individual subjects, through available discourses.” of discourse in a particular social situation or Consequently, in Jefferson’s theory of mas- when or how the subject invests or identifies culinity and crime, there is scant discussion of with such discourses. gendered power relations (either between men I agree that it is important to explain why and women or among men) and how such power particular men identify with the crime option is connected to race and class and, eventually, and other men, from similar milieux, do not. crime. Given Jefferson’s parallel concern with this Because of this lack of theoretical attention issue, one would expect this to be a priority in to power, Jefferson argues that social meaning his research agenda. Surprisingly, he makes no is only and always the product of available attempt to address this topic. Other than his discourses, not social structures. Indeed, for efforts at theory construction (e.g., Jefferson, Jefferson, social structures disappear into an 1994), in all of his published work to date, we overabundance of discourses. Jefferson is inter- are simply provided with individual case studies ested in how individuals allegedly position of boys’ or men’s involvement in crime, specifi- themselves in relation to all of the so-called dis- cally, interpersonal violence. Consequently, cursive choices facing them—that is, how they Jefferson is unable to explain why individuals come to adopt particular “subject positions” and with very similar backgrounds—that is, posi- not others. The problem with this theoretical tioned similarly with regard to available discur- beginning is that we never learn from where all sive choices and suffering similar anxieties— these alleged discourses come and, therefore, chose not to engage in crime. In other words, never learn of all the so-called available subject following the logic of Jefferson’s perspective, positions. In other words, what is the empirical it is not sufficient to point out that Tyson, for base of discourse? In the Tyson example, where example, is anxiety driven and chose to adopt did the “tough guy” discourse originate? the “tough guy” discourse—it is necessary to Jefferson ignores the fact that discourse is con- specify why people in the same milieu as Tyson structed through practice, is structurally con- responded to similar anxieties in noncriminal nected with other practices, and has much in ways. Fortunately, the vast majority of male common with other forms of practice (Connell, youth in the ghetto who suffer similar biograph- 1987). Jefferson’s perspective seems unable to ical powerlessness and emotional malnourish- demonstrate—indeed, is glaringly uninterested ment do not join gangs or engage in violence. in—the source of the discourse in relation to Why don’t they? What discourse do they adopt, which individuals allegedly position themselves. and why did Tyson not adopt that alternative This is a major difficulty, because without such discourse? In short, Jefferson fails to investigate empirical verification, literally anything could the effects of childhood powerlessness and be defined as discourse, depending on how the emotional malnourishment on nonviolent boys theorist chooses to interpret it. and men, and he simultaneously ignores the Even within individual case studies such as range of masculine paths in Tyson’s childhood that of Tyson, we do not learn specifically how milieu and the interconnections among these the particular individual becomes “invested in” differing masculinities. Indeed, masculinity can or “identified with” a certain discourse but not only be understood in relation to the variety of others or when that investment or identifica- masculinities in each social situation. tion takes place. What does it actually mean to An additional problem is the psychoanalytic become invested in or identified with a particular angle Jefferson attaches to discourse. As with discourse? How does this investment or identifi- his conception of discourse, he does not subject cation actually occur? What is the particular the “unconscious” process by which individuals process? Because Tyson is part of the “specific allegedly split and project to empirical verifica- sub-group of the category ‘men’” that engages in tion; he simply infers it. How then do we know crime, it seems imperative to grasp the various that such splitting and projection take place? discourses available to the adolescent Tyson and The only possible answer is that Jefferson why, when, and how he chose the “tough guy” says so. Arguably, such so-called psychic discourse and rejected others. However, there is processes as the “unconscious,” “splitting,” and nothing built into Jefferson’s perspective that “projection” can never be the objects of direct permits selection among the various possibilities observation. Therefore, these concepts can be 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 201

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constructed only by Jefferson, who, by giving a to assume that only certain males are “deviantly” name and form to them (following Klein), does anxiety driven, and that it is “those guys” who not discover them but simply creates them. commit violence. Jefferson asks us to assume Thus, as with most psychoanalytic theories, the that all crimes committed by boys and men alleged psychic processes can, for Jefferson, result from splitting and projection because of only be hypothetical and speculative, and there- anxious powerlessness. In doing so, he reifies fore their validity is highly questionable. It is masculinity by arguing that it results from anx- Jefferson who imagines (and thus contrives) ious powerlessness common to all violent men. what the empirical evidence cannot supply: Clearly, a satisfactory theory requires a more that anxious individuals—like Mike Tyson— thoroughgoing appreciation of the varieties of “unconsciously split and project.” In short, masculinities and their relation to violence. Jefferson’s identified psychoanalytic terms are Moreover, Jefferson’s concentration exclu- nonmeasureable, and, consequently, his theory sively on interpersonal violence is problematic. is nonfalsifiable. Other crimes that are predominantly “male”— Moreover, because (according to Jefferson) such as robbery, burglary, syndicated crime, and anxieties result from feelings of powerlessness, the varieties of corporate and political crimes— it should not be surprising to find that when he are underrepresented and therefore undertheo- discusses men, he examines only those who at rized in Jefferson’s work. Thus, one is left with some point in their lives experienced extreme the impression that masculinity (and thus gender) masculine powerlessness and subsequently matters only in crimes involving interpersonal became involved in interpersonal violence rather violence. Or are we to assume that boys and men than those who experienced feelings of power- involved in crimes other than those involving inter- fulness and subsequently became involved in personal violence similarly experience anxious interpersonal violence. Because Jefferson con- powerlessness and subsequently split and project centrates on powerlessness (but, as stated earlier, prior to committing such crimes? ignores a reciprocal conception of power), his In addition, Jefferson only speaks of men perspective is unable to account for boys and and masculinity, ignoring the reality that women men who do not fit this stereotype—the power- and girls sometimes do masculinity (as well as ful male who is full of self-confidence (and does violence). As Hood-Williams (2001) asks, “Are not “feel” powerlessness) yet also engages in we to believe that the genders really do consti- violence. Research shows that certain forms of tute coherent, uniform categories whose social violence may be associated with, for example, and psychic consequence is a perfect, homoge- threatened egotism: “highly favorable views of nous binary?” (p. 39). In other words, there is self that are disputed by some person or circum- nothing built into Jefferson’s perspective that stance” (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996, allows for the conceptualization of women, girls, p. 5). When individuals who regard themselves masculinities, and crime. Consequently, his per- as “superior beings” are challenged in some spective reifies gender difference. way, they may respond with physical violence. Finally, although Jefferson attempts a psy- As Baumeister and colleagues (1996) have choanalytic interpretation of masculinity, the shown, concepts he uses to analyze “unconscious” psychic processes—anxiety, splitting, and Aggression emerges from a particular discrep- projection—have nothing to do with gender ancy between two views of self: a favorable self (Hood-Williams, 2001). As Hood-Williams appraisal and an external appraisal that is much points out, there is “nothing in the character or less favorable. That is, people turn aggressive structuring of the psyche that explains sexual when they receive feedback that contradicts their favorable views of themselves and implies that difference. That must come from elsewhere” they should adopt less favorable views. More to (p. 52). And that elsewhere is, according to the point, it is mainly people who refuse to lower Hood-Williams, found in the social realm: their self-appraisals who become violent. (p. 8) Masculinity “does not express an inner, psychic, core” but is the “performative work of acts, Consequently, although perhaps unintention- gestures, enactments” and, consequently, “this ally, Jefferson’s work reads as though no such means recognizing that masculinity must be self-confident males exist and therefore appears understood phenomenologically” (p. 53). 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 202

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Jefferson (2001) most recently recognized wage. Connell goes on to point out—as has that the Kleinian concepts he employs are Chodorow (1994, 1999)—that a gender division gender-neutral terms, and, as he states, this forces of labor in parenting does not necessarily pro- him “into the realm of the social to explain duce dichotomous gender patterns in later life. sexual difference, but without denying the (irre- It is perplexing why Jefferson now suddenly ducible) significance of the psyche” (p. 11). To supports Chodorow’s thesis. As is evident, connect psychic processes with the performance Chodorow’s work is a theory of the reproduction of masculinity (which means, for Jefferson, of a specific social structure and has nothing to masculine practices by men, not by women), say about discourse. This is particularly prob- Jefferson initially turns to the work of Nancy lematic because Jefferson, as stated earlier, Chodorow (1978) on the differential signifi- argues that social structures disappear into an cance of maternal separation for boys and girls. overabundance of discourses. Additionally, Chodorow argues that because women typically Jefferson (1998, p. 92) had previously rejected are the primary caretakers of children—because Chodorow’s position as a much too general and of the unequal gender division of labor in child sociological account of gender formation even care—both boys and girls develop early, intense though it retained psychoanalytic terminology. relations with the mother. When the time comes Although Jefferson (2001) more recently agreed to separate from her, however, this separation that Chodorow’s thesis is reductive and general- process occurs in different ways for boys and izing, he nevertheless feels that as “an internal girls. According to Chodorow, girls remain process early psychic separation provides the closer to the mother than do boys and, therefore, (psychic) preconditions for entry into the (social) girls do not experience a sharp break from world of male domination” (p. 12). In an attempt Mom. Consequently, girls achieve femininity by to save his theory by overcoming the reductive being like their mothers and internalize “femi- character of Chodorow’s perspective, unexpect- nine” characteristics, such as a capacity for edly, Jefferson turns to the work of Jessica empathy with, and dependence on, others—first Benjamin (1998) rather than Chodorow’s (1999) their mother, later their spouse. For boys, becom- most recent reformulation of her thesis.2 ing masculine requires their becoming different Benjamin (1998) argues that separation from from mother and separating completely from mother into masculine dominance is but one her by repudiating all that is feminine. Conse- path the boy may take, and it must be supple- quently, boys fail to learn empathy for others mented by an account of the father and the and become fearful of intimacy and depen- child’s identification with him: “This redefines dence. Boys’ psyches, then, are well suited to the preoedipal position as one characterized by being achievement oriented; girls’ psyches are multiple identifications with both mother and well adapted to emotional work. In this way, the father (or substitutes) and what they symbolize” gender division of labor in parenting is repro- (Jefferson, 2001, p.13). The universal task of duced as boys become the breadwinners and the child now is not one-dimensional, but rather girls become the primary caretakers of children. involves The unequal gender division of labor in parenting is reproduced in the psyches of individuals, separating from a particular mother (and her par- and masculine dominance is reinforced. ticular relationship to gender) and learning to Feminists have criticized Chodorow’s thesis share her with a particular father (and his partic- for being ahistorical, for falsely universalizing ular relationship to gender) against a backdrop of childhood experience, for ignoring differences managing the inevitable excitement and anxiety generated by loving attachments, both the desire of race and class, and for being incomplete as for (object love) and the desire to be like (identi- a theory of women’s subordination because it ficatory love). The timing and management of does not explain how the gender division of these universal tasks will determine how any par- labor in parenting emerged (Jaggar, 1983). In ticular individual relates to questions of sexual addition, Connell (1998, p. 457) points out that difference. (p. 13) the reasons for the reproduction of this specific division of labor probably have little to do with Curiously, Jefferson’s perspective abruptly psychology; more likely, they involve the eco- ends here without showing how such “timing nomic costs to families from the loss of a man’s and management” of the so-called “universal 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 203

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tasks” result in different types of masculinity and its relation to crime. To these beneficial and how such masculinities eventually are criticisms, it should be added that earlier work related to crime. Moreover, Jefferson seems to on masculinities and crime has not addressed assume a unilateral influence from individual adequately the relationship among masculini- parental figures in childhood to specific con- ties, race, and class. In other words, to under- structions of gender without providing any the- stand crime, we must comprehend how gender, oretical space for influences outside the family race, and class relations are part of all social context—such as peers and teachers—or what existence and not view each relation as extrin- agency the infant has in this interaction. Indeed, sic to the others. Because crime operates Jefferson neglects research on agency that through a complex series of gender, race, and specifically shows how infants are born into a class practices, crime usually is more than world populated by self-regulating participants a single activity. In this final section, then, I in the interactional achievement of masculinities discuss some recent criminological work that and femininities. For example, this research has begun to address these criticisms. suggests that through interaction with others, For some time, criminologists have been infants are exposed to gender “contingencies of attempting to conceptualize the “intersection” reinforcement” and, as a result, infants exhibit of gender, race, class, and crime. For example, specific but differentiated patterns of gendered 8 years ago, an edited volume by Schwartz behavior (Cahill, 1986, p. 170). In other words, and Milovanovic (1996) examined, as the title for some time, research has explained early gen- suggests, Race, Gender, and Class in Criminol- der development in infancy not through separa- ogy: The Intersection. As well, Marino Bruce’s tion anxiety but as a reflexive process between (1997) work on youth crime specifically inves- the infant and others’ (parents’, children’s, and tigated the interrelation of race and class with adults’) mutual reinforcement. the construction of masculinities by delin- Consequently, Jefferson’s psychosocial theory quent lower working class boys. Similarly, begs the question: Does a psychoanalytic Mark Lettiere’s (1997) ethnographic study of dimension add a necessary explanatory level to masculinities among African American, white, our understanding of masculinities and crime? and Latino men in a homeless heroin-addict Because of its sketchy and incomplete nature, community showed how “doing begging” and as well as the numerous inherent problems “doing crime” are resources for “doing” differ- associated with his perspective, as outlined, we ent racialized masculinities and thus for con- can only conclude that it does not. (Indeed, structing a power hierarchy among these men. Jefferson’s [2003] most recent statement of Most recently, Barak, Flavin, and Leighton his theory ignores gender altogether.) Instead, a (2001) show how gender, race, and class satisfactory theory of masculinities and crime affect the nature and functioning of the criminal requires an understanding of the meanings boys justice system, and Jurik and Martin (2001) and men attach to their social actions and how demonstrate historically how gender, race, these actions are related to conscious choice and class, and sexuality frame and organize work, specific social structures in particular settings. It specifically in policing and corrections. One of is to the latter that we now turn our attention. the difficulties criminological theorists have experienced is conceptualizing how gender, race, and class are linked or how they actually DIFFERENCE, THE BODY, AND CRIME intersect. The attraction of Jurik and Martin’s (2001) work is that they have shown con- Despite the problems inherent in psychoanaly- clusively how workplace social interaction sis, Jefferson raises an important limitation of constructs and reaffirms gender, race, and class past masculinity and crime research: the failure differences. to inquire why some boys and men engage A specific method for connecting social in crime and other boys and men from the interaction with gender, race, class, and crime is same milieu do not, and why those who do the life history. The life history is an important engage in crime commit different types of qualitative method because it necessitates a crimes. In addition, Collier (1998) pointed to a close consideration of the meaning of social life second oversight: the importance of the body for those who enact it as a way of revealing their 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 204

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experiences, choices, practices, and social Both boys grew up in working class homes world. No other social science method provides that articulated for them a practiced definition of as much detail about social development and masculine power. In their separate families, change as does a life-history study of practices Hugh and Zack found themselves in milieux in over time. which they were attached to an adult male— In Crime as Structured Action (Messer- Hugh to his grandfather and Zack to his uncle— schmidt, 1997), I explore, for example, the who both emphasized hegemonic masculinity changes in Malcolm X’s masculinities within a through practice. This attachment led both boys range of race and class social contexts: a child- consciously to undertake to practice what was hood in which he constantly battled for accep- being preached and represented. Connell (1995) tance as a young man; a zoot-suit culture that defines this proactive adoption of “family embraced him without stigma as a “hipster” and values” (such as manual and athletic skills and “hustler”; and a spiritual and political move- male power and control of others) as the ment that celebrated him as father, husband, and “moment of engagement” with hegemonic mas- national spokesperson. Across these sites and culinity, “the moment at which the boy takes up through shifting currencies of his sense of gen- the project of hegemonic masculinity as his der, race, and class, Malcolm X moved in and own” (p. 122). Although constructed in different out of crime. Malcolm X simply appropriated ways, such moments of engagement occurred in crime as a resource for doing masculinity at both boys’ lives through interaction—junctures a specific moment in his life, a period when when the individual boys consciously chose gender, race, and class relations were equally to engineer a newly professed masculinity. significant. In this way, the life-history method Moreover, for both Hugh and Zack, an impor- provides data not only about why people engage tant part of this engagement with hegemonic in crime at certain stages of their lives but how masculinity entailed a commitment to the “family that engagement relates to the salience of vari- value” that use of physical violence is an appro- ous combinations of gender, race, and class.3 priate means to solve interpersonal problems. In My most recent research involves life-history other words, both boys chose to embrace the interviews of violent and nonviolent boys and practice (constructed within their families and addresses the following questions: Why is it the school attended) that physical violence is the that some boys engage in violence and some fitting and well-chosen masculine response to boys do not? and Why do the boys who engage threat—a “real man” was obligated to respond in violence commit different types of violence? in this fashion.4 Although both boys were similar (Messerschmidt, 2000). The goal of each inter- in the sense of accepting that the legitimate view was an attempt to reflect the situational response to threat is physical retaliation, the accomplishment of masculinities and the even- differences between them surfaced during inter- tual use of violence (or nonviolence) as an out- actions at school. come of specific choices in a subject’s personal We begin our examination of these differ- life history. ences with the case of Hugh, an assaultive, tall, Because of space constraints, I cannot and well-built 15-year-old. Hugh was rewarded discuss all of the life stories. However, for a with favorable appraisal from others for his taste of the data, I present the life stories of physicality—at home from his grandfather, at two of the boys interviewed—Hugh and school from other kids, and from his peers in the Zack—who simultaneously lived in the same gang he joined. Consider the following dialogue working class neighborhood and attended the about Hugh’s fighting ability at school: same high school, yet took different paths: One became a sex offender and the other an Q. What did the other kids think about you fighting? assaultive offender. These two cases, then, are A. Since I was a good fighter, everybody my age juxtaposed nicely because they report data as to looked up to me, you know. I wasn’t afraid to why boys from the same social milieu come to fight. I liked it. I was the only one my age who engage in different types of violence. What fol- fought the older kids. lows is a brief outline of their life stories and how their differing forms of violence are related Q. How did that make you feel? to their body, structured action, and masculinity. A. Better than the others. 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 205

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Q. Why? When I asked Hugh how it made him feel to respond that way, he stated, A. Always, ever since I can remember, I’d say I wasn’t going to let anybody push me around. I It felt good. It was a sense of retaliation, you was going to be like Gramps—a force in this know. I was doing something about it. And after world. I got out of the principal, kids would pat me on the Q. Did you want to be like Gramps? Was he a back. They all wanted to be my friend, you know. force? I had a reputation of not being pushed around by teachers, and I liked that. So I did it more. A. Yeah. He didn’t let people push him around. (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 54)

Q. Did the other kids think of you as a force? Being tall and muscular for his age, Hugh’s A. They looked up to me, as I said. Because it bodily resources empowered him to implement wasn’t about beating the older kids up or them physically confrontational practices when he beating me up. It was that I held my own. I encountered masculinity challenges. His body didn’t let people walk all over me. And they served, in part, as agent and resource in his prac- thought that was cool. tice of embodied force; thus, Hugh embodied Q. Did you develop a reputation? power at school through a calculated effort to present his body in a specific way. A. Yeah. I became that force, you know. In the back For Hugh, then, his body facilitated mascu- of kids’ minds it would always be like, “Man, is line agency. In the face of masculinity chal- this kid going to hit me?” So they didn’t mess lenges from other students and teachers, he with me. I was strong and good with my fists, successfully constructed himself as a “tough you know. (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 53) guy” who was “superior” to his victims—his assaultive acts enforced and shaped masculine This dialogue discloses the intricate inter- boundaries. Indeed, his physical ability to fight play of Hugh’s body with the social processes of when provoked convinced him of his own emi- becoming a “force” at school. The social require- nent masculine self-worth. His bodily resources ment to validate one as a masculine force—that empowered him to implement a physically con- is, physically fighting—is an embodied practice frontational masculinity, permitted him to resist that connects specific bodily skill and compe- the school physically, and enabled him to con- tence (“good with my fists”) with a predictable struct specific behavior patterns—acting out in consequence to that practice (“they looked up to class, bullying other students, and assaulting me” and “they thought that was cool”). Hugh students and teachers. Thus, within the social consciously responded to masculinity challenges setting of the school, Hugh’s body became his by constructing a bodily presence in school primary resource for masculine power and (“I held my own”) that was revered by his esteem and simultaneously constructed his classmates. victims as subordinate. This construction of being a “force” eventu- In certain ways, Hugh was following the ally led Hugh to attacking teachers physically. bodily dictates of the school social structure in Hugh expressed to me that the physical power which he was embedded. Research shows that he exerted on the playground gave him the in junior high and high school, the tallest and confidence to challenge a teacher’s power in strongest boys are usually the most popular, the classroom under certain conditions. I asked admired by peers (and parents and teachers) for Hugh for an example of when such violence their size and athletic prowess (Thorne, 1993). might occur: In the context of school, a boy’s height and musculature increase self-esteem and prestige, The teacher told me to do my work and I’d say: “I thus creating a more positive body image don’t want to do my work.” And then the teacher (Thorne, 1993). Research on male adolescent would say I had to, and then I’d throw my desk at him. I couldn’t stay in class and do what I had to development reveals that boys are acutely do. I was always getting in trouble. I was the one aware of the changes in themselves during getting detention and stuff. I’d throw my desk and puberty, as well as other people’s responses to walk out, sayin’ “Fuck you.” (Messerschmidt, those changes (Petersen, 1988). Boys who par- 2000, p. 54) ticipate in sports, for example, state that “they 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 206

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take pleasure in their agency and their bodies (Kindlon & Thompson, 1999). In junior high simultaneously. They feel like they accomplish and high school, masculine social hierarchies things in their bodies and in their lives” develop in relation to somatic type. Such (Martin, 1996, p. 55). somatic differentiation affirms inequality As the testimonial indicates, Hugh had a very among boys, and in this way, diverse masculin- similar response to his embodied practices. ities are constructed in relation to biological Most of the time, Hugh’s attention did not focus development (Canaan, 1998; Connell, 1987, on his own embodiment; it was simply taken for 1995; Thorne, 1993). The relationship among granted. However, in times of verbally antag- these masculinities forms a specific social onistic and physically confrontational inter- structure within the social setting of the school. actions at home and school—that is, during For example, in most secondary schools, we are masculinity challenges—the body now became likely to find power relations between hege- the central aspect of Hugh’s attention and expe- monic masculinities (i.e., “cool guys,” “tough rience. Indeed, for Hugh, the body seized center guys,” and “jocks”) and subordinated mascu- stage and acted—because of its physical size, linities (i.e., gay boys, “wimps,” and “nerds”). shape, and skill—according to his chosen mas- Ethnographies of secondary education in culine goal of being a force in the world. In Britain, Australia, and the United Sates consis- other words, during these interactions entailing tently report such masculine power relation- masculinity challenges, both gender and body ships, which construct a specific social were highly salient—they became the object of structure in secondary schools (see Connell, his practice. Moreover, his body facilitated 1996, for a review). In short, today the body masculine social action—it was a successful increasingly has become crucial to self-image, masculine resource—by creating boundaries especially among teenage youth. Through inter- between Hugh and his numerous victims. action at school, adolescents make bodies Additionally, the embodied practices of matter by constructing some bodies as more Hugh show that such practices are intersub- masculine than other bodies; thus, social struc- jective. That is, the space in which Hugh’s tures are embodied. assaultive actions occurred was occupied by Although Hugh’s embodied practices repre- others; and it is these others, in part, toward sent hegemonic or exemplary masculinities at whom the assaultive actions were intended. school, I found subordinate school masculinities As Crossley (1995) argues, embodied social in several of the adolescent male sex offenders action is “other oriented” and derives its sense I interviewed. Consider the case of Zack, who or meaning from its participation in shared sit- was 15 years old when I interviewed him. When uations: Embodied action is “not only acting- he was in third grade, he gained a considerable towards-others; it is acting-towards-others in amount of weight, and other students considered a way that is acceptable to others (in general) him “fat,” as did he. The “cool guys” at school by virtue of its reliance upon commonly held consistently verbally and physically abused rules and resources, and its observance of ritual Zack: “They’d call me ‘fatty,’ ‘chubby cheeks,’ considerations” (pp. 141-142). Hugh’s assaul- ‘wimp,’ and stuff like that. I got pushed down a tive actions, then, were accomplished in accor- lot and stuff. I got beat up a lot in the school- dance with a shared masculine subjectivity of yard” (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 42). The abuse others who populated the same school and for being overweight and the constant physical home space where the assaultive actions assault extended through grade school and occurred. middle school. Unlike some other kids at school, But boys unlike Hugh—specifically, boys Zack chose not to respond physically to these who do not possess the appropriate body shape masculinity challenges because he felt he would and size and thus are unable to use their bodies be “beat up.” As Zack stated, in the physical ways proposed by the school social structure—frequently experience distress I felt like I was a “wimp” ’cause I couldn’t do what (Petersen, 1988). In the teen world, bodies are other boys did. I never could in my life. I couldn’t subject increasingly to inspection and surveil- do anything. Other people always told me what to lance by peers; and less muscular, nonathletic do, I never told anybody. I felt pretty crappy about boys are often labeled “wimps” and “fags” myself. (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 43) 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 207

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Consequently, the peer abuse at school In addition to this disciplined management of exerted a masculinity challenge, and, subse- his body, Zack consciously attempted to obtain quently, Zack attempted to invalidate his status heterosexual dates. In all such attempts, how- as a “wimp” by joining the junior high football ever, he failed miserably. team. As Zack stated, “It would make me feel Unable to be masculine like the “cool guys,” like I was actually worth something, like other the masculinity challenges exerted greater guys, you know” (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 43). pressure on Zack, and he eventually turned to However, during the summer, between fifth and expressing control and power over his youngest sixth grades, Zack broke his wrist while female cousin through sex. During his sixth attempting to “get in shape.” He remained over- grade year—a time when he experienced the weight, and although he tried out for the team in distressing events just described and “discov- his sixth grade year, he was soon cut. ered” heterosexuality—Zack consciously chose Also during his sixth grade year, Zack to seek out his cousin: “I wanted to experience developed a sexual interest in girls. He learned sex, like what other boys were doing. I wanted this not from the adults in his life but through to do what they were talking about but I was interaction at school. Because of the frequent rejected by girls at school” (Messerschmidt, “sex talk” at school, Zack wanted to experience 2000, p. 46). Zack sexually assaulted (fondling sex to be like the other boys. Because Zack and oral penetration) his youngest cousin over a had never been able to arrange a date, he felt 3-year period by using a variety of seemingly extremely “left out” and identified himself as a nonviolent manipulative strategies. I asked Zack “virgin.” The continual rejection by girls made how it made him feel when he manipulated his Zack feel discontented: “I didn’t really like cousin, and he stated, “It made me feel real myself ’cause girls didn’t like me. I was fat and good. I just felt like finally I was in control over I just didn’t seem to fit in. Like I’m the only somebody. I forgot about being fat and ugly. She virgin in the school.” was someone looking up to me, you know. If I needed sexual contact, then I had it. I wasn’t a Q. Did you want to fit in? virgin anymore” (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 47). A. Yeah. And I tried really hard. I tried to play foot- Zack saw himself as not “measuring up” ball so the popular guys would like me. I tried to physically to the school view of the ideal mas- dress differently, dress like they [popular kids] culine body. Consequently, his body was a did. I tried going on diets. I tried to get girls. restraint on his agency—he could not do the (Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 45) masculine practices the “cool guys” were doing, including “fighting back” when bullied and Prior to the masculinity challenges he faced engaging in sex with peers. Moreover, his at school, Zack did not think much about his immediate situation at school was seen by him body. However, Zack’s body became much more as a dangerous place, as he inhabited the most a part of his lived experience. This resulted in subordinate position in the masculine power his body becoming a site of intersubjective dis- social structure of the school. Consequently, the dain through interaction at school that led embodied practices activated by the contextual inevitably to his negative self-conceptualization. interactions at school could be directed only In turn, Zack made the conscious choice—to outside the school situation. Zack’s body help fulfill his goal to be masculine—to attempt became party to a surrogate practice that to “fit in” by reconstructing his body: He tried to directed him toward a course of social action get into shape to play football, dress “cool at that was physically and sexually realizable. For school,” and go on diets. In other words, Zack’s Zack, then, the dominant masculine practices in body became an object of his practice as a result school were not rejected. Rather, physical and of its socially constructed subordinated pres- sexual subordination directed Zack toward con- ence. Zack actively worked on his body in an sciously fixating not only on his body, but on a attempt to mold it into an “appropriate” gen- specific site (the home) and a particular form of dered body for the particular school setting. embodied conduct (sexual violence) where such Thus, his physical sense of masculinity was in masculine practices could be realized. Given part derived from his attempt to transform his that Zack was removed from any type of recog- body through social practices (Connell, 1987). nized masculine bodily status in school, the 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 208

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available sexual “outlet” at home was especially power relationship among them. For Zack, seductive and captivating, became an obsession, however, heterosexual meanings added to the and was a powerful and pleasurable means of power divide among boys. Yet in the brief, being masculine. In attempting to masculinize illusory moment of each sexually violent and heterosexualize his body within the capti- incident—in which the sex offender practiced vating conceptualization of “cool guy” mas- spatial and physical dominance over his culinity, Zack engendered a powerful sense of cousin—Zack was a “cool guy”; the subordinate self by consciously “taking charge” at home and was now the dominant. conquering his cousin’s body through sexual violence. The choice to be sexually violent, then, was a situational masculine resource in CONCLUSION which Zack could be dominant, powerful, and heterosexual through bodily practice. Thus, it Psychoanalysis provides little help in under- was in this way that Zack’s body shared in his standing these life stories and embodied prac- social agency by shaping and generating his tices. The goal for both Hugh and Zack was course of action toward sexual violence. hegemonic masculinity and being a “cool guy” For Zack, then, the peer abuse and inability who could solve problems through inter- to “be a man” according to the social structure personal violence. In Sartre’s (1956) words, of the school brought about an absolute split this was their “fundamental choice,” or the between his subordinate masculinity and the gendered attitude they took toward the world. masculinity of other boys—in particular, the Accordingly, both boys engaged in a conscious “cool guys”—at school. Such, however, is not choice to pursue hegemonic masculinity the case for Hugh. Although engaging in (defined by the practices in their particular assaultive violence—as Hugh did—placed the milieu of home and school) as their project, or body at center stage, it did not disrupt his the fundamental mode by which they chose to masculine reality but rather confirmed it; his relate to the world and express themselves in it. body was a superordinate masculine presence Hugh and Zack’s behavior, then, is best under- at school. Indeed, within the social context of stood from the point of view of their socially Hugh’s and Zack’s school, such practices structured, consciously chosen project rather as physically fighting are experienced as part than from some alleged yet spurious “uncon- of masculine life, not placed outside it. scious” motivation. To appreciate why Hugh Consequently, these acts maintain intentional and Zack engaged in violence, we must first links with other boys and reproduce the mas- discover the planned project for both. This is culine school social structure of power—their the basic difference between the method success at assaultive actions enforced the employed here and that of Jefferson. Jefferson boundary between hegemonic and subordinate attempts to comprehend the person in light of masculinities. In contrast, Zack’s habitual mas- “unconscious” antecedents; following Sartre culine world was disrupted and correlated with (1956, 1963), I understand the person in light a new relation to his body—it now became a of his conscious choices—in particular, social subordinate masculine presence at school. Thus, situations—as he pursues future-oriented although Hugh’s embodied violent actions are projects. interwoven with others in a common masculine Additionally, the case studies of Hugh and project, Zack constituted embodied subor- Zack demonstrate that the materiality of bodies dination in the masculine power hierarchy at often matters in the pursuit of a project. Bodies school. The result is that Zack experienced participate in social action by delineating social isolation and a telic demand to be free courses of social conduct: “Bodies in their from his subordinate masculine situation— materiality have both limits and capacities which he “satisfied” through sexual violence. which are always in play in social processes” In short, the interactions experienced by (Connell, 1998a, p. 6). Indeed, our bodies con- Hugh and Zack at school were situational strain or facilitate social action and therefore moments marked by masculinity challenges in mediate and influence social practices. It is not which each boy was defined as a rival to other surprising that it was through masculinity boys, entailing a socially distant, hostile, and challenges—that is, when both body and gender 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 209

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became highly salient as organizing principles First, the current movement in criminology of interaction—and subsequent bodily and toward conceptualizing the interrelationship sexual subordination (Zack) or superordination among gender, race, class, sexualities, and (Hugh) that choice and behavior became crime is an important direction for future focused in the specific direction of sexual vio- research. Structured action theory provides one lence (Zack) or assaultive violence (Hugh). The way to examine that interrelationship. Others masculine social structure of the school each will emerge. Moreover, we need a variety of boy attended defined both physical and sexual methodological approaches, from historical and performance as essential criteria for “doing documentary research to ethnographies and life masculinity.” Thus, these dominant criteria— histories, to examine how gender, race, class, within the context of a body either able or and sexuality differently affect crime. unable to construct such criteria—directed the Second, I do not suggest that the body is boys’ ultimate choices of a specific type of vio- always salient to the commission of crime. lence and victimization. Nevertheless, both boys Thus, we should investigate empirically when viewed their bodies as instruments—weapons in the body becomes salient to crime and when it the service of a desire to dominate and control does not. In other words, an important question another body through a particular type of inter- for future research is, What is the relationship personal violence. Accordingly, these two case among the body, masculinities, and crime? studies help us understand the relationship Third, because Connell (2000) correctly among the body, masculinities, and differing notes that “gender is social practice that con- types of violence. stantly refers to bodies and what bodies do, it is Although not generalizable, these two case not social practice reduced to the body” (p. 27), studies provide additional justification for struc- it follows that masculinities occasionally are tured action theory. It was the social structural enacted by girls and women. Consequently, an power relations among differing masculinities important research direction is the relationship at school that made the masculinity challenges between masculinities and crime by girls and and differing forms of violence possible, but women. Indeed, Jody Miller’s (2001) important not necessarily inevitable. The agency of Hugh book One of the Guys points in this direction by and Zack, their interactions within that structure, showing how some gang girls consider the gang and their ultimate conscious choices made the a “masculine enterprise” in which they partici- masculinity challenges and interpersonal violence pate in practices similar to those of the boys.5 happen—which, in turn, reproduced that mas- Fourth, a new area of criminological study culine power social structure. Indeed, one way is globalization and crime. Criminological gender is built into institutions—such as schools— research on gender can contribute to this subject is through hierarchical divisions of masculine matter by examining how masculinities are power. This particular power hierarchy was a related to crime in different societies and how regular and patterned form of interaction that they are linked to historical and contemporary constrained and channeled how the two boys conditions of globalization. Moreover, under- conceptualized and chose to practice masculin- standing masculinities and crime in industrial- ity. The school masculine power relations ized societies (such as the United States) can be became a constitutive principle of their masculine enhanced through a conceptualization of how “identity” through being adopted as a personal globalization affects social conditions and thus project. Thus, the masculine personality of Hugh crime in such societies. Simon Winlow’s (2001) and Zack existed only as social actions fashioned book, Badfellas, which examines the changes in in accordance with the school power hierarchy. masculinities and crime in the northeast of Hugh reproduced a specific form of hegemonic England since the 1880s and how those changes masculinity through assaultive violence. Zack, are related to globalization, has initiated the although choosing to passively maintain his sub- research in this area. ordinate status within the confines of the school, Fifth, how gender is constructed by criminal actively attempted to invalidate that status for justice personnel is essential to understanding himself through sexual violence at home. social control in industrialized societies. Jurik In closing, let me suggest some avenues for and Martin (2001), for example, have been future research. prominent in this regard by showing specifically 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 210

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how the transformation of policing and 4. “Violence to solve problems” clearly is a corrections into professional occupations discourse but is rooted—for Hugh and Zack—in the evinces a modification of hegemonic masculin- structured actions of home and school. ity from being interpersonally and physically 5. See Messerschmidt (2004) for an examination aggressive to wielding control through technical of the similarities and differences of violent and nonviolent masculinities by both boys and girls. expertise. Moreover, in the important new book Prison Masculinities, Sabo et al. (2001) demonstrate, through the words of prisoners and academics, the varieties of masculinities constructed REFERENCES within that closed social setting. Sixth, postmodern feminist criminologists Barak, G., Flavin, J. M., & Leighton, P. S. (2001). have disclosed the importance of discourse Class, race, gender, and crime: Social realities analysis to the understanding of cultural con- of justice in America. Los Angeles: Roxbury. ceptions of gender and crime (Collier, 1998; Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Young, 1996). The results of these researches Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. are important, but it is essential to recognize, Psychological Review, 103(1), 5-33. as stated earlier, that discourse is the result of Benjamin, J. (1998). Shadow of the other: practice. The work of Gray Cavender (1999) Intersubjectivity and gender in psychoanalysis. is prominent in this regard. For example, in New York: Routledge. “Detecting Masculinity,” Cavender (1999) Bowker, L. (Ed.). (1998). Masculinities and violence. shows how masculinities are constructed differ- Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ently in feature films by reason of historical Bruce, M. (1997, November). Party animals and context—1940s versus 1980s—and discourses badasses: Evidence of the gender, race and class that male actors practice as “detectives” in each nexus. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the of the films. We need more research that is sim- American Society of Criminology, San Diego, CA. ilarly sensitive to how practice in particular Cahill, S. E. (1986). Childhood socialization as a recruitment process: Some lessons from the study social settings constructs discourse. of gender development. In P. A. Adler & P. Adler Finally, it is important to examine why some (Eds.), Sociological studies of child development people engage in crime and others do not. A sig- (pp. 163-186). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. nificant task, then, for future research is to dis- Canaan, J. (1998). Is “doing nothing” just boys’ play? cover what type of masculinity people construct Integrating feminist and cultural studies: who do not commit crime and how it is different Perspectives on working-class young men’s from the gender of those who do commit crime. masculinity. In K. Daly & L. Maher (Eds.), In short, I recommend these as the chief areas Criminology at the crossroads: Feminist read- of focus for those working in the area of mas- ings in crime and justice (pp. 172-187). New culinities and crime. All such studies seek to York: Oxford University Press. Carlen, P., & Jefferson, T. (1996). (Eds.). Masculin- engage the demanding empirical inquiries that ities and crime. British Journal of Criminology, confidently will lead to theoretical reappraisal 33(6, Special issue). and, inevitably, to advances in theory. Cavender, G. (1999). Detecting masculinity. In J. Ferrell & N. Websdale (Eds.), Making trouble: Cultural constructions of crime, deviance, NOTES and control (pp. 157-175). New York:Aldine de Gruyter. 1. For a postmodern position on masculinities Chodorow, N. J. (1978). The reproduction of mother- and crime, see Collier (1998). For a critique of this ing. Berkeley: University of California Press. position, see Messerschmidt (1999). Chodorow, N. J. (1994). Femininities, masculinities, 2. Either Jefferson does not know about this sexualities: Freud and beyond. Lexington: work or he rejects it simply because Chodorow is University of Kentucky Press. critical of discourse analysis. Chodorow, N. J. (1999). The power of feelings: 3. Crime as Structured Action discusses numer- Personal meaning in psychoanalysis, gender, and ous cases in which race, class, and masculinities culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. affect crime. Additionally, the chapter on “lynchers” Collier, R. (1998). Masculinities, crime and criminol- is unique in criminology through its examination of ogy: Men, heterosexuality and the criminal(ised) the role “whiteness” may play in crime. other. London: Sage. 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 211

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Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology the person, and sexual politics. Stanford, CA: (pp. 535-557). Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. Stanford University Press. Jefferson, T. (1997b). The Tyson rape trial: The law, Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: feminism and emotional “truth.” Social and University of California Press. Legal Studies, 6(2), 281-301. Connell, R. W. (1996). Teaching the boys: New Jefferson, T. (1998). “Muscle,” “hard men,” and research on masculinity and gender strategies “iron” Mike Tyson: Reflections on desire, anxi- for schools. Teachers College Record, 98(2), ety, and the embodiment of masculinity. Body 206-235. and Society, 4(1), 77-98. Connell, R. W. (1998a). Bodies, intellectuals, and world Jefferson, T. (2001, January). Subordinating hege- society. Plenary address to British Sociological monic masculinity. Keynote address presented at Association and Annual Conference, Edinburgh, the Australian and New Zealand Annual Scotland Criminology Conference, Melbourne, Australia. Connell, R. W. (2000). The men and the boys. Sydney: Jefferson, T. (2003). For a psychosocial criminol- Allen & Unwin. ogy. In K. Carrington & R. Hogg (Eds.), Crossley, N. (1995). Body techniques, agency and Critical criminology: Issues, debates, chal- intercorporeality: On Goffman’s Relations in lenges (pp. 145-167). London: Willan. Public. Sociology, 29(1), 133-149. Jurik, N. C., & Martin, S. E. (2001). Femininities, Daly, K., & Chesney-Lind, M. (1988). Feminism and masculinities, and organizational conflict: criminology. Justice Quarterly, 5(4), 497-538. Women in criminal justice occupations. In Giddens, A. (1976). New rules of sociological C. M. Renzetti & L. Goodstein (Eds.), Women, method: A positive critique of interpretive soci- crime and criminal justice: Original feminist ologies. New York: Basic Books. readings (pp. 264-281). Los Angeles: Roxbury. Giddens, A. (1981). Agency, institution, and time- Kindlon, D., & Thompson, M. (1999). Raising Cain: space analysis. In K. Knorr-Cetina & A. V. Protecting the emotional life of boys. New York: Cicourel (Eds.), Advances in social theory and Ballantine. methodology: Toward an integration of micro- Lettiere, M. (1997, November). “I’m gettin’ a lick and macro-sociologies (pp. 161-174). Boston, ’cus I ain’t no white bitch”: Racialized mas- MA: Routledge. culinities and crime among San Francisco’s Giddens, A. (1989). A reply to my critics. In homeless heroin addicts. Paper presented at the D. Held & J. B. Thompson (Eds.), Social the- Annual Meeting of the American Society of ories of modern societies: Anthony Giddens and Criminology, San Diego, CA. his critics (pp. 249-301). New York: Cambridge Martin, K. A. (1996). Puberty, sexuality, and the self: University Press. Boys and girls at adolescence. New York: Hobbs, D. (1995). Bad business: Professional crime in Routledge. modern Britain. New York: Oxford University Press. Messerschmidt, J. W. (1993). Masculinities and Hood-Williams, J. (2001). Gender, masculinities and crime: Critique and reconceptualization of crime: From structures to psyches. Theoretical theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Criminology, 5(1), 37-60. Messerschmidt, J. W. (1997). Crime as structured Jaggar, A. (1983). Feminist politics and human action: Gender, race, class, and crime in the nature. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Allanheld. making. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Jefferson, T. (1994). Theorizing masculine subjectiv- Messerschmidt, J. W. (1999). Masculinities, Crime ity. In T. Newburn & E. A. Stanko (Eds.), Just and Criminology by Richard Collier (Review). boys doing business? Men, masculinities and Theoretical Criminology, 3(2), 246-249. crime (pp. 10-31). New York: Routledge. Messerschmidt, J. W. (2000). Nine lives: Adolescent Jefferson, T. (1996a). From “little fairy boy” to “the masculinities, the body, and violence. Boulder, complete destroyer”: Subjectivity and transfor- CO: Westview. mation in the biography of Mike Tyson. In Messerschmidt, J. W. (2004). Embodied mas- M. Mac an Ghaill (Ed.), Understanding masculinities, embodied violence: Boys, girls, the culinities (pp. 153-167). Philadelphia, PA: Open body, and assault. Lanham, MD: Rowman & University Press. Littlefield. Jefferson, T. (1996b). Introduction. British Journal of Miller, J. (2001). One of the guys: Girls, gangs, and Criminology, 36(6), 337-347. gender. New York: Oxford University Press. Jefferson, T. (1996c). “Tougher than the rest”: Mike Naffine, N. (Ed.). (1995). Gender, crime, and feminism. Tyson and the destructive desires of masculinity. Brookfield, MA: Dartmouth University Press. ARENA Journal, 6, 89-105. Newburn, T., & Stanko, E. A. (1994). Just boys doing Jefferson, T. (1997a). Masculinities and crime. business? Men, masculinities and crime. London: In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner Routledge. 12-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:19 PM Page 212

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Petersen, A. C. (1988). Adolescent development. Schwartz, M. D., & Milovanovic, D. (Eds.). (1996). Annual Review of Psychology, 39, 583-607. Race, gender, and class in criminology: The Polk, K. (1994). When men kill: Scenarios of mascu- intersection. New York: Garland. line violence. New York: Cambridge University Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in Press. school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Sabo, D., Kupers, T. A., & London, W. (Eds.). (2001). Press. Prison masculinities. Philadelphia, PA: Temple West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. University Press. Gender and Society, 1(2), 125-151. Sartre, J. P. (1956). Being and nothingness. New York: Winlow, S. (2001). Badfellas: Crime, tradition and Washington Square Press. new masculinities. New York: Berg. Sartre, J. P. (1963). Search for a method. New York: Young,A. (1996). Imagining crime: Textual outlaws and Alfred A. Knopf. criminal conversations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 213

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JON SWAIN

oys negotiate and perform different This chapter argues that schooling affords versions of masculinity in a range of boys a number of different opportunities to con- B social and cultural situations, such as struct different masculinities that draw on the families, neighborhoods, schools, sport, popular localized resources and strategies available. I media and culture, commodified style cultures, examine current theories of masculinities and labor markets, and so on, and each of these sites the powerful influence of boys’ peer groups and offers boys ways of constructing appropriate discuss issues of subordination and homopho- ways of being male and possibilities for forming bia, boys’ relations with girls, and the place of views of themselves and relations with others. the body in the enactment of masculinity. The meanings, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs that The English public schools of the early 19th are generated in each area interrelate and are century were set up with the express intention carried over to the others, but this chapter sets of teaching boys about how to be male and how out to consider the education system and, in par- to become a (Christian) man (Connell, 2000; ticular, how school processes and the meanings Heward, 1988). Until the last 50 years or so, and practices found within the school setting these schools were unconcerned with meritoc- contribute to, and help form, young boys’ mas- racy or academic qualifications and saw their culinities. Many researchers writing on adoles- main function as the preparation of a high pro- cent boys in secondary school have played down portion of their pupils for the armed services or the role of schooling in the formation of mas- the financial world of the city. Schooling in for- culinities for men (see, for example, Connell, merly British colonies has also been profoundly 1989; Walker, 1988). Indeed, for Connell (1989), influenced by English models. In countries such the “childhood family, the adult workplace as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United or sexual relationships (including marriage)” States, India, and South Africa, systems of (p. 301) are more important influences, but, schooling (at least for the elite) were consciously as Skelton (2001) persuasively points out, based on the English public school design, and these last two areas have far less immediate this produced boys in the image of the metropol- relevance for younger children, and so it is itan gentlemen with all the failings of misogyny, possible to conclude that the school plays a homophobia, and emotional repression (Epstein, relatively more prominent role in the con- 1998a; Morrell, 1994). Mass systems of school- struction of identity for boys in primary and ing for the indigenous or colonized people were early secondary schooling. also modeled on metropolitan designs. In some

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places, educational experiences (such as the groups to attain competitive levels of education, “Bantu Education” introduced in South Africa and it is also gender biased in the sense that in 1955) were unfulfilling and violent, with boys are likely to get more schooling, and be an authoritarian pedagogy underwritten with educated to higher levels, than girls (Pong, corporal punishment. This produced patterns 1999). In 1999, 120 million primary school–age of masculinity that promoted toughness, gender children were not in school, 53% of them girls inequality, and repression (Hyslop, 1999; and 47% of them boys (UNICEF, 2001, p. 10). Morrell, 2001). Schools may also have a curriculum hostile to Despite the fact that schooling has, histori- local knowledge and culture, and the labor mar- cally, been connected with gender, the issue of ket has a greater purchase on what is taught and gender in schools was largely ignored until the on how the schools function. Indeed, in many second wave of feminism in the 1980s (Rendel, developing countries (and in some industrial- 1985), when it came onto the agenda as an ized countries as well), child labor is a serious equity issue. Skelton (2001) points out that early problem that severely limits children’s educa- studies of boys and schooling in the late 1970s tional opportunities.3 tended to emphasize gender as difference between girls and boys, and it has only been since the late 1980s that researchers have begun DISCURSIVE FIELDS IN U.K. EDUCATION to focus on the multiple differences within each gender group.1 Since then, there has been a In the case of the United Kingdom, the central growing body of research into the effects and tenet of the postwar educational consensus was impact of masculinities in educational settings that the function of the education system was for across both phases of schooling,2 although the the development of economic growth, to regulate majority of these studies tends to focus on and maintain the status quo, and to produce citi- adolescent males in secondary schools. These zens fit to take their place in society; but there texts provide us with a series of well-argued the- has also been a movement that emphasizes oretical frameworks that allow us to both under- schooling for the purpose of delivering emanci- stand and explore how masculinities suffuse pation and producing social change toward a school regimes and recognize how schooling fairer, more equitable society (see Gordon, not only reproduces but also produces gender Holland, & Lahelma, 2000; Haywood & Mac an identities, although not always in ways that are Ghaill, 1996). These expectations can overlap either straightforward or transparent. Some and be contradictory, but in recent years, there writers describe schools as a “masculinity has been a fundamental restructuring of U.K. factory” (Heward, 1996, p. 39), or as “masculinity- state schooling; in the New Right agenda that making devices” (Connell, 1989, p. 291; Haywood came to the fore in the early 1980s, the school & Mac an Ghaill, 1996, p. 59), where boys learn has found itself located in and incorporated into that there are a number of different, and often a competitive marketplace (Power & Whitty, competing, ways of being a boy and that some 1999).4 When I came into teaching in 1979, my of these are more cherished and prestigious, and first school was still dominated by the child- therefore more powerful, than others (Kenway & centered discourses popular in the late 1960s Willis, 1998). through the late 1970s. There was an ideological We live in an unequal society, and schooling language that Alexander (1988) refers to as “pri- is a political issue that plays a role in wider maryspeak” (p. 148), and it was used as a power social developments. Schools exist, of course, base for heads and advisers. It exerted a subtle within their own structural contexts, including but irresistible pressure, and you needed to learn the structure of their national education system, and use its slogans and shibboleths to gain legit- and these pressures have a profound influence imacy and, dare I say, promotion. Some of the on schools’ policies and organizations, as most salient pedagogic terms were (in alphabet- “macro” interactions are enacted on the “micro” ical order) activities, apprenticeship, choice, stage. For instance, in poorer countries, many cooperation, curiosity, developmental, display, schools are severely underresourced, access can facilitator, fascination, flexibility, freedom, be limited, and absenteeism high. Schooling is group work, growth, in depth, integrated day,5 rarely free, making it difficult for lower income natural, nurturing, Piaget, potential, progress, 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 215

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quality, stage of development, understanding, femininity among staff and students, orders them and workshop. in terms of prestige and power, and constructs a Twenty years later and schools are now sexual division of labor within the institution. The pervaded by an alternative and powerful dis- gender regime is a state of play rather than a per- course of competitive corporate management. manent condition. It can be changed deliberately or otherwise, but is no less powerful in its effects The dominant educational phrases of the late on pupils for that. It confronts them as a social 1990s through the early 21st century are “school fact, which they have to come to terms with effectiveness” and “raising school standards” somehow. (p. 42) (Weiner, Arnot, & David, 1997). Again, it may be interesting to examine more closely some of the Schools are invariably hierarchical and other terms and phrases that have infiltrated the create and sustain relations of domination and language of education and schooling, taking subordination; each orders certain practices in note of the “bellicose” language and imagery terms of power and prestige as it defines its own (Raphael Reed, 1998). For example (and again in distinct gender regime. Although schools are alphabetical order), achievement, accountability, located and shaped by specific sociocultural, action zones, assessment, attainment, best prac- politicoeconomic, and historical conditions, tice, boys’ underachievement, comparisons, com- individual personnel, reproduced rules, routines petition, effectiveness, evaluations, examinations, and expectations, and the school’s own use of hit squads, improvement, inspection, learning resources and space will all have a profound opportunities, learning outcomes, measurement, impact on (and can make a substantive difference 6 monitoring, National Curriculum, OFSTED, in) the way in which young boys (and girls) live outcomes, performance, performance-related and experience their lives at school. This means 7 pay, planning, results, rigorous, SATs, setting, that there are different options and opportunities shame and blame, standards, streaming, target to perform different types of masculinity in each 8 setting, testing, 3 Rs, whole-class teaching, school; in other words, there are different alter- 9 whole-school approach, and zero tolerance. natives, or possibilities, of doing boy that are Under the current discourses of “school effec- contingent to each school setting, using the tiveness” and “raising standards,” Pollard and meanings and practices available. Some of these Filer (1999) point out that the assumption is that ways will be easier (or more open) to achieve if standards are to rise, the curriculum must be than others, some less easy (or more restricted), taught more effectively, and there is little attempt and others almost impossible to access (closed). to engage with pupils as learners per se. All the For example, sporty types of masculinity will be talk is of “better teaching” and a “better delivery easier to achieve and perform in a school that of the curriculum,” and in this account, the pupil sanctions competitive sport than in a school that is like a commodity with a relative value. Pollard bans, say, football; the opportunity of accruing and Filer (1999) contend that “education ...is prowess through wearing the latest training something which is done to children, not with shoes will be virtually eliminated in a school children, and still less by children” (p. 21). that enforces a strict uniform policy.

SCHOOLS AS INSTITUTIONS MASCULINIZING PRACTICES Hansot and Tyack (1998) maintain that to understand gender in school, we need to “think To understand the range of processes and prac- institutionally” (see also Salisbury & Jackson, tices involving the ways that boys are able to 1996). For Connell (1996), “gender is embed- construct their masculine identities, some ded in the institutional arrangements by which researchers have identified and differentiated a school functions” (p. 213), which Kessler, between the official or formal and the unoffi- Ashenden, Connell, and Dowsett (1985) refer to cial or informal cultures of the school (see, as the school’s gender regime: for example, Connell, Ashenden, Kessler, & Dowsett, 1982; Gordon et al., 2000; Pollard, This may be defined as the pattern of practices 1985), although they define them in slightly dif- that constructs various kinds of masculinity and ferent ways. These two layers are intertwined in 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 216

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everyday school life and are not fixed but, corporal punishment continues to be widely rather, messy and shifting. The formal school used in the township schools, particularly culture is laid out in documents of the school among male learners, where its use in the home and state and includes the teaching and learn- gives it legitimacy (Morrell, 2001). ing; the pedagogy; the disciplinary apparatus; The relations between teachers and pupils and the policy, organizational, and administra- have been thoroughly documented: Teachers tive structures. The informal school culture is not make gender distinction a central element of intended to be in binary opposition, for it is pupil identity, and it has been shown how they different from, rather than a reaction to, and is are similar to parents in that they tend to treat in continual negotiation with, the formal school boys and girls according to gendered stereo- culture. Although it also has its own particular types (see Alloway, 1995). There is a tendency hierarchy, rules, and criteria of evaluation and for the questions they ask, the manner of their judgement, and many of its parameters are set responses, and the systems they use for rewards by the formal regime, it has a whole life and and sanctions to be influenced by assump- meaning all its own: It includes not only the tions about gender differences. For instance, relations and interactions between the pupils, Walkerdine (1989) shows how teachers are but the informal relations between pupils and more likely to attribute boys’ academic success teachers outside of the instructional relationship to their natural ability but girls’ to hard work, and relations between teacher and teacher and and Cohen (1998) has traced the history of this between pupils, teachers, and other groups in predilection back to the 17th century. Moreover, the school, such as support staff of various types as Haywood and Mac an Ghaill (1996) point and descriptions. out, styles of teaching are also affected by con- We also need to examine how particular sets nections of masculinity with power, authority, of practices and the available story lines within and competence, and they argue that “signs of schools are articulated and related to gender weakness” are often associated with femininity. relations, and we will find that some are more The curriculum itself is the product of partic- obvious and conspicuous than others. Between ular political developments, which need to be them, Connell (1996) and Gilbert and Gilbert located historically and with regard to particular (1998) identify four key areas of “masculinising interest groups and ideologies. Many writers practices,” which are concentrated at particular (see, for example, Connell, 1996; Gilbert & sites and include management, policy, and orga- Gilbert, 1998; Gordon et al., 2000; Haywood & nizational practices (including discipline); the Mac an Ghaill, 1996; Salisbury & Jackson, curriculum; sport and games; and teacher-and- 1996) have pointed out that the curriculum can pupil relations. Perhaps we should also add be seen as an area of strategic importance in the pupil-to-pupil relations, as the closed cultural production of masculinities. With its institution- circle of the peer group has become increasingly alized patterns of knowledge, the curriculum recognized as a key area of influence in mas- is associated with the Foucauldian disciplinary culinity making. techniques of hierarchical (academic) classi- School policies and organization, and the fication, normalizing judgments, and the exam- management practices that constitute them, are ination, and masculinities emerge through a key part of the gender regime and are visible the pupils’ relationship with it. The curriculum in such practices as academic competition and offers boys a resource to use in developing par- hierarchy, constant testing, team games, a strict ticular patterns of masculinity through a range code of dress or uniform, divisions of labor, pat- of responses to it (Haywood & Mac an Ghaill, terns of authority, a strict discipline (often from 1996), and although many are able to use it to male teachers), and so on. In many countries, establish status through teacher approval and schools still rely on harsh, authoritarian systems test results, some boys actively resist school of discipline, which undoubtedly influence learning and expectations and look for alter- constructions of masculinity. For instance, an native resources of prestige to validate their attempt in 1996 to ban corporal punishment in masculine identities (Connell, 1989). Practices South Africa failed to end its use in all schools. of “setting” and “streaming” also produce Although there are signs that more consensual explicit divisions between pupils, thereby creat- models of discipline are being introduced, ing different types of masculinity, and so the 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 217

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ways in which the pupils are organized in THE POWER OF THE PEER GROUP relation to the curriculum are at least as important as, if not more important than, the curriculum Some of the most important contributions to the content itself (Skelton, 2001). understandings of masculinity in schools have Another site is sport and games, and come from a series of ethnographic studies of even though there has recently been a general boys’ own cultures and their interpersonal rela- reduction in the amount of school time given to tions at the micro level. The boys’ peer group is sport and games in the United Kingdom, they one of the most important features of school as still have a great significance in the cultural life a social setting, for peer-group cultures are also of many schools, engaging the school popula- agents in the making of masculinities; they tion as a whole in the “celebration and repro- have a fundamental influence on the construc- duction of the dominant codes of gender” tion of masculine identities, and there are con- (Connell, 1996, p. 217). School sport is not stant pressures on individuals to perform and meant to be some kind of innocent pastime but behave to the expected group norms (see, for is used to create a “top dog” model of masculin- example, Adler & Adler, 1998; Connell, 2000; ity that many boys try to aim for and live up to Connolly, 1998; Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998; (Salisbury & Jackson, 1996, p. 205). Typically, Harris, 1998; Kenway, 1997; Mac an Ghaill, top sporty boys have a higher status, particularly 1994; Pollard, 1985; Walker, 1988; Woods, in the informal peer group. Sport is also inextri- 1990). Each peer group has its own cultural cably connected with the body. Boys learn about identity, which can be said to refer to a “way the need to exert bodily power and the necessity of life” (Dubbs & Whitney, 1980, p. 27) with of hardening their bodies to prepare them for shared values and interests, providing boys physical challenges and confrontations. School with a series of collective meanings of what it sport embodies violent practices, and the is to be a boy. Harris (1998) argues that the peer language is often connected to the language group actually has more influence on children and metaphor of war (Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998; than their parents in the formation of their iden- Salisbury & Jackson, 1996). tity, of who they are now, and who they will Thus we can see that the school’s role in the become and is the main conduit by which cul- formation of masculinity needs to be understood tures are passed from one generation to another. in two ways, for as well as providing the setting Thus the construction of masculinity is, primar- and physical space in which the embodied ily, a collective enterprise, and it is the peer actions and agencies of pupils and adults take group that is the main bearer of gender defini- place, its own structures and practices are tions, rather than individual boys (Connell, involved as institutional agents that produce 2000; Lesko, 2000). This may help to explain these “masculinizing practices.” In some ways, why some boys, who may be disruptive and the coeducational system makes the differences troublesome when part of a group, are sensitive between gender even more conspicuous than in and amenable when on their own. single-sex schooling, and these differences can For many pupils, the safest position to aim be seen in terms of segregated toilets and chang- for in the formal school culture is to be “aver- ing facilities, school uniforms or codes of dress, age,” for although, in some schools, boys have practices such as lining boys and girls up sepa- to be careful not to show they are working too rately, designated seating arrangements in class, hard, they do not want to be thought of as dupes, and so on. However, we should not forget that and this can require careful negotiation. In many educational practices actually ameliorate the informal pupil culture, the aim is to be the gender differences, and many are as much a “same as the others,” for this provides a certain force for gender equity as they are for inequity. protection from teasing and, perhaps, even sub- By restricting pupils’ choice, the National ordination (Gordon et al., 2000). In fact, it is a Curriculum has helped reduce gender differenti- paradox that although pupils attempt to con- ation: Boys and girls share the same timetable in struct their own individual identity, no one the same classroom, and they follow the same aspires to be, or can afford to be, too different, daily routines. As Connell (2000) says, “schools and they are conscious that they need to be “nor- may be having a gender effect without produc- mal” and “ordinary” within the strict codes set ing gender difference” (p. 152). by their own peer group. 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 218

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One of the most urgent dimensions of school However, wherever children go to school, life for boys is the need to gain popularity and, they will learn how to become “pupils,” and in particular, status (see Adler & Adler, 1998; this involves acquiring a considerable variety of Corsaro, 1979; Weber, 1946): Indeed, the search skills. These include understanding the basic to achieve status is also the search to achieve features of the pedagogic process, the hierarchi- an acceptable form of masculinity. Boys’ notion cal relations within the school, and the appro- of status comes from having a certain position priate rules and conventions outside as well within the peer group hierarchy that becomes as inside the classroom. Pollard (1985) main- relevant when it is seen in relation to others. It is tains that the two major sources of support for not something that is given but is often the out- pupils come from their peers and their teachers, come of intricate and intense maneuvering and and to enjoy their time at school, pupils need to has to be earned through negotiation and sus- negotiate and manage skillfully “a satisfactory tained through performance, sometimes on an balance between the expectations of these two almost daily basis. Ultimately, a boy’s position sources” (Pollard & Filer, 1996, p. 309), which in the peer group is determined by the array of often exert contradictory pressures. Many boys social, cultural, physical, intellectual, and experience a tension between what the teachers economic resources that he is able to draw on (representing the school) expect from them as and accumulate. pupils and the expectations that they have them- Although some of the most esteemed selves about what they think it means to be a resources will generally be an embodied form boy. Woods (1990, p. 131) points out that this of physicality (sportiness, toughness, etc.), can involve a delicate balance of affiliation or others may also be intellectual (general aca- “knife-edging” as boys learn to become school- demic capability and achievement), economic boys, but boys’ (and girls’) options and strate- (money), social and linguistic (interpersonal), gies in their relations to the formal school or cultural (in touch with the latest fashions, authority are actually quite restricted: They can music, TV programs, computer expertise, etc.). either conform and comply, challenge and Of course, ultimately, these resources are all resist, or, like the majority, they can pragmati- symbolic in that their power and influence cally negotiate a path that best satisfies their derives from their effect and from what they interests (see, for example, Connell et al., 1982; are perceived to mean and stand for. These Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998; Pollard, 1985; Pollard resources will also always exist within determi- & Filer, 1996; Woods, 1990). nate historical and spatial conditions; moreover, Most boys will actually employ more than the resources that are available will vary within one strategy at different times and in different different settings, and some may be easier to contexts, especially when they are with differ- draw on than others at particular times and in ent teachers, and the majority forms a prag- particular places. This means that the boys who matic accommodation with the formal regime use a set of resources and interactional skills (Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998), negotiating what to establish high status in the dominant pupil Pollard (1985) refers to as a “viable modus hierarchy in one school will not necessarily be vivendi” (p. 194). Although boys tend to tell able to sustain this position in another. researchers that they go to school to have a good time and to be with their friends, many are aware that, ultimately, school means doing LEARNING TO BEASCHOOLBOY schoolwork, and they are able to balance these two commitments most of the time. Certainly, In many parts of the world, pupils’ experience my own research into 10- and 11-year-old boys of school is unfulfilling, inhospitable, and during their last year of primary school (Swain, unremitting. Far from being safe places of learn- 2001) revealed that many boys understood that ing, schools can be sites of bullying, sexual good teacher reports and examination success harassment, abuse, and homophobia, and, with were a desirable requirement for secondary institutional, sanctioned violence in the form school and future careers. Although many of of corporal punishment, boys’ masculinity can the boys told me that they enjoyed most of often reflect this experience (Hyslop, 1999; their classwork, the great majority said that Morrell, 2001).10 they worked hard for instrumental reasons: 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 219

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They wanted to get on and do well in their avoiding an open commitment to work and SATs and recognized that there was a link often being able to negotiate a “cool cleverness” between good qualifications and job and career that allows them to work without being teased prospects with their material remuneration. and victimized (Bleach, 1996), in general, In other words, they had a utilitarian view of securing male esteem and being attentive to school and used it as a resource that provided a schoolwork are regarded as fundamentally means to an end. incompatible. Some boys told me that they did not derive any Of course, this is hardly a new phenomenon, enjoyment from their work, although in this next and, indeed, those boys who resist schoolwork interchange there is also a hint of the parental and reject school values are the most studied influence on their superficial conformity: group of masculinities in schools (Delamont, 2000). See, for example, Willis (1977) with the JS: Do you think you need to pass exams to “lads,” Kessler et al. (1985) with the “bloods,” get a good job? Walker (1988) with the “footballers” and the Vinny: Yeah. “competitors,” Mac an Ghaill (1994) with the “macho lads,” Parker (1996a) with the “hard Hussein: Yeah, definitely. boys,” and Sewell (1997) with the “rebels.” Vinny: It will go on your record.... Although some of these groups are less hostile to school than others, they all pursue a continu- Hussein: If you get 2, 2, 2 [levels in the SATs] and ous, belligerent and recalcitrant style of con- you get expelled after, you end up being a rubbish man or unemployed. duct. One of the most comprehensive pictures of this type of masculinity is Willis’s (1977) Vinny: That’s what my mum says. study, and, indeed, Gilbert and Gilbert (1998) JS: So you really need to work? How much of argue that it has acted as a prototype for the work do you do because you have to others.11 The “lads” renounced the mental for pass the SATs and how much do you do the manual, and the teachers, who had little because you enjoy it? knowledge of the world the boys respected, Hussein: Basically we don’t enjoy any of it, we just were dismissed as “wankers.” Nearly 20 years get it because we’re going to get some- later, Mac an Ghaill’s (1994) influential study where with it in life. . . . We’re going saw a group of boys that he called the “macho to get a job, earn a living. (Swain, 2001, lads” who felt dominated, alienated, and belit- p. 212) tled and consequently consciously decided to reject the school system (the curriculum, rules, Although it can be possible (depending on and regulations) in favor of being tough and the school culture) for boys to work hard and “hard,” which for them involved “fighting, gain academic success without damaging their fucking, and football.” masculine status in primary school, it seems We also need to be aware that lying behind harder to achieve this balance when they move these masculine identities is the powerful vari- on to secondary school, where constructions able of social class. The middle classes have of masculinity and femininity become increas- long recognized the link between examination ingly polarized around sport and work (Frosh, success and improved career opportunities and Phoenix, & Pattman, 2002). Although learning generally have higher expectations of accom- at primary school is also often feminized and plishment.12 Parental dispositions to education equated with being a sissy, this becomes far are important, and these are evident in a gener- more pronounced between 11 and 16 years old, ally more calculative attitude toward long-term at which point some boys’ constructions as “real career goals from boys in middle class schools, lads” are formed in relation to the feminized who also tend to show greater levels of support world of schoolwork and are characterized of the school authority. Indeed, the inequality of by toughness, sporty prowess, and resistance attainment between social classes is one of the to teachers and education (Frosh et al., 2002; longest established trends in education: Put Jackson, 1998; see also Connell, 1989; Mac an simply, on average, the higher a child’s social Ghaill, 1994; Martino, 1999). Although some class, the greater his or her attainments are boys manage their academic careers carefully, likely to be (Gillborn & Mirza, 2000, p. 18). 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 220

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SOCIAL THEORIES OF MASCULINITY each school, and, depending on the features of the formal culture, it may be either more In every setting, such as a school, there will be stable or unstable, more visible or invisible, a hierarchy of masculinities, and each will gen- more passive or violent, more conformist or erally have its own dominant, or hegemonic, resistant to the formal school authority, and, form of masculinity, which gains ascendance although some forms may be created by school over and above others; it becomes “culturally practices, others will be invented by the boys exalted” (Connell, 1995) and personifies what it themselves. However, despite not being a means to be a “real” boy. Many academic papers “fixed character type” (in the sense of character and empirical studies use the concept of hege- being impervious to change), the hegemonic monic masculinity (Carrigan, Connell, & Lee, form generally mobilizes around a number of 1985), and within the last decade it has emerged sociocultural constructs such as physical and as a central reference point for understanding athletic skill, strength, fitness, control, compet- masculinity and male dominance;13 indeed, itiveness, culturally acclaimed knowledge, Kerfoot and Whitehead (1998) argue that the discipline, courage, self-reliance, and adven- concept has gained such an ascendancy in aca- turousness. These attributes are also indicative demic writings that it has come to represent its of a masculinity that is associated with, or own hegemony. However, the inherent weak- implicated with, violence (Hearn, 1998; Mills, nesses and limitations of the notion of hege- 2001). Indeed, in many settings, the features of monic masculinity have been raised by a the hegemonic form are actually quite narrow, number of writers (see, for example, Donaldson, and this can be a problem for boys wishing to 1993; Edley & Wetherell, 1995; Haywood & construct alternative forms. In fact, the domi- Mac an Ghaill, 1996; Kerfoot & Whitehead, nant patterns of masculinity are often linked 1998; MacInnes, 1998; Whitehead, 1999). to the physical capital of the body, and for many Whitehead (1999) argues that hegemonic mas- boys, the physical performative aspect of masculinity can only explain so much, that its culinity is seen as the most acceptable and own legitimacy becomes weakened once the desirable way of being male (Gilbert & Gilbert, multiplicity of masculinities and identities are 1998). I will return to a discussion on embodi- stressed, and that it is unable to reveal “the ment later in the chapter. complex patterns of inculcation and resis- Of course, there will also be other patterns of tance which constitute everyday social action” masculinity that are actually produced at the (Whitehead, 1999, p. 58).14 same time as the dominant or hegemonic form Nevertheless, and despite Connell’s recon- (Connell, 2000). The number of boys actually textualization of hegemony from macro class able to practice the hegemonic pattern contain- relations into the micro interpersonal relations ing every feature is usually quite small, and in the school, I still find many of his arguments there will often be other aspirant forms of mason hegemonic masculinity highly persuasive culinity that are peripheral, or liminal, and are and regard it as a major analytical device, use- confined to the margins. The boys who repre- ful in conceptualizing masculine hierarchies. sent this form would like to be like the leading The hegemonic masculine form is not necessar- boys but lack a sufficient number of resources ily the most common type on view, and may be to be fully accepted. Indeed, in my own contested, but although it is often underwritten research, the boys that I have classified exhibit- by the threat of violence, it generally exerts its ing this form could often be seen hanging influence by being able to define “the norm,” around the edges of the dominant group watch- and many boys find that they have to fit into, ing the action; in the term used by Adler and and conform to, its demands. Most signifi- Adler (1998), they were “wannabes.” There are cantly, it prefers to work by implicit consent, also other boys who join in with, and are closely for, after all, the easiest way to exercise power connected to, the boys in the top group; they and to gain advantage over others is for the embody many of the qualities and traits of the dominated to be unaware of, and therefore be “idealized” form without ever quite being one complicit in, their subordination. In many of the “frontline troops” (Connell, 1995, p. 79). ways, the less resistance, the more effective the Unlike the wannabes, not all of these boys want hegemony. The hegemonic form may differ in to be leaders, but they are complicit with the 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 221

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dominant form and content to benefit from boys seemed to feel no less “real” for not being many of the advantages that stem from it, or, in able to demonstrate sporting excellence. Connell’s (1995) term, its “patriarchal dividend” (p. 79). However, just because there is a culturally SUBORDINATION authoritative form of masculinity within each setting, it does not automatically follow that In direct contrast to hegemonic masculinity are all boys (or men) will attempt to engage subordinate modes of masculinity, which are with, aspire to, or wish to challenge it. Some, positioned outside the legitimate forms of male- of course, are simply unable to do so. For ness as represented in the hegemonic form and example, they may have a deficit of the neces- which are controlled, oppressed, and subjugated. sary physical attributes and resources (in terms As all forms of masculinities are constructed in of body coordination, shape, strength, force, contrast to being feminine, those that are posi- speed, etc.). However, this does not necessarily tioned at the bottom of the masculine hierarchy mean that these boys (or men) are inevitably will be symbolically assimilated to femininity subordinated, or that they have any desire to and tend to have much in common with feminine subordinate others. These alternative masculine forms (Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998). The various ways of being a boy coexist alongside the dom- strategies of subordination used in schools are inant form and have been recognized and generally constructed under the two generic described by other researchers as being “softer” headings of difference and deficit (or deficient). and more “transgressive” (see Frosh et al., Being different from the majority is often an 2002; Pattman, Frosh, & Phoenix, 1998); I have unenviable position for boys (and girls) to be in. classified them as “personalized” (Swain, 2001). The powerful pressures to conformity that char- In one of the schools in my own research (an acterize peer group cultures mean that a boy has independent, private school), the hegemonic only to look, and be, slightly different from the form was constructed around the ideal of the norm to be accorded inferior status. Under the top sporty boy. However, I found that the rubric of difference, boys can be subordinated majority of the boys had formed themselves for associating too closely with the formal into a series of small, well-established friend- school regime (such as by working too hard, ship networks with boys who had an array of being too compliant or overpolite, by speaking similar interests, such as in computer games; too formally or correctly or being “too posh,” or they were popular within their own peer cliques by looking different—aberrant physical appear- and were generally nonexclusive and egali- ances and differences in body language are tarian, without any clearly defined leader. keenly scrutinized and commented on. The Although they may have been pathologized by major material bodily difference often comes a few of the top sporty boys and even, at least from the impression of being overweight, and implicitly, by the formal school culture, they the data from my own study are littered with disposed no threat to the hegemonic regime and so paraging references directed to boys and girls were generally accepted and not picked on by being “a big fat blob,” “fat boy,” “too fat,” “so any of their peers. Although their nonopposition fat,” “really fat,” and so on. It is a serious handi- can be seen as an expression of consent to the cap to boys’ (or girls’) attempts to establish peer hegemonic form, in many ways, they coexisted group status, and boys need to use other strate- alongside the hegemonic form. I found no evi- gies and resources to compensate for it. dence that they had any feelings of envy toward As we have already seen, boys have to work the sporty boys, and they appeared to have no hard at learning the appropriate peer group desire to challenge them. In many ways, these norms, and to be included, they have to be what personalized groups seemed to have a high Thornton (1997) calls “in the know”: that is, degree of social security and regarded them- they need to be able to talk about the right sub- selves as different rather than inferior. They jects, use the right speech (using the same style were not complicit in any subordination; nor and vocabulary), wear the right clothes, play the did they, in general, feel an imperative to sub- right playground games, and move (sit, walk, ordinate anyone else. If, at this school, top run, catch, throw, kick, hit, etc.) in the “right” sporty boy equated with “real” boy, these other way, the way that being a boy demands. 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 222

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Under the heading of deficit, subordination Derek: And when the ball is coming at him [in can come through perceived exhibitions of rugby] he just drops it and . . . immature and babyish behavior (doing “silly” Sinclair: Yeah he can’t kick it you know ...it was things, playing infantile games, or associating painful to watch yesterday. too closely with younger children); displaying a deficit or deficiency of toughness (such as Calvin: He’s like a boy yeah, he’s like. . . crying, showing fear, not sticking up for yourself, Sinclair: He’s a boy but he, like, wants to be a girl. or acting “soft”); being too passive and gener- Calvin: Well he doesn’t want to be, I think like, he ally not active enough during both school sports backs away from everything, and he’s and informal playground games; and showing a like . . . if someone has a go at us...if deficit, or lack, of effort (usually connected to a someone pushes us we’ll push them back, sporting context). Boys are also subordinated this is a simple way of saying it: if some- for the perception that they are deficient in cer- one pushes us, we’ll push them back. tain culturally acclaimed traits, particularly with (Swain, 2001, p. 328) embodied forms of physicality and athleticism (such as skill, strength, fitness, speed, etc.) and in areas of locally defined class norms of aca- HOMOPHOBIA demic achievement (which may include pupils on the school’s register for “special” educational Some of the main defamatory aspersions used needs). Subordination can also accrue from to equate too close a conformity with the deficiency in locally celebrated knowledge—for formal school regime include “goody-goody,” example, in the latest culturally hot topics, such “teacher’s pet,” “boff,” and “swot.” “Wimp,” as a TV program; in the technical language of “sissy,” and particularly “girl” and “gay” are fre- football; or in unfamiliarity with the latest com- quently used interchangeably to confirm hege- puter games—and this can render a boy silent monic masculinity as exclusively heterosexual and be used as a marker of difference. It is also and to position boys as different and attack their important for a boy to be able to show a com- identity. Research has shown that homophobia mitment to his adolescent future by being “in is an enduring constituent of the peer group cul- the know” regarding the meaning of certain ture at school; in fact, the word gay is probably swear words and matters of sexuality. Some of the most common word of abuse and is used these themes are illustrated in the following to describe anything from not very good to exchange, taken from my own study, in which absolute rubbish. Many researchers (see, for two boys are explaining to me why they have example, Connell, 1992; Epstein, 1996; Epstein & been calling another boy, Timothy, a girl. Johnson, 1998; Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998; Johnson, 1996; Mason, 1996; Redman, 1996) Sinclair: He doesn’t like football, he doesn’t like argue that dominant masculinity sees homo- any sports apart from golf... sexuality as a threat and so attempts to distance Calvin: He’s different from everyone else. itself by vilifying and oppressing it through homophobia. By doing so, boys are making the JS: Yeah, but— point that their own sexualities are entirely Derek: He’s just one person... “straight” and unfeminine in every way, and “in Calvin: And he likes to be by himself very often. a doubly defining moment the homophobic performance consolidate[s] the heterosexual mas- JS: What do you mean, he’s like a girl? culinity of Self and the homosexual femininity of Sinclair: Well . . . Other” (Kehily & Nayak, 1997, p. 82). Hence it can also be argued that by subordinating alternative Calvin: Well he does everything— masculinities or sexualities, these performances Derek: Well he doesn’t really act like a boy.... also, by default, subordinate femininities— He’s quite scared of stuff as well, like which, therefore, include all girls. scared of the ball in rugby— Epstein (1996) maintains that homophobia Sinclair: Yeah I remember in football, there were also plays a fundamental role in regulating and two people running for the ball and constructing heterosexual masculinities in Timmy sort of like backed away. schools: Masculinity and heterosexuality are 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 223

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entwined, and thus to be a “real” boy (or girl) is indeed, any “other”); in other words, the “other” to be heterosexual. Parker (1996a) asserts that is always present and acts to control boys’ these homophobic insults should be conceptu- behaviors even when the real other is not there. alized, at least implicitly, “in terms of gender as Given the choice, few boys or girls ever choose opposed to sexuality” (p. 149, my italics), and to sit next to each other, and most try hard to that they therefore imply being “nonmasculine” avoid it. However, this is not to say that all boys and “effeminate” rather than homosexual. feel the need to secure their sense of maleness However, the essential point is that homophobia by traducing all things feminine and female, is used to police and control the general behav- especially when they feel that their masculine ior of boys and their sexuality and is used as a foundations are relatively stable and secure. strategy to position boys at the bottom of the Although boys construct girls as different, they masculine hierarchy. do not necessarily categorize them as being oppositional, and often the most common feeling is one of disinterest. There has recently been a growing number of RELATIONS WITH GIRLS studies considering the heterosexual positions of boyfriend and girlfriend, particularly at the Difference from girls is an integral component upper end of the primary school around the ages in the construction of dominant masculinity, for of 9 through 11 years old (see, for example, although the experiences of gender for boys can Adler & Adler, 1998; Epstein, 1997; Renold, be complicated, and these experiences change 2000; Thorne, 1993; Thorne & Luria, 1986), between settings, masculinity is always con- although Connolly (1998) found that 5- to structed in relation to a dominant image of gen- 7-year-old boys were also able to gain a signifi- der difference and ultimately defines itself as cant level of status by having a girlfriend. Some what femininity is not. Indeed, it can be argued researchers, such as Renold (2000), find that that the boys’ construction of girls as “other” is “having a girlfriend” is a common occurrence in a way of expelling femininity from within them- boys’ peer group culture and creates an “accept- selves (Mac an Ghaill, 1994). Thorne (1993) able and assumptive” status (p. 319) that calls the interactions between boys and girls emanates from the need to reinforce dominant on the playground “border work,” although she versions of heterosexual masculinities. How- emphasizes that this often highlights and rein- ever, in the vast majority of cases, boys want to forces gender differences just as much as it do little more than possess a girl like a trophy, to reduces them. From an early age, boys learn that use as a status symbol, and it is the ability to be they risk derogation if they associate too closely able to claim the relationship that is the main with girls, and they have to work hard to prove objective. In secondary schools, Frosh et al. that they have the right masculine credentials as (2002) found that boys evaluate different heterosexual boys. In one of the interviews from aspects of femininity differently at different my research, a boy whom I called Fred told me times and differentiate girls by liking and desir- of a conversation he had had with Jinesh (one ing some and not others. As boys get older, more of the class leaders) that had arisen after some of are able to take the risk of crossing the gender the boys had been calling him “Barbie” (after divide, although many are still wary of being the Barbie doll). This had happened because he seen spending too much time with girls. Boys was perceived to be fraternizing too closely with also begin to look to have physical relationships the girls. The following quotation shows Jinesh with girls, although few boys actually have a clearly defining the normative boundaries. girlfriend, and it is unusual for boys to want girlfriends as “friends.” Fred: I mean, [I said to him] “It’s nice to be popular with girls, like with the boys,” and he [Jinesh] went, “No it isn’t, I like to play with the boys, and if you’re a boy you’re like a sissy if you THE BODY play with the girls.” (Swain, 2001, p. 240) Masculinity does not exist as an ontological This knowledge regulates and prevents boys given but comes into existence as people act from associating too closely with girls (or, (Connell, 2000). That is, the social and material 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 224

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practices through which, and by which, boys’ Bodies in schools can be seen collectively or masculine identities are defined are generally individually, but the school tries to control and described in terms of what boys do with or to train both. However, a body that can be trained their bodies, and a number of writers have can also be contested. All schools contain rela- embraced the concept of embodiment (see, for, tions of (teacher) control and (pupil) resistance example, Crossley, 1996; Light & Kirk, 2000; (Epstein & Johnson, 1998), and there is the Lyon & Barbalet, 1994; Shilling, 1993; Synnott, ongoing tension between the body as object and 1993; Turner, 2000). Although there are a as agent, which, in many ways, is about the number of ways of defining embodiment, it struggle for the control of the boy’s body. In needs to be understood as a social process fact, boys’ bodies are often far away from the (Elias, 1978). Although bodies are located in “docile,” passive bodies that the school attempts particular social, historical structures and to produce; they are full of energy and action, spaces, boys are viewed as embodied social and, especially in the context of playground agents, for they do not merely have a passive games and activities, boys’ bodies become bod- body that is inscribed and acted upon; they are ies in motion, literally and metaphorically. As in actively involved in the development of their Connell’s (1995) conception, they are both the bodies throughout their school life (and, indeed, objects and agents in the performances and for their entire life span). Thus, as Connell practices in which their bodies and identities (1995) argues, we should see bodies as both the became defined and appropriated by others as “objects and agents of practice, with the practice “skillful,” “fast,” “tough,” “hard,” and so on. itself forming the structures within which For much of the time, boys define their bodies are appropriated and defined,” and he masculinity through action, and, as I have calls this “body-reflexive practice” (p. 61). Boys already stated, the most esteemed and preva- experience themselves simultaneously in and as lent resources that boys draw on to establish their bodies (Lyon & Barbalet, 1994, p. 54), and status are physicality and athleticism, which are in this respect, they are bodies (Turner, 2000). inextricably linked to the body in the form of They can be seen being consciously concerned strength, toughness, power, skill, fitness, and about the maintenance and appearance of their speed. Boys are classified and divided by their bodies; they can be seen learning to control their physicality by both formal and (their own) bodies, acquiring and mastering a number of informal school cultures, where the other bodies techniques, such as walking, running, sitting, around them provide them with a differential catching, hitting, kicking, and so forth; and they reference point for their own bodily sense of can be seen using them in the appropriate ways self. Sport provides a way of measuring boys’ that being a boy demands. Moreover, they are masculine accomplishment not only against aware of the body’s significance, both as a per- each other, but also against the wider world of sonal (but unfinished) resource and as a social men. Sporting success (particularly in football) symbol, which communicates signs and mes- is a key signifier of successful masculinity, and sages about their self-identity. has been recognized by a number of writers:15 Foucault (1977) gives us the useful notion Typically, high performance in sport and games of “biopower,” which he sees as a form of social (both on the field and in the playground) is the control that focuses on the body. In schools, single most effective way of gaining popularity institutionalized practices involve knowledge and status in the male peer group. of, and power over, individual gestures, movements, and locations: these can be used to pro- Calvin: If you’re not good at football you’re not duce (or attempt to produce) “docile” bodies friends with anybody who’s good at foot- through techniques of discipline, surveillance, ball, all the people who are good at football classification, and normalization (Foucault, are the best people, like the most— 1977) that can be regulated and controlled and Josh: Popular. that are generally acceptable to adults. School rules and regulations prescribe what is and what Calvin: Yeah, popular. is not allowed in school, which includes how JS: [To Josh and Patrick] True? bodies are to behave and how they are allowed move and act in space (Nespor, 1997). Josh: Very true! 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 225

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Patrick: Yeah. to gain status, but although the resources of Josh: We’re sporty people. physicality and athleticism are generally the principle material symbols of successful mas- Calvin: And the sporty people are much preferred culinity, they may be articulated in different than the people who are much more brainy. ways within each school context. Although (Swain, 2001, p. 257) hegemonic modes of masculinity in school have a tendency to be rather narrow and restric- Gilbert and Gilbert (1998) maintain that tive, it is important to remember that, as mas- most boys realize that they are either good or culinity is constructed and socially situated, it incompetent at sport by the time they are 9 or 10 is also open to change. This provides opportu- years old, and I would suggest that this actually nities for schools to identify the dominant happens a good a deal earlier. I wish to argue, images of masculinity (often containing associ- therefore, that, although bodies have agency, ations with violence, misogyny, and homopho- many of the opportunities to achieve peer group bia) operating in their own setting and then status in boyhood (and also in later life) are introduce specific programs of intervention largely conditioned by the shape and physical offering alternative forms. attributes of the body.

NOTES CONCLUSIONS 1. Many of these theories are feminist or femi- The journey from boy to man is unpredictable, nist inspired and are influenced by poststructuralism. disorderly, and frequently hazardous, with mul- 2. See, for example, Askew and Ross (1988); tiple pathways shaped by social class, ethnicity, Heward (1988); Walker (1988); Connell (1989, and sexuality. This chapter has shown that the 1996); Davies (1989); Woods (1990); Holland, educational setting furnishes boys with a Ramazanoglu, and Sharpe (1993); Thorne (1993); Mac an Ghaill (1994); Jordan (1995); Haywood and number of different ways of doing boy and that Mac an Ghaill (1996); Salisbury and Jackson (1996); there is diversity not just between settings but Kehily and Nayak (1997); Warren (1997); Epstein within settings. To understand how mascu- (1997, 1998b, 1998c); Skelton (1996, 1997, 2000); linities are made in the school setting, I have Renold (1997, 1999, 2000); Adler and Adler (1998); needed to examine the school as an institution, Benjamin (1998, 2001); Connolly (1998); Gilbert and to look at its gender regime, and to differentiate Gilbert (1998); Lingard and Douglas (1999); Martino between the layers of the formal and informal (1999); Francis (1998, 2000); Gordon, Holland, and peer group cultures. Both the individual school Lahelma (2000); Lesko (2000); Swain (2000, 2002a, and the boys themselves are agents in the 2002b); Frosh, Phoenix, and Pattman (2002). production of masculinities, and identities are 3. The International Labour Organisation’s constructed using the localized resources and Bureau of Statistics estimates that the number of working children between 5 and 14 years old is at strategies available. Formal school policies least 120 million (cited in Mansurov, 2001, p.149). and practices can either open, restrict, or close 4. Similar changes have also occurred in the down opportunities, but it is the peer group that rest of Europe, the United States, Australia, and is the greatest influence on the formation of New Zealand (Francis, 2000). Moreover, Skelton masculinities, for much of the information (2001) points out that the discourses of management about how to be like a boy (and future man) and marketization have been so powerful and effec- comes from being with other boys in groups. tive that, despite changes in government, many of Rather than the passive one-way process of the policies and practices of the New Right have learning the norms, as suggested by sex-role been incorporated by the new governments in these and socialization theories, the construction of countries. 5. An “integrated day” is one in which pupils masculinity is the result of active, skillful nego- are working on more than one curriculum area at any tiation and manipulation. The body is a key one time. signifier of how boys understand themselves 6. OFSTED is the Office for Standards in as gendered and is entwined with the performa- Education, officially the Office of Her Majesty’s Chief tive nature of masculinity. Boys use a variety of Inspector of Schools in England. It was set up in 1992 strategies and draw on a series of resources and is a nonministerial government department. 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 226

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7. SATs are Standard Assessment Tasks (tests), Alloway, N. (1995). Foundation stones: The which pupils take in English, mathematics, and construction of gender in early childhood. science when they are 7, 11, and 14 years old. Carlton, Australia: Curriculum Corporation. 8. The expression “3 Rs” dates back to the 19th Askew, S., & Ross, C. (1988). Boys don’t cry: Boys century and refers to the traditional core subjects of and sexism in education. Milton Keynes, PA: reading, writing, and arithmetic. Open University Press. 9. “Zero tolerance” means that no concessions Benjamin, S. (1998). Fantasy football league: Boys for failure will be permitted. learning to “do boy” in a special (SEN) school 10. An underresearched area is the effect that classroom. In G. Walford & A. Massey (Eds.), HIV/AIDS will have on schooling in the Third World, Children learning in context (pp. 115-136). particularly in Africa. For instance, in South Africa London: Jai Press. (using 1990 estimates), almost a quarter of the popu- Benjamin, S. (2001). Challenging masculinities: lation is infected, and children are being infected at Disability and achievement in testing times. the rate of 50,000 a year (McGreal, 2000). As yet, we Gender and Education, 13, 39-55. do not know how this might affect gender relations Bleach, K. (1996). What difference does it make? and masculinity, but there are already some indica- An investigation of factors influencing the tions that resulting deaths and loss will shape con- motivation and performance of year 8 boys structions of gender identity (Morell, Unterhalter, in a West Midlands comprehensive school. Moletsane, & Epstein, 2001). Wolverhampton, England: University of 11. However, it should be noted that at the time, Wolverhampton, Educational Research Unit. Willis saw the main focus of his study as class, hence Bromley, R. (1997). The body language: The meaning the title (alluding to “working class kids”); it is in of modern sport. Body & Society, 3, 109-118. retrospect that he and other writers have recognized Brown, D. H. (1999). Complicity and reproduction in it to be about masculinity. teaching physical education. Sport, Education 12. Connell (2000) points out that middle class and Society, 4, 143-159. masculinities also tend to emphasize the acquisition Carrigan, T., Connell, R. W., & Lee, J. (1985). of knowledge and expertise. Towards a new sociology of masculinity. Theory 13. See, for example, Benjamin (1998, 2001); and Society, 5, 551-602. Brown (1999); Connell (1990); Connolly (1998); Cohen, M. (1998). “A habit of healthy idleness”: Fitzclarence and Hickey (2001); Gilbert and Gilbert Boys’ underachievement in historical perspec- (1998); Kenway and Fitzclarence (1997); Lee (2000); tive. In D. Epstein, J. Elwood, V. Hey, & Light and Kirk (2000); Mac an Ghaill (1994); J. Maw (Eds.), Failing boys? Issues in gender Martino (1999); Parker (1996a); Renold (1997, 1999, and achievement (pp.19-34). Buckingham, 2001); Skelton (1997), Swain (2000). England: Open University Press. 14. Skelton (2001, p. 52), however, also points Connell, R. W. (1989). “Cool guys, swots and out that much of the criticism directed against hege- wimps”: The interplay of masculinity and educa- mony is caused by writers’ lack of understanding and tion. Oxford Review of Education, 15, 291-303. loose application of the concept. Connell, R. W. (1990). An iron man: The body and 15. See, for example, Kessler et al. (1985); some contradictions of hegemonic masculinity. Messner and Sabo (1990); Whitson (1990); Mac an In M. A. Messner & D. F. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, Ghaill (1994); Connell (1995, 1996, 2000); Parker men and the gender order: Critical feminist per- (1996a, 1996b); Bromley (1997); Renold (1997); spectives (pp. 83-95). Champaign, IL: Human Fitzclarence and Hickey (1998); Gilbert and Gilbert Kinetics. (1998); Lingard and Douglas (1999); Martino (1999); Connell, R. W. (1992). “A very straight gay”: Skelton (2000); Swain (2000). Masculinity, homosexual experience, and the dynamics of gender. American Sociological Review, 57, 735-751. Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Cambridge, REFERENCES England: Polity Press. Connell, R. W. (1996). “Teaching the boys”: New Adler, A., & Adler, P. (1998). Peer power: Preado- research on masculinity and gender strategies for lescent culture and identity. London: Rutgers schools. Teachers College Record, 98, 206-235. University Press. Connell, R. W. (2000). The men and the boys. Alexander, R. (1988). “Garden or jungle?” Teacher Cambridge, England: Polity Press. development and informal primary education. Connell, R. W., Ashenden, D. J., Kessler, S., & In A. Blyth (Ed.), Informal primary edu- Dowsett, D. W. (1982) Making the difference: cation today (pp. 148-188). London: Falmer Schools, families and social division. Sydney: Press. Allen and Unwin. 13-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:21 PM Page 227

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BOYS AND MEN IN FAMILIES

The Domestic Production of Gender, Power, and Privilege

MICHELE ADAMS

SCOTT COLTRANE

he title of this chapter suggests a of gender in families, with special attention to troubling contradiction: Whereas boys the trials and tribulations of boys in the United T and men “come from” or “have” families, States during the late 20th century. We also dis- they often experience profound difficulties cuss how patterns of courtship, sexuality, mar- being “in” them, insofar as they typically seem riage, divorce, housework, parenting, and family incapable of offering the emotional intimacy or violence mirror gender inequities in the larger providing the personal care that have become society and set up dilemmas for men, who are the hallmarks of modern family life. Popular rarely equipped to be full participants in every- culture tends to assume that families need day family life. Finally, we suggest that struc- fathers and that men and boys need families, but tural and social constructionist theories of when we look closely at ideals about expressing gender and society offer the best prospects boyhood or achieving manhood, it is clear that for understanding how and why men and boys notions of masculinity have much less to do maintain ambivalent connections to families. with everyday life in domestic settings than they do with accomplishments in extrafamilial arenas such as business, sports, or politics. In this chapter, we explore how putatively separate public INTERROGATING (i.e., work or politics) and private (i.e., family) “FAMILY” AND “MASCULINITY” spheres reflect and reproduce gender differences and perpetuate gender inequality. To illustrate, Ideas like “family” or “masculinity” are social we review scholarship on the social construction constructions because they make sense only in

Authors’ note: A portion of an earlier version of the first half of this chapter was published in Scott Coltrane’s Families and Society: Classic and Contemporary Readings (Adams & Coltrane, 2004).

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terms of historically and culturally specific (Yellowbird & Snipp, 1994). To understand shared understandings (Coltrane, 1998). Social families and the specific social relations they constructionist approaches to studying culture represent, we must therefore recognize that the and society have a long and varied history term and the idea are socially constructed; that within philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and is, the meaning of “family” changes in response social psychology (e.g., Berger & Luckmann, to a wide variety of social, economic, political, 1966; Blumer, 1969; Garfinkel, 1967; Geertz, cultural, and personal conditions (Coltrane, 1973; Goffman, 1967; Mead, 1934; Schutz, 1998). Just as there is no stable definition of 1970). Using a social constructionist approach family, the definition of masculinity is also to study boys and men in families allows us to variable (Connell, 1995; Hearn, 1992; Kimmel, explore how these concepts and the relations 1996; Lorber, 1994; West & Zimmerman, among them have changed and are likely to con- 1987). Treating masculinity as socially continue to change. Combining a social construc- structed leads us to focus on the social con- tionist perspective with a sociological, or social ditions that promote different versions of it, as structural, approach enables us to show how well as implying that change in masculinity is strong economic and institutional forces also possible and desirable. In this chapter, we focus shape people’s lives. Only by looking at the on changes in family practices and ideals of structural constraints people face—things like masculinity that have the potential to affect access to education or jobs—can we understand social reproduction (Laslett & Brenner, 1989) how and why cultural definitions and practices across many generations. governing men inside and outside families have developed. And only by combining a social constructionist approach with a social structural approach can we evaluate the prospects for THE CULTURAL patterns of family life changing in the future IDEAL OF SEPARATE SPHERES (Coltrane, 1998). Most people take for granted what “family” According to the ideal of separate spheres means, but it is not a term with a definite or that emerged during the Victorian era, men stable meaning (Gubrium & Holstein, 1990; and women are part of diverse social worlds: Levin & Trost, 1992; Stacey, 1996). The word Men inhabit the public sphere, and women, the “family” (or its equivalent) has meant different private (see Bose, 1987, and Hearn, 1992, for things in different times and places. In ancient critiques of the “dual spheres” perspective). Greece, “family” (oikos) referred to the house- Nineteenth-century biological derivatives of hold economy—including the land, house, and this social scheme assumed that male and servants belonging to the household head. In female reproductive capacity substantiated this medieval Europe, peasants who lived on feudal division and illuminated supposed inherent estates were considered part of the lord’s psychological differences between the sexes: “family,” and the lord was called their “father” The “FEMALE detaches genetic cells that (pater) even though they were not related to him remain more or less stationary, while the MALE by blood (Collins, 1986). In many countries, detaches cells that go more or less at large” such as Mexico, godparents (compadres) are (Searcy, 1895, as cited in Hughes, 1990, p. 53). treated as family members and act as coparents Thus, according to popular cultural ideals that toward the children, disciplining them and pro- emerged at about this time, males were active viding financial or emotional support, even and independent, whereas females were passive though they have no direct biological relation- and were dependent on males for completion. ship to them (Griswold del Castillo, 1984). Moreover, these highly differentiated repro- Similarly, in contemporary Native American ductive and psychological competencies sup- families, the terms used to describe family rela- posedly propelled men “to excel in competitive, tionships are more encompassing than narrow aggressive life” and women to become skilled in English usage would imply: A “grandmother” “home duties and not in competitive and aggres- may actually be a child’s aunt or grand-aunt, sive life” (Searcy, 1895, as cited in Hughes, and “cousin” may have variable meanings not 1990, p. 53). Although subsequent economic necessarily based on birth and marriage and social changes thrust women into the 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 232

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paid labor force, gutting the reality of separate boys are noisier, more active, more competitive, spheres, and advances in biological understand- and more aggressive than little girls, according ings of reproduction gave females a more pro- to research and popular cultural stereotypes. active role than Dr. Searcy’s comments would They reject (as they are taught) their mothers, allow, the ideology of separate spheres has their families, and adults in general. Some- remained resistant to change. Indeed, social the- times they grow up to join gangs, assault orist Jeff Hearn (1992) stresses the continuing young women, attack other young men, or need to question the accuracy of the concept, commit suicide. At some (often indeterminate) noting that “an important aspect of the power point, they cross the cultural boundary between of the public domains and of public men is the boyhood and manhood and become men normalization, rather than problematization, of who are unemotional, withdrawn from their the public/private divisions” (p. 7). families, aggressive, or violent. The trouble Nevertheless, despite evidence to the con- with boys is that they learn the lesson well and trary, most societies continue to subscribe to assume the cultural mantle of masculinity. “The the notion that men and women have distinctly trouble with boys,” according to one British different, and generally opposite, psychological researcher, “is that they must become men” and behavioral tendencies. And although cross- (Phillips, 1994, p. 270). cultural variation in the actual content of gender In this chapter, we look at how boys become roles is enormous, families generally teach us men within the context of the family, and how, as that women and men should occupy different part of that process, gender inequality is sus- places in the social order. Relying on the ideol- tained and reproduced. We first examine how the ogy of separate spheres, families continue to cultural concept of masculinity is based on a pro- raise children “to be” masculine or feminine scription against being feminine. Noting how based on the reproductive equipment with which boys and girls are raised differently from the they are born. Furthermore, the ideology of sep- beginning of their lives, we observe how mascu- arate spheres has been elevated to the very struc- line ideals project boys out of and away from the ture of society, where its gender prescriptions family, whereas feminine ideals enmesh girls and proscriptions organize schools, workplaces, within it. We also point out the troubles faced by laws, religions, and other social institutions, boys as they attempt to become men by incorpo- making it difficult, if not impossible, to escape. rating ideals of dominant masculinity into their By institutionalizing gender differences, we own gender schema. We then follow these boys- have also institutionalized gender hierarchy and turned-men as they confront problems feeling the power of men, who have historically shaped “at home” in family environments. Here we see institutions to reflect their own interests. “In a that the dilemmas men face reconciling their world dominated by men,” according to Michael ideals of masculinity with their positions as hus- Kaufman, “the world of men is, by definition, a bands and fathers are part of a larger set of social world of power” (1999, p. 75). As the chapters problems that stem from separate spheres ideol- of this handbook attest, that world is shaped by, ogy and structural gender inequality in the and in turn shapes, what it means to be mascu- society at large. We conclude by suggesting line. However, as Kaufman further suggests social and individual changes that might help (1999), men’s power is also tainted, reflecting attenuate the alienation that appears to be the “a strange combination of power and privilege, plight of men living in today’s families. pain and powerlessness” (p. 75). As we discuss below, these contradictory experiences play out in men’s ambivalent relations to family life. IDEALS OF MASCULINITY AND FEMININITY The combination of male power and powerlessness is reflected in the fact that we don’t Ideals of masculinity and femininity, passed quite know what to do about the problems cre- down from 19th-century notions of separate ated (for girls, women, boys, and men) when spheres, assume that boys and girls are intrinsi- we privilege the masculine ideal of indepen- cally and unalterably different in terms of per- dence over connection. As we raise boys to be sonality and, therefore, behavior. Men, oriented masculine men, we often end up with troubled to the public sphere, are understood to be active, boys. Snips, snails, and puppy dog tails, little strong, independent, powerful, dominant, and 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 233

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aggressive, with masculinity signifying “being society or social group so that we can function in control” (Kaufman, 1993). Women, associ- within it” (Elkin & Handel, 1989, p. 2); whereas ated with the private sphere, are seen as passive, older notions of socialization suggested that the weak, dependent, powerless, subordinate, and process began and ended in childhood, according nurturing. While social, economic, demo- to more recent theories, it is a lifelong process graphic, and cultural contexts have changed that allows us to move in and out of various social since the 19th century, idealized perceptions groups our entire lives. Part of this process of masculinity and femininity have remained involves gender socialization; that is, learning remarkably consistent. Even today, the notion society’s gender rules and regulations (typically of separate spheres and attendant sex differ- dichotomized as either masculine or feminine) ences in temperament are invoked to substanti- and becoming adept at behaving in accordance ate gender stratification institutionally (see, for with the socially accepted gender patterns associ- instance, Bose, 1987; also Brush, 1999), as well ated with our sex (male or female). Gender, that as to privilege male power and interests in the is to say, is not the same thing as sex, which home (Jones, 2000; Kimmel, 2000). Besides generally groups people into categories based their prescriptive elements, these idealized gen- on their biologically given reproductive equip- der differences in temperament are proscriptive ment. Gender, on the other hand, is a social as well, for “an essential element in becoming construction, emergent, dynamic, variable within masculine is becoming not-feminine” (Maccoby, and across cultures, and historically situated, but 1998, p. 52). Taken as a whole, the mandate for also reflecting certain patterns within a given boys to be not-feminine, unlike (and in direct society (Coltrane, 1998; Connell, 1987). Accord- opposition to) the mandate for girls to be femi- ing to sociologists Candace West and Donald nine, is a mandate that drives them away from Zimmerman (1987), we “do gender” by acting family relations, particularly relations with their out our culture’s perception of those patterns that mothers (Silverstein & Rashbaum, 1994). reflect what it is to be a man or a woman. Although assumed to be a baseline requirement The family typically is considered the main for boys’ achievement of manhood, this cultural institution for both production and reproduction mandate can cause problems for them when of polarized gender values. Although individuals they mature into men. As men, they will have are socialized in many different contexts through- little ideological precedent for living harmo- out their lives (school, neighborhood, community, niously in a family environment, especially one peer group, workplace, church, polity), family that is increasingly predicated on ideals of tends to be the primary initial socialization agent, democratic sharing. By continuing to follow acting as a microcosm of society and providing a the dictates of separate spheres, we may be child’s first exposure to interaction with others. creating manly men, but we are also crippling It is generally in the family that children first men emotionally and creating husbands and acquire enduring personality characteristics, fathers who are destined to be outsiders or interpersonal skills, and social values (Maccoby, despots in their own families. 1992). It is also in the family that children get their first look at what gender means, to them and to others, as they interact in daily life (Coltrane & Adams, 1997; Connell, 1987; Hearn, 1992). SOCIALIZATION: Specifically, it is in the family that boys first BOYS (AND GIRLS) IN FAMILIES come to understand their privileged status and the ways in which male privilege equates to power. Society can work only if its members “organize Finally, it is often in the family that these boys, their experience and behavior in terms of shared grown into men, later come to understand the rules of interpretation and conduct” (Cahill, contradictions inherent in that power (Coltrane, 1986, p. 163). All societies socialize children to 1996; Kaufman, 1999). internalize the shared rules and norms that drive collective behavior, thereby allowing them to Early Gender Differentiation become self-regulating participants in society. More formally, socialization is the process Gendered parents transmit gender-laden through which “we learn the ways of a given assumptions and values to their children, starting 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 234

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before the children are born. Procedures such as pink boudoir with plenty of dolls and soft things amniocentesis and sonograms allow parents to to cuddle (Pomerleau, Bolduc, Malcuit, & find out the sex of their unborn child so that they Cossette, 1990). If a boy, the newborn is dressed might plan early for gender-appropriate nurs- in blue and is given gifts of tiny jeans and bold- eries and infant wardrobes, as fashion- (and colored outfits; if a girl, she is outfitted in pink gender-) conscious parents would be loathe, for and receives ruffled, pastel ensembles (Fagot & instance, to bring their newborn son home in a Leinbach, 1993). Moreover, research shows that pink or flowered cozy. Knowing the sex of an based on what they are told the newborn’s sex infant before birth can have other more sinister is, people (including strangers and especially effects. In some countries, such as India and children) tend to characterize infants, seeing China, the traditional bias toward males is those they are told are boys as stronger, bigger, reflected in a prevalence of sex-selective abor- noisier, and (sometimes) smarter than girls, tions, as well as female neglect and infanticide even when the same baby is represented as male after birth (Balakrishnan, 1994; Chunkath & to some observers and female to others (Coltrane, Athreya, 1997; George, Rajaratnam, & Miller, 1998; Cowan & Hoffman, 1986; Stern & 1992; Weiss, 1995). In rural Bangladesh, tradi- Karraker, 1989). That is, people draw on a cul- tional son preference drives the use of contra- tural overlay of gender stereotypes to make their ceptives by women in their childbearing years first assessment of a baby’s personality and (Nosaka, 2000). Furthermore, research has potential. Parents also use gender stereotypes shown that more family resources, such as food when assessing the behavior and characteristics and medicine, are allocated to sons, whose of their newborns (Rubin, Provenzano, & rate of survival is, thus, higher than that of Luria, 1974) and interact with them based on daughters (Bhuiya & Streatfield, 1991; Chen, these stereotyped preconceptions. For instance, Huq, & D’Souza, 1981). These gender prefer- parents (particularly fathers) tend to react to ence practices, some more extreme than others, their infant boys by encouraging activity and are part of patriarchal societies where the notion more whole-body stimulation and to their girls prevails that sons have more value than daugh- with more verbalization, interpersonal stimula- ters. Even in societies such as the United States tion, and nurturance (Fagot & Leinbach, 1993; and Canada, where disappointment over the Stern & Karraker, 1989). birth of a girl may be more reserved, technolo- Fathers tend to enforce gender stereotypes gies allowing for “prenatal discrimination” are more than mothers, especially in sons. This ten- becoming more widely accepted (Bozinoff & dency extends across activities and domains, Turcotte, 1993). In industrialized societies, as including toy preferences, play styles, chores, well as in less developed ones, notation of discipline, interaction, and personality assess- difference between boys and girls before birth ments (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brien, 1989; signals the privilege and power that boys, and Fagot & Leinbach, 1993; Lytton & Romney, later, men, will experience in their lives. 1991). Although both boys and girls receive Once the baby arrives, new parents advertise gender messages from their parents, boys are the sex of their infant so that no mistake can be encouraged to conform to culturally valued made as to its traits or prospects for success: Is masculine ideals more than girls are encouraged it a future president or a future wife and mother? to conform to lower-status feminine ideals. Announcements and banners proclaim “It’s a Boys also receive more rewards for gender con- boy” or “It’s a girl,” giving admirers the gender formity (Wood, 1994). Because society places context to remark on the baby’s characteristics greater emphasis on men’s gender identity than and potential. Mothers attach cute little pink on women’s, there is a tendency for more atten- bows to the bald heads of baby girls to set them tion to be paid to boys, reflecting an andro- apart from the supposedly rough-and-tumble centric cultural bias that values masculine traits boy babies (who, it turns out, are not only visu- over feminine characteristics (Bem, 1993; ally indistinguishable from girl babies but also Lorber, 1994). slightly more fragile medically). The baby boy Paradoxically, masculine gender identity is is housed in a nursery painted in bold colors of also considered to be more fragile than feminine blue or red and outfitted with sports and adven- gender identity (Bem, 1993; Chodorow, 1978; ture paraphernalia; the infant girl is treated to a Dinnerstein, 1976; Mead, 1949), and it takes 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 235

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more psychic effort to maintain because it behavior that result in praise and reinforcement requires suppressing human feelings of vulner- for “correct” (gender-appropriate) behavior ability and denying emotional connection and reprimand and punishment for “incorrect” (Chodorow, 1978; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974). (gender-inappropriate) behavior. For instance, Boys, therefore, are given less gender latitude taking into account the masculine imperative for than girls, and fathers are more intent than emotional distance, studies analyzing a number mothers on making sure that their sons do not of northern European countries, as well as the become sissies. Later, as a result, these boys- United States, find that parents tend to actively turned-men will be predisposed to spend consid- discourage displays of emotion in boys by pres- erable amounts of time and energy maintaining suring them not to cry or otherwise express their gender boundaries and denigrating women and feelings (Block, 1978, as cited in Maccoby, gays (Connell, 1995; Kimmel & Messner, 1998, p. 139). Girls, in contrast, are not only 1998). Nonetheless, fathers’ role in sustaining encouraged to express their emotions but also gender difference is neither fixed nor inevitable. are taught to pay attention to the feelings of Mothers’ relatively lax enforcement of gender others. stereotypes relates to the amount of time they It is not just birth parents and stepparents spend with children. Because they perform most who socialize children with gendered expecta- of the child care, mothers tend to be more prag- tions, but also grandparents, extended family matic about the similarities and dissimilarities members, fictive kin, teachers, and other adults between children, and their perceptions of an who are part of children’s lives. Although individual child’s abilities are somewhat less research on such relationships is still rare, most likely to be influenced by preconceived gender studies find that grandparents, uncles, and other stereotypes. Similarly, when men are single adult men are more likely to relate to boys than parents or actively coparent, they behave more like to girls, and to demand more gender conformity conventional “mothers” than standard “fathers” from children than do their female counterparts (Coltrane, 1996; Risman, 1989). Involved (grandmothers, aunts, etc.). fathers, like most mothers, encourage sons and The result of this indoctrination is that, as daughters equally, utilizing similar interaction they become developmentally able, boys and and play styles for both. They also tend to avoid girls incorporate the gendered messages and both rigid gender stereotypes and the single- scripts that parents, grandparents, and other sig- minded emphasis on rough-and-tumble play nificant adults have communicated to them into customary among traditional fathers (Coltrane, their own version of an age-appropriate gender 1989; Parke, 1996). As a result, when fathers schema (Bem, 1983). A gender schema is a cog- exhibit close, nurturing ongoing relationships nitive way of organizing information, a sort of with children, those children develop less stereo- “network of associations” that “functions as an typed gender attitudes as teenagers and young anticipatory structure” ready to “search for and adults (Hardesty, Wenk, & Morgan, 1995; to assimilate incoming information” in terms of Williams, Radin, & Allegro, 1992). relevant schematized categories (Bem, 1983, Different treatment of newborn boys and p. 603). A kind of perceptual lens, a gender girls, based on their sex, is a product of the schema predisposes a person to see the world behavior of gendered adults (family members in terms of two clearly defined “opposites”— and strangers) and institutionalized expectations male and female, masculine and feminine. about gender derived from society as a whole Accordingly, children develop gender schemata (Coltrane & Adams, 1997). According to psy- without even realizing that the culture in which chologist Sandra Bem (1983), gender is not they live is stereotyped according to gender. something that is naturally produced in the mind Developing networks of associations that guide of the child but instead reflects the gender polar- their perceptions, children come to see the world ization prevalent in the larger culture. Moreover, in gender-polarized ways and live out the gender gender-differentiated treatment continues as the polarization that they have learned to make their child grows up; gender-appropriateness is rein- own. Children then go about re-creating, accord- forced through toys (trucks, sports equipment, ing to their own developmental ability, a world and toy guns for boys; dolls, tea sets, and toy in which boys/men and girls/women are not stoves for girls), as well as expectations for just different but polar opposites, and where 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 236

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boys/men are generally powerful and privileged. reminding us (in movies, on television, and in As they grow up, moreover, they come to under- novels) of the overinvolved, domineering mother stand that although most men are more powerful who emasculates her son, makes him into a than most women, not all men are equally pow- “sissy,” and leaves him unfit and unable to take erful, and that some (hegemonic) masculinities his place in the patriarchal scheme of oppression entail more privilege than other (subordinated) (Silverstein & Rashbaum, 1994). This separation masculinities (Connell, 1987, 1995, 2000; Hearn, from the adult world takes the form of increased 1992). mischievousness at home, in direct opposition to maternal direction (Minton et al., 1971), and Children’s Agency and less sensitivity to teachers (Fagot, 1985). Boys also play more roughly than girls, with their the Construction of Gendered Behavior interaction frequently bordering on aggression, We see evidence of the ways that children if not outright violence (Maccoby, 1998). Boys’ create their own gendered worlds in the fact rough-and-tumble play appears to be designed to that, from the time they are about 3 years old, create a dominance hierarchy and to mitigate a they begin to associate consistently with presumption of weakness (Jordan & Cowan, same-sex playmates, generally without direct 1995; Maccoby, 1998; Petit, Bakshi, Dodge, & provocation or instigation from adult caretak- Coie, 1990); girls, on the other hand, do select ers (Howes & Philipsen, 1992; Maccoby, 1998; leaders, but they draw on leadership qualities Thorne, 1993). In this way, children begin to other than physical dominance (Charlesworth & institute at an early age the gender segregation Dzur, 1987; Maccoby, 1998). There is even a that traverses adult society. Noting this ten- difference in styles of discourse, with girls dency, sociologist William Corsaro (1997) sees negotiating to keep interaction going, while boys children as “active, creative social agents who simply command and demand, thus stopping produce their own unique children’s cultures effective interaction (Maccoby, 1998, p. 49). while simultaneously contributing to the pro- Finally, boys’ play groups involve more compe- duction of adult societies” (p. 4). Moreover, tition than girls’, with boys spending much more forays into cross-gender territory generally time playing competitive games and girls focus- herald advances toward a heterosexual roman- ing on recreation that entails taking turns tic culture rather than enduring friendships that (Crombie & Desjardins, 1993). cross gender lines (Adler & Adler, 1998; That these tendencies of boys in their same- Eder, 1995; Thorne, 1993). As these social sci- sex play groups reflect parentally encouraged entists suggest, romantic “crossings” (Thorne, and socially approved masculine ideals is appar- 1993) strengthen traditional gender boundaries ent, as boys display masculinity by withdrawing and behaviors while reinforcing the gender from adults (mothers, in particular) and by segregation evident in same-sex friendship being dominant, competitive, aggressive, and groupings. (over)active. Because we take for granted that Boys’ play groups and girls’ play groups masculinity is a positive cultural and institu- exhibit distinctive styles of play. One significant tional ideal, we don’t tend to view masculinity difference between them is that boys appear to per se as a negative factor that can cause prob- be more separated from the world of adults lems for boys as they negotiate their gender (Maccoby, 1998), a tradition that begins in the performance against a backdrop of broader prin- family when boys, between 24 and 36 months ciples of social order. Most of the time, when of age, begin to invite less contact from boys’ behavior runs counter to social norms, we their mothers (Clarke-Stewart & Hevey, 1981; chuckle that “boys will be boys.” When that Maccoby, 1998; Minton, Kagan, & Levine, behavior reaches beyond the acceptable, how- 1971). What is unclear about this “separation” is ever, we begin to acknowledge that living up to exactly how much is initiated by the child, and masculine ideals can, indeed, cause trouble. how much is initiated by the child’s mother or parents, who feel that “too much” mothering can Boyhood Troubles be dangerous to a boy’s masculinity (Silverstein & Rashbaum, 1994). This impulse also conforms The way we raise boys in our society not to the cultural mythology of “mother-blaming,” only reinforces masculine personality ideals but 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 237

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also encourages behavior that reflects those men construct their masculinity amid a triad ideals. We valorize manhood and start, from the of violence: men against women, men against beginning of their lives, to transmit that val- men, and men against themselves. Hearn (1990) orization to our children. Children realize, early added another dimension to this triad, pointing on, that if they are fortunate enough to be born out how men’s normalized, institutionalized with the legitimating penis, then they are likely power and violence (reflected, for example, in to receive the rewards, rights, privileges, and business, sports, and even the historical “social entitlements that come along with it, although relations of paternity”) not only contribute to the amount of those rewards is premised on but also become child abuse and exploitation. other social factors as well. On the other hand, Thus, men’s violence applies even to adolescent if they are female, they realize that they are des- boys, and it results, at least in part, from their tined to help provide those rewards to their more internalizing the masculine ideal and attempting privileged brothers. That is, children begin to to live up to its precepts; as Hearn (1990, p. 85) incorporate these ideals into their own percep- points out, the problem lies not in “dangerous tions and behaviors and begin to “act out” the men” but in the “state of ‘normal masculinity.’” gender scripts that they have learned. Normal masculinity is evident in young men’s Moreover, as gendered parents and grand- violence against women, which Kaufman parents, we expect and encourage boys to pursue (1998, p. 4) suggests represents both an indi- our cultural ideals of masculinity. From early in vidual “acting out” of power relations and an their youth, we teach them (through, for instance, individual’s enactment of social power relations toys and sports) to symbolically correlate compe- (sexism); it plays out in instances of rape tition, violence, power, and domination with (acquaintance and stranger) and sexual harass- masculinity. Finally, we actively insist on their ment, and it is perpetrated in all-male enclaves separation from mothers (in effect, their separa- such as fraternities (Lefkowitz, 1997; Sanday, tion from anything feminine that might sully 1990) and athletic teams (Benedict, 1997). their budding masculinity). In short, by defining Research analyzing rape figures between 1979 masculinity as “anything not feminine” and by and 1987 shows that youths 20 years old and defining femininity in conjunction with the younger accounted for 18% of single-offender family and domesticity, we are, in effect, defining and 30% of multiple-offender rapes (Kershner, boys and men away from the family and outside 1996); the FBI reports, moreover, that adoles- it. When the proscription against feminine behav- cent males accounted for the greatest increase in ior is translated into behavior attenuated by devel- arrested rape perpetrators in the United States opmental stage, boys often end up in trouble— during the early 1990s (Ingrassia, 1993; see also overactive and inattentive in school (the class Kershner, 1996). clown), competitive and aggressive, even violent. Male youth violence against other males is Studies show that elementary school–aged boys extensive, creating battlefields out of city parks are up to four times as likely as girls to be sent to and school playgrounds. Gangs of all racial and child psychologists, twice as likely to be consid- ethnic groups flourish in urban areas as adoles- ered “learning disabled,” and much more likely cent boys attempt to create “family” with tools (up to 10 times) to be diagnosed with emotional honed to incorporate ideals of manhood. In maladies such as attention deficit disorder 1997, it was estimated that there were 30,500 (Kimmel, 2000, p. 160; Pollack, 1998). Studies youth gangs and 815,896 gang members active also show that “problem behaviors” of adolescent in the United States (National Youth Gang boys (including school suspension, drinking, use Center, 1999). Among youth, teenaged boys of street drugs, police detainment, sexual activity, tend to be both the most frequent perpetrators of number of heterosexual partners, and forcing violent crimes and, as a group, the most frequent someone to have sex) are associated with victims of such crimes. Although preteen boys traditional masculine ideology (Christopher & and girls are equally as likely to be homicide Sprecher, 2000; Hearn, 1990; Pleck, Sonenstein, & victims, once children reach their teen years, Ku, 1994; Schwartz & Rutter, 1998). boys are significantly more likely than girls to Aggression has become a touchstone for be murdered (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). They American adolescent boys, and violence among are also more murderous than young women, them is epidemic. Kaufman (1998) noted that representing 93% of known juvenile homicide 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 238

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offenders between 1980 and 1997. During the suggesting a lack of emotional communication same time period fewer than 10 juvenile homicide to those who might otherwise have provided offenders per year were age 10 or younger, help to them (Marttunen et al., 1998). and 88% of these offenders were also male (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999, pp. 53-54). Boys Into Men: Of late, young men’s violence has spilled Preparation for Family Life over into more traditionally “safe,” institutionalized space. In the United States, the school Just as boys are expected to reject their shootings of the 1990s (carried out overwhelm- mothers and leave their families (physically ingly by boys, most of whom were from “good” and emotionally) in order to achieve manhood, [i.e., unbroken] homes) further attest to the lack so, too, they are expected to return to family of fit between how boys are learning to be men life after a period of time to create and lead and the men that society wants. Disturbingly, a families of their own. By the end of adolescence, number of these rampages were orchestrated these young men have been socialized into, and by boys who were seen by their peers not as have internalized, the norms, values, and enti- bullies (the masculine ideal) but as bullied (the tlements of the masculine ideal on a personal feminine counterpart), thus highlighting the level, largely through interaction with gender- desperate actions sometimes undertaken by conscious parents and kin, as well as through young men to prove their “normal” masculinity involvement with same-sex school peer groups. against the public threat of being viewed as As they leave adolescence, in the interim feminine. between being banished from and returning to Men’s violence against themselves also can family life, however, boys-becoming-men are manifest itself in adolescence. One of the ways often subjected to a higher level of initiation into men do violence against themselves is by “stuff- manhood involving male bonding and solidifica- ing” their emotions, in pursuit of a traditionally tion of the collective practice of masculinity; masculine ideal that reflects dread of feminine these initiation rites tap into interests that extend, hyperemotionality. Young men are encouraged moreover, to corporate, state, and even global to avoid displays of emotion, as are young boys; levels (Connell, 1987, 1990, 1998, 2000; Hearn, we even tend to “see” male newborns as less 1990, 1992; Kimmel, 1996) and affect the ways emotional than their female counterparts, read- men later interact in families. If athletic, young ing onto them the expectations of masculine men join male-only football, basketball, or base- non-emotionality. As boys grow up, they “often ball teams; at college they are encouraged to fail to learn the language with which they could belong to all-male fraternities; in the army, navy, describe their feelings, and without language it marines, or air force, they are enlisted in the is hard for anyone to make sense of what he ranks of a group that, if not all-male, is over- feels” (Phillips, 1994, p. 67). One articulation of whelmingly so; and in the workplace, they enter this problem is the preponderance of suicide sex-stratified occupational organizations. Each committed by male adolescents. In 1996, for of these male-dominated associations has its example, 2,119 suicides in the United States own rituals that involve strengthening masculine involved youth under the age of 19, 80% of ideals and notions of entitlement, already inter- whom were male (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999, nalized at a personal level, at an abstract level p. 24). Male youth suicide is a trend that that makes them appear to be, more than ever, extends beyond the United States: A Finnish part of the “natural” gender order. Full initiation study of adolescent males who committed sui- into such groups usually involves some type of cide, for instance, showed that, compared with woman- and/or gay-bashing activity that accen- those with psychiatric disorders, those suicides tuates the boundary between male and not male, with no diagnosable psychiatric disorders (that masculinity and femininity, heterosexuality and is, the “normal” boys) came from less disturbed homosexuality. These activities entail a “link families, were less antisocial, and used health between personal experience and power rela- care and social services less often (Marttunen tions” (Connell, 1990, p. 507), or, more specifi- et al., 1998, p. 669). Moreover, they had com- cally, collective male experiences and power. municated intent to commit suicide for the first Through such fratriarchal (Remy, 1990) activi- time shortly before actually taking their own lives, ties as college fraternity pranks (Lyman, 1998), 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 239

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collective condoning of gang or individual MEN’S PRIVILEGED STATUS IN FAMILIES rape (Lefkowitz, 1997; Sanday, 1990), corporate victimization (Szockyj & Fox, 1996), and Eventually, the boys that their families have sexual harassment of women and homosexuals socialized to be unemotional, violent, self- (Connell, 1992, 1995; Morris, 1994), these orga- centered manly men tend to make their way back nizations inaugurate boys into “real” manhood at into families. Having internalized personal inter- a social level (Hearn, 1992). With inauguration pretations of masculine ideals and subsequently into the collective production of oppression, men experienced valorization and reinforcement of become participants in and supporters of, to a those ideals in institutionalized settings, young greater or lesser extent based on cross-cutting men are expected to (re)turn to the family setting issues of race and class, social institutions of to prove their maturity (Ehrenreich, 1983) and inequality such as sexism, racism, classism, and enact what they have learned about being men. homosexism (Hearn, 1990). Although their social status changes at marriage, Historically, war also has been a fertile young men’s personalized gender regimes initiation ground for the collective practice of (Connell, 1987) do not, and they often find manhood; as sociologist Michael Kimmel themselves “force-fitting” their masculine ideals (1996) noted, “All wars...are meditations on into the domestic sphere, a setting that is, by def- masculinity” (p. 72). As traditionally masculine inition, feminine. Thus, rather than participating enterprises, wars tend to institutionalize certain in families through caring, nurturing, and serv- hegemonic ideals of masculinity, “distin- ing, men generally try instead to mold families to guish[ing] ‘more manly’ from ‘less manly’ conform to their own sense of masculine entitle- groups” (Connell, 1998, p. 13). For example, ment, expecting that family members, particu- the recent “war on terrorism” has reinvigorated a larly their wives, will care for and serve them. certain image of “real” men as “[b]rawny, heroic, Historically, getting married signaled becoming manly” (Brown, 2001, p. 5), at the same time a “respectable family man” and was “set against connecting those images to gendered sex roles: and constructed in relation to what were per- “In contrast to past eras of touchy-feeliness ceived to be the extra-familial and ‘dangerous’ (Alan Alda) and the vaguely feminized, rakish masculinities of the undomesticated male” man-child of the 1990s (Leonardo DiCaprio), (Collier, 1995, p. 220). Scholars have docu- the notion of physical prowess in the service of mented how industrialization and urbanization patriotic duty is firmly back on the pedestal” undermined traditional social controls in society (Brown, 2001, p. 5). State-sanctioned violence at large, raising fears among the growing middle and aggression are once again being linked to class about the licentious sexuality and violence masculinity through wartime imagery and dis- of lower-class men and recent immigrants. course, for “without war, he [the male citizen Hearn (1992), Collier (1995), Connell (1990), warrior] would not know who he was or what Kimmel (1996), and others have shown how the the world was about” (Gibson, 1994, p. 308; see bifurcation between the dangerous and the famil- also Miedzian, 1991). Generally speaking, then, ial emerged as Victorian ideals of separate the collective practice of masculinity serves, spheres institutionalized new forms of public both directly and indirectly, the interests of the masculinities. Hearn (1992, pp. 81-82) sug- state (and its corporate arm), which needs men gested that in complex and historically specific who are aggressive, prone to violence, unemo- ways, public domains were constructed by men tional, patriotic, competitive, and somewhat to secure power from women. Men’s separation distanced from family. Theoretically, the inter- from the birth process, and from the emotional ests of the state (as the “general patriarch” [Mies, care and child rearing that became associated 1986, p. 26]) can also be seen as supporting with private families, in conjunction with the the interests of the husband (as the “individual growth of industrial capitalism and more com- patriarch” [Connell, 1990, p. 507]), a collabora- plex states, drove them to establish new forms of tion apparent, for instance, in the lack of concern patriarchy. Fraternal recreation and social orga- historically displayed by the state in intruding nizations, fratriarchal dominance of public on a husband’s “right” to batter or rape his space, and continued sexual exploitation of mar- wife (Caulfield & Wonders, 1993; Hearn, 1990; ginalized women coexisted with newer forms of Mies, 1986). masculine power and control, including a special 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 240

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form of technical rationality associated with parenting, family, friends, and their partner’s corporations and bureaucracies. Inside families, personality (Fowers, 1991). Finally, married men continued to exercise power and control men are less depressed and have lower rates over women sexually, socially, and physically, of mental disorder than do married women though often under the name of a religiously (Busfield, 1996; Horwitz, White, & Howell- sanctioned paternal authority. Feminist theorists White, 1996; Marks, 1996). In short, traditional have long suggested that both public and private marriage appears to be a good deal for men. forms of patriarchy were developed by men so that they might control women’s reproduc- The Gendered Domestic Division of Labor tive power (e.g., Hearn, 1987; O’Brien, 1981; Rubin, 1975; Sanday, 1981). One of the main reasons men benefit from Marriage and family laws (until recently marriage is the unequal and taken-for-granted developed solely by men) generally encouraged division of domestic labor. Research shows continuity of male privilege between the public that women historically have shouldered the sphere and the home (see Collier, 1995; also overwhelming bulk of responsibility for doing Grossberg, 1990). For example, the common- household labor, spending three times the law doctrine of coverture, which essentially amount of time as men doing routine everyday made the wife not only the property but also the household tasks (for a review, see Coltrane, person of the husband, was officially abandoned 2000). Moreover, even though in recent decades only in the mid-19th century (Grossberg, 1985). women have increasingly entered the paid labor The ideal of a wife giving up her identity force and share, more than ever, the burden of to her husband continues to pervade the providing financially for the family, men con- symbolic meaning of marriage, illustrated by tinue to do significantly less than their equal women adopting the surname of their husband share of housework, claiming disinterest, disin- when they marry (Goodman, 2001; Johnson & clination, or general lack of aptitude (Deutsch, Scheuble, 1995). Moreover, the traditional 1999). Along this line, doing household labor (albeit unwritten) marriage contract making the has been equated with doing gender; women do husband the head of, and responsible party for, it and men don’t, and disruptions in this pattern the household and making the wife responsible can be threatening to a family’s gender order. for domestic services and child care (Weitzman, Proving that housework is not inherently 1981) continues to provide ideological sup- gendered, studies show that men do more port for maintenance of a traditional man- housework before they are married than they do as-provider, woman-as-family-caretaker model after. Once married, however, they have the of family life. This ideological (and legal) opportunity to denote most domestic chores as model, in turn, allows a husband to be cared for “women’s work” and turn them over to their and nurtured, even while sustaining his image of (less powerful) wives. Research does show that, himself as independent and autonomous, that is, overall, American men have begun to do a masculine. greater share of housework in recent decades, This traditional family picture may work for although much of this gain is the result of a man as long as he has a traditional wife will- women doing less (Robinson & Godbey, 1999). ing both to care for him and to deny that she is In general, married men tend to create the need doing so, thus shoring up his fragile masculine for more housework than they perform (Col- image that revolves around “resist[ing] the trane, 2000). Although some social scientists hail regressive wish to be cared for” (Nock, 1998, the relatively slight increase in men’s housework p. 47). Some researchers suggest that “norma- performance as highly significant, others suggest tive” family life is good for men; according to that this small change “should be better under- sociologist Steven Nock (1998), married men stood in terms of a largely successful male resis- “earn more, work more, and have better jobs” tance” (McMahon, 1999, p. 7). Why are men (p. 82) than their nonmarried counterparts. Men resisting? The short (and short-term) answer is also tend to benefit more from marriage than do that it is in men’s interest to do so (Goode, 1992; women (Bernard, 1972; Fowers, 1991), report- McMahon, 1999), because it reinforces a separa- ing greater marital satisfaction and rating their tion of spheres that underpins masculine ideals marriages more positively in terms of finances, and perpetuates a gender order privileging 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 241

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(some) men over women and over (some) other been expected to “keep women and children in men. On the whole, we raise boys to expect their place” with the threat and use of physical mothers to wait on them and nurture them, and force; moreover, to the extent that this expecta- we raise girls to help their mothers perform the tion is normalized as a symbol of masculinity, endless family work that is necessary for main- violence and the threat of violence become one taining homes and raising children. It is no sur- and the same (see Hearn, 1990). In the United prise that after being propelled away from States alone, estimates range up to 4 million families for a time, most young men come back women per year who are physically abused by to family life with a sense of masculine entitle- their male partners (Greenfeld et al., 1998). Far ment, expecting to be served by women and not too many women and children will continue to noticing the myriad details of family life that be the victims of domestic terror; as Kaufman demand someone’s attention (Pyke & Coltrane, (1993) noted, “all women, directly or indirectly, 1996). experience at least the potential of domination, Although family living has been found to be violence, coercion and harassment at the hands a protective factor for men with respect to some of men” (p. 44). risky behaviors (Nock, 1998), attempting to live up to masculine ideals can put men at risk inside families as well as outside them. The psycho- MEN IN TRADITIONAL logical and emotional energy exerted to be in FAMILIES—A CATCH-22 control, unemotional, independent, and unin- volved affects men’s relations with their wives For a number of reasons, men’s experiences in and children, as well as having deleterious medical families have been problematized within the last consequences for the men themselves (Sabo, several decades, primarily at the instigation of 1998). One of the most consistent problems the second wave of the women’s rights move- identified by women with respect to marriage is ment, which started in earnest in the late 1960s. their husbands’ lack of communication and emo- Feminism began largely as a movement about tional expression (Coltrane, 1998; L. B. Rubin, families and about the need for change in 1983). This gender-stereotyped division of families; much of that need revolved around emotional labor even pervades men’s friend- men’s involvement (or lack of involvement) in ships with women: One woman in L. B. Rubin’s those families. As women became more com- (1985) study of friendship commented, “I have mitted to breadwinning, they began to see them- one man friend I love very much, but I don’t selves as more than “helpmates” for men; they relate to him like I do to a woman. I can’t talk began to envision a public life of their own and, to him the same way, and when I try, I’m disap- as a result, a larger, more involved role in family pointed. Either we’re talking about him and his for their male partners. While the relational problems and I’m sort of like a mother or big aspects of traditional notions of gender sister, or it’s all so heady and intellectual- demanded that a man could “only be a ‘real ized that it’s boring” (p. 160). Finally, men’s man’ if someone is around being a ‘real relationships with their children suffer to the woman’” (Kaufman, 1993, p. 47), it became extent that they adopt emotionally remote and clear that many women no longer had the time inexpressive styles of masculinity. A typical or the inclination to be “real women” in that response to an emotionally absent father comes sense, shielding their husbands from the contra- from one 17-year-old, interviewed by clinical dictions of power and helplessness inherent in psychologist William Pollack: “[M]y father is masculine ideals. like his own father. He’s not very communica- Women’s new roles and self-images as tive. I don’t care if he coaches my soccer team family providers made them less inclined to for nine years in a row; I would rather he just play at “fascinating womanhood” (Andelin, talked to me once in a while” (Pollack, 2000, 1974), living only for and through “their men.” p. 238). As women’s collective consciousness was The shortcomings of men in families are not raised, men began to find themselves face-to- limited to inattention or emotional remoteness. face with their own alienation from families. Aided by governmental neglect and protected More important, feminism gave men a new van- by the privacy of their homes, men have long tage point from which to view their position in 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 242

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the family. As feminists introduced the politics experience in families and their masculine of the personal, men came to see home as more ideals, but most have failed because they continue than their castle and as, instead, a place where to advocate for a masculinity that is defined in their children were growing up under their noses opposition to femininity. The 1980s ushered in and without their involvement. Men in families, the mythopoetic men’s movement, which pro- or more appropriately, outside families, began to moted a drum-beating, chest-thumping return recognize the emotional costs of chasing mascu- to wildness in an attempt to reclaim the “‘the line ideals. deep masculine parts’ of themselves that they Economic structural shifts also affected believed had been lost” (Messner, 1997, p. 17). men’s sense of family involvement. The global Far from being a radical departure from the and national economic transition from industry status quo, this movement championed the to service, “or from production to consumption, search for some mythical quintessential mas- is symbolically a move from the traditional masculinity that could overcome the “mother-son culine to the traditional feminine” (Faludi, 1999, conspiracy” that was evicting fathers and femi- p. 38). As heavy manufacturing was replaced nizing sons, making them “soft males” (Bly, by the information economy, men began to find 1990, pp. 2, 18). their masculine ideals less serviceable. Women’s The 1990s brought the neoconservative, workforce participation and associated wages religiously oriented Promise Keepers, filling have increased gradually over the decades, football stadiums across the United States (and whereas men’s wages and job stability have sta- other parts of the world) with “born-again bilized or declined (Coltrane & Collins, 2001). Christians who interpret the bible literally and As men have been economically “downsized” believe that men are ordained to serve God and and as their wives have taken their own places as lead their families” (Coltrane, 2001, p. 403). family providers, it has become harder to justify Promising to be better husbands and fathers, masculine entitlement. these men commit to being “servant leaders” in Although these are not the only precipitating the home and to bond emotionally with other factors, they certainly have helped to problema- men in support of this goal; their wives, on tize men’s place in families and caused them to the other hand, are encouraged to make a sort reexamine their taken-for-granted assumptions of “patriarchal bargain” (Anderson & Messner, regarding the benefits of living up to a hege- 1997; also see Kandiyoti, 1988) and graciously monic ideal of masculinity. Structurally, psy- submit to their husband’s leadership in the chologically, and relationally, these issues point home in exchange for his being a better family to the tensions present for men in family life, man. Other religiously based marriage pro- tensions exacerbated by the felt need to live up ponents have joined political forces with con- to certain ideals of manhood that make them servative think tanks and communitarian social outsiders to the family. On one hand, hegemonic scientists to forge a public relations campaign masculine ideals have provided them with promoting marriage and “responsible father- power and privilege, in the home and in society hood” in the United States. These “family val- at large. On the other hand, men have begun to ues” movements reflect the patriarchal ideal of realize the cost of their alienation from family separate spheres by insisting that fathers are the life. In many ways, this tension represents a natural “head” of the family and rejecting the “line of fault” or “rupture in consciousness” notion that women and men should participate (Smith, 1987, p. 52) between the ideals of mas- equally in housework, child care, and economic culinity and the experience of family life that is provision. expressed in “feminized” terms of nurturance, Finally, many men have simply opted out of caring, self-sacrifice, and dependence. This fault family life. Barbara Ehrenreich (1983) attributes line has been articulated as a crisis of masculin- men’s lack of family commitment to a break- ity (Connell, 1995; Messner, 1997). down in the breadwinner ethic; encouraged to work and earn a “family wage,” many men Attempts at Resolution simply have chosen not to share that wage with a family. Other fathers will, after divorce, make Various social and personal attempts have monetary support payments but essentially dis- been made to resolve the rupture between men’s appear from their families’ lives, abstaining from 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 243

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involvement with their children that requires patriarchy, or the power and authority that a direct investment of their time; still others men exercise within family settings, is both contribute neither financial nor nonfinancial enhanced and subverted by social patriarchy. support (Goldscheider, 2000, p. 532; Teachman, Women’s entry into paid labor, along with 1992). Even when contact is maintained ini- their modest gains in terms of career mobility tially, children’s involvement with nonresident and earnings potential, has weakened social fathers tends to decline over time, especially patriarchy, causing new tensions to emerge in for children whose fathers left when they were families. Whereas women previously were quite young. Although organizations promoting dependent on marriage for economic security, fathers’ rights have had some success in pro- they may now survive apart from men. Men are moting joint custody in divorce cases involving no longer afforded the unpaid services of a wife children, the rate of postdivorce father-child in return for being an economic provider. This contact has been increasing very slowly makes marriage more optional and contingent (Bertoia & Drakich, 1993; Coltrane & Hickman, for both women and men. We are currently wit- 1992). Despite massive efforts to increase child nessing emergent forms of marital negotiation support payments from absent fathers, recent and sharing not contingent on the economic and improvements in the amount collected have political dominance of men. To be sure, men been modest (Coltrane & Collins, 2001). These still enjoy earnings and career advantages, and various attempts to deal with men’s alienation cultural and political arenas still tend to privi- from families only tend to reinforce aspects of lege men’s needs over women’s. Nevertheless, masculinity that contributed to men being men increasingly are being challenged to share family outsiders in the first place. The men in the nurturing and emotional labor that is involved in these movements generally fail to essential in the raising of children and the main- embrace and incorporate ideals of nurturing, tenance of family life. Men are resisting, but emotionality, and service to others that might some are learning how to share in the everyday help resolve some of the contradictions they tasks of cooking and cleaning, and many are face as family members. developing the emotional capacities and understandings that enable them to share in the upbringing of the next generation. More sharing RESOLVING THE LINE OF FAULT in the family (however limited) mirrors more sharing in the public realms of politics and Our discussion has focused on the ways that occupations. the social construction of separate spheres and When families work well, they provide secu- public masculinities in the 19th and 20th cen- rity, a sense of self, a heightened understanding turies has created dilemmas for boys and men of others, and an atmosphere of caring, loving, in families. Our account draws on a historical and nurturing. Social animals that we are, understanding of developments in the United families provide the first, and most basic, social States and, to a lesser extent, England and other grouping for our survival and can sustain us in capitalist industrial countries (see, for example, our darker moments of solitude. But families are Hearn, 1992). The broad outlines of our thesis, changing. The end of the 20th century witnessed however, may apply more broadly. Research a remarkable increase in family diversity as on nonindustrial societies suggests that if men families took on more and different forms and and women share domestic tasks, they are also functions. Along with the proliferation of more likely to share wealth, property, and polit- diverse types of families, we have been intro- ical decision making (Coltrane, 1989, 1992; duced into new ways of “doing family” Johnson, 1988; Sanday, 1981). There is a direct (Gubrium & Holstein, 1990), with the older tra- correspondence between sharing power in more ditional ways becoming harder and harder to public domains and sharing the care and sustain, both physically and psychologically. drudgery of domestic life in the family domain. We can’t go back to the separate spheres ideal of We have argued that men’s exercise of the Victorian era or the nostalgic Ozzie and authority in public realms through the institu- Harriet family of the 1950s where “men were tion of social patriarchy both enables and under- men” and “women were women,” and never the mines men’s family experiences. Private twain would meet (Coontz, 1992, 1997). Nor 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 244

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should we want to go back. Promoting family economic, political, and psychological interests life where men hang onto stereotypes of man- in creating men who conform to and reproduce hood that leave them distant and unattached out- patriarchal masculinities. We can only raise siders or dominating patriarchs has proven to be the question here; the answer, however, could both uncomfortable and unworkable. In such change the world. families, “masculinized” men find themselves “missing something” as human beings. Women find themselves struggling with the “second REFERENCES shift” of housework and child care. Both find themselves losing out on the emotional connec- Adams, M., & Coltrane, S. (2004). Boys and men in tions that companionate marriage ideals have families. In S. Coltrane (Ed.), Families and promised, and children find themselves with society: Classic and contemporary readings fathers who are absent emotionally, even when (pp.189-198). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ physically present. Thomson Learning. In this chapter, we have examined how we Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (1998). Peer power: push boys, both interpersonally and institution- Preadolescent culture and identity. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ally, to follow an abstract dominant ideal of Andelin, H. B. (1974). Fascinating womanhood. masculinity that instructs them that, in order to Santa Barbara, CA: Pacific Press Santa Barbara. be masculine, they must avoid the feminine. We Anderson, C., & Messner, M. A. (1997, April). The also have seen how living up to masculine ideals political is personal: Masculinity therapy and can result in men’s contradictory experiences of patriarchal bargains among the Promise Keepers. entitlement and alienation, privilege and pain, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the which in turn causes problems for women and Pacific Sociological Association, San Francisco, children. How can this dilemma be resolved? CA. As optimists, we believe that feminism has Balakrishnan, R. (1994). The social context of sex given men the tools to resolve this disjuncture selection and the politics of abortion in India. In G. Sen & R. C. Snow (Eds.), Power and between ideals and experience, entitlement and decision: The social control of reproduction alienation, but to do so requires getting rid of (pp. 267-286). Cambridge, MA: Harvard School the assumption that masculinity is the antithesis of Public Health. of femininity, and that to be a man, one has to Bem, S. L. (1983). Gender schema theory and its prove that he is not a woman. Without the bur- implications for child development: Raising den of this supposition, boys would no longer gender-aschematic children in a gender- need to be torn from their mothers and families schematic society. Signs, 8, 598-616. in order to make them “real men.” They could Bem, S. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Trans- then incorporate the virtues of nurturing, caring, forming the debate on sexual inequality. New service, and emotional involvement that provide Haven, CT: Yale University Press. the underpinnings for successful family func- Benedict, J. (1997). Public heroes, private felons: Athletes and crimes against women. Boston: tioning. Without laboring under the abstraction Northeastern University Press. of dominant masculinity, men would be freed to Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social con- become family insiders and full participants, struction of reality: A treatise on the sociology of rather than outsiders and tyrants. Such changes knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. will not be easy, nor will they be welcomed by Bernard, J. S. (1972). The future of marriage. those who feel more comfortable with separate New York: The World Publishing Co. gender spheres. But the structural and cultural Bertoia, C., & Drakich, J. (1993). The fathers’ rights forces promoting more egalitarian gender movement: Contradictions in rhetoric and prac- relations undoubtedly will increase some men’s tice. Journal of Family Issues, 14(4), 592-615. participation in family life and will continue Bhuiya, A., & Streatfield, K. (1991). Mothers’ education and survival of female children in a rural area to promote diversity in forms of cohabitation, of Bangladesh. Population Studies, 45, 253-264. marriage, and child rearing. These develop- Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: ments will create further pressures for change in Perspective and method. Berkeley: University of masculine ideals throughout society. We wonder, California Press. however, if such pressures will grow strong Bly, R. (1990). Iron John: A book about men. enough to overcome long-standing military, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. 14-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:22 PM Page 245

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FATHERHOOD AND MASCULINITIES

WILLIAM MARSIGLIO

JOSEPH H. PLECK

uch has been learned about the Students of gender also may be interested various dimensions of fatherhood in historical analyses of fathering that go M during the past few decades, as is beyond the scope of our review (Griswold, documented in several recent and expansive 1993; LaRossa, 1997; LaRossa & Reitzes, reviews (Lamb, 1997; Marsiglio, Amato, Day, & 1995; E. H. Pleck & Pleck, 1997). Lamb, 2000; Parke, 2002; J. H. Pleck, 1997). Our primary aim in this review is to examine These diverse emotional, psychological, and scholarship on fatherhood from a gendered and behavioral dimensions involve men’s attitudes critical perspective. Although the literature that about and experiences with being fathers prior specifically addresses the relationship between to conception, during pregnancy, and through- masculinities and fatherhood is sparse, it is out their children’s lives (with behavior often sufficient in scope to warrant a review and to being referred to as involvement or investment). allow us to propose a forward-looking research Most of this scholarship has focused on fathers agenda. We supplement our review by incorpo- living in various Western industrialized coun- rating literature that may not be informed tries (Hobson, 2002; Lamb, 1987), although explicitly by a critical gender perspective, but researchers have studied fathering in Asian which still contributes to a gendered understand- cultures such as China (Ho, 1987; Jankowiak, ing of fatherhood. Our scope, however, does 1992) and Japan (Ishii-Kuntz, 1992, 1993, not allow us to discuss recent work on cultural 1994; Shwalb, Imaizumi, & Nakazawa, 1987) representations of fatherhood in entertainment as well as numerous nonnindustrialized soci- media and social marketing promoted by orga- eties around the world (Coltrane, 1988; Engle & nizations with interests in fatherhood, and how Breaux, 1998; Hewlett, 1992, 2000; Tripp- gender displays are intertwined with the mes- Reimer & Wilson, 1991). Another noteworthy sages being conveyed (Coltrane & Allan, 1994; comparative study examined fathering behaviors LaRossa, Gadgil, & Wynn, 2000; Lupton & in a diverse mix of 18 countries (Mackey, 1985). Barclay, 1997).

Authors’ note: Part of the work reported here was supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Project No. ILLU-45–0329 to Joseph H. Pleck.

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At the outset, we focus on debates about depth of these initiatives is beyond our limited whether men as fathers can uniquely affect scope here. While we selectively review and their children. We then consider how the style integrate cross-cultural materials from industri- of men’s fathering contributes to gendered alized and nonindustrialized societies into our social inequalities within and outside assessment of the literature, much of what we families/households. At numerous points, we cover is most salient to a U.S. context. In broad accentuate how men’s participation in systems terms, the cross-cultural literature teaches us that of gendered social relations—both between and there is considerable variation in how men act as within genders—shapes their fathering opportu- fathers, that children can flourish in societies nities, attitudes, and behavior. Next, we under- where different types of paternal models and score how fathering occurs in various settings expectations of children exist, and that gender where circumstances associated with age, race/ as a social organizing principle is implicated in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual ori- various ways throughout the world in structuring entation come into play. When viewed through the opportunities for fathers to interact with and a gender lens, we can see how these contexts invest in their children. Hearn (2002) provides create different opportunities and struggles for a useful review of men, fathers, and the state men as they think about and attempt to act as within an international context while advancing male parents. We conclude by suggesting a critical perspective on studying men. avenues for future research that would advance Finally, our review accentuates how knowl- our understanding of fatherhood from a critical edge about fathering is produced, disseminated, gendered perspective. and evaluated. We take our cue from Stacey and As we take stock of the relevant literature, we Biblarz (2001), who showed how the production emphasize several themes. Most important, we of knowledge can be assessed in a controversial highlight the intersection among the main area like sexual orientation and parenting. Being structures of social inequality—gender, race/ attentive to the social construction of knowl- ethnicity, and social class—while clarifying edge about fathering is vital because, as those how these three factors affect the social con- working closely in the field know, there are sev- struction of fatherhood images and the way eral hotly contested research and policy issues men experience their lives as fathers. Consistent that challenge individuals to navigate the waters with recent theoretical work in the area of men that muddle theory, research, and propaganda. and gender (Connell, 1995, 2000), fathering Those debates that are most contentious focus can be studied in connection to hegemonic on whether (and how) fathers matter to their masculinity as well as alternative constructions children in unique and meaningful ways, the of masculinities that give meaning to men’s presumed positive value of marriage in fathers’ everyday lives in diverse situations. lives, nonresident fathers’ financial and inter- Just as it is critical to acknowledge the impli- personal commitments to their children, and the cations of multiple masculinities, we pay partic- potential danger that stepfathers may pose for ular attention to the dual concerns of men as their stepchildren. Not surprisingly, those who breadwinners and nurturing parents while research and/or debate these issues often practice focusing on the initial phases of the fathering gender politics and swear allegiance to various life course. Fathers and their children typically brands of feminism, family and/or religious spend three to six overlapping decades in their values, theoretical perspectives, or modes of respective roles, but most fatherhood scholar- scientific inquiry (Blankenhorn, 1995; Daniels, ship is restricted to the first 18 years of this joint 1998; Dowd, 2000; Popenoe, 1996; Silverstein, father-child experience (but see Pillemer & 1996). Those stakeholders who are most effective McCartney, 1991; also Pfiefer & Sussman, in framing the key issues and paradigms in the 1991). Our review emphasizes fathering during minds of the research community, the general these early years, although we suggest how public, and policymakers can in various ways future research can address a wider range of influence what is generally “known” about how issues across the fathering life course. fathers feel, think, and act. They do this by shap- Efforts to study fatherhood and promote ing the types of questions that researchers ask, father-relevant social policies have gone global the way research is conducted, and how research in recent decades. Capturing the full breadth and is presented, interpreted, and used by researchers, 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 251

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policymakers, social service professionals, and expressed by Blankenhorn (1995) and Popenoe the general public alike. A critical review of the (1996), underlies recent neoconservative policy field, then, should pay attention not only to how initiatives to promote marriage. This view also fathering experiences are influenced by and is reflected in organizations such as the Promise shape gendered social structures and relations. It Keepers (Brickner, 1999; Claussen, 2000) and must also draw attention to the gender-related the National Fatherhood Initiative (Horn, 1995). and ideological struggles among the knowledge The enormous empirical and theoretical litera- producers that can confound research and politi- ture relevant to these three beliefs is beyond the cal agendas within the field itself. scope of this chapter to review in any depth. Thus, we will discuss only selected issues, especially ones Silverstein and Auerbach did not address and those that enable us to highlight the IS FATHERING “ESSENTIALLY” larger context within which knowledge in this DIFFERENT FROM MOTHERING? area is socially constructed.

One highly politicized issue central to a discussion linking fathering and masculinities THE UNIVERSALITY revolves around the debate whether fathers, as men, are uniquely equipped with characteristics AND BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF that differentiate their parenting styles and con- GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARENTING tributions to children from those of mothers. This debate is often couched in terms of essen- The hypothetical universality of gender-differ- tialist (Silverstein & Auerbach, 1999) and social entiated parental rearing of the young—that is, constructionist approaches (Brandth & Kvande, fathers being less involved—has been con- 1998, Lupton & Barclay, 1997; Marsiglio, 1995, sidered both across nonhuman primate species 1998) to fatherhood. These discussions gain and cross-culturally among human societies. political and theoretical visibility because For the former, both Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, and they are often associated with the illusive Levine’s (1985) and Silverstein and Auerbach’s and controversial concept of “fatherlessness” reviews suggest that gender-differentiated (Blankenhorn, 1995) and the championing of parental rearing of the young is far less univer- evolutionary psychological approaches to under- sal than is popularly believed. Smuts and standing parenting (Popenoe, 1996). Gubernick (1992) provided evidence that this In gender studies, the critique of “essential- interspecies variation can be explained by a ism” has been an important recent theoretical “reciprocity hypothesis,” holding that fathers development (Coltrane, 1994; Hare-Mustin & invest more in the young when females have Marecek, 1990). Essentialism provides a con- more to offer fathers. For example, in species ceptual rubric under which to discuss several with multimale family groups, in which females aspects of fatherhood that are fundamental to therefore choose which males to copulate with, consider from a gender perspective. Silverstein fathers invest more in the young than in species and Auerbach (1999) identified and critically with one-male groups (Silverstein, 1993; see analyzed three component beliefs in an implicit Belsky, 1993, for a critique). Though provoca- “essentialist paradigm for fatherhood”: (a) gender tive, inferences to human populations based on differences in parenting are universal and biologi- these findings should be made cautiously. cally based; (b) fathers’ uniquely masculine form Mackey (1985), drawing on his extensive of parenting significantly improves developmen- observational and comparative work on human tal outcomes for children, especially for sons; fathers in 18 countries, concluded that it is harder and (c) the context in which fathers are most to stimulate men to be caregivers for children. likely to provide for and nurture young children Mackey noted, however, that once fathers begin is heterosexual marriage. Their analysis caused to respond, they do so in a manner similar to quite a stir and was vigorously challenged in the women. Mackey additionally noted that when popular press (Chavez, 1999; Horn, 1999). two or more men are in an all-male group, it is As Silverstein and Auerbach noted, the harder to motivate simultaneous caregiving essentialist view of fatherhood, particularly as responses from them than is the case when two 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 252

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or more women are in an all-female gathering. FATHERS’UNIQUE Scholars also agree that there is actually CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT significant variation across the world societies studied by anthropologists in fathers’ level of Central to the essentialist conception of father- involvement relative to mothers’ (Hewlett, hood is the proposition that fathers, as men, con- 1992; Mackey, 1985; Silverstein & Auerbach, tribute to the development of their children in a 1999), a finding inconsistent with the essential- unique way. This idea has generated contentious ism perspective. Silverstein and Auerbach controversy, informed by research on the con- argued that this cross-cultural variation can be sequences for children of “father absence” (or explained by the reciprocity hypothesis. growing up in a single-parent female-headed Those who conduct naturalistic observations family) as well as research about the effects on of fathers living in nonindustrialized societies children of variation in fathers’ characteristics conceptualize fathers’ behavior in terms of and behavior in families with fathers present. parental “investment,” referring to activities that The scholarly disagreements over the meaning promote their offspring’s survival. This con- of the research are considerable. Widespread struct is rooted in evolutionary and biosocial social concern about the large and perhaps frameworks that emphasize ties between biol- growing number of fathers who are discon- ogy, gender, and reproductive strategies. These nected from their children has led to a broader, approaches recognize biology’s role in shaping highly politicized public debate about father paternal behavior while attempting to explain absence and father involvement. Different diversities and commonalities in paternal expe- stakeholders—conservatives, feminists, fathers’ rience between different societies. Although the rights groups, policymakers concerned with teen anthropologists who use these frameworks tend pregnancy and other issues, and researchers not to refer explicitly to “essentialism,” their of different persuasions—advance radically models are consistent with at least some essen- conflicting positions. tialist thinking. Many anthropologists, though reluctant to use these models, still view gen- Father “absence.” In discussions of father der as a significant factor affecting paternal absence, several issues have emerged as partic- behavior because of its role in how cultures are ularly important. First, the concept is ill-defined modified to create various types of parenting both conceptually and operationally. The obvi- opportunities and expectations. Without explic- ous, but deceptively simple, approach focuses itly invoking the essentialist paradigm, Hewlett on whether the child’s father lives in the house- (1992) reviewed research based on naturalistic hold or not. Because fathers’ potential residence observation and concluded, or nonresidence occurs from birth to late adolescence, the length of time the father lives or While cross-cultural studies question some of the does not live with the child should of course be European and American research, this does not taken into account. But exactly how long does mean that all aspects of fathers’ role are culturally there need to be no father in the household for a relative. Fathers in all parts of the world do share child to be “father absent”? Does absence occur- certain characteristics: fathers provide less direct ring for any reason count, or only for some rea- caregiving than mothers (but there may be some fathers within a culture that take on primary care- sons? Should a father’s being away from home giving), fathers are expected to provide at least for a year because of military reserve service, or some economic support for their children, and his being away from home 2 weeks out of 3 fathers are expected to support the mother eco- because he is a long-distance trucker or a sales nomically and/or emotionally. (p. xii) representative, be considered father absence? How do we classify the child who lives with her He goes on to add that it is assumed that father every other weekend and 2 summer “fathers from all parts of the world are likely to months out of 3, and with her mother the rest of have similar concerns about the safety, health, the time? What about the child of a teen father and tradeoffs between spending time with their who lives nearby, visits his child frequently, and children and doing things that attract and keep contributes economically to her upbringing? And women (e.g., working to increase status, pres- is it only the residence or nonresidence of the tige or wealth)” (p. xv). biological father that is important? 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 253

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In research, respondents usually will provide confounding effects of other differences between an answer when asked whether they grew up in the two groups. a two-parent or single-parent family. However, Among more sophisticated analyses, this does not mean their answers correspond to McLanahan and Sandefeur’s (1994) Growing something that can be clearly defined or reliably Up With a Single Parent is the recent large-scale measured. Readers of Blankenhorn’s (1995), empirical study of father absence most widely Horn’s (1995), and Popenoe’s (1996) compendi- cited. Using data from four different national ums of the negative outcomes occurring more surveys, these authors found, with race, mater- frequently among children of absent fathers nal education, and number of children in the may be impressed by the length of their lists, but family included in their statistical models, that they may not ask how meaningful it really is to father absence has marked negative effects on reduce the diversity of children’s living arrange- educational outcomes, early childbearing, and ments over time to the simple dichotomy of employment. Although family income is con- father presence or absence. If one broadens the trolled in other studies, it is not controlled here. concept from physical to psychological father McLanahan and Sandefeur hold that potential absence, it becomes even more difficult to confounding variables should be controlled only define and measure reliably. when they represent “selection” factors for Even if these difficulties could be set aside, father absence (i.e., factors helping explain why the results of existing research on father absence father absence occurs, but which cannot be do not unequivocally establish the detrimental “caused” by father absence, like race and low effects often claimed. The context in which maternal education). They argue that conditions father absence occurs can be critically impor- potentially caused by father absence, such as tant. There is evidence, for example, that the low income, should not be controlled; doing so outcomes associated with father absence in the would underestimate the extent to which father children of adult single mothers often are absence actually leads to negative child out- markedly more positive than those occurring for comes. Given the difficulties in creating policies children of teen single mothers, who tend to to provide adequate incomes to single-parent have less human capital (Edelman, 1986). The mothers, their argument has some pragmatic potential problems of father absence in the con- merit—and McLanahan and Sandefeur’s focus text of teen parenthood are, nonetheless, inap- clearly is on the social policy implications of propriately generalized to father absence in all father absence, not on evaluating the essentialist circumstances. Other scholars have noted that argument that fathers have a unique positive the consequences of father absence depend on effect on child development. However, the whether social supports are present or absent essentialist position implies that father absence (Wilson, 1989). should have negative consequences even when In addition, father absence typically co-occurs the lower family income associated with it is with, and its effects are thus confounded by, other taken into account. The supporting evidence for circumstances such as teen parenthood, divorce, this claim is weak. and in particular low income. Simply comparing father-absent and father-present groups can thus Fathering in two-parent families. Other rele- be misleading. An analogy is that university- vant research concerns the effects on children affiliated teaching hospitals have markedly resulting from variation in fathers’ character- higher rates of cesarean sections than community istics and behavior in families with fathers hospitals, but when risk factors (e.g., poor health) present. Considerable research in the 1950s and are controlled for, university hospitals’ rate of 1960s examined how paternal characteristics C-sections is no higher. In many studies, similarly, such as “sex typing” (the degree to which controlling for family income and other factors fathers have “masculine” personality character- markedly reduces the apparent negative corre- istics, for example, ambitious, dominant, self- lates of father absence. Blankenhorn (1995), reliant), warmth, and control were related to Horn (1995), and Popenoe (1996) make their children’s gender identity, school achievement, case entirely with simple comparisons between and psychological adjustment. The influence of father-present and -absent groups, without con- fathers’ sex typing was of particular interest trolling for or acknowledging the potential because fathers were thought to be crucial in 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 254

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promoting the development of children’s, and between involvement and child outcomes to be especially sons’, gender identities (J. H. Pleck, convincing, the two variables should be assessed 1981). These studies generally find that a by different observers, rather than relying on father’s masculinity is much less important than fathers’ reports of both. In relationships between his warmth and closeness with his child. In children and nonresident fathers as well, fathers’ addition, the same characteristics in mothers are feelings of closeness to their child and authori- associated with positive outcomes in children. tative parenting (defined as the combination of Thus, although this research finds that positive clear discipline, monitoring, and emotional development is correlated with father behaviors, support), but not simply amount of contact, are it does not suggest that development is associ- positively related to children’s grades and nega- ated with behaviors in fathers that are unique to tively associated with children’s externalizing male parents (Lamb, 1987). and internalizing symptoms (Amato & Gilbreth, More recent research focuses on the conse- 1999). Other recent research suggests positive quences for children of fathers’ degree of contact effects associated with fathers’ breadwinning with their children, more broadly termed (Amato, 1998). These effects, however, are mod- “involvement” by Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, and est in magnitude. Levine (1985, 1987; J. H. Pleck, Lamb, & Levine, The essentialist argument holds that fathers’ 1985). Involvement is defined as “the amount positive effects on children are independent of of time spent in activities involving the child” mothers’, which this research supports. (Lamb et al., 1985, p. 884) and includes three However, the essentialist argument also requires components: (a) engagement with the child (in the that fathers’ effects be gendered, specifically form of caretaking, or play or leisure), (b) acces- male effects. The finding that the dimensions of sibility to the child, and (c) responsibility for the paternal and maternal behavior that influence care of the child, as distinct from the performance children positively are the same seems inconsis- of care. Although Palkovitz (1997) has criticized tent with this premise (Lamb, 1986; Amato & Lamb et al. for assuming that father involvement Rivera, 1999). The comparison between must have positive effects on children, Lamb et al. children raised in mother-father families and explicitly argued that involvement might have those growing up with two lesbian parents pro- positive effects on children only in specific con- vides another kind of evidence. This research texts; for example, both mother and father want provides little indication that those children the father to be involved. whose two parents include a male are better off More recent work on the consequences of in terms of psychological or social adjustment paternal involvement has shifted focus from than those whose two parents are both females. simply the amount of involvement, implicitly In fact, Stacey and Biblarz (2001) argue that “content-free,” to the nature and quality of the researchers have defensively downplayed the involvement. In most research that finds a rela- evidence in these studies that the children of les- tionship between involvement and positive child bian parents are better off. As we show later, outcomes, the involvement measures actually some research suggests that compared with emphasize positive forms of interaction such heterosexual fathers, gay fathers are more likely as shared activities and helping children learn. to be nurturing and less likely to be traditional in Consequently, J. H. Pleck (1997) concluded that their parental style. the concept of father involvement should be Most contemporary developmental researchers replaced by the concept of positive father are skeptical of the idea that fathering (or any involvement, as defined from the child’s other single factor) is “essential,” in the literal perspective. Amato and Rivera’s (1999; see sense, to human development, as assessed by also Marsiglio et al., 2000) documentation of outcomes such as school performance and good good childhood outcomes linked to positive social relationships. Their view is that develop- paternal involvement illustrates two additional ment is impaired by “cumulative” risk, not by any methodological improvements. Because paternal one risk factor. A good illustration is Sameroff, and maternal involvement may correlate, mater- Seifer, Barocas, Zax, and Greenspan’s (1987) nal involvement needs to be controlled for when study of the association between risk factors testing relationships between father involvement such as low birth weight, poverty, having a single and child outcomes. In addition, for associations parent, poor schools, and the like, and adolescent 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 255

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IQ. Rather than focusing on specific factors, the affording children and men their best option for researchers simply tabulated the total number of experiencing positive outcomes. Snarey (1993, risk factors each individual experienced. Little p. 98) suggests that fathers are more likely to difference was found in average IQ among express their capacity for “establishing, guiding, children who experienced only one or two of or caring for the next generation” in the these risk factors, compared with those who had community at large, separate from their own none. For each additional risk factor beyond children. Men’s transition to parenting and two, however, average IQ was 7 to 12 points active involvement with their children can help lower. The general principle here is that the many men develop more nurturing personality impact of any one factor, positive or negative, traits (Hawkins & Belsky, 1989). Finally, depends on the other factors present. This prin- although some studies show that positive ciple makes it more understandable why paternal involvement can lead men to experience research generally finds that positive father conflict, stress, and a lower self-esteem (espe- involvement has only modest beneficial effects cially with sons), these patterns do not appear and that measures of father absence have only to affect men’s satisfaction with fathering limited negative statistical effects. (J. H. Pleck, 1997). Unfortunately, answers to these questions based on solid research are more difficult to come by than some persons either anticipate or are willing to admit. MARRIAGE AND OTHER One of the most widely discussed and politi- RELATIONSHIP CONTEXTS FOR FATHERING cized issues within the U.S. context involves nonresident fathers’ financial and interpersonal When considering the essentialist view on commitments to their children (Griswold, 1993; fathering, the question of whether hetero- see also Seltzer, 1998). Feminists, members of sexual marriage is the “best” context for fathers fathers’ rights groups, persons who espouse tra- to rear children typically is asked in terms of ditional family ideologies, and others have children’s well-being (see Amato & Gilbreth, weighed in on child support and visitation 1999, Marsiglio et al., 2000, and Stacey & issues. Because the vast majority of nonresident Biblarz, 2001, for relevant reviews). Recent parents are fathers, much of the debate about research has begun to explore whether biologi- nonresident parents’ responsibilities and rights cal (particularly married, coresidential) fathers has evolved around the issues of gender equity interact with and contribute to their children within a male-dominated economic system. differently from men who act as father figures Many believe that nonresident fathers in large in other types of contexts (Anderson, Kaplan, & numbers have reneged on their paternal bread- Lancaster, 1999; Buchanan, Maccoby, & winning responsibilities. Other scholars, though, Dornbusch, 1996; Hofferth & Anderson, 2003) have struggled to refocus and sharpen the debate and whether there are differences in how step- while raising public awareness about what they fathers and nonresident fathers affect their perceive to be a pervasive and distorted stereo- children (White & Gilbreth, 2001). Although typical image of “deadbeat dads” (Braver & this research tends to support the assumption O’Connell, 1998; Braver et al., 1993; Nielsen, that children fare better on average when they 1999; Parke & Brott, 1999). These commenta- live with a mother and biological, resident tors are quick to stress mothers’ gatekeeping father, stepfathers (including cohabiting fathers roles; they suggest that many nonresident in some cases) also can make meaningful con- fathers are pushed away and often kept away tributions to children’s well-being. from being involved with their children while A related question, one more central to our being pressured to fulfill a detached bread- review, is whether men reap positive benefits by winner role. being fathers (Nock, 1998) or by increasing Another controversial issue involves their involvement with their children (Lamb, assertions about nonbiological fathers’ treat- Pleck, & Levine, 1986), especially in a marital ment of their partners’ children. It has become context. Numerous commentators have argued commonplace to assert that “stepfathers” that marriage and having children helps to civilize and boyfriends are more likely to abuse the and/or give meaning to men’s lives, thereby children of their romantic partners physically 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 256

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and sexually than are the children’s biological slight decline when men have four or more fathers (Blankenhorn, 1995; Booth, Carver, & children. An alternative reading of these data Granger, 2000; Daly & Wilson, 1998). Some go suggests that the changes are so slight as to be so far as to say that “stepfathers are far more negligible, and they are open to other interpreta- likely than [biological] fathers to do so [sexually tions. For example, the small increase in income molest children]” (Blankenhorn, 1995, p. 40). probably is more than offset by the additional Although it appears that a majority of studies expenses associated with having children. Fur- find that stepchildren are at greater risk of abuse thermore, his analyses ignore the complex and (Giles-Sims, 1997), various researchers have alternative expressions of masculinity that have challenged the validity of these claims (Malkin & existed in U.S. culture in recent decades and have Lamb, 1994; Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996; see influenced growing numbers of men’s and also Silverstein & Auerbach, 1999). The scien- others’ perceptions of manhood and success tific jury is still out as to whether stepfathers’ (Ehrenreich, 1983). hypothesized lower incentive to invest in their nonbiological children, according to an evolu- Fatherhood and Gender Inequality tionary perspective, explains any of the possible differences between biological and nonbiologi- The critical analysis of gender views families cal fathers’ abuse patterns in a societal context as an important locus in which gender inequality where men’s involvement with children generis created and maintained (Fox & Murry, 2000; ally is not valued. This is one area where less Thompson & Walker, 1995). When fatherhood rhetoric and more careful analysis and sober is viewed through the lens of gender, the most discussion clearly are needed. Exuberant ideo- important question about it is “How is father- logical support of heterosexual marriage is hood linked to gender inequality?” We consider misleading when based on muddled findings this question in two contexts: within marriage regarding nonbiological fathers’ mistreatment of and cohabitation, and outside co-resident rela- children. At the very least, such an argument tionships where strong romantic commitments overlooks the reality that domestic violence and are less likely (divorce, unmarried parenthood). sexual abuse would be higher if women and their children were encouraged to stay in “bad” Marriage and Cohabiting Relationships or abusive marriages. Turning to outcomes for men, Nock (1998) Feminist analyses of families identify men’s recently analyzed U.S. national survey data to limited performance of domestic family respon- examine the relationship between different sibilities relative to women’s as a manifesta- features of a prevailing normative conception tion of broader gender inequality (Coltrane, of marriage and men’s public achievements. 1996; Ferree, 1990; McMahon, 1999; Osmond & Consistent with Gilmore’s (1990) cross-cultural Thorne, 1993). The extent to which married anthropological work on the culture of manhood, men do less in the family has been documented Nock suggested that adult men are expected to in “time diary” and other time-use studies achieve their masculinity by being fathers to their beginning in the 1960s (J. H. Pleck, 1985). wives’ children, providers for their families, and In addition to showing that married men per- protectors of their wives and children. According form substantially less housework and child to Nock, his analyses support Gilmore’s thesis care than married women, they demonstrated because they show that married men fare better that married men also did no more of these than their nonmarried counterparts when assessed family tasks if their wives were employed than on the basis of what he calls three traditional if their wives were not employed. In addition, in definitions of adult male achievement (income, two-earner families, wives’ time in these family weeks worked, and occupational prestige). He activities and paid work combined was consid- found that becoming a father in a marital context erably greater than their husbands’, a phenomenon was associated with a slight increase in men’s sometimes called employed wives’ “second income levels with no additional changes due to shift” (Hochschild, 1989). subsequent children, an increase of 2 additional Focusing more specifically on gender inequal- weeks of work (only for the first child), and a ity and fathering (implicitly in the context of small increase in occupational prestige, with a two-parent families), Polatnick (1973-1974) 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 257

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argued that because women are the rearers of of their accessibility, both lower than the 44% children, they are powerless vis-à-vis men, and and 66% noted above for the mid-1980s to the because women are powerless, they are rearers late 1990s (J. H. Pleck, 1997). Fathers’ time with of children. As a result of men doing so little in children also has increased in absolute terms the family, some wives do not take paid employ- (J. H. Pleck, 1997). Yeung et al. (2001) hold that ment, and those who are employed tend to because other factors besides gender influence give their family responsibilities higher prior- paternal involvement, “a simple gender inequality. This contributes to the barriers preventing ity theory is not sufficient in explaining the women from advancing occupationally and from dynamics of household division of labor in getting the benefits potentially accruing from today’s American families” (p. 136). employment in terms of economic independence, Other scholars contest these interpretations. pension rights, social valuation, and self-worth. Hochschild’s (1989, p. 4) report that time diary In addition, because fathers encourage mascu- research showed that the average U.S. father line behaviors in sons and feminine behaviors spent only 12 minutes per day with his children in daughters more than do mothers (Crouter, received great play in the mass media (e.g., McHale, & Bartko, 1993; Lytton & Romney, Skow, 1989), although this figure actually con- 1991), the way that fathers socialize their cerned fathers’ time only on weekdays and was children may reproduce gender inequality. derived from 1965 data (J. H. Pleck, 1997). Thus, fatherhood is a key element in the “gender LaRossa (1988) evaluated the evidence for politics of family time” (Daly, 1996). fathers’ increased involvement as unconvincing, Recent work relevant to fatherhood and as did McMahon (1999), who went further to gender inequality in two-parent families makes argue that this claim is complicit in maintaining evident several developments. Lamb et al.’s (1985) male privilege. construct of paternal involvement has become a Yet other scholars have assessed the construct dominant concept used in describing what of paternal involvement to be limited because, fathers do compared to mothers. Scholars have they argue, it is rooted in feminist-derived gen- contested the level of fathers’ involvement and der equity assumptions (Hawkins, Christiansen, the extent to which it is changing in married- Sargent, & Hill, 1993). These critics hold that parent families. Some researchers find that involvement is defined implicitly as the way fathers’ time spent with their children is not triv- that mothers are involved with children, imply- ial and is greater than often thought. Averaging ing a “deficit perspective” for fathers (Palkovitz, across 13 national or smaller-scale studies 1997; see J. H. Pleck & Stueve, 2001, for a res- between the mid-1980s and the late 1990s, and ponse). Taking a cross-cultural perspective, expressing fathers’ time as a proportion of others observe that viewing fathers’ involvement mothers’ time, married U.S. fathers averaged as a critical social indicator of gender equality 44% of mothers’ engagement time and 66% of is highly subject to cultural context, in effect mothers’ accessibility time (J. H. Pleck, 1997). assuming a Western/industrialized perspec- In children’s time diaries in a 1997 national tive (Hewlett, 1991). Clearly, father involve- study, fathers were engaged with their 3- to ment in relation to gender inequality is subject 5-year-old children an average of 79 minutes to multiple interpretations. per day on weekdays and 215 minutes on week- Finally, research relevant to fathering and end days; fathers were accessible an additional gender inequality has expanded its focus beyond 68 minutes per weekday and 184 minutes per married biological fathers to include both step- weekend day. Corresponding averages for fathers and cohabiting biological fathers. Data younger children were higher, and for older on whether stepfathers are less involved than children only slightly lower (Yeung, Sandberg, biological married fathers are at present some- Davis-Kean, & Hofferth, 2001). what inconsistent (Cooksey & Fondell, 1996; Some evidence also suggests that married Hofferth, Pleck, Stueve, Bianchi, & Sayer, U.S. fathers’ engagement and accessibility have 2002; Marsiglio, 1991). As part of the growing increased in recent decades. For example, in 11 recognition of “families formed outside of mar- time-use studies conducted between the mid- riage” (Seltzer, 2000; Smock, 2000), cohabiting 1960s and the mid-1980s, fathers averaged fathers (i.e., unmarried biological fathers resid- about one third of mothers’ engagement and half ing with child and mother) are also beginning to 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 258

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receive attention. In the limited data available, week or more (Furstenberg & Cherlin, 1991). cohabiting U.S. fathers show lower average More recent data, from the 1992-1994 National levels of engagement with their children than Survey of Families and Households, based on do married biological fathers, but cohabiting nonresident fathers’ reports and not controlling fathers are similarly accessible (Hofferth et al., for whether the father had been married to the 2002). If these findings are replicated, they raise child’s mother, revealed that 24% had been with the possibility that cohabitation accentuates their child only once or not at all in the last year, parental gender inequity, consistent with other and 23% saw the child at least weekly (Manning feminist concerns about cohabitation. & Smock, 1999). There is vehement debate about the extent to which these low average rates Fathering Outside of contact result from mothers’ “gatekeeping” Co-Resident Relationships versus fathers’ own loss of interest (Braver & O’Connell, 1998; Braver et al., 1993; Doherty, Divorced fathers. Divorce and its aftermath Kouneski, & Erickson, 1998; Ihinger-Tallman, represent an important arena in which fathers’ Pasley, & Buehler, 1993; Walker & McGraw, behavior potentially both reflects and contributes 2000). One factor is fathers’ formal visitation to gender inequality, one explored in numerous rights. According to a 1996 federal survey of a qualitative and other studies (e.g., Arendell, national sample of custodial mothers (including 1992, 1995; Braver & O’Connell, 1998; Braver, never-married as well as divorced mothers), one Wolchik, et al., 1993; Catlett & McKenry, in press; in four fathers had no legal right to see their Emery, 1999; Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992; children (joint legal or physical custody, or visi- see Griswold, 1993, pp. 260-265 for a historical tation privileges). Among those with joint cus- perspective). In the last two decades, joint legal tody, 85% saw their children in the last year, and custody has become the statistical norm. In among those with visitation rights, 75% did 9,500 divorce settlements in Wisconsin, it rose (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1999). In addition, from 18% in 1980 to 81% in 1992, with about about one third of nonresident fathers have half the latter being 50/50 splits and the remain- children in new families. der ranging from 30/70 to 49/51. However, joint Fathers’ payment or nonpayment of child physical custody increased over this period from support has profound implications for gender 2% to only 14%. Divorced fathers’ rate of sole equality. Unfortunately, data on child support legal and physical custody has remained stable compliance often are summarized without at about 10% (Melli, Brown, & Cancian, 1997). distinguishing between divorced fathers and Some researchers, noting that when custody is nonmarried fathers. Detailed tabulations from contested, it is resolved in favor of the father the 1996 federal survey indicate that among between one third and one half of the time, have divorced fathers subject to support awards, 73% concluded that fathers have a gender-based paid some child support in that year (Graham & advantage in getting custody (Polikoff, 1983). Beller, 2002; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1999), However, these statistics pertain to the small and this percentage has risen slowly but steadily. subset of divorces in which custody is contested, However, only 68% of divorced fathers were which overrepresents situations where the father required to pay support. Taking this into account, has a good “case.” As court-mandated mediation 48% of all divorced mothers received any child has become increasingly common in divorce, support. Among divorced mothers receiving debate also has arisen about the extent to which any support, the average amount received was it might privilege fathers (Okin, 1989). At the relatively low, $4,046. Some assume that if all same time, mediation is associated with greater fathers paid the full child support they are father contact as long as 9 years postdivorce ordered by the court to pay, the proportion of (Dillon & Emery, 1996). single-parent female-headed families living in The majority of U.S. divorced fathers have poverty would be reduced dramatically; how- relatively little contact with their children. Data ever, this may not be the case. As Krause (1989) from the 1981 National Survey of Children put it, “while very impressive progress in child showed that half of all children from divorced support collection from absent parents has been families had not seen their father in the past year, made, the very progress seems to have led us to and only one child in six saw their father once a overestimate, and consequently overemphasize, 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 259

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the financial support that can be obtained from inability to live up to being a family breadwinner, absent parents” (p. 398). a crucial component for most models of adult masculinity (Marsiglio & Cohan, 1997). Those Unmarried, nonresident fathers. In the United with limited education and work experience often States over the last two decades, there has been struggle with feeling disconnected from their heightened concern about the rising numbers of father identities and children because of their unmarried mothers. Although an increasing per- poor economic prospects for the foreseeable centage of these mothers are adults, social con- future (Achatz & MacAllum, 1994; Kiselica, cern focuses predominantly on teenage mothers 1995). This pattern is exacerbated for African raising children on their own (Luker, 1996). The American and Hispanic young males, whose edu- fathers of the children of teenage mothers have cational credentials and employment opportuni- less contact with their children and pay less ties tend to be less promising than those for child support than other nonresident fathers whites in the U.S. context. Males tend to feel (Graham & Beller, 2002). These patterns may more inadequate when their children’s mothers contribute to higher levels of gender inequality and maternal grandparents voice their dissatis- in these situations. faction with their meager financial child support Lerman and Ooms (1993) and others use (Furstenberg, 1995). Adolescents who become the term “young unwed fathers” rather than young fathers also quickly discover that their cur- “teen fathers” to describe the procreating part- rent masculinity assets (e.g., physical appearance ners of teenage mothers because in a high pro- and prowess) are of little use as they make the portion of cases, these men are 20 years of age transition to the adultlike status associated with or older. From a critical gender perspective, this being a father. finding raises an important question: When the In addition, as young men they are unlikely father is older than the teenage mother, how to possess many of the parental and inter- often is sexual coercion involved? Although the personal skills, such as “emotional literacy,” that answer to that question is unclear, the data do would enable them to confront successfully reveal that the average age difference is small the challenges of caring for their children and and only a small proportion of these relation- managing their relationships with their part- ships involve persons who are more than 2 years ners (Brody, 1985; Goodey, 1997). Although apart in age (Darroch, Landry, & Oslak, 1999; the culture of boyhood for the most part does Lindberg, Sonenstein, Ku, & Martinez, 1997). not encourage males to develop parental skills and effective interaction styles for their romantic relationships, some boys and young men are GENDERED FATHERING CONTEXTS still able to develop these skills and incorporate them into how they treat their children and part- When men conceptualize fatherhood, become ners. Several small-scale studies have shown fathers, and act as fathers, they do so within that some young fathers are clearly committed larger social and cultural contexts, many of to being involved with their children in positive which intersect with systems of gender rela- ways (Allen & Doherty, 1996; Christmon, 1990; tions. These specific settings are influenced by Rivara, Sweeney, & Henderson, 1986). men’s human capital and personal characteris- Although some research finds that a small per- tics as well as others’ interpretations of them. In centage of young men see paternity as an emblem this section, we briefly review how fathering of masculinity (Sonenstein, Stewart, Lindberg, experiences are connected to factors such as Pernas, & Williams, 1997), many young men age, race/ethnicity, economic standing, and sex- apparently recognize that being a “man” involves ual orientation. These factors can affect men’s more than siring a child. For example, one quali- opportunities to achieve particular masculine tative study reported that young men who were ideals associated with fathering. 16 to 30 years of age were often quick to assert that any man can make a baby, but males who Being “Too” Young really want to demonstrate their manhood do so by assuming financial responsibilities for their Many males who become fathers as teenagers children and are involved in their everyday lives or young adult men come face to face with their (Marsiglio & Hutchinson, 2002). 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 260

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MEN OF COLOR they can achieve an adult masculine status (Majors & Billson, 1992). Circumstances associated with race and ethni- Available research does not allow us to say city in the United States may affect how men definitively whether men of color interact with view fatherhood and are involved with their their children in unique ways that are truly inde- children, although rigorous research in this area pendent of their socioeconomic status and family is rather limited and the confounding of socio- structure circumstances. It does seem apparent, economic status and race/ethnic variables is a though, that men of color have unique opportu- common shortcoming within this research area nities to mentor their children into a social word (Mirandé, 1991). Cochran (1997) suggests that tainted with prejudice, a world, for example, “fatherhood for African American men cannot where being young, African American, and male be separated from their shared culture and is often associated with negative stereotypes and sociohistorical background, institutional racism, suspicion. Thus, men’s paternal role as teacher and the marginal status of African American of race/ethnic relations may be especially salient males” (p. 343). Meanwhile, during the past to fathers’ interactions with their sons. Educating several decades the stereotypical image of sons on what it means to be a black or Latino machismo has been advanced and challenged man in a white society where hegemonic forms as an important factor affecting Latino men’s of masculinity reign is an experience that speaks involvement in family life (Carroll, 1980; to how fathers’ experiences can be affected Mirandé, 1991; Zambrana, 1995). Research directly by their race/ethnic identity. Unfortu- exploring the possible connections between nately, this question has not received systematic, other race/ethnic categories and fathering within scholarly attention. the United States is sparse. Viewed through a gender lens, perhaps the Social Class most significant contextual issue for understanding African American men’s approach to Most research on fathering that addresses fatherhood is that black men, on average, repre- some aspect of social class deals with men who sent a relatively disadvantaged subpopulation. are financially disadvantaged, although several Proportionately speaking, they are more likely studies have attempted to show how other facets to be unemployed, be imprisoned, have poor of social class may be related to men’s lives access to health care and a shorter life expec- as fathers (Erickson & Gecas, 1991). As we’ve tancy, be victims of fatal crimes, and have less alluded to above, when men are unemployed or education than their white and Latino coun- underemployed, they often find it difficult to feel terparts (Majors & Gordon, 1994). Because good about themselves as fathers because the African American men are disproportionately provider role continues to be an important feature disadvantaged, with fewer opportunities to of hegemonic images of masculinity and men’s achieve and display their manhood using main- fathering experience (Bowman & Sanders, 1998; stream strategies, they are more likely than their Christiansen & Palkovitz, 2000). Although poverty white counterparts to rely on risk-taking behav- issues disproportionately influence men of color iors and the “cool pose” (Majors & Billson, and are therefore intertwined with subcultural 1992) to express their male identities. The diffi- issues, numerous white fathers also deal with culties they encounter in fulfilling the family feelings of inadequacy as breadwinners. provider role are related in complex ways to Having money is important not only for those assuming full-time parenting roles (Hamer & fathers who are living with their children; men’s Marchioro, 2002) and psychosocial functioning socioeconomic standing also can influence how problems (Bowman & Sanders, 1998). The fathers negotiate and manage their fathering strategies they adopt to confront their role strain experience during those times when they live may shift across the life course. Though less apart from their children. Money begets power, pronounced, relatively similar patterns and and those men fortunate enough to have ade- dynamics may be a part of Latino men’s lives quate incomes are better positioned to orches- (Mirandé, 1997). Not surprisingly, some men of trate their paternal identities, fathering activities, color who feel marginalized within society see and family arrangements so they can display creating children as one of the few legal ways their masculinity vis-à-vis their contributions to 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 261

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family life. For example, in their qualitative well. A fundamental challenge to this mainstream study of divorced fathers, Catlett and McKenry conception of masculinity is instigated by biolog- (in press) found that those men with the highest ical fathers who self-identify as gay. Similarly, incomes were best equipped to achieve the often anecdotal evidence of how gay step- and adoptive conflicting outcomes of being an adequate fathers are viewed by the general public suggests provider and a nurturing caregiver. Maintaining that these men are performing roles inconsistent these dual roles was essentially impossible for with mainstream notions that masculinity can be the poorest fathers and quite difficult for the achieved through fatherhood. middle-income fathers as well. Middle-income The largest category of gay fathers includes fathers may actually experience more tension men who have had children within marriages postdivorce than low-income fathers because but are now divorced (Green & Bozett, 1991). the former experience a steeper decline in their However, a growing percentage of gay men ability to perform the provider role postdivorce. appear to be pursuing parenthood after they have Along a somewhat different line, Cooper already established their gay identities (Patterson, (2000) provided an intriguing qualitative analysis 2000). This latter trend implies that as the social of what she termed a “nerd masculinity” that has stigma associated with same-gender partnerships recently emerged in connection to the work styles continues to lessen, future cohorts of gay men found within the Silicon Valley economy. To may be less inclined to pursue the marital achieve this new type of gendered subjectivity, emblem of masculinity, and some will still want to experience fatherhood. Given the financial men must be technically brilliant and devoted to costs and practical hurdles that unmarried gay work. They must be tough guys who get the job men will encounter in trying to achieve bio- done no matter what. Fathers so identify with logical fatherhood, the overall proportion of these qualities that their desire to work all the time gay biological fathers may actually decline is experienced by them as emanating from their over time (Stacey & Biblarz, 2001). own personality traits rather than from co-worker Patterson and Chan’s (1997) recent review of or management expectations. (p. 403) the gay fatherhood literature shows that research in this area is rather sparse and largely based Her analysis shows that this new masculinity on highly restricted samples of white, well- operates as a “key mechanism of control in high- educated, affluent men living in large cities. tech workplaces that rely on identity-based Interpreting these studies’ findings must occur in forms of control and that the enactment of this full view of the complex reality that “sexual new masculinity impacts the way fathers think desires, acts, meanings, and identities are not about, experience, and manage their work and expressed in fixed or predictable packages” family lives” (p. 379). In practical terms, fathers (Stacey & Biblarz, 2001, p. 165). Unfortunately, who embrace this nerd masculinity adopt work- little of this research focuses directly on mas- family practices in which they do not talk about culinity themes. The research that does have work-family conflicts in order to give the implications for gender research tends to con- impression—not always the reality—that work sider whether gay fathers treat their children is their top priority. Fathers also allow their differently than either heterosexual fathers or worker mentality as a “go-to guy” to influence lesbians, and whether children’s attitudes and the way they think about and experience their behaviors related to gender are affected. One lives at home. This can be seen in “their use of underlying question guiding this research is this: market language to make sense of their personal To what extent and in what ways does gender relationships as well as their desire to fit family and sexual orientation affect how gay men needs within a capitalist paradigm” (p. 403). parent? Although the limited research has not found drastic differences in the ways heterosexual BEING GAY fathers and gay fathers “do fathering,” some research suggests that gay fathers may be more Given the centrality of heterosexuality to hege- nurturing and less traditional in their parenting monic masculinity, public perceptions of father- in general (Bigner & Jacobsen, 1989, 1992; hood typically emphasize a heterosexual bias as Scallen, 1982, cited in Flaks, 1994). In light of 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 262

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these tentative findings, Patterson and Chan studies, “new theoretical models conceptualize (1997) speculated that gay fathers may have families as systems affected by, and effecting parenting styles that are more consistent with change in, reciprocal influences among social, authoritative parenting. In one study comparing behavioral, and biological processes” (Booth gay and lesbian parents, gay fathers were more et al., 2000, p. 1018). Recent technological likely to encourage their children to play with advances allow researchers to examine in more sex-typed toys (Harris & Turner, 1985/1986). rigorous ways these complex processes, includ- Although most research focuses on biological ing fathers’ potentially unique ways of interact- gay fathers, Crosbie-Burnett & Helmbrecht ing with children. Many social constructionists (1993) studied 48 gay stepfamilies that included and feminists are content to emphasize cultural the father, his male lover or partner, and at least forces inside and outside the home, downplaying one child who cohabited or visited the house- possible biologically based differences in men’s hold. These researchers found that whereas 96% and women’s behaviors and information proof gay fathers indicated that they were open cessing. Some fear that paradigms emphasizing about their sexual orientation with heterosexual either behavioral endocrinology, behavior genet- friends, only 46% of their adolescent children ics, or evolutionary psychology will be used to reported that their heterosexual friends knew justify a deterministic or “essentialist” model of about their father’s sexual orientation. Some parenting and gender relations. They assume that children have shown concern that they will be such a model would provide the groundwork for perceived to be homosexual if others know about a conservative political philosophy toward gen- their fathers’ sexual identities (Bozett, 1980, der inequities. In our view, studying social and 1987). The limited research from small-scale cultural forces will provide deeper and broader studies attempting to show whether living in gay insights about men’s complex experiences as fathers’ households influences children’s sexual fathers; however, researchers would be remiss to orientation does not suggest any clear-cut pattern discourage explorations of the “possible” bioso- (Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, & Mikach, 1995). cial dimensions of fathering (parenting). Recent heated debates about whether fathers provide unique or essential contributions to their AVENUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH children’s development focus on possible parenting differences between men and women. These Other publications (see the citations in the open- debates also draw attention to comparisons ing paragraph) outline extensive agendas for between men within and outside the United future fatherhood research. Thus, we comment States. Research on U.S. fathers shows that they here on issues directly involving a gendered tend to play differently with their children than approach to fathering, while accentuating mothers; however, we do not yet understand fathers’ diverse circumstances. We stress the precisely why this happens. We do know that need to examine if and how fathers uniquely culture plays a major role in shaping parenting influence their children, how fathering affects styles that vary by gender. For example, com- gender equity inside and outside families, and pared with fathers in the United States, fathers how men’s fathering is influenced by contextual in some countries are discouraged from playing factors. Future research, informed by theoretical with their children or do so in ways in which they discussions in the fields of “men and masculin- are less aggressive and encourage less risking ities” and “fatherhood,” needs to explore more (Hewlett, 1992). fully the complex ways that gender intersects One important research issue is identifying with age, race, class, and sexual orientation to why some males are more likely than others to form the social landscape upon which fathers move beyond traditional forms of gender social- navigate. In several places, we have highlighted ization and become involved with their children how processes associated with the production of and partners in ways that embrace the “nurturant” knowledge have influenced research on father- father model. Likewise, additional research is ing; similar concerns are vital to keep in mind needed to better understand how changing struc- when proposing new research. tural, cultural, social, and psychological factors Scholars interested in understanding fathers influence how men and women negotiate their should realize that within the field of family contributions to parenting and domestic labor as 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 263

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well as their “agreements” about child custody, men take advantage of them (J. H. Pleck, 1993; support, and visitation. These negotiations have Wisensale, 2001). implications for gender equity within the diverse Future research targeting fathers from a romantic relationships, families, and household gender perspective should be enhanced as the arrangements relevant to children’s well-being. amount, type, and quality of survey data con- Given the controversial nature of these value- tinues to improve (Day & Lamb, 2004; Federal laden issues, interested parties must be vigilant Interagency Forum and Child and Family Statis- in monitoring how knowledge in these areas is tics, 1998) and scholars advance their knowledge produced, disseminated, and interpreted. about how to conduct qualitative research Drawing on a sociological perspective, one with men as men (Schwalbe & Wolkomir, 2002) fruitful area of inquiry could focus on how and with men as fathers (Marsiglio, 2004a; fathers’ interactions with their children are Marsiglio & Cohan, 2000). Collecting data that shaped by their involvement in different gen- can inform a critical gender analysis of fathering dered organizational and social contexts. A will require researchers to sharpen their under- number of these settings have been and will con- standing of how men’s potential interests in tinue to be affected by the debates and activities presenting a “masculine self” can influence the of the Fatherhood Responsibility Movement research process. Researchers need to explore (Gavanas, 2002). Prime sites for such research ways of collecting more accurate and richer data include several social movements including about paternity, nonresident fathering, child sup- Promise Keepers (Silverstein, Auerbach, Grieco, port, stepfathering, child abuse, breadwinning, & Dunkel, 1999) and fathers’ rights groups and other issues that challenge male research (Bertoia & Drakich, 1993) in which gendered participants to confront their vulnerabilities. For ideologies of family life are featured promi- example, survey researchers should conduct nently. Another intriguing site includes group methodological experiments on how men respond counseling sessions for violent men (Fox, to using CASI (computer-assisted survey inter- Sayers, & Bruce, 2001). Research on other set- view) technology. Does its use alter fathers’ will- tings flavored by a distinctive masculine culture ingness to report more accurately their attitudes, (e.g., the military, law enforcement, prison) could feelings, and behaviors related to fathering? provide valuable insights. We need to learn more Qualitative researchers who interview (or about how fathers, as men, manage their impres- observe) fathers and men who are thinking about sions to others inside various organizational and having children can also advance their respective social settings that transcend the typical methods for studying these populations by sharing family/household setting (Marsiglio & Cohan, their self-critiques of their research process 2000). Viewed in this light, father involvement (Marsiglio, 2004b; Marsiglio & Hutchinson, 2002). can be examined as a socially constructed per- Researchers must also address the complex formance that implicates how the gender order realities of contemporary men’s lives. These real- both supports and discourages fathers’ involve- ities include the diverse and dynamic ways men ment with their children. move in and out of both relationships and house- Paternity leave policies (and parental leave holds involving children; how gendered social policies more generally) are an important aspect structures (e.g., work, prison) and processes (e.g., of the gender order that should generate policy- negotiating child care or visitation) within and oriented research in various industrialized coun- outside a family context influence how men are tries (Haas & Hwang, 1995; Hobson, 2002). involved with their children; and how fathers’ Policymakers in the various European countries, resources, perceptions, and ways of interacting the United States, and elsewhere have shown with their children may change over the duration some interest in recent years in providing of fathers’ and children’s shared life course. options for both mothers and fathers to leave These realities call for researchers to develop their jobs temporarily to care for their newborn meaningful ways of capturing men’s presence or sick children. Researchers should be con- and involvement in children’s lives that ensure cerned with what people think about these confidence that research findings have not been policies as they relate to fathers, what factors tainted by ideological or political motives. influence fathers’ use, and the consequences Ultimately, if gender scholars collectively for men’s, women’s and children’s lives when wish to study men’s lives as fathers in a 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 264

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comprehensive fashion, they should expand Belsky, J. (1993). Promoting father involvement—An their vision of fatherhood. Men need to be stud- analysis and critique: Comment on Silverstein. ied not just as fathers of minor children but also Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 287-292. as gendered beings capable of imagining and Bertoia, C., & Drakich, J. (1993). The fathers’ rights creating human life. Similarly, men interact movement: Contradictions in rhetoric and practice. Journal of Family Issues, 14, 592-615. with, care for, and are provided care by their Bigner, J. J., & Jacobsen, R. B. (1989). Parenting adult children. Thus, focusing on how gender behaviors of homosexual and heterosexual affects the evolution of men’s lives as persons fathers. In F. W. Bozett (Ed.), Homosexuality capable of procreation and fathering places and the family (pp. 173-186). New York: fathers’ lives squarely within developmental and Harrington Park. life-course perspectives. Those who use these Bigner, J. J., & Jacobsen, R. B. (1992). Adult perspectives need to be sensitive to the ways responses to child behavior and attitudes toward that context matters. Of course, the immediacy fathering: Gay and nongay fathers. Journal of of certain social policy concerns about child Homosexuality, 23, 99-112. outcomes, as well as the selective availability of Blankenhorn, D. (1995). Fatherless America: funding, will inspire most researchers to study Confronting our most urgent social problem. New York: Basic Books. the types of issues that have been examined Booth, A., Carver, K., & Granger, D. A. (2000). most frequently. Family and gender scholars Biosocial perspectives on the family. Journal of should be encouraged, though, to expand their Marriage and the Family, 62, 1018-1034. vision of fatherhood and venture beyond these Bowman, P. J., & Sanders, R. (1998). Unmarried traditional agendas. African American fathers: A comparative life span analysis. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 29, 39-56. Bozett, F. W. (1980). Gay fathers: How and why they REFERENCES disclose their homosexuality to their children. Family Relations, 29, 173-179. Achatz, M., & MacAllum, C. A. (1994). The young Bozett, F. W. (1987). Children of gay fathers. In unwed fathers demonstration project: A status F. W. Bozett (Ed.), Gay and lesbian parents report. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures. (pp. 39-57). New York: Praeger. Allen, W. D., & Doherty, W. J. (1996). The responsi- Brandth, B., & Kvande, E. (1998). Masculinity and bilities of fatherhood as perceived by African child care: The reconstruction of fathering. The American teenage fathers. Families in Society: Sociological Review, 46, 293-313. The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, Braver, S. L., & O’Connell, D. (1998). Divorced 77, 142-155. dads: Shattering the myths. New York: Tarcher/ Amato, P. (1998). More than money? Men’s contribu- Putnam. tion to their children’s lives. In A. Booth & Braver, S. L., Wolchik, S. A., Sandler, I. N., A. C. Crouter (Eds.), Men in families: When do Sheets, V., Fogas, B., & Bay, R. C. (1993). A they get involved? What differences does it make? longitudinal study of noncustodial parents: (pp. 242-278). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Parents without children. Journal of Family Amato, P., & Gilbreth, J. G. (1999). Nonresident fathers Psychology, 7, 9-23. and children’s well-being: A meta-analysis. Brickner, B. W. (1999). The Promise Keepers: Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 557-573. Politics and promises. Lanham, MD: Lexington Amato, P., & Rivera, F. (1999). Paternal involvement Books. and children’s problem behaviors. Journal of Brody, L. R. (1985). Gender differences in emotional Marriage and the Family, 61, 375-384. development: A review of theories and research. Anderson, K. G., Kaplan, H., & Lancaster, J. (1999). Journal of Personality, 53, 102-149. Paternal care by genetic fathers and stepfathers Buchanan, C. M., Maccoby, E. E., & I: Reports from Albuquerque men. Evolution Dornbusch, S. M. (1996). Adolescents after and Human Behavior, 20, 405-431. divorce. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Arendell, T. (1992). Father absence: Investigations Press. into divorce. Gender & Society, 6, 562-586. Carroll, J. C. (1980). A cultural consistency theory of Arendell, T. (1995). Fathers and divorce. Thousand family violence in Mexican-American and Oak, CA: Sage. Jewish-ethnic groups. In M. A. Strauss & Bailey, J. M., Bobrow, D., Wolfe, M., & Mikach, S. G. T. Hotaling (Eds.), The social causes of (1995). Sexual orientation of adult sons of gay husband-wife violence (pp. 68-81). Minneapolis: fathers. Developmental Psychology, 31, 124-129. University of Minnesota Press. 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 265

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Marsiglio, W., & Cohan, M. (2000). Contextualizing child development (3rd ed., pp. 245-260). father involvement and paternal influence: New York: Wiley. Sociological and qualitative themes. Marriage & Pfiefer, S. K., & Sussman, M. B. (Eds.). (1991). Family Review, 29, 75-95. Families: Intergenerational and generational Marsiglio, W., & Hutchinson, S. (2002). Sex, connections. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. men, and babies: Stories of awareness and Pillemer, K., & McCartney, K. (1991). Parent-child responsibility. New York: New York University relations throughout life. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Press. Pleck, E. H., & Pleck, J. H. (1997). Fatherhood ideals McLanahan, S., & Sandefeur, G. (1994). Growing up in the United States: Historical dimensions. In with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. development (pp. 33-48). New York: Wiley. McMahon, A. (1999). Taking care of men: Sexual Pleck, J. H. (1981). The myth of masculinity. politics in the public mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Cambridge University Press. Pleck, J. H. (1985). Working wives/working Melli, M. S., Brown, P. R., & Cancian, M. (1997). husbands. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Child custody in a changing world: A study Pleck, J. H. (1993). Are “family-supportive” employer of postdivorce arrangements in Wisconsin. policies relevant to men? In J. C. Hood (Ed.), University of Illinois Law Review, 49, 773-800. Men, work, and family (pp. 217-237). Newbury Mirandé, A. (1991). Ethnicity and fatherhood. In Park, CA: Sage. F. W. Bozett & S. M. H. Hanson (Eds.), Pleck, J. H. (1997). Paternal involvement: Levels, Fatherhood and families in cultural context sources, and consequences. In M. E. Lamb (pp. 53-82). New York: Springer. (Ed.), The role of the father in child development Mirandé, A. (1997). Hombres y machos: Masculinity (3rd ed., pp. 66-103, 325-332). New York: and Latino culture. Boulder, CO: Westview. Wiley. Nielsen, L. (1999). Demeaning, demoralizing, and Pleck, J. H., Lamb, M. E., & Levine, J. A. (1985). disenfranchising divorced dads: A review of the Epilog: Facilitating future change in men’s literature. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 31, family roles. Marriage and Family Review, 9, 139-177. 11-16. Nock, S. L. (1998). Marriage in men’s lives. Pleck, J. H., & Stueve, J. L. (2001). Time and pater- New York: Oxford University Press. nal involvement. In K. Daly (Ed.), Minding the Okin, S. M. (1989). Justice, gender, and the family. time in family experience: Emerging perspectives New York: Basic Books. and issues (pp. 205-226). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Osmond, M. W., & Thorne, B. (1993). Feminist Science. theories: The social construction of gender Polatnick, M. (1973-1974). Why men don’t rear in families and society. In P. G. Boss, children: A power analysis. Berkeley Journal of W. H. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W. R. Schumm, & Sociology, 18, 45-86. S. K. Steinmetz (Eds.). Sourcebook of family Polikoff, N. (1983). Gender and child-custody deter- theories and methods: A contextual approach minations: Exploding the myths. In I. Diamond (pp. 591-625). New York: Plenum. (Ed.), Families, politics, and public policy: A Palkovitz, R. (1997). Reconstructing “involvement”: feminist dialogue on women and the state Expanding conceptualizations of men’s caring (pp. 183-202). New York: Longman. in contemporary families. In A. J. Hawkins & Popenoe, D. (1996). Life without father. New York: D. C. Dollahite (Eds.), Generative fathering: Free Press. Beyond deficit perspectives (pp. 200-216). Rivara, F., Sweeney, P., & Henderson, B. (1986). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Black teenage fathers: What happens when the Parke, R. D. (2002). Fathers and families. In child is born? Pediatrics, 78, 151-158. M. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting Sameroff, A., Seifer, R., Barocas, R., Zax, M., & (2nd ed., pp. 27-73). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Greenspan, S. (1987). Intelligence quotient Erlbaum. scores of 4-year-old children: Social-environ- Parke, R. D., & Brott, A. (1999). Throwaway dads: mental risk factors. Pediatrics, 79, 343-350. The myths and barriers that keep men from Schwalbe, M. L., & Wolkomir, M. (2002). being the fathers they want to be. Boston: Interviewing men. In J. F. Gubrium & J. A. Houghton Mifflin. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview Patterson, C. J. (2000). Family relationships of les- research: Context & method (pp. 203-219). bian and gay men. Journal of Marriage and the Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Family, 62, 1052-1069. Sedlak, A. J., & Broadhurst, D. D. (1996). Third Patterson, C. J., & Chan, R. W. (1997). Gay fathers. national incidence study of child abuse and In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in neglect. Washington, DC: National Center on 15-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:26 PM Page 269

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“GENTLEMEN, THE LUNCHBOX HAS LANDED”

Representations of Masculinities and Men’s Bodies in the Popular Media

JIM MCKAY

JANINE MIKOSZA

BRETT HUTCHINS

Muscles are the sign of masculinity. —Glassner (1988, p. 168)

n an article titled “Invisible Masculinity,” part because they can afford the luxury of ignoring Kimmel (1993) made the seemingly contra- the centrality of gender....Invisibility reproduces I dictory comment that men had no history. inequality. And the invisibility of gender to those Kimmel was referring to the paradoxical situa- privileged by it reproduces the inequalities that are tion whereby (hegemonic) men have been con- circumscribed by gender. (p. 30) spicuous as athletes, politicians, scientists, and soldiers but largely indiscernible as men. As Men’s concealed and privileged status is Kimmel (1993) noted, this veiled status is one particularly evident with respect to research of the principal ingredients of men’s power and on representations of men’s bodies in the media. privilege: For instance, Witz (2000, p. 11) maintains that in sociological research, men’s bodies have The very processes that confer privilege to one inhabited an “ambiguous” and “liminal space,” group and not to another are often invisible to those [a] “borderland between female corporeality and upon whom that privilege is conferred... men male sociality that, for a fleeting conceptual have come to think of themselves as genderless, in moment, male bodies appear, only to disappear

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immediately.” Witz argues that sociologists have taken the title of this chapter. Early in the constructed men as inherently social and women narrative, Guy, who is auditioning for a part as essentially corporeal/natural, thus granting in a male striptease ensemble, is chosen after men the status of what Shilling (1993) terms the dropping his trousers and revealing his large “absent-presence.” However, sociologists are not penis to the selection panel. However, we never the only scholars who have been implicated in actually see Guy’s penis; we are privy only to dissembling research on men’s bodies. Until the astonished reactions of the judges, followed fairly recently, intellectuals in the humanities and by their leader Gaz’s pronouncement, “Gentle- social sciences in general have been reluctant to men, the lunchbox has landed.” engage with such an apparently biological phe- These factors have meant that research on nomenon as men’s bodies. Representations of representations of men’s bodies has received men’s bodies have also received little attention significantly less attention from scholars than from some intellectuals because of their disdain topics such as sexuality, violence, work, family for popular cultural forms, such as magazines, life, education, and health. For example, it is film, TV, and sport. A related version of this “opi- rare for material on either men’s bodies or men ate of the masses” thesis is the belief by some and the mass media to appear in some of the scholars that studying discursive phenomena widely used academic texts on men and mas- deflects our attention away from the material culinities (see Table 16.1) or the two leading inequalities of gender relations. men’s studies journals (see Table 16.2). In addition to being marginalized by aca- Moreover, most analyses in these forums have demics, hegemonic men’s bodies have either approached the media atheoretically or been positioned by the discourse of “compul- simplistically via topics such as role models sory heterosexuality” that governs the media. or the effects of consuming the mass media Whereas the passive, seminude, and naked on violent behavior; in the same way, most bodies of heterosexual women have been treatments of men’s bodies have been perfunc- constructed as objects for the pleasurable gaze tory. The specialist journal Body & Society has of heterosexual male viewers, there has been published very few articles on either men’s a strong taboo against portraying men’s bodies bodies or men and the media (see Table 16.3), in similar ways, as this would pose a threat and just one article on men’s bodies and two on to the visual power of heterosexual men. This masculinities have been published in recent dichotomy is evident in a scene from the popu- volumes of the prestigious Media, Culture & lar film The Full Monty, from which we have Society (see Table 16.4).

Table 16.1 Coverage of Men’s Bodies and the Mass Media in Some Widely Used Academic Texts on Masculinity and Men’s Studies

Entry for Separate Chapter Entry for Mass Separate Chapter on Text Bodies in Index? on Men’s Bodies? Media in Index? the Mass Media?

Kilmartin (2000) No No Yes No Clatterbaugh (1997) No No Yes No Hearn (1992) Yes No Yes No Seidler (1991) Yes No Yes No Hearn and Yes No No No Morgan (1990) Doyle (1995) No No Yes No Connell (1983) Yes Yes No No Kimmel and No index Yes No index Yes Messner (1995) 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 272

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Table 16.2 Number of Articles in Journal of Men’s Studies and Men and Masculinities With Media-Relateda and Body-Relatedb Terms in the Title, Abstract, or Key Words

Both Body- and Body-Related Media-Related Media-Related Journal Total Articles Term Term Terms

Men and 57 5 9 1 Masculinities (1998–2001) Journal of Men’s 94 4 12 0 Studies (1997–2001) a. Includes film, magazine, and Internet. b. Includes body, bodies, embodiment, and physical.

Table 16.3 Number of Articles Published in Body & Society That Included Media-Related and Masculinity-Related Terms as Key Words or in the Title

Total Number of Articles Number of Articles That Number of Articles That Number of Articles That Published in Body & Included a Media- Included a Masculinity- Included Both Body- and Society (1997–2001) Related Term Related Term Media-Related Terms

94 9 3 0

Table 16.4 Number of Articles Recently Published in Media, Culture & Society That Included Body- Related and Masculinity-Related Terms as Key Words or in the Title

Total Number of Articles Number of Articles That Number of Articles That Number of Articles That Published in Media, Culture Included a Body- Included a Masculinity- Included Both Body- and & Society (1997-2001) Related Term Related Term Media-Related Terms

141 1 2 0

A SELECTIVE OVERVIEW research. Likewise, although some seminal pieces OF RECENT RESEARCH ON THE on men’s bodies appeared in the 1980s and early 1990s (Connell, 1983, 1991; Fiske, 1987; MASS MEDIA AND MEN’S BODIES Messner, 1990; Neale, 1983; Theweleit, 1987), Goldstein’s (1994) book was the first extensive Although a few items on men and the mass media compilation of research on this topic. were published in the 1980s (Dyer, 1982, Despite this traditional lack of scholarly 1986; Fiske, 1987; Neale, 1983), the first sub- enthusiasm for analyzing relationships between stantial collection of research did not appear until men’s bodies and the mass media, a sizable Craig’s volume in 1992. Craig’s social construc- amount of research has started to appear in tionist framework posed a challenge to the psy- recent years. In reviewing this research, we chologically reductionist, static, and sometimes need to issue the usual caveat that we had to be apolitical aspects of research on men that had selective in our analysis. In sketching a general resulted from a miscellany of functionalist overview of this literature, we focused on the sociology, psychoanalysis, sex-role socialization substantive topics that have been studied and theory, content analysis, and “media effects” the theoretical and methodological perspectives 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 273

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Table 16.5 Number of Articles Retrieved From a Search of Sociological Abstracts and Humanities Index Abstract of Journal Articles, 1999-2001, Containing Terms Relevant to the Media and Men’s Bodies

Search Terms (Boolean) Results

(men or male or masculine or masculinity or masculinities) and (body or bodies or 19 corporeal) and media (men or male or masculine or masculinity or masculinities) and media 145 (men or male or masculine or masculinity or masculinities) and 190 (body or bodies or corporeal)

that have been employed. In order to keep our of hybridity, bricolage, intertextuality, liminality, synopsis manageable, we concentrated on arti- postcolonialism, and postmodernism. Despite cles that were published in major academic the diverse and fragmented nature of the journals over the past 3 years. Our rationale research, we were able to discern some dominant is that these outlets serve as the most up-to- features. For example, there was a distinct date forum for research. By using a combi- theoretical divide between psychoanalysts and nation of terms that included variations on social constructionists, and textual analysis was the descriptors “men,” “male,” “masculinity,” the most widely used method. The topics ranged “masculinities,” “body,” “bodies,” “corporeal,” through alcohol, commodification, health, men’s and “media,” we conducted searches of two movements, the “new man,” pornography, rural- major databases in the humanities and social ity, sport, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, sciences: Sociological Abstracts (which covers violence, and myriad forms of electronic and approximately 2,500 journals) and Humanities print media. Because an exhaustive overview of Index (which includes 345 journals). We are the articles is impossible, we will now provide aware that these databases do not exhaust the a brief and selective account of some of the literature and also contain a strong Eurocentric more easily categorized ones. For analytical bias. However, they have the advantage of sen- purposes, we have divided our analysis accord- sitizing us to some general trends in the most ing to whether an article was predominantly recent publications. either on the media or men’s bodies, even The results of these searches appear in though it was not always easy to make this Table 16.5. However, the figures are inflated, distinction. because a search under a term like “body” occasionally yielded irrelevant “hits” such as “body of literature” or “organizational body.” Our searches yielded a kaleidoscope of disciplines, MEN AND THE MASS MEDIA theories, and methods across a variety of (mainly Western) national contexts: psychoanalysis, Researchers who have studied men and the textual analysis, semiotics, surveys, interviews, mass media have used a variety of method- discourse analysis, content analysis, queer ological and theoretical frameworks to explore theory, Foucauldian analysis, genealogy, history, masculinity in TV, advertising, magazines, communication studies, men’s studies, women’s comics, and film. One of the foremost per- studies, gender studies, cultural studies, post- spectives is social constructionism, in which structuralism, postcolonialism, and postmod- popular texts and images are seen to be closely ernism. Indeed, simply categorizing the articles connected with wider relations of domination into topics, disciplines, and methods presented and subordination both among men and us with the difficult task of multidirectional and between men and women. We now turn to a occasionally arbitrary cross-referencing. Perhaps selective overview of two of the substantive this complex scenario is to be expected in an era topics that typify this social constructionist that is frequently understood through the lenses approach: sexuality and race. 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 274

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Sexuality on screen, they reported that these instances generated strongly positive feelings about them- Dworkin and Wachs (1998) analyzed how selves. McKee concluded that TV programming American newspapers covered the disclosures can be important in overcoming gay men’s by multiple-Olympic champion diver Greg sense of isolation and promoting their self- Louganis (an out gay man), professional esteem, thereby contributing to a decrease in the basketball superstar Magic Johnson, and pro- disproportionately high rates of suicide and fessional boxer Tommy Morrison (the latter attempted suicide among young gay men. both self-avowed straight men) that they were Brickell (2000) analyzed electronic and print HIV-positive. Using a combination of Foucault’s media coverage of gay and lesbian pride parades model of the confessional and a sin-and- and reported that a “discursive inversion” con- redemption narrative framework, they reported structed gays and lesbians as invaders of that the three athletes were constructed in unmarked, heterosexual public space. markedly differently ways. Johnson was hailed for his sporting achievements, cast sympatheti- cally for allegedly being infected by one of the Race legion of sexually predatory women whom he had unselfishly “accommodated,” and lionized Coltrane and Messineo (2000) conducted a for accepting his HIV-positive status so gra- content analysis of nearly 1,700 commercials ciously and raising public awareness about on American TV during 1992-1994. They found AIDS, especially among African American that despite commonsense notions that market men. Thus, Johnson was redeemed as an “unde- segmentation and narrowcasting have made TV serving victim” of HIV/AIDS and seldom criti- more inclusive, racist and sexist stereotypes cized for his sexually “promiscuous” behavior. persisted: Whites were shown more frequently Morrison also was depicted as a tragic victim of than African Americans, Asians, and Latino/as; sexually voracious women. Louganis, by con- whites were shown more frequently than people trast, received little recognition for his athletic of color in authoritative occupations; women accomplishments and was positioned as an were much more likely than men to be depicted irresponsible “carrier” who posed a risk to het- as sex objects; African American men tended erosexuals. Dworkin and Wachs also illustrated to be depicted as aggressive and menacing; and how the three men were positioned by their Latinos were virtually nonexistent. Coltrane ethnic, racial, and social class backgrounds. and Messineo argued that rather than portraying King (2000) analyzed media coverage of the diversity of American society, the “fantasy” Canadian male figure skaters who died of of TV advertising served to essentialize gender AIDS-related illnesses, in the context of health and racial differences. policy in Canada. King maintained that although Brown (1999) outlined how racist discourses compassion and tolerance toward the skaters that construct Africans as having bodies but not was evident, this response also reinscribed com- minds have had specific consequences for monsense ideas about “at-risk” populations by African American men who have been consti- enabling the public to identify with the skaters’ tuted as physical and sexual threats, despite families rather than the athletes themselves. being denied access to patriarchal power under According to King, the media’s reaction could slavery and also locked out of the white power be read as an attempt to construct Canada as a structure. This paradoxical status of being emas- more compassionate and tolerant nation than the culated but also feared, while living in cultures United States. King also argued that the media that value them primarily for their physical coverage exonerated the Canadian govern- prowess, has resulted in African American men ment’s abysmal response to people living with being channeled into the sport and entertain- HIV/AIDS. ment industries. Brown noted that as a response McKee (2000) conducted semistructured to this racist regime, African American men interviews with a small group of gay Australian have often adopted hypermasculine practices men in order to investigate their memories of that unintentionally reinforce the very racist TV representations. Although most of the inter- stereotypes that oppress them. Brown used viewees recalled seeing only a few gay men semiotic analysis and opportunistic interviews 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 275

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with fans to investigate how masculinity was critical, even though it tends to ignore the represented in comic books that feature African important feminist work on posthuman bodies American male superheroes. This is an inter- and cyborgs (Hables Gray, Figueroa-Sarriera, esting question, given that “superhero comics Mentor, & Haraway, 1996; Haraway, 1997; are one of our culture’s clearest illustrations Kirkup, Janes, & Woodward, 1999; Willis, of hypermasculinity and male duality premised 1997). We now examine two of the topics in this on the fear of the unmasculine” (Brown, 1999, area: body image and technology. p. 31). Brown disagrees with the common criticism that the comics simply articulate a “chocolate-dip Superman.” Although Brown Body Image recognized that any superhero comic book will contain elements of hegemonic masculinity, he Using a combination of Barthes’s concept of also argued that the narratives constituted an myth and postmodern feminism, Pinfold (2000) alternative to African American hypermas- argued that both the gay and feminist movements culinity, in that they “put the mind back in the have destabilized the traditional function of facial body” (Brown, 1999, p. 35) by depicting African hair as a signifier of masculinity. Wienke (1998) American male heroes as valuing intelligence. discussed the centrality of muscularity in defin- Adams (1999) examined the white “soft” ing hegemonic masculinity in American popular masculine body in the American film Copland culture. Wienke used a narrative interpretation by locating the white male body in a nexus of and conducted in-depth interviews with 20 young race, politics, and masculinity. Adams also American men in order to investigate how they explored aspects of spatial and racial segrega- viewed their bodies in relation to this muscular tion in the film: the black city versus the white ideal. Wienke reported that almost all of his suburbs, with the borders of the white suburbs participants desired a mesomorphic body type. (and thus the white male body) always being Within this overall context, the men had orga- open to infiltration. She argued that the politics nized their bodily practices in three main ways: of former U.S. president Bill Clinton (friendly, reliance, reformulation, and rejection. The major- diplomatic, and thus a shift from the “hard ity of the respondents had adopted a strategy of body” and brute force of the Reagan era) were reliance, meaning that they identified with and reflected in the soft white body of the film’s attempted to attain the active, muscular, and pow- male star, Sylvester Stallone. Although the film erful bodies associated with hegemonic mas- did not explicitly valorize the male body, Adams culinity. The reformulators also identified with noted that we still see a white man whose the hegemonic male body but realized they could masculinity is restored through the search for not achieve it, so developed alternative practices justice. She concluded that “new” forms of mas- that enabled them to embody authority, strength, culinity (as typified by Clinton) are not neces- and self-control. Some men had rejected the mus- sarily progressive, as they do not automatically cular ideal of masculinity, seeing it as driven by entail institutional shifts. Thus, Adams argued unrealistic or outdated expectations. that masculinity is pliable and changes in ways Leit, Pope, and Gray (2001) analyzed depic- Playgirl that reinforce the status quo. tions of male models’ bodies in magazine between 1973 and 1997. Using height and weight information in the magazines, the authors found that norms of the ideal male body had MEN’S BODIES placed increasing emphasis on muscularity. Milkin, Wornian, and Chrisler (1999) examined The bulk of the research on men’s bodies, the covers of 21 women’s and men’s magazines especially the body image literature, tends to and reported that the former focused on improv- be theoretically unsophisticated, uncritical, and ing physical appearance, whereas the latter empha- essentialist, using frameworks such as sex role sized entertainment, expanding knowledge, and “theory” and role models or explaining the hobbies. Demarest and Allen (2000) surveyed effects of the media on men’s attitudes and 120 male and female college students in order to behavior in crude ways. The literature on bodies ascertain which types of bodies were perceived and technology is more sophisticated and to be the most attractive. Men and women 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 276

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misjudged which shapes the opposite sex rated McCormack (1999) applied a blend of as most attractive. African American women had cultural geography, Foucault’s concept of the most accurate perceptions of what men found governmentality, and the insights of post- to be attractive, whereas Caucasian women had modern feminists to analyze the repre- particularly distorted views. Men also predicted sentational politics of fitness associated with that women would prefer bulkier shapes than NordicTrack, an American-manufactured home they actually did. The authors argued that these fitness machine that is targeted at the affluent findings had implications for the lower incidence segment of the market. McCormack showed of eating disorders among African American that among a welter of discourses—biomedical, women compared with their Caucasian counter- scientific, and engineering expertise; con- parts. Strong, Singh, and Randall (2000) sur- sumerism; sexual difference; occupational flex- veyed an ethnically diverse group of homosexual ibilization; self-discipline; and individuation— and heterosexual men and reported that gay the NordicTrack aesthetic constructed a cyborg males had a lower level of satisfaction with their that was located within a “white, masculinist bodies. They suggested that gay men’s childhood myth of the Nordic superman.” Like Poggi, socialization practices contributed to dissatisfac- McCormack alluded to the Nietzschean themes tions with their bodies in adulthood. Oberg and that pervaded the NordicTrack text. A useful Tornstam (1999) surveyed more than 2,000 aspect of McCormack’s conclusion is that the Swedes aged 15 to 95 years about body image “geography of fitness” connected with and found that some assumptions about aging NordicTrack both destabilizes and rescripts and bodies that pervade consumer culture were conventional dualisms such as male/female, not matched by people’s individual experiences nature/culture, and human/nonhuman. of their own bodies.

Technology UNDERSTUDIED AND NEGLECTED TOPICS Clarsen (2000) analyzed relationships among gender, bodies, and technology in early-20th- We noticed that many topics had been under- century popular narratives of automobiles in studied or neglected. Again, we have only enough Australia and the United States. She argued space to single out a few topics for special that although some narratives certainly could be attention. read as articulating sexual difference, for example, by using images of Samson and Tarzan Cyberbodies in Cyberspace delivering technological benefits to incompetent women drivers, they also contained elements The exponential spread of new global com- of (middle-class) female technical competence. munication technologies, with features such Clarsen also demonstrated how relations among as “bodyless selves” and “cybersex” (Stratton, gender, bodies, and technology intersected with 1997, pp. 30-32), has been the focus of some divisions of race and social class. fascinating studies of bodies and the media. Poggi (1997) analyzed representations of Kibby and Costello (1999) found that hetero- men’s and women’s bodies in the sculptures, sexual adult video conferencing partially desta- paintings, novels and poems of early-20th- bilized conventional discourses of sexual century, male Italian futurists. Poggi argued display and voyeurism by allowing women to that the aesthetics of this avant-garde group watch erotic images of men engaging in sexual displayed a “system of oppositions and sub- exhibitionism. Nevertheless, some dominant stitutions,” with men’s bodies envisioned in codes still prevailed: Men generally were Nietzschean-like ways—as omnipotent, passion- depicted in active roles, rarely showed their less, militaristic cyborgs that conquer nature— faces and genitals concurrently, and used nick- and women’s bodies positioned by maternal, names that conveyed archetypal phallic size and misogynistic, and erotic motifs. Poggi also drew power. Similar themes emerged in Slater’s some parallels with Theweleit’s (1987) classic (1999) ethnography of how “sexpics” were work on the psychological and corporeal bound- traded on heterosexual Internet Relay Chat aries of Fascist German soldiers. (IRC). Despite appearing to be transgressive and 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 277

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libertarian, exchanges on the sites followed professionally proficient “organizational” or traditional heterosexual and homophobic “management man.” They noted that despite scripts. Despite the disembodied context of IRC, this change, conventional signifiers of “real” real bodies still needed to be authenticated by masculinity, such as physical competence, people who used the sites for various purposes: strength, and toughness, remained: “the most respected men seemed to be the ones who can [The IRC] world looks post-war rather than post- display masculinities at both the forestry and human, with constant talk of fidelity and cheating, managerial sites, men for whom both the power- true love, and American high school romance saw and the time manager are important sym- language of dating and going steady. . . . One bols” (Brandt & Haugen, 2000, p. 352). Liepins suspects that the IRC sexpics scene is a strange (2000) used Foucauldian insights to study rural halfway house, a place where anything is possible but little is realized because, although the masculinities in Australia and New Zealand. malleability of the body allows any identity to be Like Brandt and Haugen, Liepins found that the performed, no identity can be taken seriously, “organizational man” had emerged in recent trusted or even properly inhabited without the years. The media produced by farming organi- ethical weight—persistence in time over time and zations in these two countries valorized ele- location in space—that dependable bodies are ments of strength and struggle against both believed to provide. (Slater, 1999, p.116) nature and the organizational and political hierarchies that regulated rural industries: the Further research like this is required because rugged and active man with muscles and testos- both academic and popular claims about the terone who could “carry the fight” to make a alleged revolutionary effects of new communi- “better deal for farmers” represented the “true” cation technologies usually neglect how they are farmer. Contributions like these are important usually embedded in established gender tropes. on two counts: First, they challenge the implicit naturalization of urbanized masculinities as the Subordinated and norm; second, they provide useful examples of Marginalized Masculinities the importance of spatial and cultural contexts in understanding gender relations. More Some scholars have conducted insightful research like this is needed in order to under- research by analyzing interactions among hege- stand constructions of rural and urban masculin- monic, subordinated, marginalized, and com- ities, particularly in nations with rich frontier plicit masculinities in several contexts. Turning mythologies like Australia, Canada, New first to studies of rural masculinities, Bell Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. (2000) argued that films such as Deliverance Regarding masculinities in urban contexts, and Pulp Fiction construct a binary divide both Farrell (2003) and Pearce (2000) argued between fashionable “metrosexuality” and that The Full Monty begins by embodying unsophisticated rural homosexuality. Homo- the gendered economy of deindustrializing sexual acts by the protagonists in these films societies, with the marginal working-class men fetishize the “rustic sodomite,” presenting rural unable to cope with unemployment and disen- men as sexually driven and socially primitive. franchisement and the women responding in a Rural men—“hard hitting, hard riding ranch- resilient manner. However, they also claimed men, cattle men, prospectors, lumbermen”— that the film ends by reasserting the status quo: have been represented as being interested in sex “Masculinity has been shored up once more, to without affection or affectation, with such dis- the exclusion of the women, who have been plays associated with “sissy” urban gay men returned to their proper place....Men are once (Bell, 2000, p. 551). In this context, sex between more the powerful sex, their bodies once more men has been represented as a senseless and the (albeit unlikely) instruments of this power” perfunctory act. (Pearce, 2000, p. 235). Farrell (2003) and Brandt and Haugen (2000) tracked changes Goddard (2000) maintained that the alleged in the representation of masculinities in the “reversal” in the film actually reinforces Norwegian forestry press over a 20-year period hegemonic gender relations, and Farrell also and observed a shift away from the traditional showed how issues of social class were omitted “macho man” toward the technically and from the script. These investigations show 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 278

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how even subordinated and marginalized numerous micro levels, Connell (2000, pp. 8-9, masculinities can reinforce hegemonic repre- 39) has noted that it is vital to connect local cir- sentations of gender and conceal exploitative cumstances with global processes. The media class relations among men. are fertile sites for studying local/global links At the other end of the social class spectrum, because their images and texts circulate within Kendall (1999) drew on Connell’s concepts of the global “traffic” of cultural commodities. hegemonic, subordinated, marginalized, and However, except for sex tourism (Altman, 2001; complicit masculinities to analyze representa- Clift & Carter, 2000; Kempadoo, 1999; Ryan & tions of “nerds” in American films, magazines, Hall, 2001), most of the literature we examined and newspapers, and on the Internet. She found showed little sensitivity to articulations between that depictions of this once “liminal masculine local and global situations. Consequently, insuf- identity” had been partially incorporated into ficient attention has been paid to the important hegemonic masculinity and also served to per- issue of global ownership and control of the petuate racial stereotypes. A valuable aspect of media, at a time when some of the biggest finan- Kendall’s investigation was that she located her cial transactions in history have occurred via texts in the economic processes by which global corporate mergers among multinational media capitalism has reconstituted the cultural and conglomerates. Virtually all the moguls who economic capital associated with information have signed these deals and consequently exert technology work. Chan (2000) also employed enormous power over the global media indus- the concepts of hegemonic, complicit, subordi- tries are privileged, able-bodied, and white nated, and marginalized masculinities to explore middle-aged men. At the level of production, we Chinese American masculinity in Bruce Lee suggest that researchers should be interrogating films. Chan argued that Asian American men the interests of this narrow group of men who generally are excluded, stereotyped, and desex- own and control the global media industries. It ualized in the media. is imperative to emphasize that this is not simply an “economic” question. As du Gay (1997, p. 4) argued, “The economic . . . too is thor- Non-Western Contexts oughly saturated with culture...[and]... Chan’s work reminds us that most of the ‘Economic’ practices and processes...depend research on the media and men’s bodies on meaning for their effects and particular ‘con- relates to advanced capitalist societies. A notable ditions of existence.’” So rather than seeing exception is Derne’s (1999) examination of Hindi “economic processes and practices as ‘things in films and their audiences via a combination of themselves,’” we should be analyzing the “‘cul- content analysis, participant observation, and tural’ dimensions of economic activities—the interviews. Derne argued that the eroticization meanings and values these activities hold for of violence against women by male heroes in people” (du Gay, 1997, p. 3). We will revisit the films facilitated both the creation of these links between cultural and economic unfriendly social spaces for women—the cinema processes later in our analysis of magazines. halls—and a broader culture of harassment and violence. Although Derne expressed reservations about a cause-and-effect relationship between WHERE TO FROM HERE? the films and wider patterns of violence, the extreme popularity of the films is compelling Our selective overview shows that research (some unmarried men attend the cinema 20-30 across a range of disciplines and topics is a times a month). Further studies of this type are strong point of research on both the media needed in other non-Western contexts in order and men’s bodies. It also is clear that research to shed light on the relationships among gender, has been fragmented and that there has been the media, and bodies. little cross-fertilization among scholars working in different paradigms. Thus, analyses of the Local/Global Articulations specific articulations among masculinities, media, and men’s bodies are extremely rare. Although the above studies have provided On the few occasions that dialogues do occur, valuable insights about men and masculinities at they either tend to be confined to the theoretical 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 279

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level or rely on a restricted theoretical and/or researchers who have analyzed men and the methodological perspective. An example of the media. For instance, we found only six journal former is Hanke’s (1998) excellent overview of articles that used audiences in their research some of the major developments in research on design (Derne, 1999; Harrison & Cantor, 1997; the relationships among bodies, masculinity, Hetsroni, 2000; May, 1999; Rutherdale, 1999). and the mass media. An illustration of the latter Jackson, Stevenson, and Brooks’s (2001) use is the research on film and TV that has ana- of focus groups with men who read men’s lyzed many important topics but has done magazines is a welcome step in this direction; so mainly through the perspective of psy- their industry-text-audience nexus is also a choanalytic theory and the method of textual useful template, although they did not focus analysis (Bell, 2000; MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, specifically on bodies. 1999; McEachern, 1999; Reiser, 2001; Thomas, 1999). It worth noting that we found only three articles that either mentioned both the mass Theory media and men’s bodies in the title, abstract, Male bodies are there if we look for them. or key words and/or included them in the research design (Adams, 1999; Grindstaff & —Witz (2000, p. 19) McCaughey, 1998; Krenske & McKay, 2000). We now suggest a framework that we believe At an abstract level, we propose that might help scholars to study representations research on representations of men’s bodies of men’s bodies in a more nuanced way. could be analyzed much more productively through the cultural studies model proposed by du Gay and his colleagues (du Gay, 1997; du Methods Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, & Negus, 1997; Hall, As noted, most studies of men and the mass 1997). Du Gay et al. (1997) view culture as a media have relied heavily on content analysis circuit of meaning-making that “does not end or semiotics. Although these techniques will at a pre-ordained place” (p. 185). According continue to be indispensable for research in the to du Gay, the key recursive and interrelated area, they fail to account for how audiences social practices through which meanings are decode discourses about masculinity. Since constructed are publication of the highly influential work of Hall (1980) on encoding-decoding practices and • Production: how cultural objects are “encoded” Morley (1980) on audience receptions, it has from both technical and cultural viewpoints been axiomatic in the field of media studies that • Representation: the signs and symbols that although messages are always relatively “fixed,” selectively construct commonsense meanings about cultural objects consumers can interpret them in ways that were • Identification: the emotional investments that unintended during the encoding process. Hence, consumers have in cultural artifacts there has been a plethora of intriguing studies • Consumption: the diverse ways in which showing how audiences “read” messages dif- people actually use cultural objects ferently on the basis of gender, race, and social • Regulation: the cultural, economic, and social class (Ruddock, 2001). Thus, Ang (1996, technologies that determine how cultural p. 110), one of the most influential exponents of objects are both created and transformed audience ethnographies, has correctly called for research that writes men, and especially gender Although these elements can be separated as a relational phenomenon, back into studies into discrete entities for analytical purposes, “in of the mass media. Pertinent to our interest is the real world they continually overlap and the research that has demonstrated how women intertwine in complex and contingent ways” (du readers of women’s magazines and romance Gay et al., 1997, p. 4). So, even though it is novels use these texts in a multiplicity of often useful to isolate a single component, the ways that were unintended by the authors others all inform one another—often in contra- and editors (Hermes, 1995; McCracken, 1993; dictory ways. We will return to this abstract Radway, 1984; Sheridan, 1995). This “ethno- framework with a concrete example of “men’s graphic turn,” however, seems to have bypassed magazines” below. 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 280

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In approaching bodies through this model, and contradictory ways in which the media both we need to “look” for male bodies—to make stabilize and disrupt representations of men’s them visible. Therefore, studies of men’s bodies bodies. The five elements of the “circuit of cul- have much to learn from the “corporeal turn” in ture” come into play here as we touch upon the women’s studies. The task here, as Witz (2000) interrelated vectors of production, consumption, noted, is to write men in without writing women regulation, representation, and identity. out. Drawing on the work of Shilling (1993), Witz suggested that by asking “Whose body?,” researchers can focus on how men’s and MEN’S BODIES IN POSTMODERN CULTURE women’s bodies are differently stigmatized, celebrated, and ignored. We suggest that Fiske’s Traditionally, the imperative of “compulsory (1987) idea of inscription/exscription and heterosexuality” has compelled media person- Barthes’s (1973) concept of exnomination are nel to differentiate men from women by show- particularly useful in this regard, at least at the ing the former with bodies that are authoritative textual level of analysis. Both of these terms and powerful in the public sphere, and portray- refer to how the power of hegemonic groups ing the latter with bodies that denote nurturance, is mythologized and naturalized, on one hand, domesticity, passivity, narcissism, and sexual and the wants and needs of subaltern groups pleasure for male onlookers. Any hint that this are marginalized and pathologized, on the other. binary code has been breached still invokes For example, in a case study of Australian homophobic or misogynist moral panics in sport, McKay and Middlemiss (1995) used a the media (Miller, McKay, & Martin, 1999). relational perspective to show how a constella- However, in postmodern contexts human bodies tion of media metaphors, metonyms, and images have become an increasingly visible locus of simultaneously exnominated and valorized the highly personal needs and desires that men’s bodies according to scripts associated have accompanied the institutionalization of with hegemonic masculinity, while inscribing consumer capitalism. For instance, Featherstone women’s bodies in terms of the passive, sup- (1982, p. 27) posited that traditionally ascribed portive, and sexually objectified tropes of body characteristics have become more mal- emphasized femininity. In a similar way, Rowe, leable and “a new relationship between body McKay, and Miller (2000) highlighted how the and self has developed”: the “performing self” media glorified men’s bodies and pathologized has emerged, “which places greater emphasis those of women in “body panics” surrounding on ‘appearance, display and the management HIV/AIDS in sport. of impressions.’” Featherstone (1982, p.18) asserted that our inner and outer bodies are, in fact, “conjoined” in consumer culture, with AN APPLICATION:MEN’S the aim of inner body maintenance being the BODIES/“MEN’S MAGAZINES” improvement of outer body appearance and the cultivation of “a more marketable self.” Thus, In order to illustrate how this “circuit of culture” bodies now have an important exchange value: paradigm can be applied to a concrete context, high if they signify ideals associated with youth, we now analyze how the bodies of the “new health, fitness, and beauty; low if they denote man” and the “new lad” have been constructed lack of control or laziness (Featherstone, 1982, in popular “men’s magazines.” Magazines serve pp. 23-24). Featherstone (1982) suggested that as both reflectors and shapers of social relations, the body has been redefined as “a vehicle of and they “demonstrate the potential for signifi- pleasure and self-expression” (p. 18) and is “the cant change in gender relations and identities, passport to all that is good in life” (p. 26). while simultaneously reinscribing traditional Moreover, men increasingly have been regu- forms of masculinity” (Jackson et al., 2001, lated by this emphasis on corporeal presentation p. 157). Because these publications are driven and monitoring (Nixon, 1996, 2000). However, by the advertising imperatives of keeping up as Wernick (1991, p. 66) warned over a decade with both shifting marketing trends and social ago, the interpellation of man-as-narcissist by tastes, a comparison between “new man” and the mass media merely signals that the arche- “new lad” magazines illustrates the complex typal “possessive individual,” who was at the 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 281

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center of early capitalism and liberal contract Lifestyle magazines targeted at men have theory, has metamorphosed into the “promo- functions similar to those of long-established tional individual”: women’s magazines, in that masculinity is framed as a problem (sometimes even depicted The equalization of gender status which is begin- as being “in crisis”) that requires self-regulation ning to occur in the sphere of consumption is not in and improvement. Thus, these magazines the least the equality we might dream of: the equal- include instructions on how to exercise, groom, ity of free and self-determining beings in a free and buy clothes, and perform sex. One outcome of self-determining association with another. It is the heterosexual men increasingly coming under equality, rather, of self-absorbed, and emotionally anxious, personalities for sale. With the makeup the gaze was a qualitative change in how their mirror dangled invitingly before them, men, like bodies were framed, often represented pas- women, are being encouraged to focus their ener- sively, a pose that is very different from tradi- gies not on realizing themselves as self-activating tional representations of the “active man.” The subjects, but on realizing themselves as circulating shift to grooming and health also disrupted the tokens of exchange. (Wernick, 1991, p. 66) image of the conventional “breadwinner” image. An important precursor to this discourse was Playboy, which advocated a hedonistic lifestyle Constructing the “New Man” that was free from marriage and children, and In this postmodern scenario, the mass media also made the personal consumption of mass- are faced with the problem of how to sell “soft” produced commodities legitimate for men products and lifestyles to men without simulta- (Conekin, 2001; Osgerby, 2001). However, as neously threatening the traditional bases of McMahon (1999, p. 110) pointed out, amid hegemonic masculinity. One archetype the this ostensible feminization of masculinity in media created in order to solve this conundrum consumer culture, the media still have to find was the “new man,” which was framed in terms ways of maintaining sexual difference. In of classic postmodern motifs (e.g., sensitivity, advertising, this frequently is achieved by self-care), as well as by essentialist messages encoding commodities such as fragrances with about needing to “get in touch with his inner terms such as “strong,” “powerful,” or “bold” self.” Thus, during the 1990s, films, TV, and and in “masculine” colors like gray or blue. magazines were replete with images of men Another way sexual convergence is nullified is cuddling their babies, playing with their chil- through the marketing of technological prod- dren, grooming themselves, exercising their ucts such as computers and DVDs that rarely bodies, and embracing other (heterosexual) men appear in comparable women’s magazines such during “weekend warrior” retreats. Mort (1996) as Cosmopolitan. noted that the British (and we would argue the Some critics dismissed the “new man” as an Australian) conceptions of the “new man” were insincere “yuppie” who simply knew how to different from the American one, as the latter appear to be sensitive (Jackson et al., 2001, market responded to the women’s movement, p. 35). McMahon (1999) argued that the “new whereas the former did not. This was due to the man” was an artifact of the media, and despite British publishers’ perception that the women’s all the focus on “sensitive” masculinity, men’s movement was not interested in the operations self-interests were still being served via the of the marketplace and “in contrast [to the sexual division of domestic labor. As Moore United States], the project for masculinity (1989) wryly put it, “Did anyone seriously championed in [magazines] was overwhelm- think that a few skincare products were going ingly commercial” (Mort, 1996, p. 44). The to cause the collapse of patriarchy?” (p. 47). emergence of the “new man” coincided with a Moreover, representations of this “new mas- shift toward lifestyle advertising with its atten- culinity” were overwhelmingly restricted to dant techniques of market research (Chapman, affluent, white, able-bodied heterosexual men 1988, p. 229). Thus, men were increasingly and underpinned by essentialist discourses being sold images (of fashion, health, father- about gender identities and relations (McKay & hood) by which they were “stimulated to look Ogilvie, 1999). Thus, this allegedly “new at themselves—and other men—as objects of man” constituted no real threat to the traditional consumer desire” (Mort, 1988, p. 194). gender order: 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 282

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[I]mages of the “New Man” in the media and lad” magazines marked a return to established advertising suggest men can be caring and sensi- masculine heterosexual scripts (of the “hard” tive without “losing” their masculinity. But far sexist “traditional man”) that were located in from reversing institutionalized male domination soft pornography magazines during the 1970s. in marriage and the household, these “new” ideas This was because no new masculine repertoires can be seen as facilitating the conditions within were articulated in representations in the “new which individual men can come to acquire a few more masculine “brownie points” in the struggle man” magazines, so there was the opportunity to differentiate themselves from other men, and for traditional tropes to reemerge. Magazines from women. Rather than overturning the unequal like Loaded (U.K.), Ralph (Australia), and power relations between the sexes in relation to FHM (For Him Magazine, Australia), which tar- domestic work or childcare, the New Man image geted young, heterosexual men, epitomized this arguably opens up legitimate space for the colo- “new laddism.” This genre of masculinity was nization and appropriation of those aspects of based on biological assumptions (nurturing is childcare, which are the most rewarding and for women/risk-taking is for men) and also which offer immediate creative statement, enunciated what it meant to be an “authentic” couched in the language of enhancing men’s mas- male (Jackson et al., 2001, p. 85), which was not culinity and social prowess. (Kerfoot & Knights, 1993, p. 669) to be intimidated by other men or, especially, by women. Jackson et al. (2001, p. 12) pointed out, The “men’s magazine” market, especially in however, that a rather judgmental tone is appar- Australia, has always been highly contested, as ent in the research and critiques of the new manifested in the demise of publications like forms of masculinity, much of which views the Max and GQ. The two most successful “men’s “new man” as purely marketing hype or blatant magazines” in the Australian market are FHM pretence. They concur with Mort (1988, and Ralph. (Two homologous sport-related pp. 218-219) that there are some positive publications, Inside Sport and Tracks, are also outcomes of these representations, especially popular; see Jefferson Lenskyj, 1998, and the differing profiles of masculinity, with vari- Henderson, 1999.) The “new lad” magazines are ous outcomes reflecting and constituting new more akin to a male version of Cosmopolitan identities. Young men are now carving out new than a soft-core pornography magazine such spaces, representing themselves in different as Playboy (Mikosza, 2003, p. 135). In fact, the ways and living out fractured identities. In any Australian version of Playboy has folded due to event, just as the “new man” had become the falling circulation and advertisers shifting to the flavor of the month, editors and journalists “new lad” magazines (Dale, 2000). The tradi- turned their attention to the “new lad.” tional meaning of soft-core pornography magazines for men has been reinscribed by the meanings and images associated with the “new lad” in these magazines, which are highly desir- MEN BEHAVING BADLY: able to advertisers, with their mixture of sex, CONSTRUCTING THE “NEW LAD” sport, alcohol, the public world, and “carefully managed” fashion for a heterosexual male read- When fears over male narcissism and incorpora- ership (Bonner, 2002, p. 194). If meanings are tion of the feminine had receded, the media “always made in usage” (du Gay et al., 1997, began to reinscribe conventional modes of p. 85), then these magazines have come to sig- masculinity (McMahon, 1999, p. 119). This nify hedonism, risk-taking, consumerism, and move was enhanced by the criticism that the voyeurism, as well as what it is to be a young “new man” was dishonest and hypocritical. man in Australian culture. Thus, by the mid-1990s, the Australian and In terms of form and content, the glossy British media had switched their attention to the “new lad” magazines usually are classified as “new lad,” who unapologetically symbolized either “men’s interests” or “general lifestyle,” the traits associated with hegemonic masculin- even though they almost always have a woman ity: drinking with his mates, taking risks, telling in a bikini on the cover and FHM contains dirty jokes, and, most of all, looking at skimpily elements that are commonly found in soft porn dressed women. Nixon (1996) argued that “new publications. They are, however, also given a 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 283

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“G” (general) rating and are policed through the of tips to men on how to pick up women. The appropriate national censor. They are also regu- bodies of the women are also posed in similar lated in the community: Some issues of FHM ways to the bikini shots in other parts of the have been banned from sale in local super- magazine. These representations are in line market chains for being too sexually explicit. with the magazines’ general narratives, which However, cultural regulation of the magazines are informed by an appeal to voracious male also exists at the level of production and heterosexuality. consumption, with the editors self-censoring/ Men’s bodies are present in various guises regulating in different ways. An example is the in “new lad” magazines, usually in a muscular exclusion of sexually explicit information on the form. Whereas the eponymous Men’s Health cover that women’s magazines often incor- focuses on improving men’s well-being porate. To a lesser degree, readers also write (Toerien & Durrheim, 2001), FHM and Ralph letters to the editors about their likes and dis- concentrate on risk-taking behavior. Although likes of the magazines, which occasionally these magazines do construct men in “femi- affect subsequent content. nized” ways (e.g., via male models or images The content of these magazines ranges of men exercising or grooming their bodies), through health, grooming, exercise, alcohol, predictable masculine discourses also are pres- “boys’ toys,” advertisements for myriad com- ent. For instance, men’s bodies are almost modities, and, most prominent, images of always depicted as active, and even when women, who are there to be looked at even if the posed in fashion shoots, are in some way copy also subjects men to the gaze. The maga- involved in a bonding activity with other men zines sell products similar to those in “new men” (e.g., playing sports or doing business), or magazines while adroitly distancing themselves positioned with women in ways that assure the from the feminine and preempting criticism by (assumed male heterosexual) readers of their invoking an ironic, self-deprecating, and tongue- heterosexuality. in-cheek style of humor. Hence, Schirato and Men’s bodies are also constructed in “new Yell (1999) noted that the editors and journalists lad” magazines as instruments that need to be of these magazines appeal to media-savvy read- managed through contradictory regimes of exer- ers’ “knowing sexism”—an awareness of femi- cise, sex, and sometimes-dangerous practices nism and gay rights that is fused with an (e.g., drinking, driving fast cars). Jackson et al. enjoyment of conventional representations of (2001, p. 94) argued that the function of health women in revealing swimsuits. (Loaded carries advice sections in these magazines is to prevent the sardonic subtitle “For guys who should know anxiety and insecurity surrounding the declining better.”) Schirato and Yell claimed that women and aging male body. Thus, magazines such as are active in the magazines and not simply there FHM also have sections on bodily care, health, to display their passive bodies for men to look and grooming. So, in a similar way to the con- at. For example, Ralph magazine has a two- or tradictory nature of women’s magazines (with three-page photo and text spread titled “Babes stories on being happy about your body shape behaving badly,” in which three or more women positioned next to a feature on a new diet), the discuss their likes and dislikes regarding men magazine constructs a paradoxical framework and sex; thus, these women are “in on the joke” of men’s interests. In summary, the media, and about men. Using Butler’s concept of gender especially “men’s magazines,” position them- performance, Schirato and Yell analyzed a story selves for various audiences; as Gauntlett (2002, from Ralph magazine and concluded that the p. 255) notes, the media enactment of “stereotypical” masculinity in the magazines was a “self-conscious” act that recog- are far more interested in generating “surprise” nized that sexist masculinity was obsolete. We than in maintaining coherence and consistency. Contradictions are an inevitable by-product of the argue, however, that the representations continue drive for multiple points of excitement, so they to be defined quite rigidly by conventional gen- rarely bother today’s media makers, or indeed der dualisms, with women mainly contained in their audiences. passive settings. So, when women are depicted as “agents,” as in the story above, they are invari- We are not suggesting that this circuit- ably young, single, and positioned as providers of-culture model can or should be applied 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 284

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mechanistically to every research site. We feelings, they couldn’t get him to shut up. argue, however, that it is a useful theoretical It’s dysfunction this, dysfunction that. and methodological “toolbox” for conducting —Mafia boss Tony Soprano to his research on the links between men’s bodies and female psychiatrist in the first episode the media. First, it alerts us to the fact that the of the critically acclaimed The Sopranos media both reinforce and destabilize everyday understandings of men’s bodies in multifarious Heterosexuality and homophobia are and paradoxical ways. Thus, the media can cre- the bedrock of hegemonic masculinity. ate contradictory images about “lads” while simultaneously breathing new life into the “new —Donaldson (1993, p. 645) man.” The most recent rearticulation of the latter archetype is the “metrosexual,” epito- The politics surrounding representations of mized by soccer player David Beckham, whose men’s bodies is of particular importance to gen- status as a globally recognized sports star tradi- der studies scholars and activists because the tionally has been associated with “the frontline media are deeply implicated in literally embody- troops of patriarchy” (Connell, 1995, p. 79) ing hegemonic forms of masculinity, albeit rather than the “new man” (Cashmore & Parker, in selective, uneven, and contradictory ways. 2003; Simpson, 2002; Whannel, 2001). Second, At the beginning of a new millennium, the intri- it sensitizes us to the close connections among cate nexus of desires, pleasures, and power gender and the cultural economy of the global surrounding men’s bodies in the mass media is entertainment, advertising, and marketing undoubtedly much more intricate than, say, in industries. For instance, FHM can now be the 1950s, when, as Pomerance (2001, p. 7) put purchased in 16 countries, meaning that it is it, Hollywood films did “describe and reflect important to investigate how local practices the social world” in a relatively seamless fash- articulate with the generic formula (e.g., in ion. As the spectacle of a corpulent mob boss some countries, women’s nipples are not in therapy on a popular TV program indicates, allowed to be shown through swimsuits, so are the sheer plurality of representations of men’s airbrushed out). Third, it underscores the need bodies that circulate in the contemporary mass for relational research on gender. For instance, media means that hegemonic masculinity is less the magazines we analyzed ostensibly are about culturally secure than hitherto. Nevertheless, it is and for men, but women also are involved as important not to overemphasize or romanticize executives, producers, photographers, journal- the subversive potential of alternative representa- ists, and consumers, and little is known about tions, on one hand, and to underestimate the their roles in this gender regime. Moreover, resilience of hegemonic modes of masculinity, there are several admirable analyses of men’s on the other. As Hall (1985) emphasized, social or women’s magazines, but no one has conducted texts, identities, and practices are always rela- a comparative study of men’s and women’s tively anchored. In the case of gender, we argue magazines. Finally, it allows researchers to that although hegemonic masculinity is not as study the various “moments” of the circuit of rigid as it once was, given the fragmented and meaning-making, as well as illuminating how contradictory representations of masculinities in production, consumption, regulation, repre- the contemporary media, it remains powerful sentation, and identity are mutually constitutive (both materially and symbolically) through the of one another. interdependent and mutually reinforcing structures of heterosexism and homophobia alluded to above by Donaldson. Tony Soprano might SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS be a caring family man who is in therapy, but reminiscent of how the hypermasculine Arnold Whatever happened to Gary Cooper, Schwarzenegger was reconstituted in Terminator the strong, silent type? That was an 2, he also is “softened and sensitized into a man American. He wasn’t in touch with his who can both kill and care” (Pfeil, 1995, p. 53). feelings. He just did what he had to do. Thus, at one level, we would agree with See, what they didn’t know is that once both Bordo (1998) and Pearce (2000) that they got Gary Cooper in touch with his The Full Monty destabilizes the stereotypical 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 285

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mise-en-scène whereby women take off their Cashmore, E., & Parker, A. (2003). One David clothes for the pleasure of heterosexual male Beckham? Celebrity, masculinity, and the soc- viewers, as well as posing an alternative to the cerati. Sociology of Sport Journal, 20, 214-231. violent, spectacular, and mesomorphic bodies of Chan, J. (2000). Bruce Lee’s fictional models of mas- Arnold Schwarznegger, Bruce Lee, and Wesley culinity. Men and Masculinities, 2(4), 371-387. Chapman, R. (1988). The great pretender: Variations Snipes that traditionally have been valorized in on the new man theme. In R. Chapman & the cinema. After all, who can forget the film’s J. Rutherford (Eds.), Male order: Unwrapping denouement, where Gaz and his troupe of masculinity. London: Lawrence & Wishart. embattled working class men with mainly unim- Clarsen, G. (2000). The “dainty female toe” and the posing bodies throw their hats into the audience, “brawny male arm”: Conceptions of bodies and thereby appearing fully naked? Yet, in keeping power in automobile technology. Australian with the strong taboo on exposing the penis that Feminist Studies, 15(32), 153-163. was also evident in the scene with Guy we Clatterbaugh, K. (1997). Contemporary perspec- alluded to earlier, it is instructive to note that we tives on masculinity: Men, women, and politics see their naked bodies only from behind. As film in modern society (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: historian Peter Lehman commented on the film, Westview. Clift, S., & Carter, S. (Eds.). (2000). Tourism and “It is still a moment of shockingly great signifi- sex: Culture, commerce, and coercion. New York: cance when they show the penis. They can’t just Continuum International Publishing Group. show it in a casual manner, and that is still quite Coltrane, S., & Messineo, M. (2000). The perpet- different from the manner in which the female uation of subtle prejudice: Race and gender body is commonly shown” (quoted in Lehigh, imagery in 1990s television. Sex Roles, 5(6), 2000, p. 13S). In summary, the time when we 363-389. see a front-on pan of a row of “full Monties” in Conekin, B. (2001). Fashioning the playboy: the popular media is still some way off. Messages of style and masculinity in the pages of Playboy magazine, 1953-1963. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture, 4(4), 447-466. REFERENCES Connell, R. W. (1983). Men’s bodies. In Which way is up? Essays on sex, class, and culture. Sydney: Adams, R. (1999). Fat man walking: Masculinity and Allen & Unwin. racial geographies in James Mangold’s Copland. Connell, R. W. (1991). An iron man: The body and Camera Obscura, 42, 4-29. some contradictions of hegemonic masculinity. Altman, D. (2001). Global sex. Chicago: University In M. Messner & D. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, men, of Chicago Press. and the gender order: Critical feminist perspec- Ang, I. (1996). Living room wars. London: Routledge. tives. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Press. Barthes, R. (1973). Mythologies (A. Lavers, Trans.). Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Sydney Allen & London: Paladin. Unwin. Bell, D. (2000). Farm boys and wild men: Rurality, Connell, R. W. (2000). The men and the boys. masculinity, and homosexuality. Rural Sociology, St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin. 65(4), 547-561. Craig, S. (Ed.). (1992). Men, masculinity and the Bonner, F. (2002). Magazines. In S. Cunningham & media. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. G. Turner (Eds.), The media & communications Dale, D. (2000, February 19). I only buy it for the in Australia. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. articles . . . The Sydney Morning Herald, p. 40. Bordo, S. (1998). Pills and power tools. Men and Demarest, J., & Allen, R. (2000). Body image: Masculinities, 1(1), 88-90. Gender, ethnic, and age differences. The Journal Brandt, B., & Haugen, M. S. (2000). From lumber- of Social Psychology, 140(4), 465-472. jack to business manager: Masculinity in the Derne, S. (1999). Making sex violent: Love as force Norwegian forestry press. Journal of Rural in recent Hindi films. Violence Against Women, Studies, 16(3), 343-355. 5(5), 548-575. Brickell, C. (2000). Heroes and invaders: Gay and Donaldson, M. (1993). What is hegemonic masculin- lesbian pride parades and the public/private ity? Theory & Society, 22, 643-657. distinction in New Zealand media accounts. Doyle, J. A. (1995). The male experience (3rd ed.). Gender, Place and Culture, 7(2), 163-178. New York: McGraw-Hill. Brown, J. A. (1999). Comic book masculinity and the du Gay, P. (1997). Introduction. In P. du Gay (Ed.), new black superhero. African American Review, Production of culture/cultures of production. 33(1), 25-42. London: Sage/The Open University. 16-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:27 PM Page 286

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Schirato, T., & Yell, S. (1999). The “new” men’s Theweleit, K. (1987). Male fantasies (S. Conway, in magazines and the performance of masculinity. collaboration with E. Carter and C. Turner, Media International Australia: Culture and Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Polity. Policy, 92, 81-90. Thomas, C. (1999). Last laughs: Batman, masculinity Seidler, V. (1991). Recreating sexual politics: Men, and the technology of abjection. Men and Mascu- feminism, and politics. London: Routledge. linities, 2(1), 26-46. Sheridan, S. (1995). Reading the Women’s Weekly: Toerien, M., & Durrheim, K. (2001). Power through Feminism, femininity and popular culture. In knowledge: Ignorance and the “real man.” B. Caine & R. Pringle (Eds.), Transitions: New Feminism & Psychology, 11(1), 37-54. Australian feminisms. St. Leonards: Allen & Wernick, A. (1991). Promotional culture: Advertising, Unwin. ideology, and symbolic expression. London: Sage. Shilling, C. (1993). The body and social theory. Whannel, G. (2001). Punishment, redemption and London: Sage. celebration in the popular press: The case Simpson, M. (2002). Meet the metrosexual. Retrieved of David Beckham. In D. L. Andrews & from http://archive.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/ S. J. Jackson (Eds.), Sport stars: The cultural 07/22/metrosexual/ politics of sporting celebrity. London: Slater, D. (1999). Trading sexpics on IRC: Routledge. Embodiment and authenticity on the Internet. Wienke, C. (1998). Negotiating the male body: Men, Body & Society, 4(4), 91-117. masculinity, and cultural ideals. The Journal of Stratton, J. (1997). Not really desiring bodies: The Men’s Studies, 6(3), 255-282. rise and fall of Email affairs. Media Inter- Willis, S. (1997). High contrast: Race and gender in national Australia, 84, 28-38. contemporary Hollywood film. Durham, NC: Strong, S. M., Singh, D., & Randall, P. K. (2000). Duke University Press. Childhood gender nonconformity and body Witz, A. (2000). Whose body matters? Sociology and dissatisfaction in gay and heterosexual men. Sex the corporeal turn in sociology and feminism. Roles, 43(7/8), 427-439. Body & Society, 6(2), 1-24. 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 289

MEN AND MASCULINITIES IN WORK,ORGANIZATIONS, AND MANAGEMENT

DAV I D L. COLLINSON

JEFF HEARN

rawing on the important insights of It is as if the very obvious associations of second wave feminism, the field of crit- men with work, organizations, and manage- D ical studies of men and masculinities is ment, at both the material and ideological levels, now well established, and it has become so in have meant that a “fresh start” has had to be the relatively short span of time of the last 20 attempted. This might be seen as a reversal of years or so. Yet, within this field, men’s relations the now well-drawn tendency to explain men’s to work, organizations, and management have behavior with reference to job, occupational, not generally been very prominent. Despite the and organizational positions, in contrast with fact that these relations provide some of the explanations of women’s behavior in relation to most obvious sources of men’s individual and the family (Feldberg & Glenn, 1979). Thus, this collective power, there has been something of an “fresh start” might involve seeing men in terms avoidance of these issues even within the gen- of family, friends, health, body, emotions, sexu- eral critical field. Often informed primarily by ality, violence, and so on. Important though social theory rather than organizational theory, these and other long-neglected aspects are, studies of masculinity have tended to underes- work, organizations, and management continue timate or even to neglect the significance of to be major forces in the construction of men, organizations as sites for the reproduction of masculinities, and men’s power. men’s power and masculinities. This is even With these considerations in mind, here we though key workplace issues such as organiza- present a “return to work,” specifically the orga- tional power, control, decision making, remu- nizational workplace, but in a rather different neration, cultures, and structure typically reflect way from those simple, usually implicit associ- and reinforce masculine material discursive ations of men and “work” that often have been practices in complex ways. dominant in both substantive social milieux and

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academic studies. Here we seek to make the quarters of all housework; there are also major connections between men, work, workplaces, differences between the kinds of domestic tasks organizations, and management more explicitly performed by men and women. The former tend gendered, and thus subject to more critical to “specialize” in putting children to bed, taking analysis. This chapter reviews recent develop- out and playing with children, waste disposal, ments in the critical study of men and mas- household repairs, and do-it-yourself projects. culinities, in relation to work, organizations, and Such tasks generally are preferred by men over management, including the strengths and weak- the much more time-consuming, supposedly nesses of some major concepts that have influ- mundane, and indeed socially subordinated tasks enced the literature. of cleaning, daily shopping, washing, ironing, The chapter comprises three main sections. cooking, and the routine care of infants and It begins by considering the meaning of work, children (Oakley, 1985). organization, and management. This focus on There is now a good deal of evidence to show the multiple meanings of terms like “work,” that, on average, women work much longer “organization,” and “management” then leads hours than men when the full allocation of both into a consideration of “multiple masculinities,” paid and unpaid work is taken into account. In a conceptual framework that has been highly a sample of eight developing countries, 34% of influential within debates on critical studies of females’ time was spent on SNA work (System men and masculinities. Despite its valuable of National Accounts) and 66% on non-SNA contribution, this approach contains various con- work, compared with 76% of males’ time on ceptual difficulties. The third main section there- SNA work and 24% on non-SNA work (53% of fore critically evaluates a number of these recent total performed by males and 47% of total by concerns (and also challenges some of the crit- females). In a sample of seven industrial coun- ics). The chapter concludes by discussing likely tries, the equivalent figures were 34% and 66% future analytical directions, including transfor females, and 66% and 34% for males (51% national organizations, and the impact of new of total performed by males and 49% by information and communication technologies, as females) (United Nations Development Pro- in the development of virtual organizations. gramme, 1996). This remarkable persistence of global inequality in gendered distributions of paid and nonpaid work and time use sits along- WHAT ARE WORK, side the material differences between the more and less wealthy parts of the world. ORGANIZATIONS, AND MANAGEMENT? Hence, “work” also encompasses domestic, Work unpaid, nonemployed labor outside formal organizations in the private sphere. It includes what In the light of this initial discussion, it is have come to be called reproductive labor important to ask what is meant by the basic con- (Hearn, 1983, 1987; O’Brien, 1981, 1986), care- cepts of work, organizations, and management. work (Beams, 1979), sexual work/labor (Hearn First, “work” is a socially contextualized & Parkin, 1995), people work (Goffman, 1961), phenomenon. The meaning and naming of work emotion work (Fineman, 1993; Hochschild, is heavily linked to broad societal organization. 1983), childwork (Hearn, 1983), solidary work It does not only mean organizational, paid, (Lynch, 1989), and unspoken work (Reis, 2002), employed work in formal organizations in the as well as other often unrecognized forms of public sphere. Feminist studies have been highly labor. O’Brien (1981) in particular provides an influential in naming domestic labor as work. exemplary political philosophy of reproductive They have highlighted the importance of unpaid labor, inverting the Marxist placing of reproduc- domestic labor as an important site of gendered tion as superstructure upon the base of produc- “work” and of men’s domination of women. tion (also see Hearn, 1987). Furthermore, work Indeed, the home is still often not seen as a is organized across these boundaries of public workplace at all. For women, this is one of the and private, paid and unpaid, within what has many ways in which they and their work remain been called the total social organization of work less visible and undervalued. In many societies, (Glucksmann, 1995). This is most clear in the women are mainly or solely responsible for three organization of work within socioeconomic 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 291

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systems that are characterized by the blurring workplaces, while also seeking to be aware of of the public-private divide, such as household the interconnections of work in organizations production systems and family businesses. and in the home. Work in the family is discussed Work clearly is not only a matter of labor under in other chapters in this volume (especially capitalist systems; it also includes work under Chapter 14, by Adams and Coltrane, and slavery, feudalism, socialism, communism, and Chapter 15, by Marsiglio and Pleck). various other hybrid economic systems. Work is socially, indeed societally, organized, Organizations according to what generally has come to be called the sexual division of labor, although The notion of organization is complex, prob- the term “gender division of labor” probably is lematic, and gendered. Feminist analyses have more accurate. It has often been argued that significantly extended understandings of the in many societies, there is a tendency for men meaning of organization. Organizations may more often to do strenuous, dangerous manual appear to be neutral obvious ways of organizing, work (Murdock, 1937). However, things are not but they are historical, variable, and usually always what they seem. Even Murdock’s classic premised on other, often unpaid, unrecognized, survey of 224 tribes from around the world invisible labor elsewhere—in the home, in found that there was an even distribution families, in other parts of the world, in “non- between those societies where agriculture tended organizations,” by unknown others. Organiza- to be defined as “women’s work,” as against tions are those particular social collectivities those where it tended to be defined as “men’s that result from those acts and processes, but work.” An excellent critical review of this kind organizations are not to be thought of as mere of literature, problematizing many of these basic static outcomes. Instead, they should be under- assumptions both theoretically and empirically, stood as shifting social processes that are in a was produced by Margrit Eichler (1980). state of becoming something else. The gender division and distribution of labor At its simplest, the notion of an organiza- has real, societally variable, effects on women tion conjures up the highly tangible picture of and men. Brettell and Sargent (2000) observe that a church, a factory, an office, a prison, a state women’s status is highest in societies in which apparatus, or even a university—something that the public and domestic spheres are only weakly can be seen, something that appears to function differentiated. Thus, the most egalitarian soci- within four walls. But such an idea of an orga- eties are those where men participate in the nization is increasingly a fantasy. Although it is domestic sphere (Pease & Pringle, 2001, p. 6). probably misguided to search for the origins of This matches well with Coltrane’s (1996, 1998) (an) “organization,” there are many strong con- analysis of “premodern” societies in Africa, Asia, tenders from the growth of religious, monarchic, the Middle East, and the South Pacific. He con- and state organizations, whether in their ancient cludes that more gender-balanced parenting was or medieval forms (see Burrell, 1997; Ezzamel & related to greater gender equality in other areas of Hoskin, 2002). More recently, much of the life and in social power. Other connections might ideal-typical picture of the visible organization be made, more generally still, between the gender does not even come from the heyday of the division of labor and patterns of violence. For Industrial Revolution; it stems if anywhere from example, Howell and Willis (1980) found that the 18th century, with the relatively isolated in those societies where men were permitted to industrial mill that could be seen. It was with the acknowledge fear (as is more likely when, for passing of this organizational form to the multi- example, men specialize in fighting, killing, and ple-unit “organization” that could not be fully dangerous work), levels of violence were low seen that, rather paradoxically, the idea of the (Kimmel, 2001, p. 35) (also see Sanday, 1981). organization, and thus organization theory, In such ways, constructions, definitions, and became constituted and more popularly avail- understandings of work are themselves both able. By the height of the 19th-century Indus- material and ideological. What “work” is consid- trial Revolution, the isolated organization was ered to be—both in practical everyday life and in already to a considerable extent decomposing research—is itself gendered and contested. In and anachronistic. Its decomposition was accom- this chapter, we focus on work in organizational panied by its diffusion and expansion. 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 292

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As organizations grew in size and became modern, late modern, and postmodern historical more consolidated, and indeed more powerful periods. These various changes produced concentrations of resources, they also became different meanings around the family/ more diffuse and less concentrated at particular workplace nexus for men and masculinities times and places. Part of the reason for this was (D. L. Collinson, 1998). Indeed, in many ways the mode of expansion of some organizations. organizations and organizational workplaces are Their expansion was not just upward and out- built upon the unpaid labor of the domestic ward on the same site (within four walls or sphere (Hearn, 1987). Gender domination expanding those four walls); it was also through within organizations often is paralleled by the horizontal and vertical connection and integra- dominant gendered valuing of the public sphere tion, and above all geographical and temporal over the domestic sphere; hence, we may recog- expansion and diffusion. The organization was nize a dual-gendered domination in the con- no longer a simple place—or indeed a simple struction of organizations. time. The notion of organizations has thus All these complex historical changes have become progressively more complex. It still had major implications for men and construc- refers to the individual organization, but it also tions of masculinity. Men and masculinities encompasses conglomerations of organizations, have been formed and constructed in workplace as in multi-organizations, such as the state and processes of, for example, control, collaboration, transnational corporations. Within each organi- innovation, competition, conformity, resistance, zation (within such multi-organizations) there and contradiction. Equally, particular groups of are, of course, further smaller subunits that men have been prominent in the formation, might often reasonably be called organizations development, and transformation of (different too. The number of virtual organizations and forms of) organizations. As entrepreneurs, inno- cyberorganizations also is increasing, a topic to vators, leaders, owners, board members, man- which we return in our concluding discussion. agers, supervisors, team leaders, administrators, Thus organizations, and indeed actions manual workers, and even unemployed workers, within organizations, are always embodied men have crucially shaped the trajectory and in social contexts. This context-embeddedness nature of organizational progress, especially means that it is necessary in conceptualizing, since the Industrial Revolution and the complex analyzing, and writing about organizations to elaboration of public patriarchies. bear in mind that attempts to characterize organizations are limited and provisional. One com- Management plication is that organizations are both social places of organizing and social structurings of The notion of “management” also raises a social relations and practices whose inter- number of conceptual challenges. It refers either relations are historically dynamic and shifting. to those people who work as managers or to Another is that organizations are not collectivi- those aspects of organizational structuring and ties formed simply by the individual, intentional processes that are significantly involved in the action of their founders and members. Rather, management—that is, the control and coordi- organizations occur in the context of preexisting nation—of organizations. The “elite” and domi- (organizational) social relations. The search for nant conception of management typically any tabula rasa is in vain. To paraphrase Marx includes several different hierarchical layers and Engels (1970), “organizations make history of the authority structure (from junior to execu- but not in the conditions of their own choosing” tive boardroom levels) and various specialties (Hearn & Parkin, 2001, p. 2). (e.g., production, service, accounting, human In many societies, the form organizations resources management, and marketing). “Profes- take is intimately bound up with the relation sional” managers within these specialties are of the public and domestic spheres. As David employed to make decisions, create workplace Morgan (1992, 2001) has shown, there are com- structures and cultures, and solve organiza- plex historical interconnections between “work” tional problems using “scientific” and “rational- and “home” both before and since the Industrial analytical” practices. A wider and more social Revolution. The relations of men to home and conception of management (D. L. Collinson, work have shifted through traditional, early 1992) recognizes that “all human beings are 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 293

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managers too; people struggling to cope, to development of management theory, from manage, to shape their destinies” (Watson, 1994, scientific management to human relations, p. 12). Although this alternative view raises systems and contingency theories, and, more important issues, for the purposes of the current recently, population ecology and institutional analysis, we adhere to the dominant “elite” perspectives. For example, Mintzberg (1989) conception of the professional management examined the political alliances and strategies function. played out by managers in their search for Typically, it is with the managerial function power, influence, and organizational security. that organizational power formally resides, and His accounts do not seem to recognize that decision making is a key aspect of managerial within, between, and across managerial and authority. In most contemporary organizations, organizational hierarchies, masculine discourses managerial prerogative in “strategic” decisions and practices are often crucial bases for remains the taken-for-granted norm. Yet, as we alliances and conflicts between men in senior elaborate below, this assertion of managerial positions. Although critical studies examine prerogative, and the managerial power and management’s overriding concern with the authority that it reflects and reinforces, tends to control of labor and the extraction of profit be not only hierarchical but also gendered. In (Alvesson & Willmott, 1996), even these rarely most organizations, industries, and countries, it is attend to the continued predominance of men still men who predominate in senior managerial in managerial positions and the gendered pro- positions (D. L. Collinson & Hearn, 1996a). This cesses, networks, and assumptions through which is clear with the growth of the historical develop- women are intentionally and unintentionally ment of the management function within military excluded, subordinated, or both. and paramilitary organizations, for example, in So, whether they adopt prescriptive, descrip- the concept of the military general staffs (Gooch, tive, or critical perspectives, most studies of 1974; Hearn, 1992b) and other military innova- management have failed to question the highly tions (Hoskin & Macve, 1988, 1994). masculine images that typically characterize their Similarly within capitalist organizations, facil- representations of middle and senior managers. itated by the separation of ownership and control (Berle & Means, 1932), the growth of management as a professional, elite occupation has been MULTIPLE GENDERINGS OF MEN AND one of the most significant features of large-scale MASCULINITIES IN THE WORKPLACE modern organizations (Chandler, 1977). More recently, the strict separation of ownership and Many studies of work, organizations, and man- control has become problematized in some agement, as well as those on related areas such organizational forms. The emergence of manage- as leadership, industrial relations, the state, and ment as the central organizational activity of politics, have long assumed that their subject is 20th-century corporations is reflected in the huge both male and neutral. Men often have been literature that explores the function’s assump- studied without realizing that this was the case, tions, responsibilities, and practices (e.g., or men have been studied without attending to Drucker, 1979; M. Reed, 1989; Stewart, 1986). the gendering of the men in question in any crit- Yet despite, and possibly even because of, the ical detail. This is so in a number of classic stud- frequently pervasive association between men, ies, such as Men Who Manage (Dalton, 1959), power, and authority in organizations, the litera- The Organization Man (Whyte, 1956), and The ture on management has consistently failed to Man on the Assembly Line (Walker & Guest, question its gendered nature. 1952). However, in great swaths of studies and Many studies of managers and management, researches—in business studies, management ranging from textbooks (e.g., Rosenfeld & theory, international business, industrial eco- Wilson, 1999) to detailed empirical studies nomics, marketing, and so on—there is not even (e.g., Watson, 1994) to biographies of famous the beginning of recognition of the relevance of managers (e.g., Geneen, 1985; Iacocca, 1984), these things. A blissful ignorance remains. While can be re-read as implicit accounts of men, most mainstream fields studying organizations men’s practices, and their masculinities. This and management continue to be neglectful, a ungendered tendency can also be seen in the small number of critical textbooks do address 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 294

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workplace gender relations (for example, Fulop & workers of specific forms of masculine practices Linstead, 2000). and identity work for making sense of their Recent years have seen the growth of a wide (relatively subordinated) lives. They graphically range of studies that seek to make explicit the demonstrated that informal shopfloor interaction gendering of men and masculinities in work, between male manual workers is often deeply organizations, and management. In some ways, masculine, being highly aggressive, sexist and this development can be understood as conso- derogatory, humorous yet insulting, and playful nant with the move to more differentiated, his- but degrading (Ackroyd & Thompson, 1999). torically specific analyses of patriarchy (Hearn, New members can be teased incessantly and 1987, 1992b; Walby, 1986, 1990). Emphasizing tested to see whether they are “man enough” to the importance of paid work as a central source take the insults couched in the humor of “piss of men’s identity, status, and power, feminist taking” and the embarrassment of highly explicit organizational studies (e.g., Cockburn, 1991; sexual references (D. L. Collinson, 1988; Pringle, 1989) have demonstrated how “most Hearn, 1985). Such studies of working class life organizations are saturated with masculine are usefully read alongside others focusing on values” (Burton, 1991, p. 3). They have criti- men’s family relations, including those that cally analyzed the continued centrality of the highlight the impact of uncertain employment masculine model of lifetime, full-time, continu- and unemployment on women and children (for ous employment and revealed the embed- example, Clarke & Popay, 1998; Waddington, dedness of masculine values and assumptions Critcher, & Dicks, 1998). Equally, these working in organizational structures, cultures, and prac- class masculinities are increasingly vulnerable to tices. For many men, employment provides challenge and change with the coming of global interrelated economic resources and symbolic economic restructuring and other transformations benefits that mutually reinforce their position of (Blum, 2000). power, authority, and discretion both at “work” The analytical importance of multiplicity has and at “home.” Men have been shown to exer- been particularly evident in these recent studies cise workplace control over women in many and debates on men in organizations. This fol- ways; for example, through job segregation, sex lows well-established pluralist and Weberian discrimination, “the breadwinner wage”/pay traditions in industrial sociology and industrial inequities, and sexual harassment. relations. However, in some ways, more radi- Initially, most critical empirical research on cally, poststructuralist feminism has increas- men and masculinities in organizations concen- ingly recognized men’s and women’s diverse, trated on those in subordinate positions generally fragmented, and contradictory lives in and and manual workers in particular. A number of around organizations. Attention has focused on U.K. studies revealed how workplace power rela- gendered subjectivities and their ambiguous, tions can be crucially shaped by masculinities. discontinuous, and multiple character within Willis (1977) described how working class lads asymmetrical relations (Henriques, Hollway, constructed countercultures that “celebrated” Urwin, Venn, & Walkerdine, 1984; Kondo, 1990). masculinity and the so-called “freedom” and Informed by these ideas, the concept of “multi- “independence” of manual work, only to realize ple masculinities” (Carrigan, Connell, & Lee, the reality of class subordination once they 1985) has become one of the most influential reached the factory with no educational qualifica- terms in analyzing men at work and in organi- tions and little chance of escape. Cockburn’s zations and management over the past few (1983) study of printers illustrated how skilled years. It has been used to represent the various manual work could be defined by men as their ways that specific forms of masculinity may exclusive province (also see Gray, 1987; Tolson, be constructed and persist in relation both to 1977). D. L. Collinson (1992, 2000) showed how femininity and to other forms of masculinity. male manual workers construct organizational Masculinity or masculinities can be understood countercultures and working class masculine as those combinations of signs that say and identities based on the negation of “others” such show someone is a man. Difference and the as management, office workers, and women. social construction of difference (such as that Together, these studies revealed the symbolic which differentiates men and masculinities and material significance for (male) manual according to religion, age, size, class, sexuality, 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 295

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ethnicity, occupation, and so on) are important example, according to occupation, industry, bases through which gendered asymmetrical culture, class, and type of organization. Accord- power between men, and between men and ingly, the dominant masculinities evident in women, are often constructed and reproduced. small and family-run businesses may be signifi- This growing interest in “masculinities” has cantly different from those that pervade large facilitated new ways of understanding work- multinational corporations. Multiple masculini- place power relations. Within these debates, an ties are likely to interconnect with multiple sites important distinction has been made between such as the home, the shop floor, the office, and hegemonic, complicit, and subordinated mas- the outlet or branch. Barrett’s (2001) study of culinities (Connell, 1995). It has been argued U.S. male Navy officers illustrates how multiple that some masculinities (for example, white, masculinities can coexist in an organization. He middle-class, middle-aged, heterosexual/homo- found that aviators emphasized their masculinity phobic, Anglo-Saxon, Christian, Western, able- in terms of risk taking, surface warfare officers bodied) often dominate others (for example, prioritized their endurance, and supply officers working class and gay). These former masculin- prided themselves on their technical rationality. ities tend to predominate, at least at the level of Barrett’s study also identifies some of the simi- ideology, in powerful organizational positions larities that characterize these multiple mascu- such as middle and senior management, while linities. He shows how the Navy reproduces a other masculinities (for example, black, work- dominant masculinity taking multiple forms that ing class, and homosexual) are relatively subor- value physical toughness, perseverance, aggres- dinated. On the other hand, the U.K. Gay and siveness, a rugged heterosexuality, unemotional Lesbian Census (ID Research, 2001) found that logic, and a stoic refusal to complain. This mili- although 15% of lesbians and gay men in the tary culture of masculinity constructs itself in workplace who responded believe their sexual- opposition to that which it is not, namely women ity has hindered their job prospects, a surpris- and gay men, who are deemed to be physically ingly large proportion—43%—have managerial weak and unable to do what (heterosexual) roles. These figures are not fully representative, men do. They serve as the differentiated others, as they do not take account of individuals who against which heterosexual men construct, pro- are not “out” in the workplace. ject, and display a gendered identity. Barrett In rejecting sex-role theory with its emphasis shows how Navy officers attach themselves on masculinity in the singular, critical writers to one of these hegemonic masculinities as a have argued that these material and symbolic means of self-differentiation and elevation from multiplicities and differences are very impor- colleagues. tant in explaining the reproduction and shift- Multiple workplace masculinities may also ing nature of gendered power asymmetries. As be shaped by different national cultures Connell (1995) argues, masculinities are not (Hofstede, 1980). For example, Woodward fixed, but may shift over time and place. They (1996) reveals how international organizations are historically, culturally, and temporally con- like the European Commission are also gen- tingent. This focus on multiple masculinities dered bureaucracies in which the “male” norm (Carrigan et al., 1985; Connell, 2000) has been is dominant and masculine practices of resis- particularly helpful in naming and examining tance to female leadership persist. In the light of the shifting nature of (asymmetrical) power changing forms and practices of management relations not only between men and women, but worldwide, interrelations of men, masculinities, also between men, in organizational workplaces and management in contemporary organiza- and management. It also begins to recognize tions are likely to become even more important. that gendered power relations can simultane- Connell (1998) has spelled out the form of ously both change (in character) yet remain transnational business masculinity that, he argues, broadly the same (in structure). is increasingly hegemonic and is directly con- The multiplicity and diversity of masculini- nected to the patterns of world trade and com- ties is also partly shaped by the different forms munication that are dominated by the North. and locations of workplaces—the sites of work This is a dominant masculinity marked by and of masculinity (D. L. Collinson & Hearn, egocentrism, highly precarious and conditional 1996b). These sites are likely to vary, for forms of loyalty, and a declining sense of 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 296

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responsibility (also see Hearn, 1996a). This companies had women CEOs. More recently, a “fast-capitalist entrepreneur” is also increasingly survey of the largest 100 Finnish corporations libertarian in regard to sexuality, staying in hotels showed that overall, there is 1 woman on the around the world that provide businessmen with board for every 9 men, and in top management pornographic videos and even well-developed the ratio is 1 woman for every 9.4 men (Hearn, prostitution networks. Kovalainen, & Tallberg, 2002). There is some Recently, there has been growing interest in evidence of increases in women in middle man- the analysis of men and masculinities in management and small business ownership, and thus agement and leadership. This increasing interest management overall (Davidson & Burke, 2000; sheds new light on the analysis of workplace Vinnicombe, 2000). However, at the highest power relations (D. L. Collinson & Hearn, executive levels and for directorships, the 2000a). Relevant studies include those on the numbers may actually be declining, static, or historical development and association of men increasing very slowly indeed (Institute of and management (Hollway, 1996); the place of Management/Remuneration Economics, 1998; men and management in reproducing patriar- Veikkola et al., 1997).1 chy (or patriarchies) (Hearn, 1992b); transfor- Although various masculinities frequently mations in forms of managerial masculinities shape managerial practices, managerial prac- (Roper, 1991, 1994); the relationship of bureau- tices also can affect the emergence of specific cracy, men, and masculinities (Bologh, 1990; masculinities. For example, pervasive and D.H.J. Morgan, 1996; Sheppard, 1989); the con- dominant managerial masculinities might take tinuing numerical dominance of men, especially the form of different workplace control prac- at the highest levels; the reconceptualization tices such as authoritarianism, careerism, pater- of management-labor relations in terms of nalism, and entrepreneurialism (D. L. Collinson & interrelations of masculinities (D. L. Collinson, Hearn, 1994, 1996b). Roper (1991, 1994) 1992); the actions and reactions of men in both describes how British male managers in the male-dominated and “female-concentrated” postwar era frequently identified strongly with organizations (Lupton, 2002, Nordberg, 2002); machinery and products. Undervaluing the role processes of managerial identity formation of labor in the manufacture of products, male (Kerfoot & Knights, 1993); and the use of managers tended to fetishize the masculine self masculine models, stereotypes, and symbols in through the idolization of products. Kerfoot and management. Knights (1993) contended that paternalism and As noted earlier, men continue to dominate strategic management are concrete manifesta- business management, constituting about 95% tions of historically shifting forms of masculinity. of senior management in the United Kingdom Arguing that these managerial approaches both and the United States. This is especially so at reflect and reinforce “discourses of masculin- the very top and more highly paid levels of the ism,” they suggested that “paternalistic mas- business sector, where men compose as much as culinity” and “competitive masculinity” have 98% of top managers. Davidson and Burke the effect of privileging men vis-à- vis women, (2000) reported that “in the European Union ranking some men above others, and maintain- countries fewer than 5 per cent of women are in ing as dominant certain forms and practices of senior management roles and this percentage masculinity. Managerial masculinities might thus has barely changed since the early 1990s” be understood as form(s) of (different) hegemonic (p. 2). Men’s domination is even more pro- masculinities. nounced in the boards of directors of large com- In our own work, we have examined the ways panies. The 1998 UK Institute of Management that (men) managers can routinely discriminate survey found that 3.6% of directors were against women in selection (D. L. Collinson, women (Institute of Management/Remuneration Knights, & Collinson, 1990, Hearn & Collinson, Economics, 1998; also see D. L. Collinson & 1998; also P. Y. Martin, 1996, 2001) and can Hearn, 1996a). This compares with a figure of mismanage cases of sexuality and sexual harass- 17% of directors who were women on the 114 ment (D. L. Collinson & Collinson, 1989, 1992; Finnish stock exchange–listed companies M. Collinson & Collinson, 1996). In addition, in 1995 (Veikkola, Hänninen-Salmelin, & we have considered the ways that men managers Sinkkonen, 1997, pp. 83-84). Two of these as (working) fathers can frequently “distance” 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 297

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themselves from children and family responsi- Kanter (1977, 1993) used the term bilities (D. L. Collinson & Hearn, 1994, 2000b). “homosocial reproduction” to describe the Within organizations, such “distancing” strate- processes by which senior male managers gies are often seen as evidence of commitment selected other male managers in ways that repro- to the company, yet these kinds of pressures duced an all-male managerial elite. Typically, can significantly reinforce stresses, gendered men were appointed to managerial positions stresses, within families, which have their own because they were perceived to be more reliable, gendered power relations (D. L. Collinson & committed, and predictable, as well as free from Collinson, 1997). The potential development of conflicting loyalties between home and work. men’s nonoppressive, even profeminist manage- Although Kanter’s study usefully describes how ment and leadership also has been explored elitist practices can characterize management, it (Hearn, 1989, 1992a, 1994). is less valuable in analyzing the gendered nature There are also innumerable ways in which the of these persistent interrelations and networks authority and status of managers can signify (see also Acker, 1989; Pringle, 1989; Witz & “men” and, indeed, vice versa, just as there are Savage, 1992). Kanter contended that what many signs that can simultaneously signify the appear to be differences between men and power of both “manager” and “men.” These cul- women in organizations are related not to gen- tural processes of signification include the size der, but to work position and the structure of and position of personal offices; office furniture opportunity. In seeking to deny difference, she and the display of pictures, paintings, and plants; failed to recognize fully how organizational the use or control of computers and other tech- power relations are frequently heavily gendered. nological equipment; and, of course, the choice Her concern to separate “sex” from “power” of clothing. Although business suits appear to inevitably neglects the way that particular mas- have a transnational significance, their particular culinities may be embedded in and help to style, cut, and cost are also important, not least reproduce and legitimize managerial power and as a means of managing impressions through authority (see D. L. Collinson & Hearn, 1995). “power dressing” (Collier, 1998; Feldman & In organizations where the manager is also Klich, 1991). The color and style of shirts, the owner, power relations can be especially braces, shoes, and socks, as well as the size and asymmetrical and gendered. The ways in pattern of ties (see Gibbings, 1990), can carry which the ownership of many businesses is still totally embodied and context-specific meanings passed on from one generation to the next confor both managers and men that may reflect and stitutes a vivid example of “patriarchy in reinforce their organizational hegemony. action.” In the majority of these cases, it is the Managerial masculinities are also hege- son who inherits the firm from his father, thus monic within organizations in the sense that those ensuring the reproduction of patriarchal in senior positions enjoy comparatively high authority, both in the workplace and at home. salaries and ancillary remuneration packages Highlighting the gendered nature of the so- through secretarial support, share options, com- called “self-made man,” R. Reed (1996) con- pany cars, pensions, extensive holiday entitle- trasted the lives of David Syme (1827-1908), ments, and other material and symbolic benefits. the Scottish-born Australian publisher of The Even when they are dismissed, managers may Age newspaper, and Rupert Murdoch, the con- receive substantial “golden handshakes,” and temporary Australian-born international media poor performance does not seem to prevent entrepreneur. Whereas Syme conformed to the reemployment in other lucrative, high-status Weberian image of the sober, self-made mod- managerial positions (Pahl, 1995). On the other ern capitalist who adopted a paternalistic and hand, there is also some movement toward a dutiful approach to management, Murdoch’s “proletarianization” and reduced security for style is adventurist and more akin to premod- some managers, as in delayering and business ern forms of capitalism and management. process reengineering. This is an important Studies of entrepreneurialism also reveal the trend that might signal a fundamental historical interdependence between men’s organizational shift in the class and gender relations of both power and the family. For example, Mulholland nonmanagers and managers, especially those at (1996) conducted research on 70 of the richest the less senior levels. entrepreneurial families in a Midlands county 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 298

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of England. She found that although men address the ways that men’s power, cultures, and consistently claimed the credit for their business identities can change yet remain ascendant in success, in practice their capital accumulation contemporary organizations. This is an impor- was highly dependent on the hidden household tant, apparent paradox. On one hand, gender (and workplace) services provided by wives/ relations are changing; women and men are women. Other studies report similar dynamics apparently changing. Yet on the other hand, whereby men’s careers are constructed through there is an intractability and tenacity in men’s the invisible support of women as secretaries dominant organizational position. Indeed, one and wives (for example, Finch, 1984; Grey, of the key issues to address is the paradoxical 1994; Reis, 2004). and contradictory ways in which asymmetrical There is a growing interest in leadership power relations simultaneously change yet development as the “solution” to many con- remain broadly similar. Analyses need to temporary organizational problems (Deal & address the flexible, shifting, and often ambigu- Kennedy, 2000). In the United Kingdom, ous nature of gendered power relations in gen- “heroic,” “strategic,” and “visionary” leaders are eral and men’s power, cultures, and identities in still often seen as the key to organizational particular. success in both the private and public sectors. Charismatic leadership was also a key theme in the 1980s discourses on corporate culture. THE LIMITS OF Psychologists (e.g., Schein, 1985) and manage- HEGEMONY AND MULTIPLICITY ment consultants (e.g., Peters & Waterman, 1982) emphasized corporate leaders’ responsi- As the foregoing discussion suggests, there have bility for “managing meaning” (G. Morgan, been significant developments in the analysis of 1997) and establishing strong organizational hegemony and multiplicity in relation to men cultures (Deal & Kennedy, 1982). Writers such and masculinities within organizational work- as Peters and Austin (1985) presented long tax- places and management. Recently, however, onomies of prescriptions on how to be a vision- there also have been a number of concerns ary leader who, above all else, can and must expressed about these key concepts within criti- manage and manipulate organizational culture. cal studies on men. Among other recent cri- Such charismatic leadership styles are deeply tiques, it has been argued that masculinities, as masculine in their assumptions and images a theoretical concept, is (a) unclear in meaning, (Hearn & Parkin, 1988). The popular emphasis (b) too descriptive, (c) overly negative, (d) obso- on the power and impact of individual “great lescent, and (e) oversimplifying in its construc- men,” especially CEOs, stands in contrast to tion of power relations. We now turn to these the current broader research-based, though virtu- debates and discuss each of these criticisms in ally always ungendered, focus on upper echelon turn, emphasizing their implications for the management and management teams (Goines, analysis of men in work, organizations, and 2002; Hay Group, 2001; Surowiecki, 2002; management. Weisbach & Hermalin, 2000). In sum, the term “multiple masculinities” has Meaning? emerged as an important concept that helps to demonstrate the pervasive, diverse, and shifting First, it has been argued that although the character of men’s hegemonic power, culture, term is now well established, the meaning of and identity in contemporary organizations. “hegemonic masculinity/multiple masculini- Certain masculinities usually predominate and ties” (HM/MM) remains somewhat unclear, are privileged in organizations and manage- vague, and imprecise, lacking in definition ment, but they can take different forms at differ- (Donaldson, 1993). Does “masculinity” in this ent times in different organizations and within context refer to men’s behaviors, identities, rela- different strata of an organization. The term tionships, experiences, appearances, images, “multiple masculinities” helps to illustrate how discourses, or practices in workplaces? If it organizational and gendered power relations can includes all of these, precisely how does it do shift in detail while simultaneously remaining so? If one means men’s work practices, both asymmetrical in overall structure. It begins to collective and individual, then it would be 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 299

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simplest to say so. Also, if there is hegemonic forms of relationship—especially those involving masculinity, it would be reasonable to look for spontaneity, ambiguity, and intimacy—are to be resistance to hegemonic masculinity, in orga- avoided because they involve “letting go” of the nizations and management, as elsewhere (Don- barriers of predictable scripts and revealing vul- aldson, 1993). Equally, if the term can also be nerability. Whitehead (2001) argued that gender used to describe some women’s behavior, then change will occur only when men adopt a more its meaning becomes even more flexible, vague, self-reflexive approach to their own gendered and difficult to specify.2 identity. Based on his research in the further Other related criticisms include its possible education sector, he contends that many men ethnocentrism, lack of historical/spatial/cultural remain “the invisible gendered subject,” unable specificity, and false causality (Hearn, 1996b). to understand the gendered realities surrounding Wetherell and Edley (1999) showed that the them. term “masculinities” is rather vague, sketchy, Bird (1996) argued that through male and imprecise, especially when one researches at homosocial, heterosexual interactions, hege- the micro level of talk and conversation. More monic masculinity is maintained as the norm to broadly still, the focus on masculinities may which men are held accountable. For Bird, male facilitate a possible psychologism (McMahon, homosociality (conceptualized as the nonsexual 1993), and thus neglect asymmetrical gender attractions held by men) is about emotional structural relations, within patriarchy or patri- detachment, being highly competitive, and archies (Hearn, 1992b). A growing number of viewing women as sexual objects. These inter- studies in this area have emphasized the discur- related values perpetuate hegemonic masculin- sive, ideological, and symbolic aspects of hege- ity, suppress subordinate masculinity, and monic masculinity, thereby rejecting essentialist reproduce a pecking order among men. Simi- or deterministic perspectives. A minority have larly, Kimmel (1994) contended that dominant also focused on the material and economic masculinity is best understood as “homopho- dimensions of men’s power and identity in orga- bia,” that men’s fear of other men is the “ani- nizations. An adequate account needs to examine mating condition of the dominant definition of both the material and discursive features of mas- masculinity in America” (p. 135). He is partic- culinity, within the context of patriarchal social ularly concerned with “marketplace masculinity,” relations (D. L. Collinson, 1992; Hearn, 1992b). which he describes as the normative definition Some writers have been unwilling to provide of U.S. masculinity. This includes the character- a single definition of masculinity/ies. Connell istics of aggression, competition, and anxiety. (1995), for example, is reluctant to offer such a The (work-related) “marketplace” is the arena in definition because he wants to emphasize the which manhood is tested and proved. This defi- shifting and contingent character of masculinity. nition of “hegemonic masculinity” sets the stan- Others, however, have tried to define the central dard against which all men are measured and meanings of “masculinity” and/or “hegemonic against which other forms of manhood are eval- masculinities.” For example, Kerfoot and uated, a notion of manhood that is equated with Knights (1996, 1998) examined the privileged being strong, successful, capable, reliable, and form of masculine identity associated with dom- in control. Kimmel argues that masculinity is “a inant management practice—abstract, rational, defence against the perceived threat of humilia- calculating, highly instrumental, controlling of tion and emasculation in the eyes of other men” its object, future-oriented, strategic, and, above (p. 135). In this sense, dominant cultural defini- all, masculine and wholly disembodied. These tions of masculinity are strongly related to masculine managerial subjectivities typically the place of men and men’s practices in work, are expressed in aggressive and competitive employment, and organizations, and thus in some practices concerned to succeed, master, and cases management. The economic “marketplace” dominate. Kerfoot (2001) argued that contem- is held to produce the cultural. porary managerialist masculinity is character- Hence, there has been a revitalized search ized by the instrumental search for control, the to conceptualize masculinity, to focus on the elimination of uncertainty, and the intense goal- shared commonalities and gendered features driven pursuit of “performance” and “success.” that define or encapsulate contemporary “man- For managerial masculinities, noninstrumental hood.” These concerns are partly related to 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 300

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growing interest in the ways that subjectivities asymmetries. For example, just as a major issue interact with power relations, a development within feminism has been the relation of com- which we see as productive and valuable. This monalities and differences between women, so approach is informed in particular by recent men can be analyzed usefully in terms of com- poststructuralist developments in studies of both monalities and differences, within the context management and gender that emphasize the of patriarchy. In organizations, there are often need to recognize that workplace power rela- tensions between the collective power of men and tions are multiple, ambiguous, and frequently the differentiations between them (D. L. Collinson characterized by contradictory outcomes. Post- & Hearn, 1994, 2000b). structuralist analyses are keen to avoid the Men’s power is maintained partly through essentialism that tended to characterize earlier their commonalities with each other. Typically, attempts at defining masculinity. men are bound together, not necessarily consciously, by shared interests and meanings (for Descriptive? example, sport), dominant sexuality, socioeconomic-political power, and representational Second, the term “multiple masculinities” has privileging. Men’s collective power persists been criticized for being merely descriptive and partly through the assumption of hegemonic documenting various differences and “types.” It forms of men and masculinities—often white, is indeed possible that a focus on difference heterosexual, and able-bodied—as the primary could collapse into a taxonomy of masculinities form, to the relative exclusion of subordinated and a list of objectified categories of men. A men and masculinities. Different men, dominant more sophisticated critique might also observe or otherwise, are reproduced in relation to other that constructing typologies may itself constitute social divisions. Indeed, in many social arenas a masculine and/or managerial preoccupation there are tensions between the collective with the control of the world and the meanings in power of men/masculinities and differentiations it; a totalizing exercise intended to achieve a among masculinities, defined through other kind of closure. Work and organizations provide social divisions such as age, class, family, status, clear opportunities for such evaluative, hier- generation, race, and sexuality (Hearn & archizing processes. Categorization fails to Collinson, 1994). address either men’s lived social experience “as Within critical studies on men and masculin- men” or the fluidity, shifting, and changing charities, there is often an unresolved tension acter of all social relations, identities, and prac- between the analysis, on one hand, of multiplic- tices, as examined by Kondo (1990) at work. It ity and diversity, and on the other, of men’s may also pose difficulties in acknowledging the structured domination, their shared economic sheer complexity of the very large number of and symbolic vested interests and sense of unity. possible permutations and interrelations of types We refer to this somewhat polarized debate as of men in organizations. The numerical combi- the unities and differences between men and nations are themselves complicated by the diver- masculinities (Hearn & Collinson, 1994). Here, sity of ways, at work and elsewhere, in which a particularly important question is whether the interrelations can exist and develop. unities or differences should be attributed ana- In our view, the emphasis on multiple lytical primacy. Furthermore, how are they to be masculinities is much less about categorizing related? We argue for the need to examine both differences between men than about critically the unities and the differences between men and examining power differences between men as masculinities as well as their interrelations. By well as between women and men. Studies that examining these processes simultaneously, we highlight the diversity of men’s workplace power, can develop a deeper understanding of the gen- status, and domination seek to analyze the multi- dered power relations of organization; the con- ple, shifting, but tenacious nature of gendered ditions, processes, and consequences of their power regimes. This approach has the potential to reproduction; and how they could be resisted examine and understand the often contradictory and transformed. It is important to take account organizational relations through which men’s of both the unities and the differences between differences and similarities are reproduced and men and masculinities as well as the ways that transformed in particular practices and power these may overlap in specific organizational 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 301

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processes. The increasing emphasis on identities, and their multiple motives in fire multiplicity and differentiation needs to be com- fighting. They were concerned to “get in” to bined with a consideration of men’s unities and extinguish fires; uphold their professional/ their interrelations. This approach can con- humanitarian ethos in efficient and effective tribute important insights into the conditions, service for the public (for example, to be calm processes, and consequences of gendered power under pressure, brave but modest); experience relations in organizations and the ways that the “adrenaline rush” of successfully undertak- these may be reproduced, rationalized, and/or ing dangerous, life-saving work; and maintain an resisted. identity as a “good firefighter.” However, Alvesson and Due Billing failed Negative? to locate the studies they criticized in their context, and they did not always read very care- A third criticism of HM/MM is that it pre- fully those that they critiqued. Many of the stud- sents an overly negative orientation toward men ies they criticized were written against the in the workplace. For example, the recurrent backdrop of both mainstream and critical litera- message from a recent book by Alvesson and tures that have treated gender as largely irrele- Due Billing (1997) is that established theories vant. Equally, men’s exercise of power and of gender and organizations are rather exagger- authority can in certain times and places have ated and too critical (sic) of men and masculin- seriously negative effects not only for women ity. These writers question the perspectives and children, but also for other men and for men of radical feminists and “masochistic” (p. 32) themselves. In their concern to highlight nega- men that, in their view, construct a world of tivity and oversensitivity, Alvesson and Due “innocent” (p. 200) and “good” (p. 203) women Billing tended to underestimate the potential and “nasty” (p. 200), “evil” (p. 30), and “bad” detrimental processes and consequences of (p. 203) men. Alvesson and Due Billing are dominant masculinities in the workplace, highly critical of what they see as “gender over- including the effects on women, both at home sensitivity,” referring to a tendency to use and in organizations. For example, the Chal- gender as a totalizing explanation, treating it lenger space shuttle disaster illustrates the as relevant and decisive everywhere. For them, potentially disastrous consequences that hege- many feminist studies exaggerate the impor- monic masculinities can have on key managerial tance and asymmetry of gender in organizations decisions where high-risk decisions are and focus on “misery stories.” Alvesson and informed by managers “doing masculinity” by Due Billing argue that gender patterns are com- suppressing doubt, fear, and uncertainty (Maier plex, often ambiguous, and contradictory, and & Messerschmidt, 1998; Messerschmidt, 1996). are likely to vary in rich and crucial ways over time and space. Obsolescent? We agree with Alvesson and Due Billing that organizational life cannot be reduced exclusively A fourth, and in some ways related, critique to processes of gender, and indeed, we previ- of this literature has been outlined by MacInnes ously have written to that effect (D. L. Collinson (1998, 2001), who contends that we are witness- & Hearn 1996a, 1996b). Equally, we accept that ing “the end of masculinity.” For him, mas- there can be important positive aspects of some culinity is not only limited as a term but men’s masculine identities. While we can be also actually becoming obsolete as a way of highly questioning of many “heroic” ideologies describing contemporary social structures and that elevate corporate leaders, there is a need to processes, including in work and organizations. recognize that acts of male altruism, heroism, Masculinity can be seen as “the last ideological care, and courage certainly do occur and that defence of male supremacy in a world that has these can be informed by traditional masculine already conceded that men and women are values and priorities. Masculine identities can equal” (2001, p. 326). Accordingly, he suggests indeed inform acts of great sacrifice for others. that critical studies of masculinity, or what he For example, Baigent (2001) critically examined terms “the politics of identity approach to mas- the ways in which firefighters construct and culinity” (2001, p. 323), which focus on men’s reproduce specific masculine cultures and “emotional inarticulacy,” are misleading. He 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 302

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suggests that they assume that only men can be “multiple masculinity/ies” can be criticized for masculine and that masculinity can become “a oversimplifying workplace power relations and general term for anything we don’t like” (2001, for neglecting their simultaneous, counter- p. 324). He argues that if gender is socially con- vailing, and potentially contradictory character. structed, then we must accept that women also For example, men managers’ power is not only can be masculine. Equally, MacInnes argues about gender but also about hierarchy, bureau- that such studies of masculinity tend to present cracy, class, age, ethnicity, payment systems, a psychological focus on masculine identity to and so on. Rarely, if ever, is it possible to reduce the extent that the impact of social structures, complex organizational processes and power including work and organizational structures, relations exclusively to issues of gender and/ is underestimated or neglected. In his view, this or masculinity. Teasing out the relationship approach confuses symptom and cause, such between masculinities and other key features that the term masculinity “obscures the analysis of organizations and, in particular, other social of social relations between the sexes” (2001, divisions and inequalities requires further atten- p. 327). Consequently, he rejects the interest in tion. Managerial control and labor resistance, critiquing and transforming masculinity as a for example, might in certain cases be shaped way of struggling for greater gender equity in by specific masculinities, but they will not be favor of a shift toward the pursuit of equal rights totally determined by them. To focus only on for women and men. gender or men and masculinity may not provide In our view, MacInnes is too hasty in sug- a complete account of these complex processes. gesting that masculinity has outlived its rele- Equally, though, their neglect often renders crit- vance. His account also tends to dismiss issues ical analyses of power relations fundamentally of subjectivity entirely in precisely the way that flawed. he complains that those interested in masculinity In emphasizing HM/MM, there is a danger neglect social structure. By contrast, an interest of excluding other social divisions and power in subjectivities in relation to power asymme- inequalities in organizations and of failing to tries does not necessarily constitute a collapse appreciate the interrelations of these divisions into psychologism and the neglect of structure in and inequalities. On one hand, it is important the ways that MacInnes suggests. Rather, it can to acknowledge the way in which masculinities significantly enhance the analysis of workplace can change over time; be shaped by underlying power relations by illuminating the processes ambiguities and uncertainties; differ according through which structures are negotiated, repro- to class, age, culture, ethnicity, and similar fac- duced, and resisted. For an understanding of tors; and also be central to the reproduction of masculinity, we believe that it is important to other social divisions. On the other hand, this examine the interplay and the interconnections emphasis on hegemony and multiplicity ought between social (and work and organizational) not to degenerate into a diversified pluralism structures and subjectivities. The analysis of that gives insufficient attention to structured pat- subjectivities can assist understanding of how terns of gendered power, control, and inequality. organizational structures are reproduced and As Cockburn (1991) wrote, a focus on multiple maintained in particular practices. More specifi- masculinities should not “deflect attention from cally, an awareness of the multiple sources of the consistency in men’s domination of women identity (and the ways that these may be in ten- at systemic and organizational levels, from the sion) can assist the identification of the crosscut- continuation of materials, structured inequali- ting nature of workplace power relations and ties and power imbalances between the sexes” thereby produce more complex accounts of (p. 225). She argues that this increasing empha- “hegemonic/multiple masculinities” that recog- sis on plurality and multiplicity needs to retain a nize ambiguity, simultaneity, and contradiction, focus on the structured asymmetrical relations as we discuss below. of power between men and women. Different social divisions can cut across Oversimplification? asymmetrical power relations in multiple, mutually reinforcing or counterposing ways. So, for A final area of concern is the issue of example, white, male-dominated shopfloor workplace power relations. “Hegemonic” and masculinities may be hegemonic in terms of 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 303

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gender, ethnicity, or sexuality but simultaneously An important contradictory feature of subordinated with regard to class, hierarchy, and hegemonic and multiple masculinities in organi- workplace status (D. L. Collinson, 1992). Men’s zations is the intense competition that typically control and authority as managers may be more characterizes relations between men. The highly contradictory, precarious, and heterogeneous competitive nature within and between hege- than often it at first appears. For example, the monic and multiple masculinities appears to be recent delayering and intensification of manage- fueled by a concern to display dominance and rial work, particularly through measurement and validate identity. Yet, the competitive practices evaluation, significantly problematizes the view of other men may actually render the search that management constitutes the most clear-cut for dominance at best highly precarious and form of hegemonic masculinity (D. L. Collinson at worst an impossible long-term goal, by rein- & Collinson, 1997). The hierarchical and gen- forcing the very insecurity competition was dered power of male managers is by no means intended to overcome. Competitive workplace homogeneous, monolithic, or inevitable. Power cultures may therefore reproduce the material relations are complex and shifting (Kondo, (for example, wages, job security) and symbolic 1990), sometimes mutually reinforcing but on (status, reputation, and identity) insecurities that other occasions crosscutting, with countervailing individuals seek to overcome through compet- and contradictory effects. ing successfully. Hence, when we try to apply notions of Men frequently invest their identities in “hegemonic” or “multiple” masculinities to particularly individualized, competitive work- organizational issues, their meanings are not place projects, such as the search to validate always obvious. Masculinities (for example, masculine identity through career progress that white, gay masculinities or black, middle-class inevitably intensifies competition within orga- masculinities) can carry internal contradictions nizations. A “successful” career may be an between elements confirming or undermining important medium through which men seek to power and identity. Indeed, it may be difficult establish masculine identities in the workplace. to address these contrary processes through Upward mobility can be a key objective in the the notion of “hegemonic masculinities.” Other search to secure a stable, middle-class mascu- concepts, such as manliness, maleness, and line identity and to embellish the male ego. manhood, may be more appropriate in different For those who are promoted into management, historical and cultural contexts. On one hand, such identities are reinforced by the remunera- men often seem to collaborate, cooperate, and tion, status, and perks of most senior positions. identify with one another in ways that reinforce Competitive career strategies often reflect the a shared unity between them. On the other way in which men are still, in many cultures, hand, these same masculinities also can be positioned as the privatized breadwinners characterized simultaneously by conflict, com- whose primary purpose is to “provide” for their petition, and self-differentiation in ways that families. Yet, particularly in the current con- highlight and intensify the differences and ditions of “delayering,” widespread redundan- divisions between men. Accordingly, the unities cies, and extensive career bottlenecks, there that exist between men should not be over- are considerable contradictions associated stated. They are often precarious, shifting, and with such orientations. Committed to upward highly instrumental. Herein may lie the seeds progress, men often feel compelled to work of change, as illustrated in the classic Marxist longer hours, meet tight deadlines, travel exten- account of class conflict, class struggle, and the sively, participate in residential training “fundamental contradiction” of capital and courses, and move house at the behest of the labor, and feminist accounts of the contra- company. These work demands are likely to be dictions, and hence dynamics of change, of incompatible with domestic responsibilities and patriarchy. Indeed, classic Marxist, many neo- can contribute to the breakdown of marriages. Marxist, and many other accounts of class Equally, as men grow older, they are likely to struggle and economic class relations can them- slow down and thus be less able to compete selves be reformulated as gendered accounts, effectively with their younger, more “hungry” privileging men and certain masculinities (see and aggressive male colleagues. Hence, in the Morgan, Chapter 10, this volume). short and/or long term, career competitiveness 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 304

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is unlikely to achieve the kind of security at multiple masculinities; two interrelated and work for which men often strive. central concepts in the literature on critical stud- Given the socially constructed, multiple, ies of men. While recognizing the validity of and shifting character of identities and power several of these concerns, we have also chal- asymmetries, these attempts may actually rein- lenged those writers who appear to reject the force the very uncertainty and ambiguity they concern to develop a critical approach to under- are intended to overcome (D. L. Collinson & standing men and masculinities in organiza- Hearn, 1994, 2000b). Equally, men’s masculine tions. Rather than try to deny the significance of identities can be further threatened by social and a critical approach to men and masculinity/ies, economic forces such as increasing female we view the primary and pressing issue as the employment, new technology, unemployment, need to develop more sophisticated understand- feminism/equal opportunity initiatives, and ings of these very important concerns that have domestic and marriage relations, as well as by impacts in many, if not all, organizational and class and status divisions. Men’s search to social settings. construct masculine identities in the eyes of colleagues (and themselves) appears to be an ongoing, never-ending project that can be CONCLUDING DISCUSSION characterized by ambiguity and contradiction. Like all identities, masculine selves constantly This chapter has overviewed recent debates in have to be constructed, negotiated, and achieved the critical literature that seeks to make explicit both in the workplace and elsewhere through the gendering of men and masculinities in work, simultaneous processes of identification and organizations, and management. The emphasis differentiation. Barrett (2001) argues that in recent critical studies on “hegemonic” and masculine identities in the U.S. Navy are con- “multiple” masculinities raises important ques- structed by differentiating the self through out- tions regarding the contemporary analysis of performing, discounting, and negating others. workplace power relations as well as the prac- Underpinning these concerns, he suggests, is an tices through which they are reproduced and enduring sense of subjective insecurity that is contested. Many of the more or less critical not resolved but reinforced by these processes. studies of “men”/“masculinities” and “work”/ Accordingly, these masculine identity strategies “organization”/“management,” discussed in this reproduce insecurity and competition, which in chapter, are part of the general deconstruction of turn reinforce the perceived need for identity- the unified, rational, transcendent subject of protection strategies. men. This critical approach facilitates a chal- Such men’s gender identities are constructed, lenge to men’s taken-for-granted dominant compared, and evaluated by the self and others masculinities. This, in turn, could facilitate the according to a whole variety of criteria indi- emergence of less coercive and divisive organi- cating personal “success” in the workplace. This zational structures, cultures, and practices; a tendency to become preoccupied with seeking fundamental rethinking of the social organiza- to define coherent identities through identification of the domestic division of labor; and a tion and differentiation may further reinforce, transformation of “men at work.” rather than resolve, the very sense of insecurity Although hegemonic masculinity and multi- these strategies were intended to overcome ple masculinities are useful concepts in the (D. L. Collinson, 1992). The dual experience critical analysis of gender relations in the work- of “self” and “other” is a central and highly place, more theoretical and empirical work ambiguous feature of human subjectivity, often is necessary to develop these ideas. Several reinforced by the multiple nature of identities conceptual and theoretical problems remain and the asymmetrical nature of conventional unresolved (see also D. L. Collinson & Hearn, gendered power relations. When attempts to 1994, 2000b; Hearn, 1996b). First, the concep- construct and sustain particular identities try to tualization of “masculinity/ies” requires further deny this ambiguity and uncertainty, they are clarification. For example, how do the ideologi- likely to be unsuccessful. cal/discursive and symbolic features of mas- To summarize, this section has considered a culinities interrelate with economic, material, number of issues in relation to hegemonic and and physical aspects? Second, the ways in 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 305

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which masculinities relate to other elements of Moreover, changes in internal structures of power, culture, and subjectivity in organizations transnational corporations and organizations need greater consideration. For example, in have implications for gender relations therein. what ways and with what consequences are Relations between companies within larger multiple masculinities embedded and inter- transnational corporations may have further woven in other workplace practices, such as impacts, depending on whether they are highly control, consent, compliance, and resistance? integrated and strongly centralized globally, or There needs to be greater focus on the inter- local networks. Strongly centralized transna- connections, tensions, and contradictions within tional corporations contrast with polycentric and between these different aspects of work- transnational corporations, with looser guide- place power, culture, and subjectivity. Third, lines for subsidiaries on, for example, corporate while recognizing a multiplicity of possible equal opportunities policies. Centralized trans- masculinities and workplace sites, analyses national corporations may be more likely to also need to retain a focus on the structured develop consistency in such policies, even if asymmetries of gendered power relations. their local impact is variable. Decentralized Finally, there is a need, both theoretically and transnational corporations may be more likely empirically, to take regard of the changing shape to develop more autonomous, variable struc- of organizations and managements. Whereas tures in local or functional units. previously most organizations could be relatively Organizations—that is, gendered organiza- isolated geographically, this is increasingly tions—need to be understood as a shorthand becoming problematic, as organizations are reor- for a wide range of social connected structures ganized across time, space, and even cyberspace and processes, including multi-organizations, and cybertime. The place of the notion of organi- transnational organizations, interorganizational zation in relation to transnationalism, globali- relations, network organizations, Internet organization, glocalization (Robertson, 1995), and the zations, and virtual organizations. These chang- impact of new information and communication ing historical conditions, in turn, create many technologies is becoming progressively more more possible positions of power, hegemony, complex. This means that the rather rapid change and multiplicity for men and masculinities, and in the relationship of time and space makes it hence many more ways for men, organizations, increasingly necessary to question the equation and managements to be reciprocally formed, in of organization, work, and place (see Hearn & this late modern, glocalizing world (Hearn, Parkin, 2001; Connell, Chapter 5, this volume). 1996a; Connell, 1998). Such possible power The nation-state is no longer necessarily the positions are themselves still made possible by most important economic or political unit. The the organization of unpaid work and the total dominance of local and national organizations social organization of labor (Glucksmann, and nation-states is problematized by the 1995). growth of transnational organizations and corporations, as part of globalizing processes. Transnational corporations constitute collective NOTES social actors that may transcend the nation, being in some cases larger in size than individ- 1. Studies of women managers’ coping strategies ual nations. Their growing importance stems also reveal the persistence of “hegemonic” managerial particularly from their operation across national masculinities. For example, J. Martin (1990) showed boundaries, rather than simply within one or a how senior men expected women managers to orga- few nations, and their recent overall expansion. nize cesarean operations to fit in with the launch of The GNP of some nation-states is exceeded by new products. Sheppard (1989) found that women the assets of many supranational corporations. managers’ strategies of resisting or trying to blend in Of the 100 largest economies, half are corpo- to the dominant male culture were both ineffective (see also Scase & Goffee, 1989). Frequently experi- rations and half are countries. The world’s 500 encing a “no-win” situation (Cockburn, 1991), women largest industrial corporations, which employ managers may decide to resign, possibly to become only 0.05% of the world’s population, control self-employed (Kanter, 1993). This was the case 25% of global economic output and 42% of the in Marshall’s research (1995), in which women world’s wealth (Korten, 1996, 1998, p. 4). managers frequently felt isolated, excluded, and 17-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:28 PM Page 306

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continuously tested on masculine criteria of success Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (1996). Making sense such as toughness, political skill, and total commit- of management. London: Sage. ment. Pierce (1996) argued that in the U.S. courtroom, Baigent, D. (2001). Gender relations, masculinities with its adversarial model of dispute resolution, male and the fire service. Unpublished doctoral thesis, lawyers act as “Rambo litigators” seeking to dominate Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UK. through intimidation and “strategic friendliness.” She Barrett, F. (2001). The organizational construction found that those women litigators who adopted simi- of hegemonic masculinity: The case of the U.S. lar strategies were denigrated, whereas women who Navy. In S. Whitehead & F. Barrett (Eds.), The were more supportive were seen as “too soft” and masculinities reader (pp. 77-99). Cambridge, compliant. In the United Kingdom, Wajcman (1998) MA: Polity. found that the very few women in her study who Beams, M. (1979). One woman’s work is another “made it” into senior management felt compelled to woman’s daughter: A contribution to the sociol- “manage like a man,” working long hours, being ogy of childbirth. Women’s Studies International totally committed to the organization, and being Quarterly, 2, 57-67. “tough,” “hard,” and at times aggressive. Although Berle, A. A., & Means, G. C. (1932). The modern female managers had to abandon aspects of their fem- corporation and private property. New York: ininity to develop attributes more typically associated Macmillan. with male executives, systematic gender inequalities Bird, S. (1996). Welcome to the men’s club: Homo- ensured that women’s experience in management sociality and the maintenance of hegemonic could not be the same as that of men. Wajcman con- masculinity. Gender and Society, 10, 120-132. cluded that, because these female managers are in Blum, J. A. (2000). Degradation without deskilling: most respects indistinguishable from their male coun- Twenty-five years in the San Francisco ship- terparts, there is no such thing as a “female” manage- yards. In M. Burawoy et al. (Eds.), Global ment style (also see Boulgarides, 1984; Eagly & ethnography (pp. 106-136). Berkeley: University Johannesen-Schmidt, 2001; Powell, 1993). of California Press. 2. Indeed, another area of critique follows from Bologh, R.W. (1990). Love or greatness? Max Weber the question of whether masculinities are irreducibly and masculine thinking—a feminist inquiry. related to men or instead are discourses in which London: Unwin Hyman. women can also invest. It could be argued that Boulgarides, J. D. (1984). A comparison of male women in organizations behave in similar ways to and female business managers. 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STILL A MAN’S WORLD?

Studying Masculinities and Sport

MICHAEL A. MESSNER

ecently, two sports events stirred enough also was controversial: Some male golfers, led controversy to spill the stories off the by Vijay Singh, snarled at her inclusion, implying R sports pages and into wider public that it insulted the integrity of the game to include discussion and debate. First, in 2002-2003, the a woman. Other male golfers were openly sup- U.S. Secretary of Education formed a commis- portive of her inclusion. Similarly, some media sion to evaluate Title IX, the popular 30-year- pundits criticized her inclusion as “inadequate” old law that is credited by women’s sports and “awful,” while others wrote in admiration of activists as a primary force behind the dramatic Sorenstam’s skill and courage. Sorenstam’s growth of girls’ and women’s sports. By almost inclusion in the PGA event became—at least for any measure, men’s sports still receive far more a few weeks—one of the main topics of discus- money, scholarships, attention, and adulation sion on talk radio, letters to the editor, and around than do women’s sports, yet critics blame Title office watercoolers. IX for a kind of “reverse discrimination” that These two events—debates over Title IX in they claim has threatened or eliminated ath- school sports and debates about including a letic opportunities for boys and men. Around the woman in a men’s pro sports event—are salient time of the commission’s hearings, emotional because they echo continuing controversies at and sometimes vitriolic public hearings were the heart of gender and sports. Should sport, as held; editorials were written; and letter-writing a social institution that is an integral part of campaigns to the White House were organized. schools and universities, offer equal opportuni- The second recent event that made a large ties? Should boys and girls, and women and media splash occurred in 2003, when pro golfer men, play sports together? Do coed sports reveal Annika Sorenstam was invited to compete in a how similar we are, or do they unveil essential Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) event. differences between women and men? These That Sorenstam would become the first woman debates don’t go away or get “resolved,” and to play head-to-head in a major tournament that is because sport continues to be more than a against the men since Babe Didrikson Zaharias, place to play and recreate. Sport is a key terrain more than half a century earlier, was big news. It of contest for gender (and race, class, sexual,

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and global) relations. It is a highly visible women and sport were still in their infancy, and forum in which male and female bodies are they were also for the most part limited to literally “built,” their limitations displayed, analysis of sex roles. their capacities debated. As such, it is a key site This changed rapidly in the 1980s, as the for ideological contest over the meanings of foundation was laid for the development of “masculinity,” as well as “femininity.” a broader and deeper scholarly study of men Both the opposition to Title IX and some and sport. One layer of this foundation was built of the more vitriolic opposition to Annika on the increasingly sophisticated works by Sorenstam’s competing in the PGA reprise an feminist scholars studying women and sport argument that goes back well over a hundred (e.g., Birrell, 1984; Hall, 1984; Theberge, 1981). years. Men, we learn from the historical and Second, in 1985, Don Sabo systematically laid social scientific literature on sport, created mod- out the first programmatic statement of what a ern sport as an institution that affirms the cate- profeminist research agenda on the topic of men gorical superiority of male bodies over female and sport could look like (Sabo, 1985). Sabo bodies, as well as men’s centrality in public life. sketched out an array of specific research topics The idea of sex equity in sports, as well as the and questions on boys’ socialization through reality of a woman athlete successfully compet- sport, competition and success, bodies, emo- ing with top male athletes, directly threatens the tions, pain and injury, aggression and violence, ideology of male superiority, and thus men’s sexuality, male athletes’ devaluation of women, positions of centrality. Fortunately, over the past and the possibilities for sport to develop in 30 years or so, scholars of sport, gender, and progressive, profeminist directions (including masculinity have built a rich foundation of questions about “cross-sex sport”). Over the next research that now can be drawn upon to inform decade, Sabo and other scholars took up most of these public debates. In this essay, I will give an these questions. overview of this work and point to some current Third, scholars in the late 1980s increas- challenges and new directions in research on ingly drew ideas from R. W. Connell’s emergent sport and gender. theorization of masculinities (Connell, 1987). Connell supplied sport studies scholars with a conceptual toolbox with which to examine the SPORT AS A CONTESTED TERRAIN complexities of gender dynamics in men’s sports, without falling into the traps and limita- In the wake of the second wave of feminism, tions of sex role theory. Scholars could see that and often inspired by the nascent “men’s liber- sport is an institutional realm in which men ation movement,” a trickle of essays about construct and affirm their separation from, and men, masculinity, and sport began to emerge domination over, women. But sport does not in the 1970s (e.g., Farrell, 1974; Naison, 1972; operate seamlessly to reproduce men’s power Schafer, 1975). The best of these works were over women; sport also has been a realm in collected in Sabo and Runfola’s groundbreak- which men of dominant groups (in the United ing 1980 book, Jock: Sports and Male Identity. States, white, heterosexual, middle- and upper- These works contained the kernel of what other class men) have affirmed their dominance and scholars later would develop into more sophis- superiority over other men. Connell’s concepts ticated critiques of the sexism, homophobia, of hegemonic, marginalized, and subordinated violence, and militarism at the heart of men’s masculinities gave conceptual form to the emer- sports. Many of these works, however, were gent idea of gender as multiple. These concepts journalistic, anecdotal, and/or personal cri- gave scholars a language with which to speak tiques of sport. There were two reasons for this. about seemingly paradoxical gender dynamics: First, there was as yet no systematic and Hegemonic masculinity, the currently dominant theoretically sophisticated analysis of men and and ascendant form of masculinity, is con- masculinities in gender studies. Most scholarly structed as not-feminine, but also simultaneously studies of men were still mired in the largely as not-gay, not-black, not-working class, and ahistorical, static, and categorical language of not-immigrant. This idea is fundamental to many sex role theory. Related to this first limitation of the chapters in the first scholarly collection of was a second: In the 1970s, feminist studies of works on men, masculinities, and sport. In Sport, 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 315

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Men, and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist and by feminists (Bryson, 1987; Messner, 1988; Perspectives (Messner & Sabo, 1990), scholars Whitson, 1990; Willis, 1983). critically examined the ways that sport affirms Based on this foundational work in gender men’s power over women, as well as the fissures studies and in feminist sport studies, scholars and contradictions (especially along lines of since the early 1990s have contributed to an race, social class, and sexualities) within and explosion of studies of men, masculinities, and between masculinities. sport. Critical analyses of masculinities were Historical scholarship also informed the fundamental to empirical studies of gay male 1980s work on men and sport. Sport in industri- athletes (Anderson, 2002; Pronger, 1990); the alizing societies developed as a “male pre- lives of male athletes of different social classes serve” separate from women’s spheres of life and racial/ethnic groups (Messner, 1992); (Dunning, 1986). Sport also served to differen- African American males’ “cool pose” and sport tiate ruling men from subordinated men. In the (Majors, 1990); sexual and gender paradoxes in 19th and early 20th centuries, the British con- the lives of male bodybuilders (Klein, 1993); the sciously developed sport in their public schools sporting culture of Australia (McKay, 1991, as a means of preparing boys to administer 1997); how masculinities mesh with class poli- the British Empire (Mangan, 1986). The British tics in Canadian hockey (Gruneau & Whitson, eventually extended their schooling system, 1994); the production of masculinities in along with sports like cricket, to the middle Mexican baseball (Klein, 2000); and the produc- classes of the colonized nations, in hopes that tion, imagery, and consumption of the Sports these middle-class men would adopt British Illustrated “swimsuit issue” (Davis, 1997). morality, ethics, and values and thus help to The idea that sport is, on one hand, a modern solidify colonial control. It didn’t always work bastion of patriarchal power, and on the other that way. Historian and social analyst C. R. L. hand, a terrain that has been contested continu- James (1983), in his brilliant book on cricket in ally by women and by marginalized men, has the colonial West Indies of the 1920s and 1930s, been foundational in studies of sport and gender. shows that the British sporting ethic tended to Over the past two decades, concrete studies of cut both ways. On one hand, public schools— gender and sport have repeatedly demonstrated and especially cricket—taught middle-class how the once unquestioned bastion of power- mulatto (mixed race) West Indian boys and ful, competitive, hierarchical, and often violent young men the values of “Puritanism” and heterosexual masculinity is not a seamless patri- “moral restraint,” as well as the “general superi- archal institution. Rather, the very heart of the ority of British culture” (James, 1983, p. 72). gender regime of men’s sport is contested and But because teams were strictly segregated wrought with contradiction and paradox by race as well as nationality (British vs. colo- (Messner, 2002). These contradictions and para- nized), the game provided a context in which the doxes have been explored within a number of contradictions of racism and colonial domina- thematic areas, three of which I will next briefly tion were laid bare. For James and others, then, discuss: bodies, health, and violence. the cricket field often became an important arena for symbolic resistance against racism and Bodies British domination. In the United States, modern men’s sport A key ideological outcome of sport has was formed during industrialization and urban- been to create the illusion that masculinity natu- ization, in a time of shifting work and family rally coheres to male bodies, and femininity to dynamics for women and men, at the tail end of female bodies, and that these binary categories the first wave of feminism, and amid racist fears of male/masculinity vs. female/femininity are of immigration (Crosset, 1990; Kimmel, 1990). naturally and categorically different (Dworkin At this time, sport bolstered faltering ideologies & Messner, 1999). However, as Connell (1987) of white middle-class masculine superiority over has noted, if the differences between men and women, and over race- and class-subordinated women are so natural, then why do people put men. But throughout the 20th century, sport was so much work and effort into creating, marking, a contested terrain—contested by working class and defending these differences? Indeed, empir- women and men, by women and men of color, ical research into the construction of male 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 316

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bodies in sport lays bare the profoundly social we must conclude that variation among bodies basis of categorical and essentialist gender ide- exists along a “continuum of difference.” Differ- ology. Rather than revealing something about ences between male and female bodies tend to human “nature,” research illuminates sport as be average, not categorical, and there are far a collective practice that constructs masculin- greater differences among men’s bodies than ity. Connell’s (1990) life history study of an there are average differences between women Australian “Iron Man” athlete illustrates how and men. Many women are faster, stronger, and the mental, emotional, and physical training more agile than many men. Those committed to regime involved in becoming a top competitive categorical thinking might have seen Annika athlete encourages a man to block or ignore Sorenstam’s “failure” in 2003 to make the cut in fears, anxieties, or other inconvenient emotions, the PGA event that she played in as “proof” that while mentally controlling his body to perform men are better players than women. Armed with its prescribed tasks. “The decisive triumph,” the idea of a “continuum of difference,” we Connell concludes, “is over oneself, and specif- might instead observe that Sorenstam finished ically over one’s body. The magnificent machine with a poorer score than a number of men, but of [the iron man’s] physique has meaning only she also finished with a better score than several when subordinated to the will to win” (Connell, other men. In addition, she’s clearly a better 1990, p. 95). Similarly, Klein’s (1993) ethno- golfer than more than 99% of women and men graphic study of male bodybuilders illustrates who play golf throughout the world. not only the quite literal construction of hard male bodies but also the emotional insecurities, Men’s Health health costs, sexual anxieties, and contradictions that lie beneath the layers of muscle. Scholarly research on men and sport has Athletic careers construct masculine bodies as pointed to another paradox concerning bodies. machines or tools, often in the process alienat- Popular wisdom tends to see sport as healthy ing men from their health, feelings, and rela- activity, and sporting bodies as paragons of fit- tionships with others (Messner, 1992). But ness and health. But research reveals that men’s athletic male bodies are not shaped only by sport activity is often associated with unhealthy gender; race, social class, sexual orientation, practices, drug and alcohol abuse, pain, injury, and national origin also help to shape particu- and (in some sports) low life expectancy lar embodiments of masculinity in sport. For (White, Young, & McTeer, 1995; Young & instance, gay male athletes may embody an White, 2000). In an often-reprinted article that “ironic” masculinity (Pronger, 1990), black drew on his experience as a college football male athletes often embody a “cool pose” player, Don Sabo (1994) argued that boys and (Majors, 1990), and Mexican baseball players men were subject to a highly authoritarian may embody a combination of “toughness and system of control that taught them to conform tenderness” that is antithetical to simplistic to what he called “the pain principle.” To stereotypes of the “macho” Latino male (Klein, become successful athletes, Sabo argued, male 2000). athletes tend to If studies of men’s sports began to reveal both the constructedness of masculine bodies adopt the visions and values that coaches are and their limits, the growing body of literature offering: to take orders, to “take out” opponents, on women’s sports further shattered simplistic to take the game seriously, to take women, and to take their place on the team. And if they can’t take essentialist thinking about differences between it, then the rewards of athletic camaraderie, pres- women and men. What sport illustrates, Judith tige, scholarships, pro contracts, and community Lorber (1996) concluded, is not natural categor- recognition are not forthcoming. (p. 87) ical difference but social construction of such. Gendered institutions (like sport) create binary This system of rewards and punishments is sex categories, not the opposite. Indeed, in a backed up by a lifetime of group-based social- highly influential article, Mary Jo Kane (1995) ization that teaches boys to “shake it off,” ignore argued that the more we observe girls and boys their own pain, and treat their bodies as instru- or men and women running, swimming, jump- ments to be used—and used up—to get a job ing, and playing competitive sports, the more done. Boys learn early on that if they don’t 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 317

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conform to the pain principle, they may lose at the center of male athletic culture (Burstyn, their position on the team, or they may be 1999). A number of studies of men’s college labeled as “women,” “fags,” or “pussies” for not athletics in recent years have pointed to statisti- being manly enough to play hurt. The world of cally significant relationships between athletic sport clearly is one in which homophobia polices participation and sexual aggression (Benedict the boundaries of acceptable masculine prac- & Klein, 1997; Boeringer, 1996; Fritner & tices, and nowhere is this more clear than in the Rubinson, 1993; Koss & Gaines, 1993). Todd ways boys learn to be manly through risk taking. Crosset and his colleagues surveyed 20 univer- Through this social process, it eventually comes sities with Division 1 athletic programs and to seem “natural” for boys and men to decide to found that male athletes, who in 1995 consti- play hurt—perhaps with the aid of painkilling tuted 3.7% of the student population, were 19% drugs—thus risking their long-term health of those reported to campus Judicial Affairs (Messner, 1992). Offices for sexual assault (Crosset, Benedict, & Scholars view the mantra of “no pain, no McDonald, 1995; Crosset, Ptacek, McDonald, gain” as paradigmatic of the health costs paid & Benedict, 1996). In a subsequent article, by boys and men who were socialized to nar- Crosset (2000) argued that researchers have been row, instrumental goal orientations through using too broad a brush in looking generally at sport (McKay, 1991). But male athletes’ accep- the relationship of “men’s sports” to violence tance of pain and injury, as well as their instru- against women. Studies that have compared mental goal orientation concerning their across various sports have found important dif- bodies, is not a phenomenon that is particular to ferences: The vast majority of reported assaults the world of sport. Similar, for instance, are the were perpetrated by athletes in “revenue “workaholics” in the professional and corporate producing contact sports” like basketball, foot- world and the nonathlete high school boys who ball, and ice hockey. These data, according to take anabolic steroids mostly for cosmetic rea- Crosset, should warn us of the dangers of sons. It may be, in fact, that athletic male bodies “clumping all sport environments together are merely amplified versions of the more under the rubric of athletic affiliation” (p. 152). general ways that boys and men are encour- Perhaps fearing that pointing the finger at aged to engage the world in their bodies. Thus, high-profile athletes will reinforce oppressive research on men and sport may serve as a use- stereotypes of African American males (who ful window for scholars who are interested make up about 80% of the National Basketball in developing a more general study of men’s Association [NBA], for instance) as violent health (Sabo & Gordon, 1995). This may be sexual predators, activists like Donald especially true of studies that explore the struc- McPherson (2002) prefer instead to pull male tured channeling of disproportionate numbers athletes into positions of responsibility to of men of subordinate social classes and racial/ educate peers to prevent violence against ethnic groups into the more risky and violent women. This question of how antisexist orga- sports. These men’s experiences tend to mirror nizing against men’s violence against women and reinforce the kinds of health risks that might fan the flames of racism is a real concern marginalized groups of men face more gener- to researchers in this field. As the media frenzy ally in the workforce, the military, the street, or surrounding the trials of Mike Tyson and prisons (Sabo, 2001). O. J. Simpson (for rape and for murder, respectively) illustrated, American culture seems Violence especially obsessed with images of what Stuart Alan Clarke (1991) called “black men One of the most fruitful research trajectories misbehaving”—especially if the alleged mis- to develop from scholarly research on men and behaviors involve a combination of sex and sport has focused on male athletes’ violence violence. Racist stereotypes of black men as against women (Brackenridge, 1997; Young, violent sexual predators have historically 2002). Research suggests that far from being an served as a foundation for institutional and aberration perpetrated by some marginal personal violence perpetrated against African deviants, male athletes’ off-the-field violence is Americans. So, when data reveal that college generated from the normal, everyday dynamics athletes in revenue-producing sports have 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 318

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higher rates of sexual assaults against women, NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH there is a very real danger that the term “ath- ON MEN,GENDER, AND SPORT letes in revenue-producing sports” will smuggle in racist stereotypes as a thinly veiled code The first wave of studies on masculinities and word for black male athletes (Berry & Smith, sport in the late 1980s and early 1990s focused 2000). mostly on illuminating men’s experiences Evidence suggests that the apparent overrep- within the homosocial “sportsworld.” There resentation of black male athletes charged with have been two interrelated shifts away from sexual assault in college is due to their dramatic this focus in recent years. First, many scholars overrepresentation in the central team sports of are conducting studies that explore women’s football and basketball. When we look at high and men’s relational constructions of gender in schools, where white males are more evenly sport. Second, many scholars are challenging represented in the student athlete population, and stretching the conventional conceptualiza- we see that white male athletes perpetrated tion of “the sportsworld” as an object of study. many of the most egregious examples of sexual At the heart of this challenge is a strong move assaults. When we look at Canada, where white toward greater interdisciplinarity. For the most men dominate the central sport, ice hockey, we part, the idea of race/class/gender/sexual orien- see that white males commit the vast majority tation “intersectionality” is built into these new of sexual assaults by athletes (Robinson, 1998). directions in research. Following this logic, we can hypothesize that the more salient variable is not male athletes’ Gender as Relational race or ethnicity, but their positions at the center of athletics, that makes some male athletes Because sport historically has been orga- more likely to engage in sexual assault than nized as extremely sex segregated, it should not others. surprise us that the first wave of studies of sport Researchers have increasingly focused on tended to focus either on “men’s sports” or on the group interactions that underlie male ath- “women’s sports.” In the past decade, facilitated letes’ violence against women. Studies of boys by the increasing growth and integration of in sports have revealed the early development of girls’ and women’s sports in communities, group-based dominance bonding, grounded in schools, and universities, scholars have shifted aggressive, homophobic, and misogynist talk their focus toward studies of boys and girls, men and banter (Eveslage & Delaney, 1998; Fine, and women. These studies have the advantage 1987; Hasbrook & Harris, 2000). Studies of the of illustrating the relational construction of gen- competitive and sexually aggressive interactions der (and often, race, social class, and sexuality in men’s locker rooms (Curry, 1991; Kane & as well). To be sure, this shift is a matter of Disch, 1993), and of college men’s sexual and degree: The best of the earlier studies always violent dynamics in a sports bar (Curry, 2000), examined men’s or women’s homosocial sport have been especially illuminating in this regard. experiences within the context of sophisticated There is no single factor that explains how male relational theories of gender, race, and class. athletes come to assault women (or other men, Today, we see an increasing commitment to in some cases). Rather, a combination of several empirical studies of gender relations in sport. group-based factors create a context that makes Inspired partly by Thorne’s (1993) pioneer- violence likely: misogynist and homophobic ing work on children’s construction of gender in dominance bonding, a learned suppression of schools, scholars of sport have increasingly empathy for others, a “culture of silence” within turned their attention to relational studies of the group, and an institutional environment that children, gender, and sport (Hasbrook, 1999). valorizes and rewards the successful utilization For instance, Hasbrook and Harris’s (2000) of violence against others (Messner, 2002). Inter- study of inner-city first- and second-graders vention strategies that aim to educate coaches illustrated how athletic bodies facilitate the con- and athletes about sexual assault, or to reform struction of race- and class-based masculinities men’s sports, attempt to confront and change and femininities in grade schools. Messner these group dynamics (Messner & Stevens, (2000) used an observation of a group interac- 2002). tion between 4- and 5-year-old girls’ and boys’ 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 319

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soccer teams to illuminate the structural and Sabo, Melnick, & Farrell, 2002), and educational symbolic context of gendered interactions. outcomes among various groups of boys and Shakib and Dunbar (2002) compared boys and girls who play high school sports (Videon, girls in high school basketball, while Laberge 2002). All these studies challenge simplistic and Albert (2000) studied the social class impli- categorical assumptions about boys, girls, and cations in adolescent girls’ and boys’ interpreta- sports, and suggest new questions for future tions of boys’ “gender transgressions.” research. Sport has also entered public discussions of Relational studies of emergent sport forma- how to prevent youth crime and deviance. For tions are also contributing to the broadening instance, in the early 1990s, there was a public of the field. Wheaton and Tomlinson (1998) debate about creating “midnight basketball” in observed that gendered patterns among wind- inner cities to keep young males off the streets, surfers do not conform to those in dominant and busy with what were perceived to be posi- institutional sports that most sport studies schol- tive activities (Hartmann, 2001). But research ars have studied. This raises the question, they indicates that social reformers who see sport as suggested, of whether marginal or emergent a way to prevent youth crime should be aware of sports might provide space for different—even the limitations of what sport activities can offer oppositional—constructions of gender. Research children. Initiatives like midnight basketball on BMX bicyclists suggests further complexities: also reveal the tendency to view racialized cate- Perhaps rather than providing a space for the gories of “at-risk” youth (especially African development of more egalitarian relations, some American boys) as potential social problems “extreme sports” are expressions of a backlash who might be rescued from criminality by by white males who feel that their positions of sports (Coakley, 2002). centrality have been threatened by the ascen- The growth of relational studies of children dancy of girls and women, and by men of color and youth in sport has been mirrored by the (Kusz, 2003). Studies of coed sports point to emergence of relational studies of adults. In additional paradoxes: When women and men what is probably the most sophisticated empiri- play sports together, there are highly visible cal application of Connell’s theory of gender, moments of gender transgression that challenge McKay (1997) compared the political and insti- gender ideologies. However, the formal rules of tutional dynamics of affirmative action policies coed sports, as well as the ways that players “do in sport in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. gender,” tend to reaffirm gender boundaries and The ways that women’s “invisible labor” often ideologies of natural difference (Henry & props up men’s leisure and sport activities has Comeaux, 1999; Wachs, 2002, 2003). been the topic of two excellent studies. Shona Thompson’s (1999) book Mother’s Taxi illuminates how women’s labor facilitates children’s FROM SPORTSWORLD and men’s sport and leisure. Similarly, Boyle TO SPORTS IN THE WORLD and McKay (1995) studied the exploitation of older women’s labor in men’s recreational sport. Recent scholars of sport, men, and gender have Relational studies have also begun to reflect increasingly connected their analysis of sport to on health and fitness. Dworkin (2003) observed other (nonsport) institutional and cultural forms. how the gendered geography of gyms con- This shift is a matter of degree. Sport studies tributes to a “glass ceiling” on women’s muscu- scholars have long pointed to ways that sport lature. In addition, recent studies that draw on connects to, reflects, and reinforces cultural values national survey data shed new light on differ- and power relations in nonsport institutional ences and similarities among various groups of spheres of life. But earlier works tended to focus high school athletes and nonathletes in terms of more on life inside “the sportsworld,” and this health outcomes and risks among teen athletes may have contributed to a ghettoization of sport (K. E. Miller, Sabo, Melnick, Farrell, & Barnes, studies. In recent years, the study of sport 2000), gender and race patterns in athletic par- and gender has become more integrated with ticipation and self esteem (Tracy & Erkut, other scholarly fields. Scholars increasingly 2002), anabolic steroid use among adolescent frame their object of study not as “the sports- male and female athletes (K. E. Miller, Barnes, world,” but instead as “sports in the world.” In 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 320

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particular, we see the integration of the study of televised sports that boys and men watch sport within broader cultural studies approaches concluded that the multimillion-dollar “sports- to the mass media and consumption (McKay & media-commercial complex” supplies boys Rowe, 1997; T. Miller, 2001), general cultural and men with a consistent set of images, which critiques of race relations (Boyd, 1997; the authors call “the televised sports manhood Carrington, 1998), and examinations of the gen- formula” (Messner, Dunbar, & Hunt, 2000). dered division of labor and leisure in families This formula is an ideological package of mes- (Boyle & McKay, 1995). sages that encourage boys and men to value risk One of the most fruitful dimensions of this taking and violence, to tolerate pain and injury, interdisciplinary “cultural turn” in studies of gen- and to treat girls and women either as peripheral der and sport concerns studies of media imagery to men’s activities, or as sexualized objects of (Whannel, 2002). Drawing from the critical cul- consumption. In a world of rapidly changing tural studies tradition, scholars have analyzed the gender relations, the televised sports manhood cultural meanings of race and gender in media formula appears as a stabilizing force for con- coverage and broader cultural productions of ventional, asymmetrical, and unequal relations sport. For instance, Cole and King (1998) pre- between women and men. It also continually sented a fascinating analysis of the ways that tweaks the insecurities of boys and men, and it the popular documentary film Hoop Dreams offers them pseudo-empowerment through con- expresses cultural tensions about race and gender sumption of beer, snack foods, and auto-related in a postindustrial, post-Fordist and postfeminist products (Messner, 2002). America. Other studies have focused on the con- The “cultural turn” in sport studies meshes tradictory meanings of popular star athletes like well with the turn toward relational studies of U.S. baseball player Nolan Ryan (Trujillo, 1991), gender: Men’s homosocial “sportsworld” does and U.S. pro basketball player and MTV star not exist in isolation—men’s relations within Dennis Rodman (Dunbar, 2000). In this same sport, and the images of masculinity projected vein, a recent collection includes fascinating case by the sports media, are integral parts of boys’ studies of athletes like basketball star and “post- and men’s relations with each other, and with modern celebrity” Michael Jordan (McDonald & girls and women, in schools, families, and Andrews, 2001), Generation X icon of white workplaces. One important area in which schol- masculinity Andre Agassi (Kusz, 2001), and ars are beginning to explore these connections British football celebrity Ian Wright’s role as “the concerns the connection between sports vio- most visible postmodern black cultural icon in lence on and off the field. McDonald (1999) Britain today” (Carrington, 2001, p. 103). This explored the gender and race dynamics in media genre of research is increasingly global in its coverage of well-known male figures in sport scope. It also tends to challenge some of the who were accused of domestic violence. In an assumptions of liberalism that underlie many innovative study, Sabo, Gray, and Moore (2000) conventional sociological studies of sport. For interviewed women who had been physically instance, Brian Pronger (2000) examined the abused by their male partners during or shortly suppression of the erotic and the narrowing of after the men watched televised sports. This the concept of masculinity that has occurred in kind of study begins to give researchers and mainstream “gay sports” and asked a critical activists a handle on what the links might be question—“Who’s winning?”—when gay men between a man’s act of violence against a embrace the very cultural forms (like mainstream woman partner and his acts of viewing violent sport) that have been so much a part of their his- sports, drinking alcohol, and gambling on toric oppression. sports. Similarly, Wenner’s (1998) and Curry’s An important backdrop for these cultural (2000) studies of sports bars begin to show the analyses of sport is a continuing core of studies construction of (sometimes violent) masculini- that document the asymmetrical quality and ties within the context of an institution that quantity of coverage of women’s and men’s thrives on men’s consumption of televised sports in the mass media (e.g., Curry, Arriagada, sports and alcohol. & Cornwell, 2002; Eastman & Billings, 2001; Studies of media treatment of “sexual Messner, Duncan, & Cooky, 2003; Messner, deviance” by big-name male athletes have been Duncan, & Wachs, 1996). One study of the especially useful in illuminating the intersections 18-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 321

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THE STUDY OF MASCULINITIES AND MEN’S HEALTH

An Overview

DON SABO

cholars and researchers have begun to in men’s health studies generally followed the study the influences of gender on men’s conceptual trajectory of interdisciplinary gender S health and illness (Courtenay & Keeling, studies and, more particularly, the study of men 2000; Sabo & Gordon, 1995; Schofield, and multiple masculinities (Connell, 2000; Connell, Walker, Wood, & Butland, 2000). The Courtenay, 2000; Sabo, 1998). growth of women’s health movements in the Today, the study of men’s health has 1960s and 1970s fueled systematic and inter- expanded from a handful of isolated scholars and disciplinary studies of gender and health, and by activists to an international array of researchers, the mid-1980s, the focus on gender had become health promoters, health educators, and special- a recognizable aspect of epidemiology, medical ists working in world health organizations, gov- sociology, and interdisciplinary studies of ernment programs, health care delivery systems, psychosocial aspects of illness (Lorber, 1997; academia, public health offices, and community- Stillion, 1985; Verbrugge, 1985; Waldron, based organizations. In academia, a nascent yet 1983). However, most of this early work on recognizable subfield within gender studies has gender and health revolved almost exclusively taken shape. There is a growing awareness in around women. For some men, the reconceptu- social scientific and biomedical circles that alization of gender that was initiated by feminist males share specific health risks and needs; for scholars and activists became the inspiration for example, a nurse working in a prostate cancer the emergence of “men’s studies” in the 1970s clinic thinks in terms of “men’s health” as well and 1980s. As the new men’s studies took shape as “women’s health,” and a reproductive health in men’s minds and politics, so too did some of educator in Toronto, Canada, develops a these early male scholars begin to explore how program to teach adolescent males about safe conformity to traditional masculinity sometimes sex. “Gender-specific health” is becoming a increased men’s physical health risks and biomedical specialty (Legato, 2000b). Most impoverished their emotional lives. The theory recently, men’s health professionals and scholars

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have begun to think about their work within pioneering analysis of the links between gender global frameworks, communicating and net- and health, however, did not include critical working across national and cultural boundaries scrutiny of men’s health, and only a few male (Courtenay, 2002). This global network is more writers in the early “men’s liberation” movement a vision than a reality, but men’s health studies alluded to men’s health issues (Nichols, 1975; promise to expand in future decades. Snodgrass, 1977). Some prominent writers This chapter renders an overview of the focused on men’s health issues such as the risks history and development of the study of men’s imposed by violence and overinvestment in work health, along with providing a discussion of key and career (Farrell, 1975; Feigen-Fasteau, 1974; theoretical models and some of men’s gender- Goldberg, 1976, 1979). Sabo (2000) described specific health issues. Several groups of boys the thinking around men’s health in the 1970s as and men with unique health needs are identified, “exploratory,” that is, “tangentially informed by and finally, some global frameworks for under- feminist theory and politics, and conceptually standing men’s health are presented. This organized around the general premise that men’s overview is incomplete because the subfield of conformity to traditional masculinity produce men’s health studies has gotten too large, com- certain health deficits” (p. 134). plex, and global for any one person to fully mon- During the 1980s, male scholars elaborated itor, so my primary focus on North American the deficit model of men’s health with greater issues and developments is evident. zeal and detail. The emergence of profeminist men’s movements, the growth of the “new men’s studies” (Brod, 1987) and research on “men and ORIGINS AND HISTORY masculinity,” and the rapid growth of sex role theory in mainline social sciences formed a con- North American research and writing on men’s ceptual framework for explaining how confor- health during the 1960s generally collapsed men mity to traditional masculinity elevated health and masculinity into a demographic category. risks. Bravado in boys was linked to fighting and Biomedical researchers reported variations in physical injury, drinking, and automobile acci- morbidity and mortality “by sex,” and disease dents, while the “demands of the male role,” rates between “the sexes” were compared and stress, and symptom denial were tied to men’s contrasted. A historical irony had unfolded. The risk for coronary heart disease (Harrison, Chin, bulk of academic scientific medical research & Ficcarrotto, 1992). Stillion (1985) explored after World War II had focused mainly on men differences in the ways females and males per- because most physicians were men, men domi- ceived sickness and death. Sabo, Brown, and nated medical research, and it was men and not Smith (1986) documented how men’s adherence women who were selected as research subjects to the traditional husband-provider role shaped for most studies (Legato, 2000a, 2000b). Not their experiences with a female partner’s breast only did the patriarchal biases of male medical cancer and mastectomy. Jackson’s (1990) critical researchers produce myopic and sexist views of autobiography explored how his masculine iden- women, but they also reduced the personal and tity suffused his experiences of being diagnosed cultural aspects of men’s lives to biological and and treated for heart disease. The growth of gay statistical categories. The gendered aspects of rights activism in the 1980s also fueled public both women’s and men’s health behaviors and health initiatives and educational efforts regard- outcomes were not discerned. ing gay and bisexual men. There were protests The growth of women’s health movements against governmental and homophobic indiffer- during the 1970s challenged the patriarchal sta- ence to the health needs of gay and bisexual tus quo. Second Wave feminists made many men, and community-based awareness grew researchers and health practitioners acutely concerning the need for safe sex and the dangers aware of gender relations. They decried men’s of HIV transmission. In contrast, very little domination of health care delivery systems, research or health initiatives focused on the exposed sexism in the diagnosis and treatment of health needs of poor men or men of color. women, and explored how women’s adoption of During the 1990s, the study of men’s health certain feminine traits and behaviors negatively grew rapidly, integrating clinical and epidemio- affected physical and mental health. Women’s logical research findings into progressively 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 328

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interdisciplinary conceptual frameworks that occurs where the pattern of gender relations is highlighted the workings of gender (Courtenay, associated with unfavorable health processes or 2002). Analyses of men’s health closely followed outcomes for one or both sexes; for example, a theoretical developments in what in various schol- depressed male batters his wife, triggering arly circles were called men’s studies, the new physical injury and emotional trauma. men’s studies, or critical studies of men and mas- Courtenay (2002) extends the vision of rela- culinity. The use of critical feminist perspectives tional models this way: to analyze men, masculinity, and health emerged as “men’s health studies” (Sabo & Gordon, 1995). These models would take into account the Building on critiques of sex role theory’s narrow dynamic intersection of various health determi- focus on gender identity, socialization, and con- nants, such as those among biological functioning, formity to role expectations, critical feminist environmental pollution, psychological well- thinkers argued that men’s health is profoundly being, social and cultural norms, genetic predis- affected by power differences that shape relation- position, institutional policies, political climates, ships between men and women, women and and economic disparities. (p. 9) women, and men and men (Courtenay, 2000). Connell’s (1987, 1995) concept of “hegemonic Such “relationships,” he argues, cover a chal- masculinity” forged a conceptualization of men’s lenging span of human interactions and social gender identity as actively worked out, revamped, structures, including relations between men and and maintained by individuals who are situated in women, men and men, individuals and institu- socially and historically constructed webs of tional structures, cultures, and nations around power relations—and it is amid these myriad the world. (More is said about globalization and webs that health processes and outcomes were men’s health later in this chapter.) understood to take shape. Critical analyses of men’s health increasingly recognized the “plurality of masculinities” and the intersections among SIFTING THROUGH gender, class, race/ethnicity, and sexual orienta- DEMOGRAPHICS OF DIFFERENCE tion. Men’s health behaviors unfolded within multiple hierarchies composed of rich and poor men, Ashley Montagu (1953) long ago observed the First World and Third World men, straight and marked differences in the mortality rates gay men, and professional men and those who between males and females. Because males labored in factories or on farms. died earlier than females throughout the entire Most recently, relational theories of gender and human life span, from conception to old age, health have emerged that recognize that men’s he argued that men were biologically inferior and women’s health outcomes are intricately to women. Epidemiological data show, for interconnected (Sabo, 1999; Schofield et al., example, that males in the United States are 2000). Most scholars have focused on health and about 12% more likely than females to experi- illness within each sex rather than between the ence prenatal death and about 130% more likely sexes. As Schofield et al. (2000) stated it, “A gen- to die during the first three months of life. Table der relations approach is one which proposes that 19.1 illustrates the disparities between male and men’s and women’s interactions with each other, female infant mortality rates (i.e., death during and the circumstances under which they interact, the first year of life) across a 50-year span of the contribute significantly to health opportunities 20th century. Men’s greater mortality rates persist and constraints” (p. 251). Sabo (1999) has devel- through the “age 85” subgroup and, as Table 19.2 oped a model for assessing the health impacts of shows, male death rates are higher than female various relationships between the sexes. He rates for 12 of the 15 leading causes of death in argues that a “positive gendered health synergy” the United States (National Center for Health exists where the pattern of gender relations pro- Statistics, 2002). motes favorable health processes or outcomes for Whereas biological differences between the both sexes; for example, a husband-father’s con- sexes probably influence the variation in mortal- tributions to child care and domestic work free ity rates, social and cultural processes are also at up the wife-mother to pursue a fitness agenda. play. For example, women’s relative advantage In contrast, a “negative gendered health synergy” over men in life expectancy was rather small in 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 329

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Table 19.1 Gender and Infant Mortality Rates for the United States, 1940-1989

Year Both Sexes Males Females

1940 47.0 52.5 41.3 1950 29.2 32.8 25.5 1960 26.0 29.3 22.6 1970 20.0 22.4 17.5 1980 12.6 13.9 11.2 1989 9.8 10.8 8.8

SOURCE: Adapted from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 40(8, Suppl. 2), p. 41. NOTE: Rates are for infant (under 1 year) deaths per 1,000 live births for all races.

Table 19.2 Ratio of Male to Female Age-Adjusted Death Rates, for the 15 Leading Causes of Death for the Total U.S. Population in 2002

Number of Total Male to Female Rank Cause of Death Deaths Percentage Ratio

1 Diseases of heart 710,760 29.6 1.4 2 Malignant neoplasms 553,091 23.0 1.5 3 Cerebrovascular 167,661 7.0 1.0 diseases 4 Chronic lower 122,009 5.1 1.4 respiratory diseases 5 Accidents (unintentional 97,900 4.1 2.2 injuries) 6 Diabetes mellitus 69,301 2.9 1.2 7 Influenza and pneumonia 65,313 2.7 1.3 8 Alzheimer’s disease 49,558 2.1 0.8 9 Nephritis, nephritic 37,251 1.5 1.4 syndrome, nephrosis 10 Septicemia 31,224 1.3 1.2 11 Intentional harm (suicide) 29,350 1.2 4.5 12 Chronic liver disease and 26,552 1.1 2.2 cirrhosis 13 Essential hypertension and 18,073 0.8 1.0 hypertensive renal disease 14 Assault (homicide) 16,765 0.7 3.3 15 Pneumonitis due to solids 16,636 0.7 1.8 and liquids

SOURCE: Adapted from National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Report, 50(15), September 16, 2002, Table C.

the early 20th century (Verbrugge & Winegard, life expectancy was slowed by higher rates of 1987; Waldron, 1995). As the century pro- heart disease and lung cancer, which, in turn, gressed, female mortality declined faster than were owed mainly to increased smoking among male mortality, thus widening the gender gap in males. In recent decades, the differences life expectancy. While women benefited from between men’s and women’s mortality rates decreased maternal mortality, the rise in men’s have narrowed, partly because women have 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 330

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increasingly taken up smoking and other risk that both differences and similarities in men’s behaviors that elevated their rates of heart and women’s health exist and, furthermore, that disease and certain cancers. The historical vari- changes in gender roles during recent decades ations in gender differences in life expectancy “may produce changes in men’s and women’s in the United States, Canada, and other post- experiences of health and illness” (p. 623). industrial nations suggest that both biology In summary, although some gender differ- and sociocultural processes shape men’s and ences in mortality and morbidity are associated women’s mortality. Waldron (1983) speculated with biological or genetic processes, or with that gender-related behaviors contribute more reproductive biology (e.g., testicular or prostate than biogenic factors to the variations in mortal- cancer), it is increasingly evident that the largest ity between the sexes. variations in men’s and women’s health are Although females generally outlive males, related to shifting social, economic, cultural, and they report higher rates of acute illnesses such behavioral factors (Courtenay, McCreary, & as respiratory conditions, infective and parasitic Merighi, 2002; Kandrack, Grant, & Segall, conditions, and digestive system disorders than 1991). For this reason, Schofield et al. (2000) cri- males do. In contrast, males report higher rates tiqued the prevailing “men’s health discourse,” of injuries than females, with injuries related which too often equates “men’s health” to the to socialization and lifestyle differences, such delivery of biomedical services to men, or to pri- as working in manufacturing jobs, involvement vate sector marketing services or products with contact sports, and risky occupations designed to enhance “men’s health.” They reject (Cypress, 1981; Dawson & Adams, 1987; lumping “all men” into statistical comparisons Givens, 1979). Cockerham (1995) wondered if between men’s and women’s health outcomes women really do experience more sickness than because, mainly, it is disadvantaged men (e.g., men, or whether men are less likely than women poor men, men of color, uninsured men, gay to report symptoms and seek medical care. He men) who disproportionately contribute to men’s stated, “The best evidence indicates that the collective higher mortality and morbidity rates in overall differences in morbidity are real” and, comparison to women. As Keeling (2000) writes, further, that they are due to a mixture of biolog- “So it is that there is no single, unitary men’s ical, psychological, and social influences health—instead, sexual orientation, race, socio- (p. 42). economic status, and culture all intervene to Understanding the disparate morbidity and affect the overall health status of each man and of mortality rates between men and women is men of various classes or groups” (p. 101). further complicated by the emphasis on gender differences, which, ironically, has been part of traditional patriarchal beliefs and much Second CURRENT MEN’S HEALTH ISSUES Wave feminist thought. Whereas patriarchal culture exaggerated differences between men and A variety of health issues have received particu- women, and masculinity and femininity, Second lar attention from researchers and men’s health Wave feminists theorized a “presumed oppo- advocates. Some issues that have received par- sitionality” between men and women, and ticular attention in North America are discussed masculinity and femininity (Digby, 1998). Epi- below. demiologically, however, the emphasis on differences can sometimes hide similarities. For Alcohol Use example, MacIntyre, Hunt, and Sweeting (1996) questioned the conventional wisdom that in Although social and medical problems stem- industrialized countries men die earlier than ming from alcohol abuse involve both sexes, women, and that women get sick more often males constitute the largest segment of alcohol than men. They studied health data sets from abusers. Some researchers observe connections both Scotland and the United Kingdom and between the traditional male role and alcohol found that, after controlling for age, statistically abuse. Isenhart and Silversmith (1994) showed significant differences between many of men’s how, in a variety of occupational contexts, and women’s self-reported psychological and expectations surrounding masculinity encourage physical symptoms disappeared. They concluded heavy drinking while working or socializing 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 331

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during after-work or off-duty hours. Some responsible drinking among adult males can be predominantly male occupational groups are complicated by cultural equations between known to engage in high rates of alcohol con- manhood and alcohol consumption. Mass sumption, such as longshoremen (Hitz, 1973), media often sensationalize and glorify links salesmen (Cosper, 1979), and military personnel between booze and male bravado. Postman, (Pursch, 1976). Nystrom, Strate, and Weingartner (1987) stud- Findings from a Harvard School of ied the thematic content of 40 beer commer- Public Health (Wechler, Davenport, Dowdell, cials and identified a variety of stereotypical Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994) survey of 17,600 portrayals of the male role that were used to students at 140 colleges found that 44% engaged promote beer drinking, among them reward for in “binge drinking,” defined as drinking five drinks a job well done; manly activities that feature in rapid succession for males and 4 drinks for strength, risk, and daring; male friendship and females. Males were more apt to report binge esprit de vcorps; and romantic success with drinking during the past 2 weeks than females— women. The researchers estimated that, between 50% and 39%, respectively. Sixty percent of the the ages of 2 and 18, children view about males who binge-drank three or more times in 100,000 beer commercials. the past 2 weeks reported driving after drinking, compared with 49% of their female counterparts, Anabolic Steroid Use thus increasing their risk for accident, injury, and death. Compared with non-binge drinkers, Some males use anabolic steroids to build binge drinkers were seven times more likely to muscle mass, to augment strength, to enhance engage in unprotected sex, thus elevating the athletic performance, and/or to engage in risk for unwanted pregnancy and sexually trans- extreme dietary practices. Users are at risk of mitted disease. side effects that can include acne, liver disease, Binge drinking among all adults in the cardiovascular disease, atrophy of the testicles, United States increased 17% between 1993 and depression, and increased aggression. About 5% 2001, with a steeper 56% incline among 18- to to 10% of U.S. male adolescents (and about 2.5% 20-year-olds. Whereas males averaged 12.5 of female adolescents) have indicated they use bingeing episodes in 2001, females averaged anabolic steroids (American Academy of Pedi- 2.7 episodes (Centers for Disease Control and atrics, 1997). An estimated 375,000 males and Prevention [CDC], 2002b). Alcohol use is a 175,000 females were using anabolic steroids primary factor in car crashes among males in 1995 (Yesalis, Barsukiewicz, Kopstein, & (Wilcox & Marks, 1994), which contributed Bahrke, 1997). Although it is common to por- to 78% of fatal injuries among younger males tray anabolic steroid use among adolescents in 1995 (Maternal and Child Health Bureau, as mainly a problem for male athletes, about 1997). Worldwide, tens of thousands of people 40% of steroid users do not play sports, and die and are seriously injured annually in high- approximately 29% are female (Miller, Barnes, way accidents (Roberts & Mohan, 2002). Breen Sabo, Melnick, & Farrell, 2002a). Whether (2002) indicated that road crashes are the lead- they are athletes or not, male adolescents who ing cause of death in persons under 45 years old use anabolic steroids also have greater risks for in the European Union. It may be that males are other problem behaviors such as illicit drug more apt than females to equate risk taking with use, alcohol use, aggression, suicidal ideation/ manliness, to combine alcohol use with sensa- behavior, and pathogenic weight-loss behavior tion seeking, or simply to travel more often after (Miller, Barnes, Sabo, Melnick, & Farrell, drinking. For all U.S. males, the age-adjusted 2002b). death rate from automobile accidents in 1998 Klein (1993, 1995) studied the links between was 29.3/100,000 for African American males anabolic steroid use, overtraining, and muscu- and 26/100,000 for Caucasian males, compared larity in the bodybuilding subculture, where with 9.4/100,000 for African American females masculinity is equated to muscle and where the and 10.7/100,000 for Caucasian females (U.S. psychosocial drive to be big and powerful is Census Bureau, 2001). prominent. Bodybuilders often put their per- The efforts of public health advocates to sonal health at risk in pursuit of ideal masculin- promote sobriety among male adolescents and ity (Glassner, 1989; Messner & Sabo, 1994). 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 332

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Erectile Disorders heterosexual sexual contact. For cases of AIDS among adolescent and adult women in 2000, Erectile Dysfunction Disorder (EDD), also 33% were intravenous drug users and 64% were known as impotence, occurs when a man is infected through heterosexual sexual contact unable to sustain an erection sufficiently firm (CDC, 2002a). enough for intercourse or through to orgasm. In Perceptions of the AIDS epidemic in the the past, the issue of male impotence was either United States and its victims have been tinc- joked about or cloaked by cultural silence. How- tured by sexual attitudes, homophobia, and the ever, the recent introduction of Viagra to the stigma associated with illicit drug use. Thoughts medical marketplace has spurred discussion and feelings about men with AIDS are also about erectile disorders, which, according to influenced by attitudes toward race, ethnicity, some estimates, afflict between 10 and 30 million and poverty. Just as men and women of color are U.S. men (Krane, Goldstein, & Saenz de Tejada, overrepresented in poverty, so also are they 1989; National Institutes of Health, 1993). One overrepresented with regard to HIV/AIDS nationwide study of noninstitutionalized, healthy prevalence. In the United States, HIV/AIDS is American men between the ages of 40 and 70 most prevalent among poor persons, and the years found that 52% reported minimal, moder- 1995 incidence of AIDS was 6.5 times greater ate, or complete impotence; the prevalence for African Americans and 4.0 times greater for of erectile disorders increased with age, and 9% Hispanics than it was for whites (Garrett, 1994). of respondents reported complete impotence (Also see Table 19.3 for comparisons.) HIV/ (Feldman, Goldstein, Hatzichristou, Krane, & AIDS has erroneously been dubbed a “minority McKinlay, 1994). Ayta, McKinlay, and Krane disease,” yet it is not racial biology that confers (1995) used data from the Massachusetts Male risk for HIV/AIDS, but rather behavioral adap- Aging Study and the United Nations to estimate tations to cultural and economic circumstances that 322 million men worldwide will suffer from that include community disintegration, unem- EDD in the year 2025. ployment, homelessness, eroding urban tax Although erectile disorders may result from bases, mental illness, substance use, and crimi- masculine inadequacy or lack of psychological nalization (R. Wallace, 1991; Zierler & Krieger, well-being, the causes of impotence are now 1997). For example, males (who composed the believed to stem mainly from physiological majority of homeless persons in New York City rather than emotional factors (Zilbergeld, 1999). during the 1980s) were prone to drug addiction, EDD is often tied to other physiological disor- which in turn was linked to HIV infection ders such as hypertension, heart disease, dia- (Ron & Rogers, 1989; Torres, Mani, Altholz, & betes, and excessive alcohol use (Fedele et al., Brickner, 1990). 2001). Today, diagnosis and treatment of erectile disorders typically combines psychological and medical assessment (Ackerman & Carey, 1995). Pain and Symptom Denial Studies done in the United States revealed HIV/AIDS differences between the ways men and women experience and perceive pain. Generally, boys Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are taught not to express their pain, to be tough infection became a leading cause of death and deny pain, whereas girls are encouraged to be among North American males in the 1980s. By vulnerable to pain and to be openly emotional in 1990, HIV infection was the second leading cause the midst of pain (Hoffmann & Tarzian, 2001). of death among men aged 25 to 44, compared Adults often respond more to girls’ pain than with the sixth leading cause of death among boys’ pain, and girls begin to have more pain same-age women (“Update: Mortality Attribut- episodes than boys at very young ages (Keefe able to HIV Infection/AIDS,” 1993). Among et al., 2000). There is some evidence that men reported cases of acquired immunodeficiency with more masculine traits tend to have higher syndrome (AIDS) for adolescent and adult men pain thresholds than those who are less mas- in 2000, more than half were men who had sex culine (M. Robinson, Riley, & Myers, 2000; with other men, 25% were intravenous drug Wise, Price, Myers, Heft, & Robinson, 2002). users, and about 14% were exposed through Whereas women’s coping strategies around pain 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 333

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Table 19.3 AIDS Cases Reported in 2000 and Estimated 2000 Population, by Race/Ethnicity, United States

Percentage of AIDS Percentage of the Race/Ethnicity Cases Reported U.S. Population

Asian/Pacific Islander 1 4 American Indian/Alaska Native 1 1 Black, not Hispanic 47 12 Hispanic 19 13 White, not Hispanic 32 71 Total AIDS cases N = 42,156 Total population N = 285,863,000

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved June 4, 2002, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/graphics/images/1178/1178-12.htm NOTE: Includes 117 persons with unknown race/ethnicity.

revolve more around emotions, men often deny have begun to explore men’s psychosocial pain, suppress the emotional aspects of pain, reactions and adjustments to treatments for prostate and take an action-oriented approach to coping cancer (Gray, Fitch, Phillips, Labrecque, & with pain (Keough & Herdenfeldt, 2002). Fergus, 2000; Stanford et al., 2000). Support groups, established in many North American cities, provide male survivors with information, Prostate Cancer camaraderie, and emotional connection (Gray, As men pass through middle age, they are apt 2003). to experience benign prostatic hyperplasia, an enlargement of the prostate gland that is asso- Suicide ciated with symptoms such as dribbling after urination, frequent urination, or incontinence. It is estimated that 80% of suicide completers Others may develop infections (prostatitis) or in the United States are male (Moscicki, 1994). malignant prostatic hyperplasia (prostate cancer). Suicide is the third leading cause of death among On average, one in three U.S. males will develop Americans aged 15 to 24, with boys incurring prostate cancer in his lifetime, and it is the second higher rates of completion than girls (Portner, leading cause of cancer deaths in American men 2001; Stillion, 1995). One explanation for boys’ (Mayo Clinic, 2003). Prostate cancer is more higher rates of lethality from suicide attempts is common than lung cancer (Martin, 1990). One that males adopt more traditionally “masculine” in 10 men develop this cancer by age 85, with methods (e.g., use of guns or knives) and psy- African American males showing a higher chological postures (e.g., aggression, goal direct- prevalence rate than their Caucasian counter- edness, passion to succeed, and denial of feelings) parts (Greco & Blank, 1993). Lack of economic when attempting to kill themselves (Canetto, resources and reduced access to health care lead 1995). Traditionally, males also have been more many African American males to delay seeking attracted to guns than females. Indeed, Groholt, treatment for prostate symptoms, which in turn Ekeberg, Wichstrom, and Haldorsen (2000) increases their mortality rates compared with suggested that gender differences in the suicide Caucasian males (Cooley & Jennings-Dozier, methods used by Norwegian adolescents have 1998; Freedman, 1998). become less marked in recent decades due to the Treatments for prostate problems depend on greater availability of firearms to both sexes. On the specific diagnosis and may range from med- this point, Johnson, Krug, and Potter’s (2000) ication to radiation and surgery. Some invasive cross-cultural study of 34 countries found a sig- surgical treatments for prostate cancer can pro- nificant association between number of firearms duce incontinence and impotence. Researchers and firearm-related suicide rates. Finally, a study 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 334

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of 10 European nations documented higher rates predict suicide risk as much as other mediating of suicide for males than for females (Hearn factors such as depression, hopelessness, sub- et al., 2002a, 2002b). stance abuse, family dysfunction, social sup- The links between gender and suicide risk port, interpersonal conflicts related to sexual also vary across racial and ethnic groups, orientation, and nondisclosure of sexual orienta- subcultures, and age-groups. Among poor and tion to others (D’Augelli, Hershberger, & marginalized boys of color, self-destructive Pilkington, 2001; Rutter & Soucar, 2002). behaviors such as intravenous drug use and weapons carrying may indirectly express suici- Testicular Cancer dal inclinations (Staples, 1995). Family breakdown, poverty and despair, and illicit drug Though relatively rare in the general U.S. use contribute to suicide risk among Native population, testicular cancer is the fourth most Americans (L. J. Wallace, Calhoun, Powell, common cause of death among 15- to 34-year-old O’Neil, & James, 1996). Suicide among young males (Devesa et al., 1999). It is the most common African Americans increased 114% from 1980 form of cancer affecting 20- to 34-year-old white to 1995 (from 2.1 to 4.5 deaths per 100,000 males. The incidence of testicular cancer has persons) (CDC, 1998). In contrast, adolescent been increasing since the 1950s in both the male athletes show lower risk for suicidal United States (Pharris-Ciurej, Cook, & Weiss, ideation and attempts than their nonathletic 1999) and Canada (Ries et al., 1999). An estimated counterparts (Ferron, Narring, Cauderay, & 7,200 new U.S. diagnoses were made in 2001 Michaud, 1999; Sabo, Miller, Melnick, Farrell, & (American Cancer Society, 2001). If detected Barnes, 2002; Tomori & Zalar, 2000). early, the survival rates are high, whereas delayed Elderly males in North America commit diagnosis is life-threatening (Kinkade, 1999). suicide significantly more often than elderly Regular testicular self-examination (TSE), there- females. Whereas Caucasian women’s lethal sui- fore, is a potentially effective preventive means cide rate peaks at age 50, Caucasian men 60 and for ensuring early detection and successful treat- older have the highest rate of lethal suicide, even ment. Regretfully, however, few physicians teach surpassing the rate for young males (Manton, TSE (Rudolf & Quinn, 1988), and most males do Blazer, & Woodbury, 1987). Canetto (1992) sug- not practice TSE. One study of United Kingdom gested that elderly men’s higher suicide mortality young men found that only 22% practiced TSE is chiefly owed to their limited coping skills and (R. A. Moore & Topping, 1999). flexibility to meet changes that come with aging. Denial may influence men’s perceptions of Finally, some data suggest that gay and testicular cancer and TSE (Blesch, 1986). bisexual males (especially among adolescents) Studies show that most males are not aware of are at greater risk for suicide than heterosexual testicular cancer and, even among those who are males. However, research in this area is sparse aware, many are reluctant to examine their testi- and fraught with methodological difficulties, cles as a preventive measure. Even when symp- among them lack of valid self-reports on sex- toms are recognized, men sometimes postpone ual orientation, underreporting on medical seeking treatment. Moreover, men who are records, and confusion about sexual orientation taught TSE are often initially receptive, but the (Garofalo & Katz, 2001). In one study of a pop- practice of TSE decreases over time. Men’s ulation-based sample of U.S. adolescents, resistance to TSE has been linked to awkward- Remafedi, French, Story, Resnick, and Blum ness about touching themselves, associating (1998) found that among gay or bisexual males, touching genitals with homosexuality or mas- 28% reported a past suicide attempt, compared turbation, or the idea that TSE is not a manly with 4% of the heterosexual males. Fergusson, behavior. Finally, men’s individual reluctance to Horwood, and Beautrais (1999) conducted a discuss testicular cancer may derive in part from 21-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of the widespread cultural silence that envelops it. 1,007 New Zealand youth and found that, by The penis is a cultural symbol of male power, ages 18 to 21, gay and bisexual males (and authority, and sexual domination. Its symbolic females) had higher rates of psychiatric disor- efficacy in traditional, male-dominated gender ders and suicide attempts. Yet researchers also relations, therefore, would be eroded or neutral- caution that sexual orientation alone does not ized by the realities of testicular cancer. 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 335

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Although testicular cancer rates are manslaughter, 99% of those arrested for forcible increasing in many countries, mortality rates rape, 90% of those arrested for robbery, and 80% have declined in the European Union, Eastern of those arrested for aggravated assault (U.S. Europe, Japan, the United States, and Canada Department of Justice, 2001). (Levi, LaVecchia, Boyle, Lucchini, & Negri, Women are often victimized by men’s anger 2001). Declining mortality is likely owed to and violence in the forms of rape, date rape, wife advances in medical diagnosis and treatment, beating, assault, sexual harassment on the job, early detection, TSE, and greater educational and verbal harassment (Thorne-Finch, 1992). awareness among males. Finally, survivors of However, men’s violence also exacts a heavy toll testicular cancer generally go on to have physi- on men themselves in the forms of fighting, gang cally and emotionally healthy lives (Gordon, clashes, hazing, gay bashing, injury, homicide, 1995; Rudberg, Nilsson, & Wikblad, 2000). suicide, and organized warfare. In the United States, for example, men were 90% of all murderers in 2001, as well as 77% of murder victims VIOLENCE (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001).

Men’s violence is a major public health prob- War and Guns lem. Hearn et al. (2002a, 2002b) analyzed public health data in 10 European nations and found that Paleontological evidence suggests that the “men are strongly overrepresented among those institutions of war and patriarchy emerged who use violence, especially heavy violence during the same phase of social evolution about including homicide, sexual violence, racial vio- 12,000 to 14,000 years ago (Eisler, 1988). War lence, robberies, grievous bodily harm, and drug has always been a predominantly male activity offences” (2002a, p. 23). They also documented (Connell, 1989; Malszecki & Carver, 2001) that, widespread violence of men against women, historically, has exacted high rates of morbidity which has been found in most other nations. and mortality among the men who fight in bat- Cultural prescriptions for traditional mas- tles. Warriors were taught to conform to a type of culinity can evoke aggression and toughness hegemonic masculinity that embodies violence- in boys and men (Kuypers, 1992). Emerging proneness, toughness, and obedience to male research on children in elementary school shows authority. The negative health consequences of that aggressive boys are more popular among war for both sexes are painfully evident. Many their peers and that bullies use aggression to boys and men, who are disproportionately secure resources from lesser-status children enlisted to fight in wars, are killed or physically (Pellegrini & Long, 2002). Aggressive behavior and psychologically maimed, whereas elite male is used by some males to separate themselves groups may profit or solidify political power from women and femininity, and to pursue through warfare. Men’s violence on the patriar- status in male hierarchies. Male violence at any chal battlefields also often spills over into civil- age is both personal and institutional, moored in ian populations, where women and children personality but channeled by group relations are victimized (Brownmiller, 1975; Chang, 1997). and cultural practices (Connell, 2000). Males As Sen (1997) observed, “Historically, wars can use the threat or application of violence to between nations, classes, castes, races, have been exert their personal will and to maintain politi- fought on the battlefield on the bodies of men, cal and economic advantage over women and and off the battlefield on the bodies of women” lesser-status men. Kaufman (1998) has shown (p. 12). Recent expressions of the militarization how the “triad of men’s violence” (men’s vio- of men’s violence, partly inspired and fueled by lence against other men, women, and them- hegemonic masculinities, can be found in the selves) negatively affects public health. Taliban of Afghanistan, Irish Republican Army Homicide is the second leading cause of Ireland (Bairner, 2000), terrorist movements, of death among 15- to 19-year-old males. Males and the U.S./Iraqi war of 2003. aged 15 to 34 years were almost half (49%, Guns and masculinity go hand in hand in N = 13,122) of U.S. homicide victims in 1991. In many cultures. Disarmament and peacemaking the United States during 2001, men were 89% of efforts in Afghanistan, for example, have been persons arrested for murder and nonnegligent partially thwarted by the masculine symbolism 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 336

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that males invest in owning and carrying guns. comparative analysis by the Centers for Disease In the United States, hunting and marksman- Control and Prevention showed mixed trends in ship have been mainly male cultural activities, the health risks of high school students between with gun ownership being four times higher 1991 and 1999 (CDC, 2000b). Fewer teenagers among men than among women (Smith & reported having sex, and rates of condom use Smith, 1994). Evidence indicates that gun own- and seatbelt use increased during the past decade. ership elevates risk for morbidity and mortality. But cigarette smoking and use of marijuana and About 30,000 persons are killed with firearms cocaine increased, as did the percentage of high each year in the United States, almost as many school students who attempted suicide (CDC, deaths as accrue from motor vehicle accidents 2000b). (Siebel, 2000). Contrary to common beliefs, Pleck, Sonenstein, and Ku (1992) researched most gun-related deaths are the result of acci- the problem behaviors and health among a dents and not criminal activity (Price & Oden, national sample of adolescent, never-married 1999). Gun ownership is also linked to suicide males aged 15 to 19, surveying and interviewing risk, and one cross-cultural study of 34 coun- their participants in 1980 and 1988. Hypothesis tries found a significant association between tests were geared to assessing whether “mascu- number of firearms and firearm-related suicide line ideology” (which measured the presence of rates (Johnson et al., 2000). traditional male role attitudes) put boys at risk for Finally, although there may be some biological an array of problem behaviors. The researchers impetus for men’s higher levels of aggression found a significant, independent association with compared with women’s, we also know that male 7 of 10 problem behaviors. Specifically, tradi- aggression varies a great deal across cultures, tionally masculine attitudes were associated with individuals, and historical settings. To the extent being suspended from school, drinking and use that masculinity is culturally defined and mal- of street drugs, frequency of being picked up by leable, therefore, health promoters can encour- the police, being sexually active, the number of age the development of more cooperative and heterosexual partners in the last year, and tricking peaceful forms of masculinity. or forcing someone to have sex. These kinds of behaviors, which are in part expressions of the pursuit of traditional masculinity, elevate boys’ MALE GROUPS risk for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV trans- WITH SPECIAL HEALTH NEEDS mission, and early death by accident or homicide. At the same time, however, these same behaviors There is no such thing as masculinity; there are can also encourage victimization of women only masculinities (Sabo & Gordon, 1995), and through men’s violence, sexual assault, unwanted the view of “all men” as a single, large category in teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted relation to “all women” is misleading (Connell, diseases. 1987). The fact is that men are not all alike, and Obesity in adolescence increases lifelong risk various male groups face different conditions in for a variety of diseases such as coronary heart the gender order. At any given historical moment, disease, diabetes mellitus, joint disease, and cer- there are competing masculinities—some domi- tain cancers. Obesity among both boys and girls nant, some marginalized, and some stigmatized— has been increasing; for example, the percentage each with their respective structural, psychosocial, of overweight children aged 12 to 19 moved from and cultural moorings that, in turn, influence vari- 5% in 1970 to 14% in 1999 (National Health and ations in men’s health. Men’s health researchers Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES], have begun to study a wide range of male groups; 2003). Between 1988 and 1994, about 11.3% of some are discussed below. all boys in this age-group were overweight compared with 9.7% of all girls. Adolescents from Adolescent Males racial/ethnic minorities were especially likely to be overweight. Among non-Hispanic blacks, Researchers and public health advocates 10.7% of boys and 16.3% of girls were over- identified adolescent health as a major priority weight, and among Mexican Americans, the during the 1990s (Schoen et al., 1997; Schoen, corresponding proportions were 14.1% for boys Davis, DesRoches, & Shehkdar, 1998). A and 13.5% for girls (NHANES, 2003). 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 337

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Males are also a majority of the estimated toward increased prevalence rates since 1993 1.3 million teenagers who run away from home (CDC,1999; Fox et al., 2001). These latter data each year in the United States. For both boys and may mean that more MSM are engaging in girls, living on the streets raises the risks for poor sexual behaviors that elevate risk for contagion, nutrition, homicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, and such as unprotected anal and oral sex. Other AIDS. Young adults in their 20s constitute about researchers suggest that some risky sexual 20% of new AIDS cases and, when the lengthy behaviors among MSM are related to polysub- latency period is calculated, it is evident that stance abuse. An American Medical Association they are being infected in their teenage years. council report (1996) estimated the prevalence of Runaways are also more likely to be victims of substance abuse among gay men and lesbians at crime and sexual exploitation (Hull, 1994). 28% to 35%, compared with a 10% to 21% rate for heterosexuals. Some studies of gay commu- Boys With ADHD nities have found higher rates of substance use (e.g., heavy drinking, amphetamines, heroin, Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and Ecstasy) than among heterosexual males (ADHD) has become a common chronic condi- (Crosby, Stall, Paul, & Barrett, 1998; Klitzman, tion among school-aged children. About 1.6 Pope, & Hudson, 2000; Stall & Wiley, 1998). million elementary school-aged children in the Sometimes gay and bisexual boys and men United States have been diagnosed with ADHD, become targets for ridicule and gay bashing. with boys being three times as likely as girls to Bias against sexual orientation was involved be diagnosed (CDC, 2002b). The symptoms are with 14.3% of the hate crimes perpetrated in the mainly behavioral and include impulsivity, United States during 2000 (U.S. Department of hyperactivity, poor impulse control, short atten- Justice, 2001). tion span, distractibility, irritability, and mood changes. Many boys and parents have been Infertile Men caught up in the ongoing debate about whether ADHD is a genuine medical problem that About 5.3 million American couples experi- should be treated with medications and other ence difficulty conceiving a pregnancy (American therapies, or instead is an example of the med- Society for Reproductive Medicine, 1995). icalization of undesirable behaviors in children. Although factors related to infertility can be found in both sexes, the bulk of extant research Gay and Bisexual Men focuses on the psychosocial aspects of women’s experiences with involuntary childlessness and Lifestyle and sexual practices place gay and in vitro fertilization (Daniluk, 1997; Nachtigall, bisexual males at risk for diseases and behaviors Becker, & Wozny, 1992). In one of the few stud- tied to sexual behaviors. When HIV infection ies of men’s experiences, Webb and Daniluk became a leading cause of death among gay and (1999) interviewed men who had never biologi- bisexual men in North America during the cally fathered a child and were the sole cause of 1980s, health educators (both straight and gay) the infertility in their marriages. They found that pushed for more health promotion and services. men experienced a “tremendous blow to their Workshops and educational materials were cre- masculine identities” (p. 21), profound grief and ated that addressed mental and physical health, loss, loss of control, personal inadequacy, isola- safe sex practices, and HIV prevention. Such tion, a sense of foreboding, and desire to over- efforts to enhance the health of gay and bisexual come and survive. They recommend that both men were thwarted by homophobia, discrimina- “infertile men and women receive compassionate tion, and governmental and public indifference. support when faced with negotiating this chal- The links between masculinity and gay men’s lenging life transition” (p. 23). health risks, however, did not receive much attention (Kimmel & Levine, 1989). Male Athletes Although rates of sexually transmitted disease declined in the 1980s among American The linkages between athletic participation men who had sex with men (MSM), data gath- and health are complex and often paradoxical. ered in some cities indicate a resurgent trend On one hand, sports activities are associated with 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 338

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building cardiovascular endurance, muscular players were six times as likely as lesser-sized development, and emotional health. On the other players to develop heart disease (Freeman & hand, certain sports elevate men’s risk for head Villarosa, 2002). Despite the prevalence and injury and neuropsychological deficit (boxing, visibility of sports injury, however, such longi- soccer, and football), pathogenic weight loss tudinal studies on the health impacts of partici- behavior (wrestling, horse racing), knee injuries pation in predominantly male sports such as (basketball, football), and erectile disorders rugby, ice hockey, football, wrestling, and box- (cycling). ing are rare. Researchers can only speculate Injuries are basically unavoidable in sports about how many athletes end up broken, bat- but, in traditional men’s sports, there has been a tered, drugged, and in varying states of chronic tendency to glorify pain and injury, to inflict pain (Sabo, 2003). The parents of athletes, injury on others, and to sacrifice one’s body in school officials, or public health planners have order to “win at all costs.” The “no pain, no little evidence available to assess the long-range gain” philosophy, which is rooted in traditional health risks of athletes. cultural equations between masculinity and sports, can jeopardize the health of athletes who Male Caregivers conform to its ethos (Sabo, 2003). Many male athletes believe that the endurance of pain will Life expectancy is increasing in postindus- help them achieve upward mobility, yet only a trial societies and, as more elderly men and handful ultimately make it to elite levels of suc- women develop chronic illnesses, they are apt cessful competition (Sabo, 2003). Sometimes to be cared for by family members in home parents, especially fathers, push their sons into settings. Contrary to stereotypes that equate “physically abusive sports to harden them for a caregiving to femininity, many males are care- competitive world and to eliminate any effemi- givers for their loved ones. For example, an esti- nate qualities” (p. 177). mated 36% of the caregivers for persons with The connections between sport, masculinity, Alzheimer’s disease in the United States are and health are also evident in Klein’s (1993, men (Kramer, 1997). A Commonwealth Fund 1995) study of bodybuilders, who often use ana- (1992) survey found comparable numbers of bolic steroids, overtrain, and engage in extreme men and women age 55 and over (28% and dietary practices. In the bodybuilding subculture, 29%, respectively) were caring for a sick or masculinity is equated to maximum muscular- disabled friend, relative, parent, or spouse. ity, and men’s striving for bigness and physical The research findings on male caregivers strength hides emotional insecurity and low self- are mixed. Although they experience varying esteem. The links between masculinity and mus- levels of stress, depression, and physical fatigue, cle mass are currently embodied by the G. I. Joe they also derive emotional benefits (Kaye & action figures that possess gigantic biceps and Applegate, 1995). One study of men caring for quadriceps, as well as by the overmuscled stars persons with Alzheimer’s disease showed that of the World Wrestling Federation. Klein lays although they rated their own health from “fair” bare a tragic irony in American culture; that is, to “excellent,” their symptoms of physical ill- that the powerful male athlete, a symbol of ness increased by one third since taking on strength and health, has often sacrificed his the caregiver role (Shanks-McElroy & Strobino, health in pursuit of ideal masculinity (Messner & 2001). In summary, the experiences of male Sabo, 1994). caregivers are a key research area for men’s Some evidence suggests that the ill health health studies. impacts from youthful sports participation may emerge later in life. The National Institute for Male Victims of Sexual Assault Occupational Safety and Health, for example, conducted a retrospective study of former Sexual violence typically involves a male per- National Football League players who played petrator and female victim. Whereas researchers between 1959 and 1988. The data showed that and public health advocates began to recognize both offensive and defensive linemen had a 52% the sexual victimization of women in Western greater risk for death from a heart attack than countries during the late 1960s, it was not until the general population. The physically largest the latter 1990s that the sexual abuse of males 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 339

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began to receive systematic scrutiny from human Zhang, & Merrell, 1998; Straub, 1994; Wingo service professionals and gender researchers et al., 1996). Black women outlive black men by (O’Leary, 2001). Recognition of the issue in an average of 7 years (U.S. Department of Health Canada was spurred by media coverage of the and Human Services [DHHS], 2000). The age- sexual abuse of youth hockey players by their adjusted death rate is greater for men in all coaches (L. Robinson, 1998). Prison reformers racial/ethnic groups: 1.7 times greater among have recently decried man-on-man rape in North African Americans, 1.8 times greater among American prisons (Sabo, Kupers, & London, Asians, and 1.5 times greater among Latinos/ 2001). The alleged cover-ups by Catholic bishops Hispanics (Collins, Hall, & Neuhaus, 1999; in the United States, in relation to some priests’ Courtenay et al., 2002). pedophilic exploitation of boys, and the activism The neglect of public health in the United and litigation of victims have expanded public States is particularly pronounced in relation to awareness of the problem. Despite growing African Americans (Polych & Sabo, 1995, 2001). public recognition, research in this area is rare, In Harlem of the early 1990s, for example, and little is know about the prevalence of sexual where 96% of the inhabitants were African abuse of boys and its psychosocial effects American and 41% lived below the poverty line, (Dhaliwal, Gauzas, Antonowicz, & Ross, 1996). the survival curve beyond the age of 40 for Some studies show that males who suffer sexual men was lower than that for men living in victimization as children experience lasting self- Bangladesh (McCord & Freedman, 1990). blame, feelings of powerlessness and stigmatiza- Whereas accidents are the leading cause of tion, suspicion of others, and confusion about death among white males age 15 to 19, homi- sexual identity, and some eventually repeat the cide is the leading cause among their same-age cycle by victimizing others as adolescents and African American counterparts (National Vital adults (Mendel, 1995; Messerschmidt, 2000; Statistics, 2000, as cited by Franklin, 2002). O’Leary, 2001). Indeed, the number of young African American male homicide victims in 1977 (N = 5,734) was Men of Color higher than the number killed in the Vietnam War between 1963 and 1972 (N = 5,640) Variations in health and illness among men of (Gibbs, 1988, p. 258). color in the United States are best understood African American men have higher rates against the historical and social context of eco- of alcoholism, infectious diseases, and drug- nomic inequality. Generally, African Americans, related conditions. In 1993, the AIDS rate for Hispanics, and Native Americans are dispropor- African American males aged 13 and older tionately poor; they are more likely to work in was almost five times as high as the rate for low-paying and dangerous occupations, live in Caucasian males (CDC, 1994). More than 36% polluted environments, be exposed to toxic of urban African American males are drug and substances, experience the threat and reality of alcohol abusers (Staples, 1995). Poor black crime, and worry about meeting basic needs. males are less likely to receive health care, and Prejudice and cultural barriers can also compli- when they do, they are more likely to receive cate their access to available health care. Poverty inferior care (Bullard, 1992; Gibbs, 1988; is correlated with lower educational attainment, Staples, 1995). Recent data show black males which in turn mitigates against adoption of pre- are falling behind black females in upward ventive health behaviors. Economic disadvan- social mobility, For example, black males are tages, lower access to preventive care, racism, less likely than black females to hold profes- and underutilization of health care services put sional jobs, more likely to drop out of high many men of color at greater risk for illness and school (17% versus 13.5%), and less likely to death. Data for both sexes show that, compared go to college (25% versus 35%) (Close, 2003). with whites, African Americans experience twice For these reasons, young African American as much infant mortality, are twice as likely to die males have been described as an “endangered from diabetes-related complications, have 80% species” (Gibbs, 1988), while Boyd-Franklin and more strokes, have 20% to 40% higher rates of Franklin (2000) assert that the major priority of cancer, and have 5 to 7 years less life expectancy African American parents is to keep their sons (Burrus, Liburd, & Burroughs, 1998; Chin, alive past the age of 25. 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 340

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A similarly bleak health profile is found (Sabo et al., 2001). The gendering of prison life with Native Americans and Native Canadians. is also evident in the constructions of masculin- Alcohol is the number one killer of Native ity among prisoners that revolve around a male Americans between the ages of 14 and 44 (May, code for acting tough, being prepared to fight, 1986), with 42% of Native American male ado- avoiding intimacy, minding one’s own business, lescents problem drinkers, compared with 34% and avoiding feminine behaviors (Kupers, 1999; of same-age Caucasian males (Lamarine, 1988). Newton, 1994). Traditional masculinity is also Native Americans (10–18 years of age) consti- evoked by politicians who call for harsher tute 34% of in-patient admissions to adoles- punishments of prisoners and less rehabilitative cent detoxification programs (D. Moore, 1988). approaches (Levit, 2001). Compared with the “all race” population, Native Epidemiologically, the North American American youth exhibit more serious problems corrections system acts as a whirlpool of risk in the areas of depression, suicide, anxiety, sub- for many men who, upon arrest, reside in struc- stance use, and general health status (Blum, turally disadvantaged communities where Harman, Harris, Bergeissen, & Restrick, 1992). poverty, unemployment, and racial oppression The rates of morbidity, mortality from injury, already yield higher morbidity and mortality and AIDS are also higher (Metler, Conway, & rates (e.g., tuberculosis, hepatitis, and AIDS) Stehr-Green, 1991; Sugarman, Soderberg, (Polych & Sabo, 2001). Because of unhealthy Gordon, & Rivera, 1993). Similarly, Connell prison conditions, they are yet again exposed to (2000) has observed an “exceptionally serious heightened risk for illness (Bellin, Fletcher, & range of health problems” among Australian Safyer, 1993; Kupers, 1999; Toepell, 1992). indigenous men when compared with the popu- For example, the incidence of active tuberculo- lation as a whole (p. 182). These health problems sis among New York State prisoners went are correlates of poverty and social marginaliza- from 15/100,000 in the 1970s to 139/100,000 tion such as school dropout, hopelessness, the in 1993, while 58% of new tuberculosis (TB) experience of prejudice, poor nutrition, and lack infections among medical personnel working of regular health care. with these inmates were attributed to occupational exposure (Steenland, Levine, Sieber, Prisoners Schulte, & Aziz, 1997). A study of New York City jails, where the average inmate stay is 65 Rates of imprisonment vary around the days, found that 1 year of jail time doubled the world. Nearly 1.6 million persons are impris- probability of contracting TB. The authors oned in the United States (600/100,000), com- expressed concerns that, should a multidrug- pared with 1.2 million in China (103/100,000) resistant strain of TB enter the jail system, the and 1 million in Russia (690/100,000). Prison resulting infection would be rapidly transmitted populations tend to be disproportionately male, to the wider urban population as inmates economically impoverished, and, in some returned to their homes (Bellin et al., 1993). In nations, mainly racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, despite the realities of man-on-man the United States, the state and federal prison sexual relations (both consensual sex and rape) population expanded from 200,000 in 1970 to and intravenous drug use in prisons, inmates are 1,324,465 by the end of the year 2001, with rarely provided with condoms or clean needle about 6.6 million Americans currently incarcer- works, thus elevating risk for contagious disease ated or on parole or probation (Sentencing (Expert Committee, 1994). Project, 2003). Blacks constituted 46% of the The failure of correctional institutions to male prison population, and Hispanics another provide health education and effective treat- 16% (Mauer, 1999). One in seven black males ment interventions is putting prisoners, as well (13.4%) aged 25 to 29 is in prison, compared as the public at large, at greater risk for disease with 1 in 24 Hispanic men and 1 in 55 white (Courtenay & Sabo, 2001; Polych & Sabo, 1995). men (Sentencing Project, 2003). Prisons are not sealed off from their surrounding Prisons are also gendered institutions exhibit- communities, and men constantly move in and ing earmarks of patriarchal institutions such as out of the corrections system, oftentimes carry- sex segregation, hierarchical relationships, and ing physical or mental illness with them. The social control through aggression and violence average prison sentence in the United States is 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 341

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less than 5 years, and about 95% of all prisoners Global economic inequalities profoundly are eventually released, despite the trends toward affect men’s and women’s life chances in poorer longer sentences (Kupers, 1999). Upon release, nations. Whereas mortality from infectious dis- many infected male prisoners return to com- ease is generally not a pressing health issue in munities in which poor and racially oppressed First World nations, for example, diseases such populations of both males and females already as acute respiratory infections, diarrheal dis- exhibit disproportionately higher rates of HIV eases, tuberculosis, malaria, and meningitis are infection and AIDS (Zierler & Krieger, 1997). major killers in Third World countries (Platt, The cycles of risk and infection grind forward. 1996; Robbins, 2002). Geopolitical struggles Despite the World Health Organization’s can also produce marked shifts in men’s and call for greater therapeutic and rehabilitative women’s health. The end of the Cold War and corrections practices, prison policies in various the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the nations continue to emphasize punishment and early 1990s profoundly affected the public endanger the public health. Two recent studies health. Whereas Russian boys born in 1972 had examine the interplay between masculinities a life expectancy of 65 years, the figure plum- and men’s health in Scotland (de Viggiani, meted to 56 years for boys born in December of 2004) and Norway (Johnsen, 2001). Further- 1998 (Garrett, 2000). A representative from the more, negative gendered health synergies are Russian Academy of Medical Sciences pre- set into motion through which punitive, predicted in the mid-1990s that, if the health crisis dominantly male prison administrators maintain continued, “only 54 percent of the sixteen-year- policies and conditions that jeopardize the olds (males) will live to pension age” (quoted in health of male prisoners and corrections staff, Garrett, 2000, p. 127). Alcoholism rates soared, and concomitantly, the women and children in with some estimates at 80% of all Russian men, their lives. and the alcohol poisoning rate approached 200 times that of the rate of American males (Eberstadt, 1999). The hike in male alcoholism GLOBALIZATION,GENDER, AND HEALTH rates was accompanied by rising rates of physical abuse and rape of women and male Globalization generally refers to the growing suicide (Garrett, 2000). interdependence among the world’s societies. The idea of interdependence does not neces- The Dawn of Global Awareness sarily connote international harmony or global community, but rather the recognition that what In First World countries, most men’s health happens in any single society is increasingly scholars and advocates have not stretched influenced by its interactions with the many their analytic purview beyond local or national other societies on the globe. For example, inter- boundaries. Many are doing good work. national cooperation among health organiza- Examples include those doing group work with tions now makes early detection, control, and prostate cancer patients in Toronto, Canada; prevention of pandemics more effective; local coordinating a network of support groups for droughts or natural catastrophes are often met men recovering from heart disease in Rochester, by worldwide relief campaigns. But global New York; counseling poor, urban boys in interdependence also reflects and reproduces Canberra, Australia, to reduce their risk for exploitative relations between nations, fueling violence; teaching San Francisco teenagers economic and social inequalities that, in turn, about condom use and risk for HIV transmis- can increase morbidity and mortality. For sion; conducting research on male caregivers in example, Farmer (1999) showed how the global Norway; and giving a workshop to men in the tourist industry influenced the historical devel- U.S. armed services on men’s violence against opment of HIV/AIDS in Haiti. Harsh living women. Despite the growth of men’s health stud- conditions in Haiti’s marginalized economy ies since its “birth” in the 1970s, however, global helped prostitution to take hold, and the influx awareness has been minimal. of tourists in search of a tropical climate and Connell (1998) was the first to entreat those cheap goods and services accelerated the spread studying men and masculinities to think more of HIV/AIDS among both Haitians and tourists. about “men’s gender practices in terms of the 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 342

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global structure and dynamics of gender” (p. 7). that is intended to inform policy development His concept of the “world gender order” is that will favorably affect the health of both men painted against the historical backdrop of post- and women. colonialism and neoliberalism. He argued that new forms of hegemonic masculinity are ascend- The Global Sex Industry: A Case Study ing within the interdependent global matrices of transnational corporations, world markets, and An analysis of the global sex industry can capital and information flows. He created bridg- illustrate how the shifting patterns of gender ing concepts to foster a global analysis. The relations that are linked to globalization are pro- concept of “transnational business masculinity” ducing negative impacts on men’s and women’s described a form of hegemonic masculinity com- health. Transnational business masculinity is mon among businessmen and political executives also earmarked by “increasingly libertarian sex- who dominate these emerging global institutions, uality, with a growing tendency to commodify a masculinity typified by “increasing egocen- relations with women” (Connell, 1998, p. 16). trism, very conditional loyalties (even to the Transnational business masculinity is becoming corporation), and a declining sense of responsi- a globalizing masculinity within the emerging bility to others (except for purposes of image global sex industry. Elements of this globalizing making)” (p. 16). Furthermore, when a pattern of masculinity are bound up with a variety of masculinity begins to become institutionalized emerging gendered health synergies within a beyond the confines of specific nations, it variety of national settings. becomes a “globalizing masculinity” competing Some of the institutional and cultural tenta- for hegemony within the world gender order cles of the global sex industry should be outlined (Connell, 1998, p. 12). before we point toward their gendered health Connell’s vision has helped to steer the study impacts. Businessmen sometimes entertain of men and masculinities toward a global analy- themselves or their associates in sex clubs or sis, and men’s health scholars have begun to nude dancing establishments. Some arrange for heed the message. The International Journal of prostitutes to “service” clients. In one case, min- Men’s Health was established in 2002, and its ing industry executives drove a visiting New editor, Will Courtenay, called for “comprehen- York City lawyer in a stretch limousine through sive international and relational models of the impoverished streets of a Peruvian city, en men’s health (that) would address micro and route to a “girly club” in which women per- macro health determinants at international, formed as totally nude table dancers. He was national, community, and individual levels” shocked and dismayed by the total indifference (Courtenay, 2002, p. 12). Two leading periodicals of his male hosts to the suffering of the people on that focus on research on men and masculinities, the streets and the dehumanization of the women the Journal of Men’s Studies and Men and dancers, who also functioned as prostitutes (John Masculinities, have become more internationally Larkin, personal communication, October 19, inclusive and more likely to publish health-related 1998). works. Men’s sexual transactions within the global Probably the most ambitious research and sex industry can be direct or indirect. In Thailand, public health policy initiative in men’s health Brazil, or Haiti, foreign men with money may studies to date is flowing from the European directly purchase sex from indigenous sex work- Research Network on Men in Europe project ers, or indirectly, these sex workers may be paid (Hearn et al., 2002a, 2002b). An international to pose naked or perform in pornographic videos network of researchers has been gathering and that are subsequently marketed and exported analyzing data from 10 European nations in four to men in First World countries. For example, key areas, including health. The chief aim of the a hardcore porn video such as The Girls of project is “to develop empirical, theoretical, and Thailand may be sold by mail-order companies, policy outcomes on the gendering of men and shown by hotels that cater to businessmen, or pic- masculinities in Europe” (Hearn et al., 2002a, torially excerpted for “men’s magazines” that are p. 6). Their comparative analysis of cross- sold openly in airports or drugstores. There is national descriptive data is being developed also a growing market among Western males for with a critical, relational, and global framework pornography featuring “exotic” foreign females 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 343

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(e.g., Asian, Latin American, or African women). displacement of many women from more secure The sexual “tastes” of many Western men are niches within local and global economies means also focusing on younger females, and the global that some will take jobs within the growing sex sex industry appears to be recruiting younger industry. As Sen (1997) wrote, girls into the ranks of its sex workers, models, and video performers. Women across the world are under enormous Pornography is also rife in cyberspace, and pressure to earn incomes, just as social security the Internet has become the major marketing and systems are crumbling and public provisioning for household work is becoming less and less secure. distribution vehicle for the proliferating global The failure to provide adequately for the resources, sex industry. For example, the combined entry of labour time, and emotional needs that bearing, the search terms “teen,” “sex,” and “Asian” will raising, and caring for human beings require is one yield hundreds of millions of Web sites. The fas- of the major in-built flaws of capitalism. . . . cination of many men for young girls, in part (p.11) amplified and normalized by global pornography flows, is related to reports of thousands of girls And so Russian girls are taking to the streets and younger women being recruited, abducted, as prostitutes amid economic collapse, and East or sold into forced prostitution (Human Rights African women are emigrating to become sex Watch, 1995, p. 196; Moreau, 1997). workers in the red light district of Amsterdam, The production and consumption of sex catering to male tourists from around the world. and pornography by Western men is also linked Similarly, in the streets of New York City, São to the operations of the global sex industry in Paulo, or Bangkok, economically marginalized Second and Third World nations. The expanding boys and men are also being drawn into and demand for sex and pornography among First exploited at lower ranks of the sex industry as World males provides economic incentives for sex workers, actors, and petty drug pushers or the sexual exploitation of sex workers in Second users. Sex work and life within the sexual under- and Third World economies. Local emissaries of ground bring with them elevated risk for disease, the global sex industry are often linked to crimi- victimization by violence, and early mortality. nal organizations within specific nations or Finally, Sen (1997) observed that the “grow- urban centers. The controlling agents of local sex ing hegemony of tastes, consumption patterns, industrial organizations (e.g., sex clubs, prostitu- and aspirations, as well as an objectification of tion rings, or porn video production companies), women’s bodies and female sexuality, have been as well as their supportive criminal organizations, made possible by globalization of media and are likely to be men. Messerschmidt (1987) has new communications technology” (p. 12). Her examined how males use crime as a resource for observation is especially salient in relation to the constructing masculinity and, consistent with global sex industry, where the emerging cultural West and Zimmerman’s (1987) concept of template for human relationships being gener- “doing gender,” he argues that males actively use ated can be said to objectify men’s bodies and crime in a variety of situations in order to make male sexuality in ways that erode men’s capacity statements about their status and identity as men. to empathize and care for women (or for male The social construction of hegemonic masculin- partners). One result may be that men’s motiva- ity in various institutional sectors of the global tions to enter into long-standing intimate rela- sex industry reflects, supports, and actively tionships, to form and maintain stable family cultivates criminal forms of male behavior that relationships, are being stunted. foster the exploitation and health risks of many The resulting health impacts flowing from females and males. the growth of the global sex industry include The growth and institutionalization of the elevated risk for HIV infection, STDs, victim- global sex industry are linked both to economic ization from men’s violence, drug abuse, and inequalities across and within First, Second, and crime. There is clearly a risk for early mortality Third World nations and to gender inequalities for both female and male workers within the sex within respective gender orders. Sen (1997) industry and, to a lesser extent, the predomi- argued that a “central feature of globalization nantly male consumers of sexual services and is the extent to which it draws upon and products. Finally, there is mounting risk for the uses women’s labour flexibly” (p. 11). The wider population of citizens, especially women, 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 344

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who may have little or no contact with the equity, women’s health advocates sometimes global sex industry but who nonetheless are at infer that a focus on men’s health could under- increasing risk for contagion and crime that mine the rationale for gender health equity; for are being generated by the global sex industry. example, a heightened concern for men’s health Within the emerging world gender order, it is no might detract from women’s efforts to secure longer absurd to ponder the probability of a greater awareness and resource allocation for faithful wife and mother of three residing in the women’s health needs. Scientifically, the basic American Midwest contracting the HIV virus or question is how the study of men’s health can be a drug-resistant form of hepatitis C from a busi- integrated into a theory of women’s health or nessman husband who, in the pursuit of hege- gender and health. Or, as Sabo and Gordon monic masculinity, had unprotected sex with a (1995) asked, “How can men’s health studies prostitute in Santiago, Chile. position itself in relation to women’s health studies, women’s studies, gender studies, or the feminist paradigm?” (p. 16). Politically, the issues CONCLUSION:THEORY, generally revolve around finding a place for men GENDER HEALTH EQUITY, AND ADVOCACY within feminist theory and practice, and more specifically, mapping out men’s roles in relation Garcia-Moreno (1998) argued that the purpose to women’s health movements. of gender analysis is to unravel the ways that More research on men’s health is issuing inequalities arise as a result of unequal power from around the globe, from the streets of North relations between the sexes and how one’s life American cities to Central African villages. chances are influenced by being a member of Public health policymakers are beginning to one sex or another. Consonant with this goal, draw on the emerging research and theory on advocates for gender health equity have gener- masculinities and health in their work, and ally sought to improve the health of women, to progress is being made on the theoretical front, ensure that the sexes receive similar levels and most recently through the work of Jonathan quality of health care services, to foster research Watson (2000). He discusses several dominant on women’s health and program evaluation, and perspectives that shape men’s health, including to secure comparable resource allocation to meet the biomedical paradigm, sociostructural theo- women’s health needs (Whitehead, 1992). ries, epidemiology and risk discourse, feminist Proponents of gender health equity call for more perspectives, and critical studies of men and “gender aware” policies, but their messages are masculinities. Without falling prey to reduction- not always heard by the males who predominate ism, he shows how embodiment is the “personal in the leadership and planning circles of national ground of culture” (p. 146), linking everyday and international health governance organiza- behaviors and lay knowledge to the wider worlds tions (Pfannenschmidt & McKay, 1997). of marriage, family, work, and economic condi- In recent years, some men in international tions. Watson’s critical analysis unearths the lim- health organizations have pointed to women’s itations of both neoliberal approaches to health greater longevity compared with men’s in promotion (i.e., it’s up to individuals to manage countries such as Sri Lanka, Russia, and Pakistan risk) and new public health agendas that pre- (Evans, 1998). When viewed simply as an out- sume that mainly socioeconomic conditions come measure, data showing greater longevity shape health outcomes. for women seem to confound or undermine The development of relational and global women’s call for prioritizing women’s health ini- models of gender and health promises to address tiatives. The surface question becomes whether the important issues of gender health equity. the appeals for increased resources for women’s Some Latin American scholars, for example, health should be heeded in light of men’s greater have begun to question “the exclusive emphasis mortality. This type of thinking, however, can on women in reproductive health research, seek- foster a tendency to see issues of gender equity ing instead to examine men’s influence on in categorical and binary terms, that is, as men women’s health and on reproductive decisions in versus women. general” (Viveros Vigoya, 2001, p. 251). While When concerns about men’s greater mortality they critique and problematize men’s adoption of rates enter the dialogue around gender health destructive forms of traditional masculinity, they 19-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 345

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MASCULINITIES AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE

WALTER S. DEKESEREDY

MARTIN D. SCHWARTZ

Choose a form of violence and examine international statistics on the gender of its perpetrators. You will always find a severely unbalanced sex ratio, generally with 90% to 100% of the violence being perpetrated by men and less than 10% being perpetrated by women. From time to time, a small number of violent acts committed by women gain newspaper headlines and perhaps even a few scholarly articles on the rise in female crime. The reality behind this is that female violent crime rate is so rare that some states and provinces have managed to survive for a century without any prison for women. The few female criminals who needed to be incarcerated were shipped off to larger adjacent states and paid for via a per diem rate. —Bowker (1998a, p. xiv)

THE GOOD AND BAD OF MEN from genocide to terrorism, and including interpersonal violence, is essentially the product There are few fields in which men around the of men and some of their masculinities. A large globe are not making outstanding contributions social science literature shows that men, espe- every day: technology, medicine, education, cially those who adhere to the ideology of famil- science, entertainment, and sports are just a few. ial patriarchy,1 perpetrate the bulk of the violence Among these areas of male accomplishment, in intimate heterosexual relationships through- profeminist men are playing a vital role in the out the world (DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997; ongoing struggle to end violence against women, Renzetti, Edleson, & Kennedy Bergen, 2001). engaging in activities such as protesting por- Similarly, men “have a virtual monopoly” on nography, supporting and participating in the commission of crimes of the powerful, such woman abuse awareness programs, and pro- as price-fixing and the illegal dumping of toxic testing against racist practices and discourses waste (Messerschmidt, 1997). We would be (DeKeseredy, Schwartz, & Alvi, 2000; Johnson, hard-pressed to find more than a handful of 1997; Thorne-Finch, 1992). Despite all of this women who are involved in acts of state terror- good, however, much of what is bad in the world, ism,2 such as the one below, described by a man 353 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 354

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who resided in one of Argentina’s brutal men? They are not generally men who suffer detention centers in the mid-1970s: from mental illness. Of course, some abusive men have clinical pathologies (Aldarondo & [T]hey would use the “submarino” (holding our Mederos, 2002a), but generally no more than heads under water), hang us up by our feet, hit us 10% of all incidents of intimate violence can be on the sexual organs, beat us with chains, put salt blamed on mental disorders, which means that on our wounds and use any other method that theories stressing this causal factor cannot occurred to them. They would also apply 220-volt direct current to us, and we know that sometimes, account for at least 90% of the events (Gelles & as in the case of Irma Necich—they used what Straus, 1988; Pagelow, 1993). In fact, in another they called the “piripipi,” a type of noise torture. setting we suggested that woman abuse on (Cited in Herman, 1982, p. 114) campus is so rampant that an argument might be made that men who do not engage in woman How often do we hear about women partici- abuse could be seen as the deviants (Godenzi, pating in mass killings like the one at Columbine Schwartz, & DeKeseredy, 2001). High School on April 20, 1999? How many Mental illness is not the only possible expla- women took part in the plot to fly planes into the nation for the pervasiveness of male violence. World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Others include such biological arguments as September 11, 2001? At the risk of belaboring high testosterone levels and evolutionary male the issue, the most important point to consider is competition for sexual access to women.4 These that data sets generated by a variety of scientific perspectives are, like some neoconservative the- means all show that men’s involvement in all ories of poverty (e.g., Herrnstein & Murray, types of violent crime greatly exceeds that of 1994),5 little more than ideologies “dressed up women (Kimmel, 2000). in . . . scientific regalia” (Devine & Wright, What accounts for this glaring difference? 1993, p. 125). Men are not naturally aggressive. One argument is that most men are not violent, As Katz and Chambliss (1991) discovered and thus those who beat, rob, kill, torture, rape, through an in-depth review of the research on or behave in other injurious ways are deviant the relationship between biology and crime, members of an otherwise harmonious society (Websdale & Chesney-Lind, 1998). There is a An individual learns to be aggressive in the same kernel of truth to this statement. For example, manner that he or she learns to inhibit aggression. serial killers like John Wayne Gacy are very One is not a natural state, and the other culturally imposed: both are within our biological potential. rare, committing less than 1% of all U.S. homi- ...Violence, sexism and racism are biological cides (Fox & Levin, 1999; Jenkins, 1994). only in the sense that they are within the range of Yet male violence itself is not particularly possible human attitudes and behaviors. But non- rare. Just as one example of male violence, each violence, equality and justice are also biologically year at least 11% of North American women in possible. (p. 270) marital/cohabiting relationships are physically abused by their male partners. Similar figures British psychotherapist Roger Hottocks have been reported in a variety of other English- (1994) made the bridging argument that speaking countries. Violence is endemic to although the above is true, certain societies are our society (DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997; much more likely to teach violence to men than Gordon, 1988). In a Canadian national represen- others. “Therefore I insist: it is not men who are tative sample survey of undergraduate students, intrinsically violent, but certain societies which about 28% of the females said that they had been are violent and warlike and genocidal” (p. 136). sexually assaulted in some manner in the past There are other theories about male violence. year alone by a male boyfriend or dating partner, Evolutionary theorists (e.g., Daly & Wilson, while 11% of the men admitted to such sexual 1988) claim that male violence is the result of violence in the past year (DeKeseredy & Kelly, competition for sexual access to women. Yet 1993).3 This does not include physical, unadmit- men kill not only men but also women. Why ted, economic, or psychological violence. do so many men beat, rape, or kill female Such data call into question popular notions intimates? As Kimmel (2000) reminds us, “To that men who harm female intimates are “differ- murder or assault the person you are trying to ent,” “deviant,” or “sick.” Who are these violent inseminate is a particularly unwise reproductive 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 355

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strategy” (p. 244). Another challenge to levels of very harmful behavior are often seen as evolutionary theory is that many societies have “just part of the game.” It is relatively common much lower rates of male violence than those for events to “occur in the name of sport, which, of the United States. So if “boys will be boys,” if they were perpetrated under any other banner they “will be so differently” (Kimmel, 2000), short of open warfare, would be roundly con- depending on where they live, their peer groups, demned as crimes against humanity” (Atyeo, social class position and race, and a host of 1979, p. 11). Here are two professional ice hockey other factors (Messerschmidt, 1993). examples: Missing in the above brief review of theories and in most media accounts of the causes of • Boston’s “Terrible” Ted Green and Wayne male violence (e.g., drugs, video games) is any Maki of St. Louis engaged in a stick duel during discussion of the role of masculinities in con- an exhibition game in Ottawa. Green was struck temporary society (Messerschmidt, 2000). The on the head by a full-swinging blow. His skull main objective of this chapter is to review and fractured, he almost died. critique the extant sociological literature on the relationship between this important factor and • Boston’s Dave Forbes and Minnesota’s variations in interpersonal violence across Henry Boucha engaged in a minor altercation for different social class and racial/ethnic back- which both were penalized. Forbes threatened grounds. Before doing so, however, it is first Boucha from the penalty box; then, leaving the necessary to define interpersonal violence and box at the expiration of the penalties, he lunged explain why masculinities studies provide a rich at Boucha from behind, striking him near the social scientific understanding of this problem. right eye with the butt end of his stick. Boucha fell to his knees, hands over face; Forbes jumped on his back, punching until pulled off by another player. Boucha was taken to a hospital, where he UNDERSTANDING received 25 stitches and the first of several eye INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE:THE operations (Smith, 1983, pp. 15-16). CONTRIBUTION OF MASCULINITIES STUDIES Unfortunately, cases such as these are not iso- Although the definition of interpersonal violated incidents. It is exacerbated because serious lence has been much debated, here it means “the violence is widely regarded as a legitimate or threat, attempt, or use of physical force by one acceptable part of many contact sports. Further, or more persons that results in physical or non- it is not difficult to identify many other injurious physical harm to one or more persons” (Weiner, behaviors that sizable numbers of people do not Zahn, & Sagi, 1990, p. xiii). More specifically, regard as violent, and to find that the number of the behaviors examined in this chapter are non- people who regard them as violent differs radi- lethal forms of male-to-female physical and cally from society to society (Newman, 1976). sexual assaults (e.g., wife beating and rape), For example, although a broad range of health homicide, and youth gang violence, which we workers and parents in North America regard chose to examine because these harms have thus such behavior as abusive and violent, and it has far garnered the most empirical and theoretical been found to be unacceptable by the Committee attention by social scientists interested in mas- of Ministers of the Council of Europe,6 many culinities and crime. This is not to say, however, North Americans not only see nothing wrong that we do not also view other highly injurious with slapping or spanking a child, but they also behaviors as interpersonal violence. may regard such behavior as necessary, normal, Part of the problem in defining interpersonal and good (Straus, 1991). violence is that there are many behaviors that Nevertheless, there is considerable agreement may seem extremely violent but nevertheless are about the seriousness of the violent behaviors not viewed that way by many or most people discussed in this chapter. In other words, they are (Bessant & Cook, 2001). Certainly, killing the “consensus crimes.” This means that most citi- enemy in warfare is violent, but that is grounds zens share norms and values that legally prohibit for being awarded a medal. Sports often provide these forms of conduct, and impose penalties on our most ambiguous area, where exceptional those who violate laws relating to them. 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 356

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Of course, it is also important to note that (Smith, 1983, p. 42) if they walked away from although men commit most violent crimes and violent “honor contests” (Polk, 2003). that although such violence is widespread, this Similarly, why are corporate executives still does not mean that all men are violent unlikely to participate in street fights? The issue (Connell, 2000). For example, homicide is an can be more complex for some African infrequent violent crime, and thus “we are not American athletes, rap artists, and entertainers talking about a tendency that is either universal who attempt to derive their credibility (“cred”) or inevitable” (Newburn & Stanko, 1994a, p. 4). among fans from their willingness to engage in Further, there is no simple standard of being a violence. Yet, although most skilled athletes man that guides all male behavior, including of color are not likely to commit violent acts on violence (Messerschmidt, 1993; Polk, 2003). In the street, such violence is a resource that can fact, although society functions in many ways be used by poor men of color who lack other to promote male violence, there remain in any resources for “accomplishing masculinity” situation other means of expressing one’s (Messerschmidt, 1993). masculinity (Connell, 2000). Obviously, more will be said about masculin- For example, we noted earlier that pro- ities and violence in the rest of this chapter, but it fessional hockey players can be exceptionally must be emphasized that masculinities studies violent. They live in an atmosphere heavily demonstrate the fallacy of relying on essentialist influenced by hegemonic masculinity (Connell, explanations such as those briefly reviewed 1995), and they learn through pressure from earlier. Further, masculinities studies show that owners, sportswriters, coaches, teammates, although men are encouraged to live up to the fans, and parents to be aggressive, carry the ideals of hegemonic masculinity and can be sanc- capacity for violence, strive for achievement tioned for not doing so, violence is just one of and status, avoid all things feminine and partic- many ways of “doing gender” in a culturally spe- ularly emotions deemed feminine (e.g., crying), cific way (Sinclair, 2002; West & Zimmerman, and actively engage in homophobia (Connell, 1987). Moreover, masculinities studies show us 1990; Levant, 1994). Official statistics are kept that the decision to be violent is affected by class on penalty minutes, and executives and sports and race relations that structure the resources magazines talk approvingly about how teams available to accomplish what men feel provides need to hire “enforcers” who may have no talent their masculine identities (Messerschmidt, 1997; for ice skating or hockey but can intimidate Schwartz & DeKeseredy, 1997). others through the use of violence. To pick one Hegemonic masculine discourses and prac- isolated but not unusual example, one of tices, including violence, are learned through Detroit’s mainstream newspapers “ran a picture personal and impersonal interactions with of bleeding Colorado goalie Patrick Roy under significant others such as teachers, journalists, the huge headline, BLOODY GOOD” (Reilly, parents, entertainers, and politicians (Connell, 2003, p. 24). What this leads to is a sport where 1995). However, the all-male patriarchal sub- fights are very common. culture is one of the most important agents of Yet, some hockey players will not engage in socialization (Bowker, 1983; DeKeseredy & fighting with an opponent because they can “do Schwartz, 2002; Sinclair, 2002). As described in masculinity” in other ways. A prime example is the next section, membership in such a peer Wayne Gretzky, who recently ended his stellar group, regardless of its social class composition, career holding the record for most goals scored promotes and legitimates the physical and sexual in the National Hockey League (NHL). Gretzky victimization of female intimates. rarely fought. His amazing abilities to score goals and help his teams win games and cham- pionships were key resources at his disposal to VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN demonstrate that he was “manly.” Those lacking INTIMATE HETEROSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS his skills, but under intense pressure from employers, teammates, and spectators to fight There is no question that many women are those who challenge them, commonly feel that victimized by men within intimate relationships they would be derided as “of doubtful moral each year, including the physical or sexual assault worth” and “relatively useless to the team” of about 10% of those in marital/cohabiting 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 357

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relationships (DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997) challenges,” although these challenges are and the physical or sexual assault of women different from those encountered by members of when they try to leave or have left their spouses hypererotic subcultures (Messerschmidt, 2000). or live-in lovers.7 University/college dating For example, men in public housing are signifi- relationships are also marked by high numbers cantly more likely to physically assault their of physical and sexual assaults (DeKeseredy & female partners than those who live in middle- Schwartz, 1998b; Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, and upper-class communities (DeKeseredy, 1987). Why do these assaults take place? Alvi, Schwartz, & Perry, 1999). To explain this Although there seem to be several key reasons, problem, DeKeseredy and Schwartz (2002) many quantitative and qualitative studies have offered an empirically informed Economic found that one of the most important is male Exclusion/Male Peer Support Model, described peer support, “the attachments to male peers and in Figure 20.1.8 the resources that these men provide which encour- Briefly, DeKeseredy and Schwartz (2002) age and legitimate woman abuse” (DeKeseredy, contended that recent major economic transfor- 1990, p. 130). mations (e.g., the shift from a manufacturing to The relationship between male peer support a service-based economy) displace working- and various forms of violence against women class men and women, who often end up in varies across different social classes and set- urban public housing or other “clusters of tings. For example, in universities and colleges poverty” (Sernau, 2001).9 Unable to support across North America, the identified sexual their families economically and live up to the abusers typically are white middle-class men, culturally defined masculine role as breadwin- especially if they belong to the “hypererotic” ner, socially and economically excluded men subcultures that exist on most campuses experience high levels of life-events stress (Godenzi et al., 2001). As Kanin (1985) found, because their “normal paths for personal power these all-male homosocial cohorts produce high and prestige have been cut off” (Raphael, or exaggerated levels of sexual aspiration, and 2001b, p. 703). For example, because they can- members expect to engage in a very high level not afford to look after both their partners and of consensual sexual intercourse, or what is to their children, some women evict male inti- them sexual conquest. Of course, for most men, mates or “invert patriarchy” in other ways by these goals are impossible to achieve. When making decisions for the household and having they fall short of what they see as their friends’ the lease and car in their names (Edin, 2000). high expectations, and perhaps short of what Such actions often are perceived by patriarchal they believe their friends are actually achieving, men as “dramatic assaults” on their “sense of some of these men experience relative depriva- masculine dignity” (Bourgois, 1995, p. 215). tion. This sexual frustration caused by a “refer- Some men deal with stress caused by their ence-group-anchored sex drive” can result in partners’ inversions of patriarchy by leaving predatory sexual conduct (Kanin, 1967, p. 433). them, while others use violence as a means of These men are highly frustrated not because sabotaging women’s attempts to gain economic they are deprived of sex in some objective sense, independence (Bourgois, 1995; Raphael, 2001a). but because they feel inadequate in their Other men, however, turn to their male peers for attempts to get what their peers have defined advice and guidance on how to alleviate stress as the proper amount of sex to establish their caused by female challenges to patriarchal heterosexual masculinity. Hence, sexual assaults authority. Large numbers of socially and eco- committed by socially and economically privi- nomically excluded male peers in and around leged white male undergraduates are largely public housing view wife beating as a legitimate functions of a fear of appearing to be a “misfit” means of repairing “damaged patriarchal mas- or of being “left out” (Messerschmidt, 2000). culinity” (Messerschmidt, 1993; Raphael, Like the more affluent college students, 2001b), and they often serve as role models impoverished men also form “specialized rela- because many of them beat their own intimate tionships with one another” (Messerschmidt, partners (DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & 1993, p. 110). Such close bonds, under certain Tomaszewski, 2003). conditions, also promote violence against In sum, male physical and sexual violence women as a means of meeting “masculinity against women is very much a function of men’s 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 358

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Broader Formal Labor Social Isolation in Economic Market Public Change Exclusion Housing

Men’s Inability to Fulfill Breadwinning Role

Stress

Patriarchal Male Peer Support

Woman Abuse

Figure 20.1 Economic Exclusion/Male Peer Support Model

deep-rooted concern with “presenting an image by Polk (1994): (a) homicide in the context of of themselves as men within their social net- sexual intimacy and (b) confrontational homi- works” (Sinclair, 2002, p. 20), although patriar- cide. Although Polk studied Australian men, chal peer groups’ definitions of what it means many masculinities scholars argue that his find- to be a man vary across social class categories. ings are just as relevant to the discussion of men Similarly, there are variations in motives for in other countries. different types of homicide, determined by the Male proprietariness is closely related to structure and location of one’s peer group. sexual intimacy homicide, especially during the stages of separation or divorce. M. Wilson and Daly (1992) define it as “the tendency [of men] HOMICIDE to think of women as sexual and reproductive ‘property’ they can own and exchange” (p. 85). Stanko (1994) makes it clear that although men More generally, proprietariness refers to “not are violent to women, they are in fact much just the emotional force of [the male’s] own more violent to each other. Any discussion of feelings of entitlement but to a more pervasive male violence must include some understanding attitude [of ownership and control] toward of how men experience violence, both as perpe- social relationships [with intimate female trators and as victims. Not only can’t we fully partners]” (M. Wilson & Daly, 1992, p. 85). explore the nature of violence in men’s lives Jealousy also plays a major role in a man’s deci- here, but we can’t even describe all the various sion to kill a woman who threatens his power scenarios of the form of violence we choose to and control by seeking to leave or actually leav- center on here: homicide. Instead, we focus on a ing him. As Polk (2003, p. 134) pointed out, few subthemes of two common ones identified “[T]ime and time again the phrase ‘if I can’t 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 359

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have you, no one will’ echoes through the data” histories of violence, such murders are triggered on homicide in the context of sexual intimacy. by a perceived challenge to their masculinity However, although intimate homicide is one or honor. This challenge may involve an insult, of the most common types of murder committed a “minor jostle,” a comment to a girlfriend or by men, it is a relatively rare crime. If we live in wife, or “challenging eye contact” (Polk, 2003, a patriarchal society that promotes male propri- p. 135). Honor contest participants do not intend etariness, why then do only some men kill their to kill each other. Rather, their main goal is to estranged female partners? Certainly there are fight, and male peers often serve as bystanders variations in male proprietariness (DeKeseredy & in these tragic events. Consider the follow- Schwartz, 1998b; Smith, 1990), which means ing scenario described by Polk (1994). Anthony that female challenges through attempts or suc- and his friends were returning from a local cessful departures from a relationship, like all Octoberfest when they met up with another single factors, cannot account for estrangement group that included Don and Peter, who, it turns homicide (DeKeseredy, Rogness, & Schwartz, out, were armed with broken pool cues and in press). This is why it is necessary to focus knives. A confrontation grew out of a young simultaneously on all-male subcultural dynam- woman in Anthony’s group who wanted to ride ics when attempting to explain the linkage a bike belonging to Peter. Insults and challenges between masculinities and homicides. For were traded back and forth. Polk (1994) example, as stated previously, many patriarchal describes what happened next: men have male friends with similar beliefs and values, and these peers reinforce the notion that The exchanges escalated into pushing and shov- women’s exiting is a threat to a man’s mascul- ing. Anthony said: “If you want to have a go, I’ll inity (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2002). Again, have a go back.” Don then threw a punch at Anthony, and the fight was on. At first it was a patriarchal male peer support contributes to general group scuffle, and at one point Anthony the perception of damaged masculinity and broke a beer stein (obtained at Octoberfest) over motivates possessive men to “lash out against the head of a member of Don’s group. the women . . . they can no longer control” The main group conflict began to simmer (Bourgois, 1995, p. 214). Another point to con- down, but Anthony and Don sought each other out sider is that if a patriarchal man’s peers see him and continued their personal dispute. At first Don as a failure with women because his partner was armed with the broken pool cue, but Anthony wants to leave or has left him, he is likely to be was able to take it off him. Peter then handed Don ridiculed because he “can’t control his woman.” a knife. Witnesses agree that at this point, Anthony Peers can also directly or indirectly influence kept repeating to Don: “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you.” Polk’s (1994) second type: male-to-male con- Don was able to come in close to Anthony, how- frontational homicides, which account for more ever, and slashed out with his knife, stabbing than 50% of all murders. Such killings are sim- Anthony in the left thigh, right hand, and finally ilar to “interpersonal disputes,” which, accord- the left side of his chest. By now all eyes of the ing to Wallace (1986): group were on the two. They say Anthony stag- gered, and he began to bleed profusely. The two formed the basis of the majority of killings outside groups broke off the fight, each going their sepa- the domestic sphere. A large number of these rate ways....Don had no idea of the seriousness quarrels were unpremeditated events that erupted between strangers or acquaintances, usually while of the injuries he had caused, and was said by his socializing in or around a club or hotel, or in the friends to be “shocked” when he was informed the home of either victim or offender. The content of next day of Anthony’s death. (pp. 60-61) the disputes in these circumstances may be less important than the male context in which they Sometimes, male peers function in more occurred. (p. 155) ways than as a social audience. Above, Peter handed Don a knife during an honor contest. A common variant of confrontational homi- Although other scenarios of homicide do not cide involves a “pub fight,” an event Polk (2003) involve male peers, even when perpetrators act referred to as an “honor contest.” Typically alone, peer influence should not be ruled out as committed by young working-class men who a causal factor. Many men and male youths are under the influence of alcohol and who have commit violent crimes in anticipation of the 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 360

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status they will gain (or lose) from friends, who Most serious crime by young men (e.g., may not be present at the scene (Warr, 2002). violence) is committed in groups (Bursik & Grasmick, 2001; Zimring, 1998), but the vast majority of young men who “flock together” do YOUTH GANG VIOLENCE not belong to violent gangs, are not perpetrators of serious crimes, and do not see themselves as Before explaining how male adolescent involve- part of a gang. Thus, many popular perceptions ment in gang violence is a means of accom- of male youth street gangs are shaped by stereo- plishing masculinity, it is first necessary to types (Shelden et al., 2001). These observations define the term “gang.” Many use this term are hardly trivial because they contribute to an loosely to refer to groups of young men who ongoing moral panic about “kids out of control,” “hang around” street corners, malls, or other and they target and scapegoat visible minorities public places (Schissel, 1997). However, don’t (Schissel, 1997). adults “hang out” in public places too? Why For example, newspapers often feature head- aren’t they also defined as gang members? lines such as “Asian gang members responsible Not surprisingly, many social scientists sharply for violent attack.” Unfortunately, such racial oppose popular stereotypes of male youth gangs, references are common in the popular media. and they do not view all groups of unsupervised One is not likely to find headlines referring to young men interacting on the street as members of “white youth offenders” or “European American deviant or criminal cohorts (Short, 1997). Still, gangs” (Schissel, 1997). Racism is part and par- there is much debate among sociologists and cel of much of the popular discourse on violent criminologists about what constitutes a gang.10 youth gangs, and average white citizens respond However, most researchers agree with Warr’s differently to three or four young men of color (2002) assertion that “gangs constitute only a mingling together on the street than they do to small fraction of delinquent groups, and that a groups of white youths doing so (Shelden et al., ganglike structure is not a prerequisite for delin- 2001). quent behavior” (p. 5). Thus, following Curry To summarize all the rapidly growing litera- and Spergel (1988, p. 383), we define a violent ture on how masculinities influence young men’s youth gang as “a group or collectivity of persons involvement in violent gang activities in a short engaged in significant illegitimate or criminal section of a chapter is a daunting, if not impossi- activities, mainly threatening and violent.” Of ble, task.11 Instead, we address key themes that course, as much as they engage in these activities, emerge from this body of knowledge. The first most violent gang members spend much of their and perhaps most important one is status frustra- time engaging in conformist activities such as lis- tion caused by economically and socially mar- tening to music, playing video games, and watch- ginalized young men’s inability to accomplish ing television (Jackson, 1989; Shakur, 1994). masculinity at school through academic achieve- Just because young men with similar social ment, participation in sports, and involve- backgrounds associate with each other does not ment in extracurricular activities (Cohen, 1955; mean that they are gang members or that they Messerschmidt, 1993). This problem plagues are violent. In fact, it is normal and healthy for both whites and minorities. As Cohen (1955) young men to want to interact with their peers pointed out decades ago, some youths try to deal (Huff, 1993). Benefits derived from strong peer with this problem by seeking extra help from interactions include the following: their teachers, while others quit school and come into contact with other “dropouts” who share • They help facilitate a successful transition their frustration. A subculture soon emerges that from childhood to adulthood. grants members status based on accomplishing • Peers are important sources of emotional gender through violence and other illegitimate support during a time in young men’s lives in means. However, some dropouts avoid gang par- which many rapid changes are occurring (e.g., puberty, physical maturation, and the transition ticipation because they construct their masculin- to higher levels of education). ity through such behaviors as legitimate working. • Interactions with peers help adolescents learn Still, for many young men living in inner-city about the norms of work, dating, sex, and life or rural communities damaged by deindustrial- in general (Warr, 2002, pp. 23-25). ization, the frustration spawned by the inability 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 361

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to accomplish masculinity in the school setting is to find jobs in a society brutalized by major exacerbated by their failure to find a steady well- structural transformations, such as the shift from paying job, which is another important theme that a manufacturing to a service-based economy emerges from the extant literature on masculini- (DeKeseredy, Alvi, Schwartz, & Tomaszewski, ties and gangs. These young men are hit with a 2003; Kazemipur & Halli, 2000; W. J. Wilson, “double whammy” that puts them at even greater 1996; Zielenbach, 2000). risk of teaming up with others to create a sub- Unfortunately, for many of the young men culture that promotes, expresses, and validates facing the problems described here, the only way masculinity through violent means (Hagedorn, of gaining masculine status, a reputation, and 1988; Messerschmidt, 1993). In communities self-respect is through youth gang violence damaged by deindustrialization, there is also “a (Shakur, 1994). Moreover, “the prospects for the greater proportion of peer groups that subscribe future are not very good” (Shelden et al., 2001, to violent macho ideals” (Schwendinger & p. 266). For example, at the time of writing this Schwendinger, 1983, p. 205). chapter, U.S. companies were in the process of Then there are young men who are hit with a cutting many jobs. The sad reality is that as of “triple whammy.” They are not only failures in May 2003, 7.45 million American adults were school and unable to find a job, but also people officially unemployed, not to mention those who of color who face institutional racism on a daily are not counted by government agencies because basis (Perkins, 1987; Shelden et al., 2001), they had simply given up looking for work especially if they live in public housing com- (Reich, 2003).12 Not only is work continuing to plexes. An example of how public housing con- disappear, but schools also are facing massive tributes to social and economic isolation is cuts to their budgets, which precludes teachers provided below by a Chicago-based employer from effectively reaching out to socially and eco- interviewed by W. J. Wilson (1996, p. 116). He nomically marginalized young men who have felt that people who lived in public housing special needs. Racial segregation in poor inner would jeopardize his financial status: cities also is a major problem (Massey & Denton, 1993; W. J. Wilson, 1996). For these and I necessarily can’t tell from looking at an address other reasons, we assert that there will be a major whether someone’s from Cabrini Green or not, but increase in the number of male youths lacking if I could tell, I don’t think that I’d want to hire legitimate or conventional resources to commu- them. Because it reflects on your credibility. If nicate their masculinity to significant others and you came here with this survey, and you were from one of those neighborhoods, I don’t know if to society at large. Some support for our argu- I’d want to answer your questions. I’d wonder ment is provided by data showing that Los about your credibility. Angeles gang wars culminated in 20 murders during a 1-week period near the end of 2002 In sum, then, many inner-city African (KNBC.COM, 2002). American young men are denied masculine status in three ways: through the inability to succeed in school, a lack of meaningful jobs, and OTHER FORMS OF MALE VIOLENCE the racism and stereotypes of their neighborhoods. Many Hispanic and Asian young men In a short chapter, it has been possible to go into experience similar problems. Thus, it is not sur- depth in only three specific areas of men’s inter- prising that members of these socially marginal- personal violence. Needless to say, there are ized ethnic groups compose most of the street many more arenas in which masculinities play a gangs in the United States (Klein, 2002). role in facilitating men’s violence. In fact, as Nevertheless, it cannot be emphasized enough Australians Connell (1995) and Hatty (2000) that social factors—not skin color or biological have pointed out, there are various forms of makeup—contribute to a higher concentration of masculinities, which helps to explain the wide these people in violent youth gangs. These are range of responses to the contemporary crises young men who are most likely to go to schools facing men. that lack adequate financial and human Among these other arenas is child discipline. resources, who live in neighborhoods plagued by We mentioned earlier in this context of disci- concentrated urban poverty, and who are unable pline that many people see slapping or spanking 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 362

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a child as violent behavior. An entire field least sentencing them into “treatment.” of child abuse is devoted to the physical abuse Although widely called “treatment” programs, of children outside the confines of mild disci- their efforts are most commonly short aware- plinary actions. Similarly, although we discuss ness programs that are more properly termed youth violence in the context of gang behavior, intervention programs (for extensive discus- there is a great deal of interpersonal violence, sions, see Aldarondo & Mederos, 2002b). Such especially in the United States, outside the programs are now found in a variety of European context of youth gangs. countries and Australia, although the theoretical Barbara Perry (2003), following Connell underpinnings may be very different (Hearn, (1987), has argued that a great deal of racist vio- 1998). Even though male peer support studies lence and homophobic violence (“gay bashing”) have made it clear that men with social support can be traced to the desire of white men to assert for violence are more likely to be violent their superiority and dominance as well as to the (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2002), the hope for desire to “prove the very essence of their mas- such programs is that it is also possible that the culinity: heterosexuality” (p. 158). She argued right kind of male social support can help a man that many men do not view such violence as to stop being violent (Hearn, 1998). breaking a cultural norm (on violence) as much as affirming “a culturally approved hegemonic masculinity: aggression, domination, and hetero- CONCLUSIONS sexuality” (p. 158). Of course, men engage in masculinist discourse to justify and allow their There are many theories that attempt to lay out own violence in many other areas. which offender characteristics best predict interpersonal violence, but the single best determinant of who commits beatings, homicide, POLICY AND PRACTICE rapes, and so on is whether the offender is male (Schwartz & Hatty, 2003). Why are most violent Thus far, there have not been many programs offenders men? As stated before, it has little to that have been exceptionally successful in do with their biological makeup or with factors reducing men’s violence. In fact, as Hearn identified by evolutionary psychologists. The (1996) noted, although there was tremendous best answer is provided by masculinities studies attention from a variety of sources to the devel- and research on how masculinities conducive to opment of a new field of men’s studies, such violence are shaped by male subcultural dynam- studies have “generally not explored the ques- ics. Clearly, for many men, violence is, under tion of men’s violence to any large extent” certain situations, the only perceived available (p. 22). However, a broad number of forces in technique of expressing and validating mas- many countries are now working in many dif- culinity, and male peer support strongly encour- ferent arenas to deal specifically with men’s ages and legitimates such aggression. Broader interpersonal violence in intimate relationships. patriarchal forces alone do not motivate people As mentioned earlier, for example, profeminist to kill, rape, or rob others. men’s groups are engaging in a wide variety of Still, the accounts of the three harms exam- practices to protest racism and sexism, and to ined here, like other explanations of the connec- try to promote men’s awareness (DeKeseredy, tion between masculinities and violence, require Schwartz, & Alvi, 2000). Unsurprisingly, at more in-depth analyses of complex factors least in North America the most active of these related to race/ethnicity. For example, so far, to are taking place on university campuses (e.g., the best of our knowledge, not one systematic Moynihan, 2003). However, a wide variety of study on how masculinities contribute to date groups are dealing with a very different popula- rape among the African American community tion, attempting to work with men who batter has been conducted.13 Similarly, Messerschmidt women. These programs had their beginnings (1997, p. 117) appears to be the only researcher in the United States, often at the instigation of guided by the work of masculinities theorists shelter houses and with the strong support of who has examined “the historical and/or con- lower court judges who did not wish to allow temporary constructions of varieties of white- batterers to be released on probation without at ness and their relation to crime.”14 Furthermore, 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 363

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the contribution of technological developments, ability” is the main cause of poverty and other social such as the Internet, require in-depth exami- problems such as crime. nation (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 1998a). Today, 6. See The Protection of Women Against many males are developing friendships via elec- Violence, Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the tronic mail, “chat rooms,” and other electronic Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence adopted on April means. It is necessary to determine whether 30, 2002, and Explanatory Memorandum, Council of these homosocial cohorts, referred to by Warr Europe, Strasbourg. (2002) as “virtual peer groups,” present men 7. For example, Mahoney and Williams (1998) with new or reconstituted masculinity challenges estimated that at least 1 in 10 married women experi- that spawn violence. Chances are that virtual ence marital rape. Two thirds of the women in peer groups simply reinforce existing hegemonic Finkelhor and Yllo’s (1985) interview sample masculine discourses and practices, but only (N = 50) were raped in the last days of a relationship, among males who can afford or have access either after previous separations or when they were to computers. However, as Warr (2002, p. 87) trying to leave a relationship. pointed out, there is no evidence that virtual peer 8. This model is a modified version of Sernau’s groups, regardless of whether they promote (2001, p. 24) Web of Exclusion Model and is heavily informed by sociological perspectives offered by violence, have “replaced or supplanted real ones.” him, DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1993), W. J. Wilson Additional new directions in empirical and (1996), and Young (1999). theoretical work could easily be suggested and 9. A recent analysis of 2000 Census Bureau will be taken in the near future, because there is data (see Jargowsky, 2003), however, shows that the a growing interest in the relationship between poor are becoming less concentrated in urban areas masculinities and crime, as demonstrated by than they were prior to the 1990s. Still, in a series of important books published since Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Diego, the the early 1990s (Bowker, 1998b; Hatty, 2000; percentage of people in high-poverty areas increased Messerschmidt, 1993, 1997; Newburn & during this time period. Stanko, 1994b; Polk, 1994). Even so, as Connell 10. See Shelden, Tracy, and Brown (2001) for an in-depth overview of conflicting social scientific (2000, p. 82) reminds us, “masculinities are not definitions of gangs. the whole story about violence.” Obviously, 11. See Messerschmidt (1993) for an in-depth there are many other sources of crimes covered overview of the literature on violent youth gang activ- in this chapter and elsewhere. Nevertheless, ity and its relationship to masculinities. violence and its reduction cannot be adequately 12. In the United States, to be counted as unem- understood without an in-depth understanding ployed, one has to be actively looking for paid work. of masculinities. 13. There is, however, a recent study of dating violence, including sexual assault, among African American youth (West & Rose, 2000). Further, some NOTES researchers (e.g., Bell & Mattis, 2000) have examined the linkage between African American manhood and 1. This is a subsystem of social patriarchy, and violence against women. it refers to male control in domestic or intimate set- 14. In Chapter 1 of his 1997 book, he argues that tings (Barrett, 1980; Ursel, 1986). “during reconstruction and its immediate aftermath, 2. Barak (2003) defines state terrorism as “the lynching was a response to the perceived erosion of type of governmental abuse and terror perpetrated by white male dominance and was an attempt to recreate traditional dictatorships, from Europe to Central and what white supremacist men imagined to be a lost South America” (p.129). status of unchallenged white masculine supremacy” 3. See DeKeseredy and Schwartz (1998b) for (p. 16). more information on the methods used in this study and the data generated by it. 4. See Kimmel (2000) for a more in-depth REFERENCES review of these perspectives. 5. Herrnstein and Murray (1994) contended that Aldarondo, E., & Mederos, F. (2002a). Common broader social forces, such as class, gender, and ethnic practitioners’ concerns abut abusive men. In inequality, do not cause poverty. Rather, based on their E. A. Aldarondo & F. Mederos (Eds.), Programs analysis of highly questionable “scientific data” gen- for men who batter: Intervention and prevention erated by the Armed Forces Qualifications Test strategies in a diverse society (pp. 2-1-2-17). (AFQT), they argue that low intelligence or “cognitive Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute. 20-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 364

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Pagelow, M. (1993). Response to Hamberger’s Smith, M. D. (1983). Violence and sport. Toronto: comments. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 8, Butterworths. 137-139. Smith, M. D. (1990). Patriarchal ideology and wife Perkins, U. E. (1987). Explosion of Chicago’s black beating: A test of a feminist hypothesis. Violence street gangs: 1900 to the present. Chicago: and Victims, 5, 257-273. Third World Press. Stanko, E. A. (1994). Challenging the problem of Perry, B. (2003). Accounting for hate crime. In men’s individual violence. In T. Newburn & M. D. Schwartz & S. E. Hatty (Eds.), Controver- E. A. Stanko (Eds.), Just boys doing business? sies in critical criminology (pp.147-160). Men, masculinities and crime (pp. 32-45). Cincinnati: Anderson. London: Routledge. Polk, K. (1994). When men kill: Scenarios of masculine Straus, M. A. (1991). Discipline and deviance: violence. New York: Cambridge University Press. Physical punishment of children and violence Polk, K. (2003). Masculinities, femininities and and other crime in childhood. Social Problems, homicide: Competing explanations for male 38, 133-154. violence. In M. D. Schwartz & S. E. Hatty Thorne-Finch, R. (1992). Ending the silence: The (Eds.), Controversies in critical criminology origins and treatment of male violence against (pp. 133-146). Cincinnati: Anderson. women. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Raphael, J. (2001a). Domestic violence as a welfare- Ursel, E. (1986). The state and the maintenance of to-work barrier: Research and theoretical issues. patriarchy: A case study of family labor and In C. M. Renzetti, J. L. Edleson, & R. Kennedy welfare legislation. In J. Dickinson & B. Russell Bergen (Eds.), Sourcebook on violence against (Eds.), Family, economy and state (pp. 150-191). women (pp. 443-456). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Toronto: Garamond. Raphael, J. (2001b). Public housing and domestic Wallace, A. (1986). Homicide: The social reality. violence. Violence Against Women, 7, 699-706. Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Reich, R. B. (2003, May 1). The economy is on the Statistics and Research. move – downward. Los Angeles Times, p. B15. Warr, M. (2002). Companions in crime: The social Reilly, R. (2003). The life of Reilly. New York: Sports aspects of criminal conduct. New York: Illustrated Books. Cambridge University Press. Renzetti, C. M., Edleson, J. L., & Kennedy Bergen, R. Websdale, N., & Chesney-Lind, M. (1998). Doing (Eds.). (2001). Sourcebook on violence against violence to women: Research synthesis on women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. the victimization of women. In L. H. Bowker Schissel, B. (1997). Blaming children: Youth crime, (Ed.), Masculinities and violence (pp. 55-81). moral panics and the politics of hate. Halifax: Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Fernwood. Weiner, N. A., Zahn, M. A., & Sagi, R. J. (1990). Schwartz, M. D., & DeKeseredy, W. S. (1997). Sexual Introduction. In N. A. Weiner, M. A. Zahn, & assault on the college campus: The role of male R. J. Sagi (Eds.), Violence: Patterns, causes, peer support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. public policy. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Schwartz, M. D., & Hatty, S. E. (2003). Introduction. Jovanovich. In M. D. Schwartz & S. E. Hatty (Eds.), West, C. M., & Rose, S. (2000). Dating aggression Controversies in critical criminology (pp. ix-xvii). among low income African American youth: Cincinnati: Anderson. An examination of gender differences and Schwendinger, J., & Schwendinger, H. (1983). Rape antagonistic beliefs. Violence Against Women, 6, and inequality. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. 470-494. Sernau, S. (2001). Worlds apart: Social inequalities West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gen- in a new century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine der. Gender and Society, 1, 125-151. Forge Press. Wilson, M., & Daly, M. (1992). Till death do us part. Shakur, S. (1994). Monster: The autobiography of an In J. Radford & D.E.H. Russell (Eds.), L.A. gang member. New York: Penguin. Femicide: The politics of woman killing Shelden, R. G., Tracy, S. K., & Brown, W. B. (2001). (pp. 83-98). New York: Twayne. Youth gangs in American society (2nd ed.). Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. world of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf. Short, J. F. (1997). Poverty, ethnicity, and violent Young, J. (1999). The exclusive society. London: crime. Boulder, CO: Westview. Sage. Sinclair, R. L. (2002). Male peer support and male- Zielenbach, S. (2000). The art of revitalization: to-female dating abuse committed by socially Improving conditions in distressed inner-city displaced male youth: An exploratory study. neighborhoods. New York: Garland. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Carleton Zimring, F. E. (1998). American youth violence. University. New York: Oxford University Press. 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 367

MASCULINITY AND DEGREES OF BODILY NORMATIVITY IN WESTERN CULTURE

THOMAS J. GERSCHICK

hat makes someone male or a man? the study of the body is highly interdisciplinary. Are people born with an unalterable The literature reflects many different academic W sex, or can it be changed at will? If interest areas including cultural studies, health one is assigned to the sex category “male,” must and illness, disability, women’s/men’s/gender he always remain there? If one thinks of oneself studies, technology, sports, media studies, and as a man, is one? Must one have a penis in order medical sociology. The literature also addresses to be a man? To what degree are sex and gender a wide range of subjects, including the relation- physical characteristics based in one’s genetic ship between agency and constraint; identity code, the brain, and the body, and to what degree and structure; power, privilege, and inequality; are they psychological, cultural, or social surveillance and self-regulation; and similarities constructions? Do the answers to the above and differences by race, class, and sexuality, questions differ as historical, cultural, and struc- ability, and disability (Dworkin, 2001). tural contexts change? These questions concern- Some of this scholarship is biographical or ing the relationship between the body, sex, and empirical; some is more interpretive or the- gender continue to be debated by scholars and oretical. Much of the writing on the body has activists in law, medicine, social sciences, focused on females’ bodies, largely because humanities, and natural sciences. None, how- feminist scholarship arose as a critique of the ever, questions the central role of the body in androcentric nature of much of the previous social life. scholarship. Because feminism focuses on Over the past 30 years, scholarship about the inequality and emancipation, feminist scholar- body spanning the natural sciences, humanities, ship detailed the various arenas in which women and social sciences has exploded. Consequently, have historically been oppressed, including

Author’s note: I would like to thank Bob Broad for his insights and many suggestions as he read multiple copies of this chapter. Additionally, I would like to thank the book editors and the copy editor for their patience, support, and advice, without which this chapter would not have been completed. 367 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 368

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through their bodies. Examples of such topics of paid to the male body in sports (Dworkin & inquiry include body image (Bordo, 1995), Messner, 1999; Messner, 1992) and disability eating disorders (B. W. Thompson, 1992), illness (Gerschick, 2000; Gerschick & Miller, 1995; (Lorber, 1997), disability (Fine & Asch, 1988), Shakespeare, Gillespie-Sells, & Davies, 1996), cosmetic surgery (Davis, 1995), physical and health and illness (Sabo & Gordon, 1995), glob- sexual violence (Bart & Moran, 1993), self- alization (Connell, 1998), and sexuality (Connell, defense (McCaughey, 1997), reproductive rights 1990). Race and ethnicity, class, and the male (Roberts, 1998), and sexuality (Collins, 2000). body are relatively unexplored topics. (Some There is increasing recognition that the diver- notable exceptions include Almaguer, 1991, and sity of human bodies does not fit neatly into Stodder, 1979.) Western culture’s two sex/body categories. As a This chapter discusses a range of biographi- consequence, there is a burgeoning literature in cal, empirical, and theoretical literature on mas- what loosely might be called transgender/queer culinities and the body, with particular attention studies (Stryker, 1998).1 Examples of the topics to men with less-normative bodies, especially explored in this literature include intersexuality men with disabilities.2 It summarizes and ana- (Kessler, 1998), transsexuality and transgression lyzes key questions, themes, and debates in this (Bornstein, 1995), cross-dressing (Garber, 1993), literature and concludes with suggestions for gender blurring (Devor, 1989), and multigen- future research. The lives of men with less- dered societies (W. L. Williams, 1986). normative bodies, such as those with disabilities, The development of the Disability Rights provide an instructive arena in which to study the Movement in the late 1960s led to an upsurge of intersection of bodies and masculinity. interest in disability studies among people with Depending on the degree of their deviation, disabilities, academics, and researchers through- men with less-normative bodies contravene out the world (Barnes, Barton, & Oliver, 2002). many of the beliefs associated with being a man. This has generated an increasingly expansive Yet little has been written about the intersection multidisciplinary literature spanning cultural of less-normative bodies and masculinity. studies, the humanities, and social sciences Studying their circumstances provides valuable (Barnes et al., 2002). Comprising a combination insight into the struggles that all men experience of personal accounts and scholarly works, this in this realm. Men with less-normative bodies literature has shifted researchers’ thinking about also occupy unique subject positions in what disability away from medical conditions requir- Patricia Hill Collins (2000) calls the matrix of ing pity and intervention to an understanding of domination and privilege. These men have the social conditions that create and reinforce gender privilege by virtue of being men, yet disability (Monaghan, 1998). Hence, the empha- this privilege is eroded to differing degrees by sis is on the cultural, attitudinal, and structural their less-normative bodies, which leaves them barriers that people with disabilities face rather subject to a range of possible sanctions. Their than on their physical limitations. This move- positions in the gender stratification hierarchy ment has increasingly become institutional- provide insight that is obscured from those with ized. In the United States, for instance, Temple more conventional bodies (Janeway, 1980). University’s Institute on Disabilities recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. The Society for Disability Studies was founded in 1982 and APPROACHES TO THE BODY shortly thereafter began publishing the Disability Studies Quarterly, and the University of Illinois To what degree are bodies shaped by natural and at Chicago created the first PhD program in social/cultural influences? Are the differences disability studies in the United States in 1998. among and between female and male bodies Building on a literature dating to the 1970s largely due to biology, therefore legitimizing that focused on men’s health issues, masculinity sex and gender stratification? Or are they largely and sports, and men’s sexuality and violence, socially constructed to benefit some men at there has been a steady growth of interest in male other men’s and women’s expense? To what bodies and their relation to social life (Bordo, degree are our thoughts, behaviors, emotions, 2000; Connell, 1983, 1995; Goldstein, 1995; and physical bodies shaped by the genes we Kimmel, 1994). Increasing attention has been inherit versus our life experiences? At the heart 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 369

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of these questions are assumptions, theories, 2000) maintain it is pervasive among biologists, and debates over the definition of the body and whereas others (O’Brien, 1999, p. 37) maintain what shapes it. that most natural and social scientists agree that Bodies mean different things to different human behavior, including gendered behavior, is theorists depending on the questions they ask, a complex combination of genetic tendencies the assumptions they make, and the methods and environmental influences. they utilize. When one synthesizes the various Defining the biological perspective is difficult approaches to studying the body and the result- for a number of reasons. First, it shares at least ing conclusions, the accumulated knowledge three names—biological essentialism, socio- demonstrates that “the body is simultaneously biology, and evolutionary psychology—thereby a physical, biological entity and a symbolic causing undue confusion. Second, a range of cultural artifact” (Johnston, 2001, p. xv). That viewpoints occurs along a continuum within this adherents of these different views of the body perspective; the viewpoints depend on the tend to ignore other perspectives and thereby emphasis that adherents place on biological fac- talk past one another makes it more difficult to tors and the degree to which they acknowledge improve the existing theories about the body. It social influences on human bodies, behavior, and is probably most appropriate, then, to think of psychologies, if at all. Third, it is clouded by pol- the literature on the body as multifaceted, with itics because of the implications of the theory. little overlap or integration. Critics of sociobiology maintain that it unjustly Bodies are simultaneously created, main- rationalizes sexual and gender inequality. tained, and changed through a constant and Representing one end of the continuum, bio- enduring interplay of biological and social logical essentialism, at its core, is a belief in the forces. Bodies are both internal subjective envi- primacy of genes. That is, genes determine and ronments and objects for others to observe, eval- control the human body and brain, and conse- uate, and project upon (Johnston, 2001). Bodies quently behavior and psychology. The 23 pairs and the resulting bodily practices are at once of human chromosomes are thought to carry individual and collective entities. Humans between 80,000 and 100,000 genes that regulate actively engage the physical and social worlds the expression of all physical, psychological, and through the medium of their bodies (Toombs, behavioral characteristics and traits. At various 2001). Bodies and bodily expectations vary points in a human’s life, these genes instruct widely across time and space. They are shaped when and in what amounts “male” or “masculin- by social factors including race, class, gender, izing” hormones such as androgen and testos- and disability. People are self-reflexive and terone or “female” or “feminizing” hormones agentic as they negotiate their way through such as progesterone and estrogen are released. cultural values, rules, and regulations of social The differences in hormones are then pre- life. Bodies thus incorporate and live cultural sumed to be responsible for seemingly natural tensions and paradoxes. This brief synthesis is and pervasive bodily, psychological, and behav- not a claim of consensus; multiple perspectives ioral differences between women and men. exist regarding what constitutes bodies. Specifically, hormonal processes are thought to be responsible for bodily differences such Biologically Based Explanations as brain structure and the use of the brain, verbal abilities, and math and science abilities. The recent, contentious debate between Hormones also are thought to be responsible for sociologist J. R. Udry (2000, 2001) and his crit- differences in interests, occupational prefer- ics (Kennelly, Merz, & Lorber, 2001; Miller & ences and achievement, sexuality, and parenting Costello, 2001; Risman, 2001) published in the styles. Although adherents to this perspective flagship journal of the American Sociological recognize that some overlap exists between the Association demonstrates that the debate over sexes, they think of them as largely dichoto- biological causes of gender behavior continues mous, as demonstrated by the bodily, psycho- to rage. Although the biological perspective logical, and behavioral differences that are has some high-profile adherents such as E. O. thought to complement one another. This is cod- Wilson, accounts of how popular it is and among ified in the English language through such whom vary. Some commentators (Kimmel, phrases as “the opposite sex.” 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 370

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These differences are thought to be the result research (Reiss, Plomin, Neiderhiser, & of evolutionary adaptation to natural environ- Hetherington, 2003) suggests that genetic ten- ments that became embedded in humans’ genetic dencies are encouraged or stifled by specific structures over long periods of time. “Survival of parental responses. “To have any effect, genes the fittest” selects for success: Beings with traits must be activated. Whether, and how strongly, that promote survival or reproduction pass on genes that underlie complex behaviors are their genes, and others die out. Examples include turned on, or ‘expressed,’” noted Reiss, “depends explanations for males’ typically higher scores in on the interactions and relationships a child has math and science, females’ sexual selectiveness, with the important people in his or her life” and males’ promiscuity, and rape. For instance, (quoted in Begley, 2000, p. 64). Thus, genetic biologist Randy Thornhill and anthropologist factors influence development, but social Craig T. Palmer (2000) suggested that rape could processes are critical for shaping those influ- be an alternative reproduction strategy resulting ences (Begley, 2000). How this interactive effect from natural selection. Evolutionarily, rape may works remains a subject of much speculation have increased men’s chances of successfully and research. transmitting their genes. Genetics, then, are This new wave of research demonstrates that thought to determine human bodies and the psy- biological and social explanations for anatomi- chologies, abilities, and behaviors that emanate cal, behavioral, and psychological differences from them. The focus in the biological perspec- among humans are not necessarily incompati- tive consequently is much more on differences ble, although they are frequently pitted against between the sexes and genders and the similari- one another (O’Brien, 1999). Unfortunately, ties within them. Because they are both rooted in integrative thinking is in its infancy and is only biology, sex and gender are thought to be essen- beginning to extend to the relationship between tially the same thing, and the terms are generally the body and gender (Fausto-Sterling, 2000). used interchangeably.

According to this perspective, then, the body 3 plays two key roles. First, it houses hormones and Social Constructionist Perspectives genes. Second, it represents the behavioral, psy- The realness of social forces, whether one accepts chological, and physical expression of those them uncritically or wrestles them continually, genes. Consequently, bodies are simultaneously can be seen written across the body. (O’Brien, perceived to be both the source of sex differences 1999, p. 64) and the physiological, psychological, and behavioral evidence of them. Because these differences Counter to biological theorists, social con- are presumed to be rooted in nature and largely structionists stress bodily sex similarities while static and immutable, attempts to change them focusing on the social processes through which will lead to serious social problems (Udry, 2001). gender differences are created, maintained, and More recently, some researchers have exhib- changed. Social constructionists acknowledge ited a greater appreciation of and interest in that males and females have highly differentiated interactions between biology and social and reproductive systems, but they maintain that there environmental forces, along with the effects of are only minor physical differences between the these interactions on the body and behavior. sexes and great overlaps in physique and capac- Although it may be impossible to unravel com- ity between them (Connell, 1999, p. 450). These pletely the connections among these, increas- minor differences are socially nurtured through- ingly the consensus is that biology provides out the life course to the point that very different human potential that in turn is nurtured and/or sexual beings are created. Consequently, social constrained by culture. Researchers pursuing constructionists attend to the social, cultural, and this line of thought seek to end what Natalie psychological processes involved in the creation Angier (2003) characterized as a “false yet obdu- of gendered bodies, behaviors, and practices. rate” dichotomy between nature and nurture. One of the most profound decisions that is For instance, psychologist David Reiss and ever made for a human being occurs at birth, or his colleagues studied 720 pairs of adolescents in some cases in utero via a sonogram. That deci- with different degrees of genetic relatedness, sion is the assignment to a dichotomous sex from identical twins to step siblings. Their category via a cursory look at the genitals. This 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 371

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assignment sets in motion a powerful set of social space (Burton, 2001; Kimmel, 2000). Kimmel practices that strongly shape, but do not deter- (1994), for instance, tracked the arc of masculin- mine, the trajectory of an individual’s life. Once ities and their relation to bodies in the United an infant is bodily assigned to a sex category, she States between 1832 and 1920. As work increas- or he is then assigned to the associated gender ingly became bureaucratized, men turned to the category: feminine or masculine. On the basis of gym, athletics, and the outdoors as the foundation this, human beings then expect different things of their masculinity. They read self-improvement from these “different” infants. These expectations books and quaffed elixirs and tonics. They grew vary according to the historical, cultural, struc- beards and moustaches and developed their tural, and global contexts. muscles, all as ways of distinguishing themselves Yet, as a brief look around the United Nations from the feminine. Manly countenances and or the Olympics reveals, bodies vary tremen- physiques demonstrated masculinity. “The body dously; they do not fit neatly into dichotomous did not contain the man,” Kimmel (1994, p. 26) categories. Biology partially accounts for this. concluded; “it was the man.” Basic genetic variation accounts for some. In Similarly representing the centrality of the other cases, missing, fragmented, or extra sex body to masculinity, but utilizing very different chromosomes and exposure to toxins contribute standards, the Wodabe men of the Sahara utilize to this variation, as reflected in hermaphrodites physical beauty as the foundation of their mas- and pseudo-hermaphrodites. Yet, social con- culinity. “To be ugly,” a Wodabe proverb goes, “is structionists maintain that social processes are to be unforgiven” (Knickmeyer, 2003, p. A10). the primary factor in bodily and gender differen- One of the first items entrusted to a boy is a tiation. Thus, for social constructionists, bodies mirror. Lifelong attention to appearance culmi- physically exist along a continuum rather than as nates in a series of beauty pageants in which a dichotomy. adult males compete to win prestigious brides. The social differentiation and disciplining of Competitors and their families go to great lengths bodies assigned to the sex categories of female to prepare for these pageants. Families may and male is reinforced throughout one’s lifetime spend up to a year fashioning the young men’s via social institutions such as school, families, costumes, bedecking them with embroidery, medicine, and the law. For instance, from birth, dangling earrings, and a profusion of necklaces. girls and boys are taught to use their bodies very A young man will travel for days to find the right differently. Karin Martin’s (1998) research on ingredients to make his face paint (Knickmeyer, the hidden curriculum of preschools demon- 2003). Accounts like these are rare; there is much strates how boys are encouraged to be expan- we do not know about cross-cultural and trans- sive in the use of their bodies whereas girls are historical bodily standards. Our task is becoming taught to be reserved. These differential bodily more complex as conceptions of masculinity and practices, taught covertly, reinforce the belief masculine bodies increasingly become more that boys and girls are “naturally” different. It global, and this occurs as the media and multina- is through this training and reinforcement that tional corporations penetrate the remotest regions masculinity becomes internalized in boys’ of the planet (Connell, 1998). Consequently, this bodies. Practices become habits. As these is a key area for future research. become more deeply internalized, males become Because of the large amount of human varia- increasingly self-monitoring (S. J. Williams & tion across time and space and the array of Bendelow, 1998). Social constructionists, then, expectations and contexts, it makes sense when are interested in how meanings, practices, and discussing the body to discuss degrees of identities consolidate consciously and uncon- normativeness—from more normative to less. sciously in the body and the ramifications of this There are many ways in which a body can be for men and women. Thus, they are interested in less normative. Characteristics such as race, eth- the interplay between agency and structure. nicity, class, age, physique, weight, height, abil- Definitions of masculinity and masculine ity, disability, appearance, and skin color bodies vary within different historical, structural, predominate. People can be less normative by and cultural contexts: There are likely few, if being too light, too dark, too fat or too skinny, any, transhistorical or cross-cultural ideals; what too poor, too young or too old, too tall, too is considered normative varies across time and short, too awkward, or too uncoordinated. The 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 372

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degree to which one is bodily normative matters Asian men in the West are perceived either to be considerably because it helps place one in the shrewd and cunning or effeminate, neutered, and stratification order (Connell, 1983; Shakespeare weak; either martial arts masters and evil sadis- et al., 1996). The treatment one experiences, tic soldiers or houseboys, laundrymen, computer then, depends on the degree of normativeness, nerds, and faceless salarymen (Espiritu, 1997; one’s resources, and the particular historical, Iwata, 1991). cultural, and structural contexts. People are This stigma is embedded in daily interactions privileged by the degree to which they approxi- among people. People are evaluated in terms of mate cultural ideals (Gerschick, 1998). normative expectations and are, because of their The degree to which bodily and gender varia- bodies, frequently found wanting. As demon- tion has been accepted has varied across time strated by the social responses to people with and culture. Although the number of sex and disabilities, people with less-normative bodies gender categories has varied historically and are avoided, ignored, and marginalized (Fine & culturally, in the West and increasingly across Asch, 1988; Shapiro, 1993). They experience a the globe, societies are committed to two, and range of reactions from subtle indignities and only two, sex and gender categories. For slights to overt hostility and outright cruelty. instance, in the contemporary West, when there This treatment creates subtle but formidable is both sexual ambiguity (resulting from chro- physical, economic, psychological, architectural, mosomal problems, for instance) and access to and social obstacles to their participation in all technology, surgeons seek to create bodies that aspects of social life. For example, writing about more neatly fit into cultural categories. In other Asian American men in the United States, Asian places and times, especially where surgical tech- American journalist Edward Iwata (1991, p. 52) nology does not exist, there has been greater observed the following (note how central the acceptance of sexual and gender diversity, body is to his description of these dynamics): although individuals outside the norms have been assigned to special categories. Anthropologist by others and by ourselves, we’re rendered impo- Walter Williams (1986), for example, has docu- tent. I wasn’t a limp lover. But outside my home mented a range of genders occupied by Native or bedroom, I felt powerless—desexed like a baby chick. It was as if I didn’t exist. Employers didn’t American men called berdache and the resulting acknowledge my work. Professors in college social relations that occurred prior to European rebuffed my remarks in the classroom. Maitre d’s colonization. Unfortunately, colonization largely ignored my presence in restaurants. I felt voice- ended these practices among indigenous people less, faceless. (1991, p. 129) in the Americas, demonstrating the early power of globalization. Having a less-normative body can also become Bodies are symbolic. One’s body serves as a a primary identity that overshadows almost all type of social currency that signifies one’s worth. other aspects of one’s identity. Consequently, people with less-normative bod- The type of less-normative body—its visibil- ies are vulnerable to being denied social recog- ity, the severity of it, whether it is physical or nition and validation.4 People respond to one mental in origin, and the contexts—mediate the another’s bodies, which initiates social processes degree to which a person with a less-normative such as validation and the assignment of status body is socially compromised (Gerschick, 2000). (Goffman, 1963). Thus, to have a less-normative For instance, a severe case of the Epstein-Barr body is not only a physical condition; it is also virus can disable someone, thereby creating a a social and stigmatized one (Goffman, 1963; less-normative body; however, typically the Zola, 1982). condition is not readily apparent and as a conse- This stigma is embodied in the popular quence does not automatically trigger stigmati- stereotypes of people whose bodies are less nor- zation and devaluation. Conversely, having mative. People with disabilities, for instance, are quadriplegia and utilizing a wheelchair for perceived to be weak, passive, and dependent mobility is highly visual, is perceived to be (Shapiro, 1993). Our language exemplifies this severe, and frequently elicits invalidation. stigmatization; people with disabilities are One of the challenges facing researchers is to de-formed, dis-eased, dis-abled, dis-ordered, develop a systematic theory to address the degrees ab-normal, and in-valid (Zola, 1982, p. 206). of non-normativity and the circumstances that 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 373

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lead to different levels of stigmatization and gender performance. Successful enactment marginalization and how these differ for women bestows status and acceptance; failure invites and for men. embarrassment and humiliation (West & The degree to which one’s body is devalued Zimmerman, 1987). is also affected by other social characteristics Consequently, bodies are central to achieving including social class, sexual orientation, age, social recognition as appropriately gendered and race and ethnicity. For instance, Hearn beings. In the contemporary West, men’s gender (1995) notes that although a paradoxical and fre- performance tends to be judged using the quently contradictory range of images of older standard of hegemonic masculinity, which rep- men exists in the West, those images are domi- resents the optimal attributes, activities, behav- nated by marginalization, redundancy, and obso- iors, and values expected of men in a culture lescence. Older men are not depicted or treated (Connell, 1983, 1990). Social scientists have as hegemonic men in the United States, but identified career orientation, activeness, athleti- rather as diminished (E. H. Thompson, 1994). cism, sexual desirability and virility, indepen- Like age, race also factors into the valuation dence, and self-reliance as exalted masculine of bodies. For the 40 years between 1932 and attributes in Western culture/society (Connell, 1972, the United States Public Health Service 1983, 1995; Ervø & Johansson, 2003; Gerschick & conducted a study of the effects of late-stage Miller, 1995; Kimmel, 1994). In the developing untreated syphilis on 399 poor black men in world, anthropological accounts suggest that Alabama (Jones, 1993, p. 1). According to the toughness, the ability to endure pain and drink press, at least 28 and perhaps as many as 100 to excess, willingness to take risks, and sexual men died as the direct result of complications performance are all central to achieving mas- caused by the treatable syphilis. Others devel- culinity (Gilmore, 1990). Thus, men whose oped other serious conditions that may have con- bodies allow them to evidence the identified tributed to their deaths (Jones, 1993, p. 2). The characteristics are differentially rewarded over study was roundly criticized for callously not those who cannot. Despite the fact that attaining treating the men, actively preventing them from these attributes is often unrealistic and more getting treatment, and keeping knowledge of the based in fantasy than in reality, men continue to disease from them in order to indulge scientists’ internalize them as ideals and strive to demon- curiosity (Jones, 1993). This follows a long strate them as well as judge themselves and history in the United States and globally of abus- other men using them. Women also tend to ing black males’ bodies with impunity. Thus, a judge men using these standards. Successfully hierarchy of bodies exists in any particular his- creating and maintaining self-satisfactory torical, cultural, structural, and global context. masculine gender identities under these circum- People with less-normative bodies are stances is an almost Sisyphean task. Con- engaged in an asymmetrical power relationship sequently, masculinity is threatened when with their more-normative-bodied counterparts, corporeal appearance and performance are dis- who have the power to validate their bodies and cordant with hegemonic expectations, such as in their gender. In order to accomplish gender, the case of having a having a less-normative each person in a social situation needs to be rec- body (Connell, 1983, 1995; Ervø & Johansson, ognized by others as appropriately masculine or 2003; Gerschick & Miller, 1995). feminine. Those with whom we interact contin- Because of the tremendous pressures to con- uously assess our gender performance and form and the perceived rewards associated with decide whether we are “doing gender” appropri- doing so, people will go to great lengths to make ately in that situation. Our “audience” or inter- their bodies appear more normatively masculine. action partners then hold us accountable and How and what they do is influenced by gender sanction us in a variety of ways in order to expectations and financial, technological, and encourage compliance (West & Zimmerman, cultural resources available to them. A range of 1987). Our need for social approval and valida- possible bodily modification practices exists, tion as gendered beings further encourages con- from relatively low-tech procedures such as formity. Much is at stake in this process because exercise/body building, tattoos, dieting, pierc- one’s sense of self rests precariously upon the ings, and cutting/scarring to more technologi- audience’s decision to validate or reject one’s cally sophisticated forms of cosmetic surgery 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 374

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such as hair transplants and rhinoplasty. Klein “He will have to recognize that he is incomplete, (1993), for instance, introduced readers to the physically defective, and that he must live apart” importance of musculature in establishing and (Colapinto, 2000, p. 16). maintaining masculinity in the United States. As the above examples indicate, penises are Among the Karo of Ethiopia, where technology particularly tangible symbols of masculinity. is relatively undeveloped, men use elaborate hair Circumcision, for instance, is a popular mascu- designs, body painting, and piercings as trade- line rite of passage in many cultures. Among the marks of their masculinity. Scarification of the Xhosa and Basotho in Africa, male circumcision chest and wearing of gray or ochre-colored hair initiates one into manhood (Cauvin, 2001). buns are reserved for men who have proven their Historically, the ritual was performed as boys masculinity by killing an enemy or a dangerous were preparing to search for paid work, typi- animal (Burton, 2001, p. 60d). In the developed cally in their early twenties. However, economic world, using surgical techniques is more com- changes, urbanization, industrialization, and mon. For instance, Iwata (1991, p. 52) underwent peer pressure have led to a decrease in ages, cosmetic surgery to replace his Asian facial typically closer to 18 and increasingly younger features with Caucasian: than that. In cities and universities, uncircum- cised teens are increasingly shunned or derided. It is a taboo subject, but true. Many people of As a result, boys pursue circumcision and color have, at some point in their youths, imagined manhood at an increasing risk. In 2001, at least themselves as Caucasian, the Nordic or Western 35 boys died from infections caused by botched European ideal. Hop Sing meets Rock Hudson. procedures, and hundreds more were mutilated Michael Jackson magically transformed into (Cauvin, 2001). This demonstrates just one of Robert Redford. For myself, an eye and nose the ways that masculinity can be injurious to job—or blepharoplasty and rhinoplasty in surgeons’ tongue—would bring me the gift of accep- one’s health. Anticircumcision activists in the tance. The flick of a scalpel would buy me United States maintain that circumcision is a respect. ...I felt compelled to measure up to a masculine form of genital mutilation. Some “cut cultural ideal in a culture that had never asked me men,” as they refer to themselves, resort to what my ideal was. weights or tape to stretch their penile skin back over the glans; others undergo surgery to Bodies, then, largely are not fixed biologi- restore the foreskin/prepuce (Newman, 1991; cally but rather are significantly malleable, Whipple, 1987). fluid, and plastic and are greatly influenced by Like penis shape, penis size has long been a context-specific gender expectations. Physical preoccupation of men in the West in regard to construction of bodies, then, is intimately linked their masculinity. Perry (1992), describing him- to social construction. self as “hung like a hamster,” details his con- In addition to disciplining their own bodies, stant vigilance regarding his “manhood.” He people will go to great lengths to discipline faked taking showers after gym class by using others’ to ensure that they are more normative toilet water to slick his hair, quit the swim team too. A premier example is the treatment of in high school because the suits were too reveal- intersexed bodies in the United States. ABC ing, and pledged a particular fraternity solely News’ Primetime Live (1997) aired a segment on because it had individual toilets and shower children with ambiguous or damaged genitals. In stalls. He explicated years of feeling inadequate, one of the two cases highlighted, a genetically impotent, cheated, and humiliated because of male child was born without any genitals. In the his small size. other case, a boy’s penis was destroyed in a cir- In some cultures, relief from such predica- cumcision accident. Following medical profes- ments is available. In the United States, there sionals’ advice that the boys could never have are doctors who specialize in penile enlarge- normally functioning penises, in both cases the ment. Whether or not penis size can be dramat- parents authorized sex reassignment surgery to ically improved remains a topic of debate, but it raise the children as girls. Without a functioning is known that there are limitations to technolog- penis, the doctors maintained that they could not ical intervention. Presently, surgical techniques be either male or a man. In one case, the doctors are not advanced enough to create a functional were quoted as saying that without the surgery, or normative appearing penis. Consequently, 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 375

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many female-to-male transsexuals elect not to breakneck and dangerous speeds and surviving have the “surgery down there” and leave their the constant challenges to his masculinity, he vaginas intact. Although they typically have proved himself a man while simultaneously radical mastectomies to reduce their breasts and enriching his employer. In this latter way, his adopt a public persona of being male and mas- body and the bodies of men like him can be culine, their bodies are not completely in con- understood as instrumental commodities to be cert with their new identity. Whether or not and sacrificed to capitalism. under what conditions the “partial operative” In addition to what they represent, what they transsexuals might represent challenges to the look like, and what they physically do, bodies gender order is a matter of debate (Cram & also contain minds—the locus of cognition Schermerhorn, 1997). where people create meaning about gender. It is not just how bodies look that secures the Historically, some philosophers conceived of label of masculine, but also how they move and the mind as masculine and distinct from the what they do. Bodies operate kinesthetically as body. Men’s minds represented rationality and a key mechanism through which men perform logic. Conversely, women were thought to rep- and achieve gender. Kimmel (1994, pp. 37-38) resent and be governed by the body. They were observed that males’ bodies are “the ultimate earthly, irrational, and wanton (S. J. Williams & testing ground for identity in a world in which Bendelow, 1998). Despite many attempts, the collective solutions to the problem of identity relationship of the body to the brain and to the seem all but discredited.” For instance, on Truk mind has yet to be satisfactorily theorized. Poet Island, a tiny atoll in the Pacific, men histori- Kenny Fries (1997, p. 220), who was born with cally have associated masculinity with daring a disability affecting his legs, asked, for and risk. They chanced their health and their instance, “Can anyone comprehend how the lives by undertaking long fishing expeditions in mind reacts to what the body remembers?” shark-infested waters with little thought to People experience their worlds through their safety. Drinking to excess, fighting, and seeking bodies; that experience is simultaneously sexual conquest were all elements of their quest physical and cognitive, but the relationship of to be recognized as males (Marshall, 1979, cited these components is not yet understood. Conse- in Gilmore, 1990). Among the rural cultivating quently, this represents another promising Amhara tribe of Ethiopia, manliness was demon- avenue of research. As the following example strated via participation in bloody whipping demonstrates, we have much to think about. matches in which faces frequently were lacer- For some men in some cultures, the founda- ated. Any sign of pain or weakness resulted in tion of their masculinity is not in their physical mockery and taunts of being effeminate. Boys bodies but rather in their minds. For instance, also would burn their arms with hot embers to the traditional emphasis on literacy and love of demonstrate their masculinity (Reminick, 1982, learning in Jewish culture confers dignity and cited in Gilmore, 1990). masculinity. In the United States, however, In a far different context, Stodder (1979) intellectualism is a cultural liability (Kimmel, detailed the abuse he took as a roughneck (oil rig 1988). Because of this, Jewish men in many worker) as men continually tested each other’s areas of the Diaspora are often considered masculinity by challenging their bodies. This effeminate and unathletic, that is, as less than involved subjecting each other to very dangerous men. “The historical consequences of centuries pranks, such as dropping men suspended by a of laws against Jews, of anti-Semitic oppres- tether 100 feet as if the safety device failed, only sion,” Kimmel (1988, p. 154) argues, “are a cul- to stop them short of crashing onto the oil rig tural identity and even a self-perception of being floor. Threats of anal rape were frequent and ‘less than men,’ who are too weak, too fragile, sometimes involved going so far as tying and too frightened to care for our own.” stripping the potential victim and threatening him with a tarred implement. Despite the constant challenges to his masculinity and sexuality, NOTES Stodder also described the sense of accomplishment he experienced from earning his place 1. Stryker (1998) described in detail how in this particular men’s club. By working at scholars wrangle over terms and definitions. No 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 376

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universal language exists to reflect the diversity of Colapinto, J. (2000). As nature made him. New York: less-normative bodies, sexes, and genders. HarperCollins. 2. Wherever possible, I draw on examples from Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: different time periods and across the globe. However, Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of most of the extant literature focuses on men in the empowerment (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. West (Ervø & Johannson, 2003), and consequently Connell, R. W. (1983). Which way is up? Essays on this is reflected in the examples that I utilize through- sex, class, and culture. Sydney: George Allen & out this chapter. Within this literature, the United Unwin. States is grossly overrepresented; this chapter reflects Connell, R. W. (1990). An iron man: The body and that overrepresentation. Addressing this limitation is some contradictions of hegemonic masculinity. a fruitful area for future research. In M. Messner & D. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, men, 3. Although the focus of this chapter is mas- and the gender order (pp. 83-96). Champaign, culinity and the body, the social and bodily dynamics IL: Human Kinetics. articulated below generally hold for both men and Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: women. Consequently, they are presented as such. University of California Press. Given the allotted space, it is beyond the scope of this Connell, R. W. (1998). Masculinities and globaliza- chapter to explore the ways in which these dynamics tion. Men and Masculinities, 1(1), 3-23. vary for women and men. Connell, R. W. (1999). Making gendered people: 4. The next several pages draw on and extend my Bodies, identities, sexualities. In M. M. Ferree, previous research. Insights in this section are drawn J. Lorber, & B. B. Hess (Eds.), Revisioning gender from an in-depth interview study of 10 men in south- (pp. 449-471). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. east Michigan, United States (Gerschick, 1998; Cram, B., & Schermerhorn, C. (1997). You don’t Gerschick & Miller, 1995) and synthesis of a diverse know Dick: Courageous hearts of transgendered body of literature focusing on the intersection of men [Video]. Berkeley: University of California gender and disability (Gerschick, 2000). Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning. Davis, K. (1995). Reshaping the female body: The REFERENCES dilemma of cosmetic surgery. New York: Routledge. Almaguer, T. (1991). Chicano men: A cartography of Devor, H. (1989). Gender blending: Confronting the homosexual identity and behavior. Differences, limits of duality. Bloomington: Indiana University 3(2), 75-100. Press. Angier, N. (2003, February 5). Not just genes: Moving Dworkin, S. (2001, March). Sex and gender matters beyond nature vs. nurture. New York Times, p. F1. in the “sociology of the body.” American Socio- Barnes, C., Barton, L., & Oliver, M. (2002). logical Association Sex and Gender News, p. 2. Disability studies today. Cambridge, UK: Polity. Dworkin, S. L., & Messner, M. A. (1999). Just do... Bart, P. B., & Moran, E. G. (Eds.). (1993). Violence what? Sports, bodies, gender. In M. M. Ferree, against women: The bloody footprints. Newbury J. Lorber, & B. B. Hess (Eds.), Revisioning gender Park, CA: Sage. (pp. 341-361). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Begley, S. (2000, March 27). The nature of nurturing. Ervø, S., & Johansson, T. (2003). Bending bodies: Newsweek, p. 64. Moulding masculinities (Vol. 2). Aldershot, UK: Beisser, A. (1989). Flying without wings: Personal Ashgate. reflections on being disabled. New York: Espiritu, Y. L. (1997). Asian American women and Doubleday. men. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Bordo, S. (1995). Unbearable weight: Feminism, Fausto-Sterling, A. (2000). Sexing the body: Gender Western culture, and the body (Reprint ed.). politics and the construction of sexuality. Berkeley: University of California Press. New York: Basic Books. Bordo, S. (2000). The male body : A new look at men Fine, M., & Asch, A. (Eds.). (1988). Women with in public and in private. New York: Farrar Straus disabilities: Essays in psychology, culture, and & Giroux. politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Bornstein, K. (1995). Gender outlaw: On men, women, Fries, K. (1997). Body, remember. New York: Dutton. and the rest of us. New York: Vintage Books. Garber, M. B. (1993). Vested interests: Cross-dressing Burton, J. M. (2001). Culture and the human body: and cultural anxiety. New York: HarperPerennial. An anthropological perspective. Prospect Gerschick, T. J. (1998). Sisyphus in a wheelchair: Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Men with physical disabilities confront gen- Cauvin, H. E. (2001, August 6). How rush to der domination. In J. O’Brien & J. Howard manhood scars young Africans. New York Times, (Eds.), Everyday inequalities: Critical inquiries p. A6. (pp. 189-211). Oxford, England: Blackwell. 21-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:20 PM Page 377

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(Ed.), Older men’s lives (pp. 1-21). Thousand West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Oaks, CA: Sage. Gender & Society, 1, 125-151. Thornhill, R., & Palmer, C. T. (2000). A natural Whipple, J. (1987). Circumcision: A conspiracy of history of rape: Biological bases of sexual coer- silence. In F. Abbott (Ed.), New men, new minds: cion. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Breaking male tradition (pp.110-113). Freedom, Toombs, S. K. (2001). The lived experience of dis- CA: The Crossing Press. ability. In J. R. Johnston (Ed.), The American Williams, S. J., & Bendelow, G. (1998). The lived body in context (pp. 31-48). Wilmington, DE: body: Sociological themes, embodied issues. Scholarly Resources Books. London: Routledge. Udry, J. R. (2000). Biological limits of gender con- Williams, W. L. (1986). The spirit and the flesh: struction. American Sociological Review, 65(3), Sexual diversity in American Indian culture. 443-457. Boston: Beacon. Udry, J. R. (2001). Reply: Feminist critics uncover Zola, I. K. (1982). Missing pieces: A chronicle of determinism, positivism, and antiquated theory. living with a disability. Philadelphia: Temple American Sociological Review, 66(4), 611-618. University Press. 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 379

TRANSGENDERING, MEN, AND MASCULINITIES

RICHARD EKINS

DAV E KING

In 1961 Lou Sullivan was a 10-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; in 1991 he was a gay man dying of AIDS in San Francisco. —Stryker (1999, p. 62) As I grew older my conflict became more explicit to me, and I began to feel that I was living a falsehood. I was in masquerade, my female reality, which I had no words to define, clothed in a male pretence. —Morris (1974, p. 16) “For every woman who burned her bra, there is a man ready to wear one,” says Veronica Vera, who founded Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls in 1992 as a resource for the estimated three to five percent of the adult male population that feels the need, at least occasionally, to dress in women’s clothing. —Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls (n.d., 2) “Have you ever wanted to dress as a man, try on a male guise and enter the male domain?” asks Torr in the ads for her “Drag King For A Day” workshops. A stream of housewives, artists, straight, lesbian, young and old, sign up for Torr’s classes. The first thing Torr tells them, is to “stop apologising,” then over one afternoon they learn how to construct a penis, bind their breasts, sit with their legs open and “take up space.” They then have to go to a bar to put it all into practice. —Cooper (1998)

hese fragments, chosen fairly randomly, (Ekins & King, 1999, p. 581), transgender is illustrate a little (but only a very little) of most commonly used today in the extensive T the complex and diverse nature of the sense of Thom and More (1998): to encompass human experiences that today are considered “the community of all self identified cross together under the heading of “transgender.” gender people whether intersex, transsexual Although this term has been used in other ways men and women, cross dressers, drag kings 379 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 380

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and drag queens, transgenderists, androgynous, the bulk of the literature came from medicine bi-gendered, third gendered or as yet unnamed and psychology. Now, although these disciplines gender gifted people” (p. 3). Until recently, a are still dominant, much can also be found com- sharp distinction was made between trans- ing from sociology (Devor, 1997; Ekins, 1997; vestites, transsexuals, and others whose bodies King, 1993), social anthropology (Ramet, 1996), appeared to be consonant with their assigned social history (Meyerowitz, 2002), law (Sharpe, sex, and those people who were born with inter- 2002), lesbian and gay studies (Prosser, 1997), sexed bodies. Now people with intersexed women’s studies (Maitland, 1986), and (espe- bodies, as in the encompassing definition of cially in recent years) cultural studies (Garber, Thom and More (1998), are often included— 1992). In addition, transgender topics appear and sometimes include themselves—under the regularly in the popular media, on television, in umbrella term of transgender, especially where the cinema, in the press, and, of course, on the the term “transgender” has a transgressive Internet. There are transgender plays and novels, connotation. there is transgender photography, and there is In addition to emphasizing diversity, the transgender art and transgender pornography. concept of “transgender,” emerging out of the Trans people themselves have written their transgender community itself, has avoided autobiographies, formed organizations, and pro- assumptions of pathology inherent in the dis- duced magazines, bulletins, and guides to and course of transvestism, transsexualism, gender celebrations of the topic. During the 1990s, in identity disorder, and gender dysphoria generated particular, a number of openly trans people made by the medical profession. It also allows consid- significant contributions to the academic litera- eration of a range of transgender phenomena that ture (e.g., More & Whittle, 1999). have not been subjected to the medical gaze. In all this material, concepts of masculinity We prefer the gerund “transgendering” and femininity and what it means to be a man or because of its focus not on types of people but woman are omnipresent but usually taken for on social process. Transgendering refers to the granted. Often, the transgender literature makes idea of moving across (transferring) from one sense only against an implicit backdrop com- preexisting gender category to the other (either posed of prevailing stereotypes of masculinity temporarily or permanently), to the idea of liv- and femininity and related conceptions of what ing in between genders, and to the idea of tran- it means to be a man or woman. Only sometimes scending or living “beyond gender” altogether is the searchlight turned onto this backdrop. (Ekins & King, 1999, 2001b). In the context of Similarly, although there are occasional refer- this book, it is most usefully viewed as a social ences to transgender in the masculinity literature process in which males renounce or suspend (Connell, 1995; Petersen, 1998), this latter liter- the masculinity that is expected of them and ature has largely ignored the area of transgender. females (unexpectedly) embrace it. It is not possible in a single chapter to cover In the mid-1970s, when we began to research all aspects of transgendering, and here our focus this area, the literature was comparatively small is on transgenderism in contemporary Western and we could be reasonably confident that we societies, which has been the focus of the bulk of were at least aware of it all. The relevant sections the academic literature. It is within this literature in Bullough, Dorr Legg, Elcano, and Kepner’s that the conceptual apparatus of transvestite, bibliography (1976) contain about 450 refer- transsexual, and transgender has originated. A ences. More recent bibliographies demonstrate small but growing literature does, however, exist the growth in the literature since that time. on “transgender”-related phenomena in non- Demeyere’s (1992) bibliography, particularly Western cultures. Most of this has focused on strong on anthropological material, and Denny’s North American indigenous cultures (see Fulton & (1994) bibliography, particularly strong on Anderson, 1992; Jacobs, Thomas, & Lang, 1997; medical and psychological literature, each include Whitehead, 1981), although there is work on more than 5,000 entries. The growth in the other cultures (Nanda, 1988; Ramet, 1996; literature since 1994 has been rapid. Totman, 2003; Wikan, 1977; Young, 2000). Not only has the literature increased in size, Recently, there has been a surge of anthropo- but it also now ranges across a large number of logical interest in transgender, principally in disciplines and fields of study. In the mid-1970s, Southeast Asia (Jackson & Sullivan, 1999; 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 381

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Johnson, 1997) and in South America (Kulick, questions about the fundamental cultural 1998a, 1998b). Western medicine assumes that, assumptions (a) that “normal” men do (and in its conceptualizations of gender disorders, it is should) have male bodies, and do (and should) discovering the “truth” of such phenomena, and display an appropriate amount of masculinity; it has tended to use the anthropological literature and (b) that “normal” women do (and should) to illustrate the universality of the “conditions” have female bodies, and do (and should) display (e.g., Steiner, 1985). Recent transgender theo- an appropriate amount of femininity. Mas- rists (e.g., Cromwell, 1999; Feinberg, 1996) culinity or femininity without the appropriate have used the same literature to emphasize the “accompaniments” is then often depicted as “not diversity and cultural specificity of gender cate- real.” Another theme is that of identity. Through- gories, an approach that is more in keeping out the history of the phenomenon of trans- with the anthropological literature itself, which gender, the paramount concern has been “What has often focused on the idea of an institutional- am I?” or “What is he/she?” in gender terms. In ized “third” gender or liminal gender space, our review of the four major approaches, we will anticipating in many ways some of the concepts highlight these themes. common in contemporary transgender theory. Nevertheless, it is also evident that Western discourses of transgenderism have been exported MEDICAL DISCOURSE,PATHOLOGY, to many parts of the world and are usurping or AND “RENOUNCING”MASCULINITY are heavily influencing more traditional notions of gender and “transgender” phenomena (Teh, The original emphasis within this approach is on 2001; Winter, 2002; Winter & Udomsak, 2002). male-to-female, as opposed to female-to-male, In this chapter, we have chosen to take a his- transgender. This has remained so until recently. torical and chronological approach and focus on The dominant voice within this perspective came four very influential perspectives on the topic and to be on males who wish to “renounce” their discuss their conceptions of and implications for masculinity and “embrace” femininity perma- masculinity (and usually of and for femininity, nently. In the period prior to technologies that too). The first of these perspectives to emerge, and enabled “sex change” reassignment, the focus the one that in many ways is still dominant, is was on a medical discourse that considered the that of medicine, although it is not articulated only “reality” of men’s appropriation of femininity. by those who are medically qualified. The second Could a “real” man embrace the “feminine”? perspective was first articulated by self-identified From the 1950s onward, when “sex change” “transvestites” as they sought to provide their own surgery became a practical possibility, the focus voice for their own experiences and began to form shifted to enabling—in selected cases—the their own subcultural groupings. The third renouncing of male bodies, along with such perspective, articulated by a number of feminist manliness and masculinity that “transsexuals” gender theorists, consisted of major critiques of may have acquired. The “real reality” of what both the medicalization of gender roles and what now came to be conceptualized as psychological they saw as the male-to-female transsexuals’ and sex—“gender identity”—was privileged over the transvestites’ “masculinist” appropriation of “apparent reality” of the body—morphological “femaleness” and “femininity.” Finally, we look at sex. The modern “transsexual” was “invented.” the emergence, at the end of the 20th century, Although it is possible to cite examples of of a late modern/postmodern approach within the phenomenon of transgender throughout which emphasis is placed on transgender diver- human history, the roots of our modern concep- sity, fluidity, and moving beyond the rigidities tion of transgenderism are to be found in the of the binary gender divide, to celebrate new latter half of the 19th century. This period saw combinations of masculinity and femininity. the beginning of what Foucault terms the “medi- Here, the predominant voice is that of activists calisation of the sexually peculiar” (Foucault, who identify as transgendered. 1979, p. 44). It was during this period that psy- The theme of the relationship of masculinity chiatrists and other medical practitioners began and femininity to male and female runs through- to puzzle over the nature of people who reported out the history of these four perspectives. that they felt like/dressed as/behaved like a All forms of transgendering potentially raise person of the “opposite sex.” 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 382

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Early manifestations of what later came conventional belief than Hirschfeld in the to be seen as transgenderism were first seen as biologically given and fundamentally different variations of homosexuality. “Real” men were (but complementary) natures of men and masculine and heterosexual. Men who were women (Ellis, 1914). homosexual were not “real men” and often Both Hirschfeld and Ellis were broadly sup- were conceptualized as feminine souls in male portive of those who would later be distin- bodies. Men who enjoyed behaving and dressing guished as transvestites and transsexuals (they as women or, indeed, wished to be women, did not employ the then fashionable language of simply took the whole business much further! It degeneracy or perversion), but they nevertheless was Hirschfeld (1910/1991) who coined the term viewed such people as anomalies to be explained “transvestite” for this latter group. In doing so, within a medical framework. Not surprisingly, he argued that the transvestites’ love of the femi- given the then “expected” congruity between nine did not make them women. Rather, they sex, gender, and heterosexuality, both surmised were men who enjoyed expressing femininity. that the explanation could only be biological. Hirschfeld redefined the link between being a Ellis’s and Hirschfeld’s views were not with- man and masculinity. He argued that men (and out their critics. Onetime psychoanalyst Stekel women) are variously masculine and feminine: (1934), for example, disagreed with the separation from homosexuality and also argued for a There are men with the gentle emotions of a Marie psychological explanation. Baskiertschew, with feminine loyalty and mod- The implications of these contrasting views esty, with predominant reproductive gifts, with an became more apparent when, around the middle almost unconquerable tendency to feminine pre- of the 20th century, a number of technological occupations such as cleaning and cooking, also developments came together that made it possi- such ones who leave women behind in vanity, ble, by altering the body in more or less limited coquetry, love of gossip, and cowardice, and there ways, to grant the wishes of some people to are women who greatly outweigh the average man “change sex.” The term “transsexual” began to in energy and generosity, such as Christine of make its appearance in medical and popular Sweden, in being abstract and having depth, such as Sonja Kowalewska, as many modern women in vocabularies, and the question of whether (and the women’s movement in activity and ambition, if so, on what grounds) men should be allowed who prefer men’s games, such as gymnastics and to renounce and be assisted in renouncing their hunting, and surpass the average man in tough- male bodies (and, to a lesser extent, women ness, crudeness, and rashness. There are women their female bodies) came to the fore. who are more suited to a public life; men more to In brief, the arguments have revolved around a domestic life. There is not one specific charac- the perceived “authenticity” or otherwise of the teristic of a woman that you would not also occa- transsexual’s masculinity or femininity. On the sionally find in a man, no manly characteristic assumption that authentic masculinity and fem- not also in a woman. (Hirschfeld, 1910/1991, ininity are rooted in the body, claims of biolog- pp. 222-223) ical origins have been and are used to prove the transsexual’s entitlement to renounce his or her By implication, male “transvestites” are no assigned sex. Claims of psychopathology have less “men.” In a similar way, Hirschfeld argued been used to deny any such entitlement. that renouncing masculinity did not necessarily During the 1950s, a new conception began to involve homosexuality: “one has to extend the develop that provided a somewhat different sentence ‘not all homosexuals are effeminate’ to argument in favor of bodily intervention. This include ‘and not all effeminate men are homo- was the separation of sex from gender. Stoller sexual’” (1910/1991, p.148). Later, he wrote that (1968) put it in this way: “today we are in a position to say that transvestism is a condition that occurs independently Gender is a term that has psychological or cultural and must be considered separately from rather than biological connotations. If the proper any other sexual anomaly” (Hirschfeld, 1938, terms for sex are “male” and “female,” the corre- pp. 188-189). Havelock Ellis also saw what he sponding terms for gender are “masculine” and preferred to call eonism (Ellis, 1928) as separate “feminine”; these latter may be quite independent from homosexuality, although he had a more of (biological) sex. (p. 9) 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 383

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In addition to stressing the independence of the brain which is markedly smaller in women sex and gender, the writings of Money (1973), than in men. The brains of transsexual women Stoller, and others also stressed the immutabil- examined in this study show a similar brain devel- ity of the latter when conceptualized as “gender opment to that of other women. (Press for Change, identity.” What became referred to as “core 1996, “Aetiology”) gender identity” (Stoller, 1977) was regarded as Opponents of bodily modification have tended unalterable after the age of 2 or 3, thus attaining to argue that the transsexual does not have an a degree of “reality” comparable to that of the “opposite gender identity” but instead is suffering body. On this conception, therefore, it became from some form of psychic disturbance. This possible to be both a male and a man in terms argument is orthodox among those many psy- of the body and a female and a woman in terms choanalysts, for instance, who consider that of the psyche or, indeed, vice versa. Thus, “healthy” development leads toward “mature” Benjamin gave his male-to-female transsexual heterosexual relationships that presuppose two patients a certificate that contained the follow- members of the “opposite” sex who each manifest ing sentences: “Their anatomical sex, that is to “healthy” degrees of “masculinity” and “feminin- say, the body, is male. Their psychological sex, ity,” respectively. Socarides, for instance, is a that is to say, the mind, is female” (Benjamin, vociferous exponent of this view: 1966, p. 66). Despite the separation, there was still an assumption that, as Stoller put it, “mas- The fact that the transsexual cannot accept his culinity fits well with maleness and femininity sex as anatomically outlined...is a sign of the goes with femaleness” (1977, p. 173) so that if a intense emotional and mental disturbance which “fully differentiated gender identity” is immu- exists within him. It is the emotional disturbance table, it makes sense to achieve harmony by which must be attacked through suitable means by altering the body to the extent that technological psychotherapy which provides alleviation of anx- developments allow. Money and Tucker write of iety and psychological retraining rather than the transsexual as amputation or surgery. (Socarides, 1969, p. 1424)

a person whose sex organs differentiated as male According to this view, the gender identity and and whose gender identity differentiated as role that is seen to be at variance with biological female. Medical science has found ways to reduce sex must be a sham, an imitation of the “real the incompatibility by modifying anatomy to help thing.” Socarides (1975), for example, wrote of that person achieve unity as a member of a sex... “behaviour imitative of that of the opposite sex” but medical science has not yet found a way to (p. 131) and a “caricature of femininity” (p. 134). modify a fully differentiated gender identity. Like the supporters of surgery, its opponents tend (Money & Tucker, 1977, pp. 69-70) to employ traditional stereotypes of gender identity and roles. Ostow argued that in the case Although not entirely without controversy, the described by Hamburger, Stürup, and Dahl- hormonal and surgical renunciation of maleness Iversen (1953), there was “no desire for sexual and masculinity and femaleness and femininity relations with men” and “no evidence of any has become accepted in many Western countries, maternal interest” (Ostow, 1953, p. 1553). Meyer and elsewhere it no longer seems to require con- and Hoopes (1974) have similarly argued that tinual justification. Although gender identity has continued to take priority over morphological a true feminine identification, for instance, would sex, the search is still on for what is assumed result in warm and continued relationships with will be a biological determinant of the sexed men, a sense of maternity, interest in caring for brain. A document titled Transsexualism: The children, and the capacity to work productively Current Medical Viewpoint, written for the main and continuously in female occupations....The United Kingdom campaigning organization by a adult “transsexual” reaches accommodation with group of medical specialists, claims that a simulated femininity or masculinity at a sacrifice in total personality. (p. 447) the weight of current scientific evidence suggests a biologically-based, multifactoral aetiology for The medical approach has facilitated some transsexualism. Most recently, for example, a degree of migration (Ekins & King, 1999) from study identified a region in the hypothalamus of one sex (body) to the other, but it retains a view 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 384

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of sex, sexuality, and gender as binary and has, on express “the girl within” gained a following in the whole, accepted existing stereotypes of what “transvestite” groups throughout the world. For constitutes masculinity and femininity and their Prince, being a male with a fully developed per- linkages to male and female bodies. Thus, in sonality expression entailed embracing “femi- the absence of a “test” that will unequivocally ninity” in various modes, for varying periods of demonstrate that a person is a transsexual, suit- time, and in various spaces and places. Prince ability for hormone and (especially) surgical “sex was, it may be said, man enough to be a woman. change” is determined by the extent to which the Although Prince, herself, eventually came to candidate “passes” or demonstrates sufficient live full-time as what she termed a “transgen- masculinity or femininity, as the case may be. derist” (a male woman without sex reassign- Some critics (and some of the candidates them- ment surgery), her main influence has been in selves) have complained that the conceptions of articulating a “transvestite” lifestyle in which masculinity and femininity that the medical pro- males “oscillate” (Ekins & King, 1999, 2001b) fession has employed in this respect have become between the expression of masculinity and of outmoded and are out of step with notions of femininity in the service of “full personality masculinity and femininity in “the real world.” expression.” The second approach that we consider in the Although Hirschfeld coined the term “trans- following section also makes use of traditional sexualism” in 1923 (Hirschfeld, 1923; Ekins & stereotypes, but it loosens the linkage between King, 2001a), it was not widely used until the sex and gender to a greater extent than the med- 1950s and, at least in the English-speaking ical approach. As with the bulk of the medical world, the term “transvestism” (which he had literature on transsexuality, there tends to be a coined earlier, in 1910) was employed in a very downplaying of the details of transgender sexu- broad sense to denote a diverse range of trans- ality (eroticism) and the relations between gender practices, from what he termed “name “masculine” and “feminine” sexuality, as opposed transvestism” (the adoption of an opposite-sex to the details of sex (the body) and gender (both name) to full “sex changes.” With massive media as identity and as the social and cultural accom- attention focused on cases of the latter in the paniments of sex). early 1950s, medical attention focused on transsexualism, which, as we have seen, achieved a degree of respectability in some quarters. THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY, There was much less interest in the other main transgender practice (transvestism) to come to VIRGINIA PRINCE,“FULL the notice of the medical profession. This was PERSONALITY EXPRESSION,” that of (mainly) men who did not wish to AND “SUSPENDING”MASCULINITY renounce their masculinity permanently but who would sometimes suspend it by cross-dressing From the early 1960s onward, the voices and behaving “in a feminine fashion,” usually in of transgendered people, themselves, began to private but sometimes in public. This compulsion be heard outside the medical case histories. (as it was often experienced) was sometimes The dominant voice within this, our second troubling enough for some men to seek a “cure.” approach, was of those who sought to avoid The term “transvestism” came to refer princi- medicalization and develop a view of their pally to compulsive and sexually arousing cross- identities and behaviors in terms of their “sus- dressing, usually by biological males. Because no pending” aspects of masculinity for various “cure” was available (despite a brief flurry of periods of time, while not renouncing it entirely. interest in the use of aversion therapy in the Although self-identified transsexual “renounc- 1960s), and because (despite the anguish of some ers” tended to articulate themselves within the transvestites and sometimes their partners) cross- developing medical discourse, the “suspenders” dressing was seen as a relatively harmless “per- sought to develop their own perspective and version,” transvestism was of little interest to accompanying concepts of what it meant to most of the medical profession. be male/masculine and female/feminine. Here, So it was left to transvestites themselves the work of Virginia Prince was particularly to fashion an identity and a script that was influential, and her view that men should more tenable than that on offer by the medical 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 385

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profession. Central to this was Virginia Prince, gender has to be suppressed, particularly in the who, after struggling to find a cure for her cross- case of males. Transvestism is the expression of dressing, was encouraged by a psychiatrist to this suppressed femininity. “stop fighting it.” Prince went on to fashion a Prince’s views on the nature of masculinity new identity depicting a certain type of cross- and femininity are particularly apparent in her dressing supported by an explanatory and justi- publications aimed at instructing transvestites ficatory philosophy with which she sought to themselves on how to dress and behave in order educate the medical profession and transvestites to express the woman within. How to Be a themselves. In doing so, she provided the basis Woman Though Male (Prince, 1971) is a practi- for the beginnings of what we now call the cal guide for males who wish to be women, and transgender community. this involves Prince in presenting what looks Prince (1957, p. 82) distinguished between like a very dated, traditional view of women and three types of males who may share “the desire men, even for its time. To be masculine is to to wear feminine attire.” These were the homo- be active, competitive, strong, logical, and so sexual, the transvestite, and the transsexual. on; to be feminine is to be the opposite— Prince then distinguished the homosexual and passive, cooperative, weak, and emotional (Prince, the transsexual from what she called the “true 1971, pp. 115-116). However, she is aware that transvestite” (Prince, 1957, p. 84). The true she is presenting a stereotype of womanhood transvestites are “exclusively heterosexual... and writes that she agrees with the feminist crit- frequently married and often fathers” (Prince, icism of some aspects of it, but she argues that 1957, p. 84). “They value their male organs and this is how things are, not as they should be, and enjoy using them and do not wish them to be this is what it takes to be a woman in our culture removed” (p. 84). (Prince, 1971, p. 116). In 1960, Prince published a magazine called It is also, we should note, a very middle-class Transvestia that was sold by subscription and stereotype of femininity: Prince tells her read- through adult bookshops. The message on the ers, “if you are going to appear in society as a inside cover read: “Transvestia is dedicated to woman, don’t just be a woman, be a lady” the needs of those heterosexual persons who (Prince, 1971, p. 135); and have become aware of their ‘other side’ and seek to express it.” Gradually, Prince developed an it is the best in womanhood that the [transvestite] organization called the Foundation for Full seeks to emulate, not the common. Be the LADY Personality Expression (FPE or Phi Pi Epsilon) in the crowd if you are going to be a woman at all, that was clearly aimed at those cross-dressers not the scrubwoman or a clerk. It is the beauty, delicacy, grace, loveliness, charm and freedom of who, like Prince (at that time), were heterosex- expression of the feminine world that you are ual and married—homosexuals and transsexuals seeking to experience and enjoy, so “live it up”— were not admitted. This organization was be as pretty, charming and graceful as you can... immensely successful and spread to many parts (Prince, 1971, p. 136) of the world. By 1967, Prince (writing under the pseu- Prince’s views are important in this context donym “Bruce,” 1967) was evidently familiar for her insistence on breaking the link between with the gender terminology and concepts that femininity and femaleness, and (implicitly, for are taken for granted today. Sex, she points out, she has little to say about this) between mas- is anatomical and physiological; gender is psy- culinity and maleness. The conception of the chosocial. Transvestism, for Prince, is very firmly woman within the man (and presumably the about gender. She argues that sex, the division man within the woman) gave a more serious into male and female, is something we share edge to the emerging identity of the transvestite, with other animals. Gender, the division of mas- and the notion of whole persons, both masculine culine and feminine, is, on the other hand, “a and feminine, does strike a chord with some of human invention” and “not the inevitable result the visions of the past 30 or so years. of biological necessity” (Bruce, 1967, p. 129). However, Prince’s apparent recognition of But in their socialization, children are pushed in the cultural relativity of masculinity and femi- one or the other gender direction and, conse- ninity seems at odds with the notion of them quently, anything associated with the other emerging “from within” and, ultimately, Prince 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 386

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herself seems to have found it hard to retain the transvestism and transsexualism unequivocally separation of sex and gender. She wrote in 1979 as psychopathologies and have denied the that “I have had my beard removed by electrol- reality of a gender identity at variance with the ysis and . . . as a result of a course of hormone evidence of the body. therapy I now possess a nice pair of 38B Although some of these approaches have breasts” (Prince, 1979, p. 172). noted the culturally contingent nature of masculinity and femininity, they have not questioned the content of these categories and have FEMINISM, THE “TRANSSEXUAL shown little awareness of gender inequality. Yet, EMPIRE,” AND “REJECTING”MASCULINITY in the late 1960s, when sex change surgery had gained a degree of legitimacy as the treatment of From the late 1960s, with the emergence of choice for those who claimed a gender identity the gay and women’s movements, there arose an other than that suggested by their bodies and interest in the political significance of transgen- who displayed the appropriate masculinity or dering and its relationship to forms of sexual femininity, the emerging women’s movement and gender oppression. From one point of view, was beginning to question just what was appro- “transvestites” and “transsexuals” (the terms in priate about these categories. The problem that use at the time) were seen as politically conser- transsexuals posed for the women’s movement vative, reinforcing gender stereotypes by per- was this: Who qualifies as a woman? forming hyperfemininity, for instance. From an As the transgender activist Wilchins (1997) alternative standpoint, however, insofar as they was to put it later, broke the congruity between sex and gender, they were seen by some to be radical (e.g., Brake, Feminist politics begins with the rather common 1976). However, by far the most influential single sense notion that there exists a group of people political critique of what she termed “the trans- understood as women whose needs can be politi- sexual empire” was that put forward by Janice cally represented and whose objectives sought Raymond. Raymond (1980) argued that the cre- through unified action. A movement for women— ation by the male medical profession of trans- what could be simpler? But implicit in this is the sexualism and its “treatment” by means of sex basic idea that we know who comprises this group change surgery obscures the political and social since it is their political goals we will articulate. sources of the “transsexual’s” suffering. This, What if this ostensibly simple assumption isn’t then, was the period of influence of feminist true? (p. 81) transgender theory disposed to “rejecting” men and masculinity. The male-to-female transsex- Although it is not the only feminist position ual’s claim to womanhood and femininity was on transsexualism, that of Janice Raymond rejected, as well as that medical discourse and (1980) is probably the best known. Although it practice which sought to aid the transsexual’s has been subjected to considerable criticism “renouncing” of his masculinity. Raymond saw (e.g., Califia, 1997; Riddell, 1996; Wilchins, female-to-male transsexuals as merely “tokens” 1997), its influence can still be found in the who had no significance for her argument. In this work of some writers, such as Jeffreys (1996, sense, too, females who wished to “embrace” the 2003). At the heart of Raymond’s position is the masculinity attendant on their sex reassignment denial of the legitimacy of the transsexual’s surgery were rejected from her considerations. “chosen” gender. What she calls “male-to- As we have seen, some medical approaches constructed-females” can never be women have accepted the authenticity of a masculine because of their lack of both female biology and or feminine identity at variance with the body female life experiences. Raymond asserts: and have given priority to the identity over the body. Prince and the organizations influenced it is biologically impossible to change chromo- by her philosophy have also recognized an somal sex. If chromosomal sex is taken to be the authentic femininity within a male body and fundamental basis for maleness and femaleness, presumably would allow an authentic mascu- the male who undergoes sex conversion surgery is linity within a female body. Other approaches not female...Transsexuals are not women. They from within the medical profession have seen are deviant males. (1980, pp.10, 183) 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 387

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Raymond argued that transsexualism is not creative energies, by possessing artifactual female an individual condition, a personal problem for organs. (p. xvi) which changing sex is merely a neutral, technical method of treatment, but instead is a social In addition, Raymond (1980) sees the cre- and political phenomenon. According to her, ation of transsexualism and sex change surgery “transsexuals” are among the victims of patriar- as an attempt to replace biological women chal society and its definitions of masculinity (p. 140) and argues that “gender identity clinics” and femininity. By creating transsexualism and where transsexuals are “treated” are proto- treating it by means of sex change, the political typical “sex-role control centers” (p. 136). Thus, and social sources of the “transsexuals”’ suffer- transsexualism is not merely another example ing are obscured. Instead, it is conceptualized as of the pervasive effects of patriarchal attitudes; an individual problem for which an individual it actually constitutes an attack on women. solution is devised. “Transsexualism constitutes a sociopolitical Raymond argues that by means of this program that is undercutting the movement to illegitimate medicalization, the “real” problem eradicate sex role stereotyping and oppression remains unaddressed. Medicalization also in this culture” (p. 5). serves to defuse the revolutionary potential of Apart from measures directed at the “first transsexuals, who are “deprived of an alternative cause” itself (patriarchy), Raymond advocates framework in which to view the problem” restrictions on “sex change” surgery; the pre- (1980, p. 124). sentation of other, less favorable, views of its She argues that not only does transsexualism consequences in the media; and nonsexist coun- reflect the nature of patriarchal society, but it is seling and consciousness-raising groups for also ultimately caused by it: transsexuals themselves to enable them to realize their radical potential (1980, appendix). The First Cause, that which sets other causes How much acceptance Raymond’s thesis of transsexualism in motion...is a patriarchal has had is difficult to tell, but it clearly has been society, which generates norms of masculinity and widely read and discussed. Stone (1991) writes femininity. Uniquely restricted by patriarchy’s of Raymond’s book that “here in 1991, on the definitions of masculinity and femininity, the twelfth anniversary of its publication, it is still transsexual becomes body-bound by them and the definitive statement on transsexualism by a merely rejects one and gravitates toward the other. genetic female academic” (p. 281). The position (Raymond, 1980, p. 70) of Raymond and other feminist academics was not merely “academic.” In the middle and late Thus, we have a circular process by which 1970s, as Carol Riddell explains (personal com- patriarchy creates, via the family and other munication, 1994), structures, problems for individuals that are then dealt with as transsexualism, thus reinforcing a small but very active section of the feminist the conditions out of which the problems arose. movement, the “Revolutionary Feminists,” were However, this is primarily a one-way move- taking over some positions in the radical subcul- ment, for Raymond sees transsexualism as tures of extreme feminism. They owed a little primarily a male movement. Female-to-male intellectually to Mary Daly and her ex-student transsexuals are mere tokens created to maintain Janice Raymond, from whose doctoral thesis The the illusion that it is a “condition” that affects Transsexual Empire was written. There were both sexes. The reason why it is primarily a reports of threats to transsexuals in London, and I male problem, says Raymond (1980), is because myself was threatened with violence when I men are seeking to possess attended a Bi-sexuality conference there. The position was much the same two decades the power that women have by virtue of female later, when members of the New York City biology. This power, which is evident in giving birth, cannot be reduced to procreation. Rather chapter of the activist Transexual Menace con- birthing is only representative of the many levels fronted Janice Raymond at the launch of her of creativity that women have exercised in the 1994 edition of The Transsexual Empire. history of civilization. Transsexualism may be Wilchins (1997) has written eloquently of the one way by which men attempt to possess female struggles for male-to-female transsexuals to 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 388

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gain admittance to “womyn-born womyn only” a “normal” man or (to the extent that he is able to spaces and the harassment they have suffered at suspend his masculinity in public) as a “normal” events that ban “nongenetic women” (Wilchins, woman. Similarly, the male transsexual who is 1997, p. 110). renouncing his masculinity permanently, like the female transsexual who is seeking to embrace it, are also seeking to be read as a woman and a POSTMODERNITY,“TRANSCENDING,” man, respectively. Both identities are also tempo- AND BREAKING THE LINK BETWEEN rary ones; the transvestite oscillates (Ekins & MALES AND MASCULINITY King, 1999, 2001b) between masculinity and femininity; the transsexual passes through a trans Finally, we look at the emergence, at the end phase on the way to a permanent masculine or of the 20th century, of a postmodern approach: feminine identity. the coming of age of transgenderism. Now the Where these identities have become open emphasis is on transgender diversity, fluidity, and and/or permanent, they have been seen as patho- moving beyond the rigidities of the binary gender logical and/or problematic. In other words, no divide. New combinations of masculinity and permanent “in-between” identity was allowed femininity are celebrated. Particularly significant, for. To the extent that the transvestite or trans- from the standpoint of masculinity, is the concept sexual passes as a person of the other gender, of female masculinity put forward by Judith and to the extent that the transgendering remains “Jack” Halberstam (1998). Whereas the vast hidden, the “fact” of two invariant genders majority of the men and masculinities literature remains unquestioned. As Stone (1991) put it, concerns itself with variants of masculinity con- “authentic experience is replaced by a particular sidered in relation to males, Halberstam breaks kind of story, one that supports the old con- that link. Furthermore, in a postmodern age, structed positions” (p. 295). In consequence, medical technology becomes something to call Stone argued that transsexuals can develop their upon for the purposes of “optional” body modifi- own discourse only by recognizing their unique cation, as opposed to “diagnosis,” treatment, or gender position: management of pathology or disorder. Virginia Prince notwithstanding, the voices of For a transsexual, as a transsexual, to generate a transgendered people themselves were largely true, effective and representational counterdis- missing from the earlier approaches that we have course is to speak from outside the boundaries looked at; they appeared largely as cases in of gender, beyond the constructed oppositional the medical literature or as dupes of the medical nodes which have been predefined as the only profession in the dominant feminist discourses. positions from which discourse is possible. (1991, This was to change radically in the 1990s as a p. 295) new discourse emerged, constituting a major paradigm shift. A key work in this new approach Stone contended that the dominant binary was Sandy Stone’s “The Empire Strikes Back” model of gender and its employment in the cate- (1991), in which she argued that “the people who gory of transsexuality has obscured the diversity have no voice in this theorizing are the transsex- of the transsexual experience. It “foreclosed the uals themselves. As with males theorizing about possibility of analyzing desire and motiva- women from the beginning of time, theorists of tional complexity in a manner which adequately gender have seen transsexuals as possessing describes the multiple contradictions of individ- something less than agency” (1991, p. 294). ual lived experience” (1991, p. 297). What began Stone also pointed out that transsexuals had to happen, in fact, during the 1990s was the failed to develop a counterdiscourse. It is easy to recognition of the vast diversity of transgender see why, because the main “traditional” transgen- experiences. Some people did begin questioning der identities have “worked” only to the extent “the necessity of passing for typically gendered that they have been covert and temporary. The people” and began to develop new gender iden- male transvestite who suspends his masculinity tities. For some people, “the experience of for varying amounts of time most usually does crossed or transposed gender is a strong part of not want to be “read” as such. Except within a their gender identity; being out of the closet is small subcultural setting, he wishes to be seen as part of that expression” (Nataf, 1996, p. 16). 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 389

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The following quotation from Denny (1995) of gender” chimed in well with many of the underscores the point of diversity: themes in cultural studies and queer theory and provided a motif that has been much developed With the new way of looking at things, suddenly since. all sorts of options have opened up for transgen- This idea points to the position of trans dered people: living full-time without genital people as located somewhere outside the spaces surgery, recreating in one gender role while work- customarily offered to men and women, as ing in another, identifying as neither gender, or both, blending ...characteristics of different people who are beyond the laws of gender. So genders in new and creative ways, identifying as the assumption that there are only two (oppo- genders and sexes heretofore undreamed of—even site) genders, with their corresponding “mas- designer genitals do not seem beyond reason. (p. 1) culinities” and “femininities,” is opened up to scrutiny. Instead, it is suggested that there is the The 1995 International Bill of Gender Rights possibility of a “third” space outside the gender (reprinted in Feinberg, 1996, pp. 171-175) dichotomy. This idea refers not simply to the claims that “all human beings have the right addition of another category; it is conceived as to define their own gender identity” . . . “to free “a space for society to articulate and make sense expression of their self-defined gender identity,” of all its various gendered identities” (Nataf, and to change “their bodies cosmetically, chem- 1996, p. 57), or, as Herdt (1994) put it, “the third ically, or surgically, so as to express a self- is emblematic of other possible combinations defined gender identity” (pp. 172-173). Califia that transcend dimorphism” (p. 20). (1997), too, writes of the “individual’s right Within this approach, the idea of permanent to own his or her own body, and [to] make what- core identities and the idea of gender itself dis- ever temporary or permanent changes to that appear. The emphasis is on transience, fluidity, body the individual pleases....A new sort of and performance. Kate Bornstein, for instance, transgendered person has emerged, one who talks about “the ability to freely and knowingly approaches sex reassignment with the same become one or many of a limitless number of mindset that they would obtaining a piercing or genders for any length of time, at any rate of a tattoo” (p. 224). change” (Bornstein, 1994, p. 52). In that gender However, at the same time as there is an fluidity recognizes no borders or “laws” of acknowledgment of diversity, there has also gender, the claim is to live “outside of gender” developed a greater sense of unity. Writers now (Whittle, 1996) as “gender outlaws” (Bornstein, comment on the “transgender community,” and 1994). this is sometimes seen to extend into the gay Writing at the beginning of the 1990s, Rubin community (Mackenzie, 1994; Whittle, 1996). pointed out that “transsexual demographics are Parts of this community have been working changing. FTMs [female-to-males] still comprise more vociferously and more effectively than a fraction of the transsexual population, but their ever before to end discrimination toward, and numbers are growing and awareness of their pres- claim what are described as the rights of, trans- ence is increasing” (1992, p. 475). Conveniently gendered people. The emphasis has shifted to written off as “tokens” by Raymond, female-to- the rights of transgendered people as transgen- male transsexuals or, more accurately, female- dered, and not as members of their “new” gen- bodied trans persons, indeed had become a more der. A particular focus of this activism has been visible feature of the transgender community by the advocacy of the right of “gender expression” the end of the 20th century and leading into the subversive of masculine/feminine dichotomies 21st century. In fact, they have come to play key as linked to “male” and “female” bodies. roles within that community and within transgen- Stone’s (1991) chapter can also be seen to pro- der politics, and they have been prominent in vide the starting point for the emergence of trans- the emergence of transgender theory (e.g., gender theory, which is now seen by some to be Cromwell, 1999; Prosser, 1998; Whittle, 1996). at the very cutting edge of debates about sex, sex- More specifically, it is trans men who have led uality, and gender and has achieved a position of the way in linking transgender to revolutionary prominence in a number of recent contributions socialism (Feinberg, 1996), to radical lesbianism to cultural studies and “queer theory.” Stone’s (Nataf, 1996), to radical body configurations image of transsexuals as “outside the boundaries and pansexualism (Volcano, 2000), and to the 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 390

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beginnings of a hitherto neglected transgender divide, and who took up a heterosexual position approach to class, race, and masculinity (Volcano from the vantage point of this “opposite” side, & Halberstam, 1999). In the main, followers of were privileged over transgendered people who Raymond such as Jeffreys (1996) have continued evidenced other forms of transgender experi- to turn a blind eye to the significance of FTMs ence. This heteronormative position that privi- within the transgender community. leges heterosexuality, as set within a binary male Notably, it is Judith “Jack” Halberstam who and female gender divide, over other forms of has turned the spotlight onto “female masculin- sexual and gender expression, may be illustrated ity” or “masculinity” without men (Halberstam, by Benjamin’s (1968) statement: 1998), thus avoiding the limitations of seeing masculinity as “a synonym for men and male- Transsexuals are attracted only to members of their ness” (Halberstam, 1998, p. 13). Halberstam’s own anatomical sex; however, they cannot be main aims are to demonstrate that women his- called homosexual because they feel they belong torically have contributed to the construction to the sex opposite to that of the chosen partner. The transsexual man loves another man as a of contemporary masculinity and to underline woman does, in spite of his phenotype and in spite the diversity of female masculinity, which has of his genital apparatus which he feels he must been obscured because it challenges “main- change. The transsexual woman woos another stream definitions of male masculinity as non- woman as a man would, feeling herself to be a man performative” (Halberstam, 1998, p. 234). regardless of her anatomical structure. (p. 429)

It was not until 1984 that Dorothy Clare CONCLUDING COMMENTS coined the term “transhomosexuality” (Clare, 1984) in recognition of the fact that the “trans- The “lessons” of transgender for masculinity sexual’s” renouncing masculinity did not necessar- (and femininity) are complex and often contra- ily mean renouncing sexual attraction to women dictory. They revolve around the nature of and and that embracing masculinity did not necessar- the relationships between sex, gender, and sexu- ily entail embracing women as sexual partners ality. The neat binary divisions in each of these (see also Feinbloom, Fleming, Kijewski, & areas has given way to diversity, and the simple Schulter, 1976). More recently, through the linkages between them have given way to com- popularization of the writings of Ray Blanchard plexity. Not surprisingly, much academic and (e.g., 1989) by Anne Lawrence (1999) and popular discussion has been focused on the Michael Bailey (2003) (see Ekins & King, most dramatic aspect of transgender, that of 2001c), the recognition of a sexual motivation for transsexualism. Against a backdrop of the sex reassignment has occurred. This literature assumed correlation of sex, gender, and hetero- highlights the complex interrelations between sexuality, radical refashioning of the body has “masculine” and “feminine” transgendered sexu- been conventionally sanctioned by the medical ality insofar as many self-identified male-to- profession after the demonstration by the female transsexuals are committed to renouncing “applicant” that the applicant’s body is “out of many elements of their masculinity, but paradox- sync” with the applicant’s gender and sexuality, ically this desire for permanent renunciation thereby restoring harmony. Recent thinking has derives from a sexuality that is in important upset that harmony. respects stereotypically masculine. Significantly, The early attempts by Hirschfeld and Ellis to Lawrence (1999) refers to such male-to-female distinguish transvestism or eonism from homo- transsexuals as “Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies.” sexuality and Prince’s insistence on the gendered The key concept here is “autogynephilia” (love nature of transvestism led to an underplaying of of oneself as a woman). As Lawrence puts it the significance of transgendered sexuality. The (personal communication, 2001), “I renounced a diversity of transgender sexual experiences evi- masculine sexed body and for the most part dent in the early medical literature was gradually renounced masculine gender behavior, in an replaced by a “heteronormative” perspective in attempt to both express and control my (mascu- which those transsexuals who took steps to line) autogynephilic sexuality. Paradoxically, the change their bodies to match their perceived control aspect also involved a renunciation of identity on the “opposite” side of the binary masculine sexuality, at least in part.” 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 391

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Similarly, the straightforward dichotomy treatment program allows their clients, they say, of male and female bodies is also breached to “discover and express their unique identity” by recent developments. Transvestites altered (1992, p. 143) and “allows for individuals to their bodies only in temporary or reversible identify as neither man nor woman, but as some- ways; transsexuals were either pre- or post-op, one whose identity transcends the culturally and post-op meant that the body had been recon- sanctioned dichotomy” (1992, p. 144). figured to resemble as closely as possible the We leave the penultimate word to Jason “normal” body that “fitted” the gender identity. Cromwell, who expresses the idea clearly when The only limits were those imposed by cost or he says that “there is more to gender diversity technical limitations. Now some people are not than being transvestite or transsexual...there going “all the way” and are choosing to recon- are more than two sexes or genders” (Cromwell, figure their bodies in ways that are not “stan- 1999, p. 6). By the same token, there is more to dard” male or female. Virginia Prince, radical in Men and Masculinities Studies than men and some ways and clearly ahead of her time, might masculinities. Therein lies the particular contri- not be happy with the sexual implications in the bution of transgendering to the field. following quotation, but she would otherwise, we feel, approve: REFERENCES If a man says he loves me, he’d better love all of me. Ain’t no part of me that ain’t me. Ain’t no part Bailey, J. M. (2003). The man who would be queen: of me that’s bad. I am an African American The science of gender-bending and transsexual- heterosexual woman who is transgendered with a ism. Washington, DC: John Henry Press. penis....A man either love all of me or none of Benjamin, H. (1966). The transsexual phenomenon. me. And I mean ALL of me. (quoted in Griggs, New York: Julian Press. 1998, p. 93) Benjamin, H. (1968). The transsexual phenomenon. Another example of body diversity is that of Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, 29(4), 428-430. those people born with intersexed bodies who Blanchard, R. (1989). The concept of autogynephilia have been (and often still are) surgically and and the typology of male gender dysphoria. hormonally fitted into one or the other category Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, as early in their lives as possible. Now, increas- 616-623. ingly, people with intersexed bodies who were Bockting, W. O., & Coleman, E. (1992). A comprehen- neither aware of nor able to control such surgi- sive approach to the treatment of gender dyspho- cal and hormonal intervention are questioning ria. In W. O. Bockting & E. Coleman (Eds.), those practices and demanding the right to Gender dysphoria: Interdisciplinary approaches determine whether, when, and how their bodies to clinical management (pp. 131-155). New York: should be altered (Chase, 1998; Kessler, 1998). Haworth. As we explained earlier, it was the primacy Bornstein, K. (1994). Gender outlaw: On men, women and the rest of us. London: Routledge. given to gender and specifically gender identity Brake, M. (1976). I may be a queer, but at least I am that gave legitimacy to the efforts of the medical a man. In D. L. Barker & S. Allen (Eds.), Sexual profession to change the sex of those seeking to divisions and society: Process and change change. By and large, only two gender identities (pp.174-198). London: Tavistock. were “allowed”: masculine and feminine. Again Bruce, V. (1967). The expression of femininity in the the dichotomy is being questioned, as there is male. Journal of Sex Research, 3(2), 129-139. emerging a diversity of identities “in between” Bullough, V. L., Dorr Legg, W., Elcano, B. W., & or even “outside” the conventional parameters. Kepner, J. (1976). An annotated bibliography of Members of the medical profession—health homosexuality (Vol. 2). London: Garland. professionals and therapists, too—have begun Califia, P. (1997). Sex changes: The politics of transgenderism. San Francisco: Cleis Press. to look at their patients or clients in less dichoto- Chase, C. (1998). Hermaphrodites with attitude: mous ways. Bockting and Coleman, for Mapping the emergence of intersex political example, wrote that their clients “often have a activism. GLQ A Journal of Lesbian and Gay more ambiguous gender identity and are more Studies, 4(2), 189-211. ambivalent about a gender role transition Clare, D. (1984). Transhomosexuality [Abstract]. In than they initially admit” (1992, p. 143). Their Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 392

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Mackenzie, G. O. (1994). Transgender nation. Raymond, J. (1994). The transsexual empire Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University (2nd ed.). New York: The Teachers Press. Popular Press. Riddell, C. (1996). Divided sisterhood: A critical Maitland, S. (1986). Vesta tilley. London: Virago Press. review of Janice Raymond’s The Transsexual Meyer, J. K., & Hoopes, J. E. (1974). The gender Empire. In R. Ekins & D. King (Eds.), Blending dysphoria syndromes: A position statement on genders: Social aspects of cross-dressing and so-called transsexualism. Plastic and Recon- sex-changing (pp. 171-189). London: Routledge. structive Surgery, 54(4), 444-451. Rubin, G. (1992). Of catamites and kings: Meyerowitz, J. (2002). How sex changed: A history of Reflections on butch, gender and boundaries. In transsexuality in the United States. Cambridge, J. Nestle (Ed.), The persistent desire: A femme- MA: Harvard University Press. butch reader (pp. 466-482). Boston: Alyson. Miss Vera’s Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Sharpe, A. (2002). Transgender jurisprudence: Be Girls. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2004, Dysphoric bodies of law. London: Cavendish. from www.missvera.com/book-1.html Socarides, C. (1969). The desire for sexual trans- Money, J. (1973). Gender role, gender identity, core formation: A psychiatric evaluation of transgender identity: Usage and definition of terms. sexualism. American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of the American Academy of Psycho- 125(10), 1419-1425. analysis, 1(4), 397-403. Socarides, C. (1975). Beyond sexual freedom. Money, J., & Tucker, P. (1977). Sexual signatures: On New York: Quadrangle. being a man or a woman. London: Abacus. Steiner, B. W. (Ed.). (1985). Gender dysphoria: More, K., & Whittle, S. (Eds.). (1999). Reclaiming Development, research, management. New York: genders: Transsexual grammars at the fin de Plenum. siècle. London: Cassell. Stekel, W. (1934). Bi-sexual love. New York: Morris, J. (1974). Conundrum. London: Faber and Physicians and Surgeons Book Co. Faber. Stoller, R. J. (1968). Sex and gender: Vol. 1. The Nanda, S. (1988). Neither man nor woman: The development of masculinity and femininity. Hirjas of India. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. New York: Science House. Nataf, Z. I. (1996). Lesbians talk transgender. Stoller, R. J. (1977). Gender identity. In B. B. Wolman London: Scarlet Press. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of psychiatry, Ostow, M. (1953). Transvestism. Journal of the psychology, psychoanalysis and neurology American Medical Association, 152(16), 1553. (Vol. 5, pp.173-177). New York: Van Nostrand Petersen, A. (1998). Unmasking the masculine: for Aesculapius. “Men” and “identity” in a sceptical age. Stone, S. (1991). The empire strikes back: A post- London: Sage. transsexual manifesto. In K. Straub & J. Epstein Press for Change. (1996). Transsexualism: The cur- (Eds.), Body guards: The cultural politics of rent medical viewpoint. Retrieved January 16, gender ambiguity (pp. 280-304). New York: 2004, from www.pfc.org.uk/medical/mediview Routledge. Prince, C. V. (1957). Homosexuality, transvestism Stryker, S. (1999). Portrait of a transfag drag hag and transsexualism: Reflections on their etiol- as a young man: The activist career of ogy and differentiation. American Journal of Louis G. Sullivan. In K. More & S. Whittle Psychotherapy, 11, 80-85. (Eds.), Reclaiming genders: Transsexual gram- Prince, V. (1971). How to be a woman though male. mars at the fin de siècle (pp. 62-82). London: Los Angeles: Chevalier. Cassell. Prince, V. (1979). Charles to Virginia: Sex research as Teh, Y. K. (2001). Mak nyahs (male transsexuals) in a personal experience. In V. L. Bullough (Ed.), Malaysia: The influence of culture and religion The frontiers of sex research (pp.167-175). on their identity. International Journal of New York: Prometheus. Transgenderism, 5(3). Retrieved January 23, Prosser, J. (1997). Transgender. In M. Medhurst & 2004, from www.symposion.com/ijt/ijtvo05no S. Munt (Eds.), Lesbian and gay studies: 03_04.htm A critical introduction (pp. 309-327). London: Thom, B., & More, K. (1998). Welcome to the Cassell. festival. In The second international transgen- Prosser, J. (1998). Second skins: The body narratives of der film and video festival. London: Alchemy. transsexuality. New York: Columbia University Totman, R. (2003). The third sex: Kathoey— Press. Thailand’s ladyboys. London: Souvenir Press. Ramet, S. (1996). Gender reversals and gender Volcano, D. (2000). Sublime mutations. Tübingen: cultures. London: Routledge. Konkursbuch. Raymond, J. (1980). The transsexual empire. Volcano, D., & Halberstam, J. (1999). The drag king London: The Women’s Press. book. London: Serpent’s Tale. 22-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:29 PM Page 394

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Whitehead, H. (1981). The bow and the burden Wilchins, R. (1997). Read my lips: Sexual subversion strap: A new look at institutionalised homo- and the end of gender. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand sexuality in native North America. In S. B. Books. Ortner & H. Whitehead (Eds.), Sexual mean- Winter, S. (2002). Why are there so many Kathoey in ings (pp. 80-115). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Thailand? Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved University Press. January 23, 2004, from http://web.hku.hk/~ Whittle, S. (1996). Gender fucking or fucking sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/paper_why_are_ gender? Current cultural contributions to theo- there_so_many_kathoey_htm ries of gender blending. In R. Ekins & D. King Winter, S., & Udomsak, N. (2002). Male, female and (Eds.), Blending genders: Social aspects of transgender: Stereotypes and self in Thailand. cross-dressing and sex-changing (pp.196-214). International Journal of Transgenderism, 6(1). London: Routledge. Retrieved January 23, 2004, from www Wikan, U. (1977). Man becomes woman: Transsexu- .symposion.com/ijt/ijtvo06no01_04.htm alism in Oman as a key to gender roles. Man, Young, A. (2000). Women who become men: 12(2), 304-319. Albanian sworn virgins. Oxford, UK: Berg. 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 395

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JOANE NAGEL

t is no secret,” James Messerschmidt politics to an investigation of women only, as “ argues in Masculinities and Crime, “who much contemporary research has tended to do, is I commits the vast majority of crime. to miss a major, perhaps the major, way in which Arrest, self-report, and victimization data all gender shapes politics—through men and their reflect that men and boys both perpetrate more interests, their notions of manliness, and the conventional crimes and the more serious of articulation of masculine micro (everyday) and those crimes than do women and girls” (1993, macro (political) cultures. For instance, in her p. 1; see also Messerschmidt, 2000). Likewise, study of gender, race, and sexuality in colonial- it is also no secret who commits the vast major- ism, Imperial Leather, McClintock (1995, ity of war crimes, or who sits at the helms of pp. 356-357) notes the “gendered discourse” of national governments and movements around nationalism, commenting that “if male theorists the world, or who articulates the ideologies are typically indifferent to the gendering of and dominates the ruling structures of nations nations, feminist analyses of nationalism have and states. Men organize, run, and “man” the been lamentably few and far between. White machinery of government; they set policy, and feminists, in particular, have been slow to recog- they make war; men occupy the vast majority of nize nationalism as a feminist issue.” The inti- positions of power and influence in nations in mate historical and modern connection between the global system. manhood and nationhood is forged through the This is not to say that women do not have construction of patriotic manhood and exalted roles to play in the making and unmaking of motherhood as icons of nationalist ideology— states and nations: as citizens, as members of in which the nation is a family with men as its the nation, as activists, as leaders. It is to say defenders and women as the defended embodi- that the scripts in which these roles are embed- ment of home and hearth; through the designa- ded are written primarily by men, for men, and tion of gendered “places” for men and women in about men, and that women are, by design, the nation and national politics—where men are supporting actors. If nations and states are gen- seen as rightly concerned with such manly dered institutions, as much recent scholarship activities as all things military and international, asserts (Brown, 1988, 1992; Davis, Leijenaar, & and where women are seen as properly concerned Oldersma, 1991; Eisenstein, 1985; Enloe, 1990, with such womanly things as family and domes- 1993; Hooper, 2001; MacKinnon, 1989; Walby, tic issues; through the institutionalization of 1989), then to limit the examination of gender in masculine interests and ideology in nationalist

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movements—by which the convergence of smoke. I never heard such whooping and shouting. masculinism and nationalism operates to keep “There is never a better time to die!” shouted Red men in charge and women in their place; through Horse. Long Hair’s troopers were trapped in an the tight fit between masculine microcultures enclosure. There were Indians everywhere.... It and nationalist ideology—by which the congru- was not a massacre, but a hotly contested battle between two armed forces. (Hardorff, 1997, ence of masculinism and nationalism is reflected pp. 91-95) in the embeddedness in nationalist ideology of such masculine preoccupations as honor, cow- The battle at Peji Sla Wakapa was between ardice, strength, face-saving, and manliness on troops of the U.S. Seventh Cavalry led by playgrounds and battlefields, as well as in sports General George Armstrong Custer and warriors arenas and international affairs; through the from the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and militarization of [hetero]sexuality in nationalist Arapaho nations led by Sitting Bull, Crazy conflicts—by which heterosexuality is enlisted in Horse, and Two Moons, among others.1 Custer’s the service of defending the nation, and “enemy” forces were caught between groups of native men and women are sexually constructed as warriors and were killed in the cross fire. simultaneously oversexed and undersexed Other Historians identify a number of events leading men and promiscuous Other women; and through up to the Indian victory at Little Bighorn that the mobilized, sometimes frantic defense of mas- constitute a familiar 19th-century scenario culine, racial, and heterosexual privilege in male- (Gray, 1976, 1991; Hedren, 1991; Leckie, 1993, dominated national and nationalistic arenas—in p. 201; Michno, 1997; Utley, 1984b; Viola, which the “purity” of traditions and institutions 1999), but to this day Custer’s defeat remains a of hegemonic masculinity, such as military source of immense controversy among scholars schools, armed forces, and combat theatres, is and intense interest among hobbyists. Custer sanctified and segregated. The following incident and Little Bighorn remain stuck in the collective from 19th-century U.S. history illustrates the American craw. The attention given to—some powerful brotherhood of masculinities even in might argue, obsession with—Custer’s defeat cases where competing manhoods and nation- generated several official and military inquiries, hoods confront one another in battle. hundreds of scholarly monographs and articles, numerous popular books and films, dozens of newsletters and enactment groups, countless A CLASH OF MANHOODS Internet Web sites and links, and even Little Bighorn trading cards.2 In 1931, Hunkpapa Lakota, Moving Robe Moving Robe Woman’s words quoted above Woman, recounted a battle that took place provide considerable insight into the enduring on June 24, 1876, at Peji Sla Wakapa (Greasy preoccupation with Custer and the Battle of Little Grass), an event remembered by most Americans Bighorn in the American scholarly and popular today as the “Battle of Little Bighorn”: imagination: “It was...a hotly contested battle.” What was contested in the Battle of Little I was born seventy-seven winters ago, near Grand Bighorn was not simply the land and who would River, South Dakota. ...I belonged to Sitting control it, though that political economic contest Bull’s band. They were great fighters....I am was and remains central to understanding the going to tell you of the greatest battle. This was a history of indigenous-settler relations in America fight against Pehin Hanska (General Custer).... and around the world. The “hotly contested battle Several of us Indian girls were digging wild between two armed forces” was a gendered con- turnips...[and we] looked toward camp and saw flict, a confrontation of masculinities that played a warrior ride swiftly, shouting that the soldiers itself out on the U.S. northern plains in 1876 were only a few miles away....I heard Hawk and in the years to follow. It was a battle not only Man shout: “Hoka He! Hoka He!” (Charge! Charge!). . . . Someone said that another body of over land and resources; it was a struggle over the soldiers was attacking the lower end of the village. definition and boundaries of manhood and I heard afterwards that these soldiers were under nationhood, a contest to determine the shape and the command of Long Hair (Custer). With my content of American national identity and—I will father and other youthful warriors I rode in that argue in this chapter, its constant companion— direction....The valley was dense with powder American masculine identity. 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 399

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Figure 23.1 Custer’s Last Dodge SOURCE: From www.savedge.com/pinhole/images/civilwar/custer.jpg. Reprinted with permission of Billie Anne Wright.

The commentary of Wooden Leg, a Cheyenne dressing in feathers and beating on drums to fighter in the battle, articulates the gendered consume fetishized native manly arts and power character of this battle for native men as well: (Deloria, 1998; Huhndorf, 1997; Nelson, 1998; Schwalbe, 1995), and in which Indian men par- Our war cries and war songs were mingled with ticipate in the spectacle of American manhood many jeering calls, such as: “You are only boys. by serving in the U.S. military and in honoring You ought not to be fighting. We whipped you on veterans for their service to recuperate van- the Rosebud. You should have brought more quished manhoods and nationhoods (Fowler, Crows or Shoshones with you to do your fighting.” Little Bird and I were after one certain sol- 1987; Whitehorse, 1988). dier. Little Bird was wearing a trailing warbonnet. This gendered reading of Custer’s last stand He was at the right and I was at the left of the flee- and the continuing anxieties associated with ing man. We were lashing him and his horse with its place in the American nationalist imaginary our pony whips. It seemed not brave to shoot him. serve as my first illustration of the link between Besides, I did not want to waste my bullets. manhood and nationhood (see also Clark & (Nabokov, 1979, pp. 136-137) Nagel, 2001). The remainder of this chapter explicates and explores further the intimate rela- Wooden Leg’s contempt for Custer and his tionship between men and nations in a variety of “boys” is one articulation of a much larger dis- national settings during the past century. course of masculinities sizing up one another, sometimes conflicting and sometimes collabo- rating in the construction of nations and nation- CONSTRUCTING MEN AND NATIONS alities. The interplay between indigenous and settler manhoods throughout history is complex In her evocative book Bananas, Beaches, and and contradictory. U.S. Indian-white relations Bases, Cynthia Enloe (1990, p. 45) observes were and are enacted as part of a gendered that “nationalism has typically sprung from mas- drama in which white men “play Indian” by culinized memory, masculinized humiliation and 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 400

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masculinized hope.” She argues that women or about the extent to which U.S. or Western are relegated to minor, often symbolic, roles European cultures of masculinity typify man- in nationalist movements and conflicts, either hoods around the world, most scholars argue as icons of nationhood, to be elevated and that at any time, in any place, there is an identifi- defended, or as the booty or spoils of war, to be able “normative” or “hegemonic” masculinity denigrated and disgraced. In either case, the real that sets the standards for male demeanor, think- actors are men who are defending their freedom, ing, and action (Connell, 2000; Gilmore, 1990). their honor, their homeland, and their women. Hegemonic masculinity is more than an “ideal”; Enloe’s insight about the connection between it is assumptive, it is widely held, and it has the manhood and nationhood raises definitional quality of appearing to be “natural” (Donaldson, questions about each: What do we mean by 1993; Morgan, 1992). Whether current U.S. “masculinity,” and what do we mean by “nation- hegemonic masculinity is derived from a 19th- alism”? Because much of this volume is dedi- century renaissance of manliness or is rooted cated to a discussion of masculinity in theory in earlier historical cultural conceptions of man- and practice, I will limit my discussion of that hood, it is certainly identifiable as the dominant concept to two observations. form among several racial, sexual, and class- First, historical studies of masculinity in the based masculinities in contemporary U.S. society United States and Europe argue that contempo- (see Kimmel, 1996; Kimmel & Messner, 1995; rary patterns of U.S. middle-class masculinity Pfeil, 1995). The same can be said for other coun- arose out of a crisis and renaissance of manliness tries as well—in Europe, Latin America, Africa, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Carnes, Asia, or the Middle East. For instance, whether 1989; Leverenz, 1989; Trachtenberg, 1982). the manly attitudes and rules for behavior for Scholars document a resurgent preoccupation Arab men described by T. E. Lawrence in Seven with masculine ideals of physique and behavior Pillars of Wisdom (1926) set the current stan- around the turn of the century that became dards of manliness for men in the modern Arab institutionalized into such organizations and world is not so much the question, as whether institutions as the modern Olympic movement, some current set of masculine standards exists which began in 1896 (MacAloon, 1981, 1984); and can be identified as hegemonic. The answer Theodore Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” unit, to that question is, most certainly, yes (see which fought in the Spanish American War in Kandiyoti, 1991; Massad, 1995; Mehdid, 1996). 1898 (Morris, 1979; Rotundo, 1993); a variety of boys’ and men’s lodges and fraternal organizations, such as the Knights of Columbus and the NATIONALISM Improved Order of Red Men, which were established or expanded in the late 19th century Max Weber defines a nation as a community of (Kauffman, 1982; Orr, 1994; Preuss, 1924); and sentiment that would adequately manifest itself the Boy Scouts of America, which were founded in a state and that holds notions of common in 1910, 2 years after the publication of R.S.S. descent, though not necessarily common blood Baden-Powell’s influential Scouting for Boys (Gerth & Mills, 1948, pp. 172-179). Layoun (MacKenzie, 1987; Warren, 1986, 1987). These (1991, pp. 410-411) concurs: Nationalism “con- organizations embodied U.S. and European structs and proffers a narrative of the ‘nation’ male codes of honor (Nye, 1993), which stressed and of its relation to an already existing or a number of “manly virtues” described by Mosse potential state.” By these definitions, national- (1996) as “normative masculinity”; these included ism is both a goal (to achieve statehood) and willpower, honor, courage, discipline, competi- a belief (in collective commonality). Nation- tiveness, quiet strength, stoicism, sangfroid, per- alists seek to accomplish both statehood and sistence, adventurousness, independence, sexual nationhood. The goal of sovereign statehood— virility tempered with restraint, and dignity, and “state-building”—often takes the form of they reflected masculine ideals such as liberty, revolutionary or anticolonial warfare. The mainte- equality, and fraternity. nance and exercise of statehood vis-à-vis other Second, despite debates about the racial, class, nation-states often takes the form of armed sexual, historical, or comparative limits of vari- conflict. As a result, nationalism and militarism ous definitions and depictions of masculinity, seem to go hand in hand. 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 401

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The goal of nationhood—“nation-building”— late 1700s as the dividing line between “old” often involves “imagining” a national past and and “new” nations in Europe, where the old present (Anderson, 1991), inventing traditions nations, such as the English, Scots, Danes, (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983), and symbolically French, and Swedes, enjoyed relative autonomy, constructing community (Cohen, 1985). As and the new nations, basically the rest of the Gellner (1983) argues, “it is nationalism that world, mobilized in the form of national move- engenders nations, and not the other way ments to achieve independence, either from around” (p. 49). The tasks of defining commu- monarchies or from colonialism, articulating a nity, of setting boundaries, and of articulating form of nationalism designed to “implant in national character, history, and a vision for the [their constituents] a national consciousness and future tend to emphasize both unity and “other- a desire for political action” (Seton-Watson, ness.” The project of establishing national iden- 1977, p. 9). tity and cultural boundaries tends to foster nationalist ethnocentrism. As a result, nationalism and chauvinism seem to go hand in hand. MEN’S AND WOMEN’S Chauvinistic nationalism is often confined to PLACES IN THE NATION the ideational realm in the form of attitudes and beliefs about national superiority. During peri- By definition, nationalism is political and closely ods of nationalist conflict or expansion, however, linked to the state and its institutions. Like the such ethnocentrism becomes animated. The military, most state institutions have been histor- result in modern world history has been for ically and remain dominated by men. It is there- nationalism to display an intolerant, sometimes fore no surprise that the culture and ideology of murderous face. Nairn (1977) refers to the nation hegemonic masculinity go hand in hand with the as “the modern Janus” to contrast nationalism’s culture and ideology of hegemonic nationalism. two sides: a regressive, jingoistic, militaristic Masculinity and nationalism articulate well with “warfare state” visage versus a progressive, com- one another, and the modern form of Western munity-building “welfare state” countenance— masculinity emerged at about the same time and guns versus butter (see Hernes, 1987). place as modern nationalism. Mosse (1996, p. 7) The distinction between ideology and action notes that nationalism “was a movement which characterizes most discussions of the definition began and evolved parallel to modern mascul- and operation of nationalism. Nationalist ideol- inity” in the West about a century ago. He ogy (i.e., beliefs about the nation—who we are, describes modern masculinity as a centerpiece of what we represent) becomes the basis and justi- all varieties of nationalist movements: fication for national actions (i.e., activities of state- and nation-building—the fight for inde- The masculine stereotype was not bound to any pendence, the creation of a political and legal one of the powerful political ideologies of the previous century. It supported not only conserva- order, the exclusion or inclusion of various tive movements...but the workers’ movement as categories of members, the relations with other well; even Bolshevik man was said to be “firm as nations). Whether nationalism is manifested in an oak.” Modern masculinity from the very first action or ideology, most scholars identify the was co-opted by the new nationalist movements of 19th century as the origin of nationalism as a the nineteenth century. (Mosse, 1996, p. 7) way of understanding and organizing local and global politics. Nairn (1977) argued that Other political ideologies of that time, in “nationalism in its most general sense is deter- particular colonialism and imperialism, also mined by certain features of the world political resonated with contemporary standards of economy in the era between the French and masculinity (see Bologh, 1990; Walvin, 1987). Industrial Revolutions and the present day” Many scholars link the renaissance in manliness (p. 333). These features include a “new and in Europe to the institutions and ideology of heightened significance accorded to factors of empire (Hobsbawm, 1990; Koven, 1991; Sinha, nationality, ethnic inheritance, customs, and 1995). Springhall (1987, p. 52) describes the speech” and “the creation of a national market middle-class English ideal of Christian manli- economy and a viable national bourgeois class” ness, “muscular Christianity,” with its emphasis (p. 333). Similarly, Seton-Watson identifies the on sport—the “cult of games” in the public 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 402

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schools. He outlines how, through organizations also Vickers, 1993, pp. 43-45; Adams, 1990, such as the “Boys’ Brigades,” these middle-class pp. 131-132). The disdain of men for pacifists is values were communicated to “less privileged, considerably greater, as Karlen (1971) recounts board school–educated, working-class boys in in Sexuality and Homosexuality: the nation’s large urban centres.” Boys from both classes served throughout the Empire in In 1968 pacifists set up coffee houses to spread British imperial armies. their word near military bases. A Special Force Contemporary nationalist politics remains NCO said to a Newsweek reporter, “We aren’t a major venue for “accomplishing” masculinity fighting and dying so these goddam pansies can (Connell, 1987) for several reasons. First, as sit around drinking coffee. (p. 508) noted above, the national state is essentially a masculine institution. Feminist scholars point Fear of accusations of cowardice is not the out its hierarchical authority structure, the male only magnet that pulls men toward patriotism, domination of decision-making positions, the nationalism, or militarism. There is also the male superordinate/female subordinate internal masculine allure of adventure. Men’s account- division of labor, and the male legal regulation ings of their enlistment in wars often describe of female rights, labor, and sexuality (Connell, their anticipation and excitement, their sense 1995; Franzway, Court, & Connell, 1989; of embarking on a great adventure, their desire Grant & Tancred, 1992). not to be “left behind” or “left out” of the grand Second, the culture of nationalism is quest that the war represents. constructed to emphasize and resonate with I felt the thrill of it—even I, a hard-boiled soldier masculine cultural themes. Terms such as honor, of fortune—a man who was not supposed to have patriotism, cowardice, bravery, and duty are the slightest trace of nerves. I felt my throat hard to distinguish as either nationalistic or tighten and several time the scene of marching masculine because they seem so thoroughly tied columns swam in oddly elliptical circles. By God, both to the nation and to manhood. My point I was shedding tears. (Adams, 1990, p. vii; see also here is that the “microculture” of masculinity in Green, 1993) everyday life articulates very well with the demands of nationalism, particularly its mili- Finally, women are the foils against which taristic side. When, over the years, I have asked men are defined and made. Women occupy a my undergraduate students to write down on distinct, symbolic role in nationalist culture, dis- a piece of paper their answer to the question course, and collective action. The restriction of “What is the worst name you can be called?,” women to a more “private” sphere of action in the gender difference in their responses has been nationalist arenas reflects a gender division of striking. The vast majority of women have nationalism that parallels the gender division of responded “slut” (or its equivalent), with “bitch” labor in the larger society. Anthias and Yuval- a rather distant second; a vaster majority of men Davis have identified five ways in which women have responded “wimp” or “coward” or “pussy.” have tended to participate in ethnic, national, and Only cowards shirk the call to duty; real men are state processes and practices: not cowards. Patriotism is a siren call few men can resist, (a) as biological producers of members of ethnic particularly in the midst of a political “crisis”; if collectivities; they do, they risk the disdain or worse of their (b) as reproducers of the (normative) boundaries communities and families, sometimes including of ethnic/national groups (by enacting proper their mothers. Counter to the common stereotype feminine behavior); of mothers attempting to hold back their sons (c) as participating centrally in the ideological as they march off to war, Boulding (1977, p. 167) reproduction of the collectivity and as trans- reports that many mothers of conscientious mitters of its culture; objectors during World War II opposed their sons’ pacifism, and she argues that women play a (d) as signifiers of ethnic/national differences; and clear role in preparing “children and men for life- (e) as participants in national, economic, politi- long combat, whether in the occupation sphere, cal, and military struggles (Yuval-Davis & the civic arena, or the military battlefield” (see Anthias, 1989, pp. 7-8) 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 403

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Although some of these roles involve sequestered inside houses. Similarly, women are action—women participating in nationalist often more successful at recruiting support for struggles—Anthias and Yuval-Davis (1992), nationalist efforts because they are seen as less Walby (1989), Tohidi (1991), and Jayawardena threatening and militant (Mukarker, 1993; (1986), among others, note the pressure felt by Sayigh & Peteet, 1987). Edgerton (1987) women nationalists to remain in supportive, describes Northern Irish Catholic women’s use symbolic, and traditional roles. Thus, women’s of traditional female housekeeping roles as a place as national symbols tends to limit their warning system against British army raids; the interest in or ability to assume active, public practice was called “bin [trash can] lid bashing”: roles. There are, of course, exceptions to this (i.e., women leaders of nationalist movements, When troops entered an area, local women would resistance movements, and states), but the list begin banging their bin lids on the pavement; the is short, and the same names are heard again noise would carry throughout the area and alert others to follow suit. . . . At the sound of the bin and again. As Horrocks (1994) notes, when lids, scores of women would emerge armed with discussing male dominance in public life, “The dusters and mops for a hasty spring clean. exception—Margaret Thatcher—proves the (Edgerton, 1987, p. 65) rule” (p. 25). Some scholars argue that “woman national- In addition to brandishing these “weapons ist” is an oxymoron reflecting the historic of the weak” (Hart, 1991; Scott, 1985), women contradiction between the goals and needs of also have participated more directly in various women and those of nationalists (see Enloe, nationalist movements and conflicts. Sometimes, 1990, 2000; McClintock, 1995). Feminists often women’s participation has been in support of find themselves attempting to negotiate the male nationalist efforts, and at other times, difficult—some would say impossible—terrain women have been involved themselves in cadres that lies between the interests of women and the and military units (Helie-Lucas, 1988; Nategh, interests of nationalists. Discussing Hindu and 1987; Sayigh & Peteet, 1987; Urdang, 1989). Muslim nationalism in Indian politics, Hasan Despite their bravery, sometimes marked by tak- (1994) notes the tension between feminist prin- ing on traditional male military roles, and despite ciples and communal solidarity: “Forging com- the centrality of their contribution to many munity identities does not imply or guarantee nationalist struggles, it is often the case that fem- that women will always identify themselves inist nationalists find themselves once again with or adhere to prevailing religious doctrines under the thumb of institutionalized patriarchy which legitimise their subordination” (p. xv). once national independence is won. A nationalist The goals of feminists and nationalists, particu- movement that encourages women’s participa- larly “retraditionalizing” (Nagel, 1996, p. 193) tion in the name of national liberation often balks nationalists (which many are), are often at odds. at feminist demands for gender equality with This is because men in many national commu- arguments that national needs must come first. nities have an interest in regulating the activities Enloe (1990) argues that waiting is a danger- and appearance of women as the bearers of the ous strategy for feminists because “every time nation’s culture, honor, and future. women succumb to the pressures to hold their Sometimes women attempt to enact national- tongues about problems they are having with ism through traditional roles assigned to them men in nationalist organizations, nationalism by nationalists—by supporting their husbands, becomes that much more masculinized” (p. 60). raising their (the nation’s) children, and serving Women who press their case face challenges to as symbols of national honor. In these cases, their loyalty, their sexuality, or their ethnic or women can exploit patriarchal views of women’s national authenticity: They are either “carrying roles in order to participate in nationalist strug- water” for colonial oppressors, or they are les- gles. For instance, in situations of military occu- bians, or they are unduly influenced by Western pation, male nationalists seen on the street alone feminism. Third World feminists are quite aware or in groups can be targets of arrest or detention. of these charges and share some concerns about Women are less likely to be seen as dangerous the need for an indigenous feminist analysis and or “up to something,” and so can serve as escorts agenda. As Delia Aguilar, a Filipino nationalist for men or messengers for men who are feminist, comments: 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 404

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when feminist solidarity networks are today Kabul, when the Taliban movement ascended to proposed and extended globally, without a firm power, prohibited the education of girls and the sense of identity—national, racial and class—we employment of women outside the home, and are likely to yield to feminist models designed by strictly enforced complete Islamic dress and a and for white, middle-class women in the indus- rigid code of conduct for women. The conse- trial West and uncritically adopt these as our own. quences of this sequence of events is, as they (in Enloe, 1990, p. 64) say, history. The Taliban’s Afghanistan became a Despite efforts to build an indigenous femi- training ground and refuge for international mil- nism into nationalist movements, many women itant Islam, and it allegedly was the financial, in these movements and states fail to achieve ideological, and strategic base from which the gender equality. Indeed, patriarchal, masculinist September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade notions of men’s and women’s roles often Center in New York City and the Pentagon in become more entrenched during nationalist Washington, D.C., were launched (Goodwin & mobilizations and after independence. There are Neuwirth, 2001; Rashid, 2000). some exceptions to this. For instance, in the It is important to note that the relationship many socialist revolutions in the Second and between masculinity and nationalism is an orga- Third Worlds, women were granted constitu- nizing and hegemonic one not only for Islamic tionally equal rights, though in practice this societies, but for most others as well. Religious complete de jure gender equality generally fell nationalism—indeed, all nationalism—tends to short of the mark. Nonetheless, the legal chal- be conservative, and “conservative” often means lenges to patriarchal customary and official law “patriarchal” (Lievesley, 1996; Manning, 1999; brought about by socialist gender policies often Waylen, 1996). This is partly due to the ten- represented quite a radical break with tradition, dency of nationalists to embrace tradition as though this radicalism was sometimes short- a legitimating basis for nation-building and lived. For instance, Shen (2003) reports that cultural renewal. These traditions—real or women’s legal and social gains in mainland invented—are often patriarchal. The “feminism China have begun to erode as the country shifts lost” or losing ground in nationalist move- from a centrally planned to a market economy. ments in many states—whether in Afghanistan In Afghanistan, nationalist struggles during or Algeria or Russia or India or Hungary or the past two decades often have involved control Tanzania or any number of modern states— not only over geographical territory, but also points out the entrenched nature of masculine over the gendered terrain of women’s and men’s privilege and the intimate link between mas- bodies. In the 1980s, competing Afghani nation- culinity and nationalism (see Lutz, Phoenix, & alisms pitted relatively egalitarian socialism Yuval-Davis, 1995; Mayer, 2000; Steinfels, against patriarchal traditionalism. In that decade, 1995; Twine & Blee, 2001; Williams, 1996). international superpower competition led to The quickness with which nationalists put U.S. support of Afghan rural, traditionalist, clan- women in their traditional places not only based and Mujahideen rebels who opposed reveals the relatively greater power of men but the Soviet-backed Kabul regime’s policies of also suggests that very powerful hegemonic “expanding economic and educational opportu- forces are at work in nationalism. Masculinity is nities for Afghanistan’s women” (Enloe, 1990, one such hegemonic force. p. 57). Although at the time, the United States criticized the neighboring Islamic regime in Iran’s repression of women, the U.S. policy of FEMININE SHAME AND MASCULINE supporting Pashtu traditionalists in Afghanistan HONOR IN THE NATIONAL FAMILY continued despite a resulting “militarized purdah” in clan-controlled regions where women Many theorists of nationalism have noted the were kept in tight seclusion and where, for tendency of nationalists to liken the nation to a instance, girls’ enrollments in U.N. schools num- family (McClintock, 1991; Skurski, 1994; van bered 7,800 compared with 104,600 for boys in den Berghe, 1978); it is a male-headed household 1988 (Enloe, 1990; see also Moghadam, 1991). in which both men and women have “natural” In 1996, U.S.- and Pakistani-backed politicized roles to play. Although women may be subordi- Muslim conservatism took over the capital city, nated politically in nationalist movements and 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 405

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politics, as we have seen asserted above, they that “they have figured overwhelmingly as occupy an important symbolic place as the mothers” (p. 60). As Theweleit (1987, p. 294) mothers of the nation. As exalted “mothers in the summarizes, “woman is an infinite untrodden fatherland” (Koonz, 1987), their purity must be territory of desire which at every stage of impeccable, so nationalists often have a special historical deterritorialization, men in search of interest in the sexuality and sexual behavior of material for utopias have inundated with their their women. Although traditionalist men may be desires.” Second, women’s sexuality is of con- defenders of the family and the nation, women cern to nationalists because women as wives are thought by traditionalists to embody family and daughters are bearers of masculine honor. and national honor; women’s shame is the family’s For instance, ethnographers report that Afghani shame, the nation’s shame, the man’s shame Muslim nationalists’ conception of resource (see Thomas, 1992). control—particularly of labor, land, and In his analysis of ethnicity and caste in women—is defined as a matter of honor; “pur- Ethiopia, Quirin (1992) notes the rigid seclusion dah is a key element in the protection of the and sexual restrictions placed on “Falasha” or family’s pride and honor” (Moghadam, 1991, “Beta Israel” (Jewish) women. She concludes p. 433). El-Solh and Mabro (1994, p. 8) further that “gender may often be used as a marker of refine the connection between men’s and family ethnic differentiation...[since] the Beta Israel honor and women’s sexual respectability as a considered their more rigid treatment of women situation in which honor is men’s to gain and as an indication of a higher level of moral purity women’s to lose: “honour is seen more as men’s than existed in Abyssinian society” (p. 209). responsibility and shame as women’s...hon- Sapiro (1993) comments on the general ten- our is seen as actively achieved while shame is dency for nationalists to be preoccupied with seen as passively defended.” women’s appearance and behavior: It is not only Third World men whose honor is tied to their women’s sexuality, respectability, Perhaps one of the most obvious illustrations of a and shame. Whereas female fecundity is valued merging of the significance of gender and cultural in the mothers of the nation, unruly female sex- or national membership is the history of political uality threatens to discredit the nation. Mosse control over women’s dress and demeanor. . . . (1985) describes this duality in depiction of [That] ethnic or religious communities often identify women in European nationalist history: On one themselves with physical markers—sometimes in hand, “female embodiments of the nation stood clothing, sometimes hair styles, and sometimes in bodily alteration—is clear, but...in the politics of for eternal forces...[and] suggested innocence dress and demeanor women and men are rarely and chastity” (p. 98) and most of all respectabil- treated similarly. Despite the support of Westerni- ity, but on the other hand, the right women zation of male dress in Korea in the 1890s, women needed to be sexually available to the right men: who adopted Western hairstyles and dress were “the maiden with the shield, the spirit that attacked. (Sapiro, 1993, pp. 44-45) awaits a masculine leader” (p. 101) to facilitate “the enjoyment of peace achieved by male The politicization of women’s bodies and warriors” (p. 98). These images of acceptable the politics of the veil in Islamic societies is yet female sexuality stood in contrast to female another often-cited example of male nationalists “decadents” (prostitutes or lesbians) who were asserting both manhood and nationhood through seen as “unpatriotic, weakening the nation” the control of women’s bodies (see Augustin, (Mosse, 1985, p. 109) and dishonoring the 1993; Berberi, 1993; Shirazi, 2001; Tohidi, nation’s men. Both willing and unwilling sexual 1991). encounters between national women and “alien” Women’s sexuality often turns out to be a men can create a crisis of honor and can precip- matter of prime national interest for at least two itate vengeful violence. Saunders (1995) reasons. First, women as mothers are exalted describes the outrage of Australian men (white icons of nationalism. In their discussion of and aborigine) about voluntary sexual liaisons Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa, Gaitskell between African American servicemen and and Unterhalter (1989) argue that Afrikaner Australian women during World War II, which women appear regularly in the rhetoric and escalated to such a high level of “racial and sex- imagery of the Afrikaner “volk” (people) and ual hysteria” that six black GIs were executed 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 406

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for allegedly raping two white nurses in New Game Trails, Roosevelt adopts a colonialist’s Guinea (see also Luszki, 1991; Nagel, 2003). superior, indulgent attitude toward “childlike” African men, whom he describes as “strong, patient, good-humored...with something MILITARIZED HETEROSEXUALITY childlike about them that makes one really fond of them....Of course, like all savages and most Concerns about the sexual purity and activities children, they have their limits” (quoted in of women are not the only way that sexuality Bederman, 1995, p. 210). Roosevelt’s assess- arises as an issue in masculinity and national- ment of Native Americans was less patroniz- ism. Enloe (1990, p. 56) argues that “when a ingly benevolent, because Indians represented a nationalist movement becomes militarized... military threat to the white man who was male privilege in the community usually becomes more entrenched.” She is referring to not taking part in a war against a civilized foe; he the highly masculine nature of things military. was fighting in a contest where women and The military, it turns out, is also highly sexual. children suffered the fate of the strong men.... I am referring here to several (masculine His sweetheart or wife had been carried off, rav- hetero)sexualized aspects of military institu- ished, and was at the moment the slave and con- tions and activities. cubine of some dirty and brutal Indian warrior. (Bederman, 1995, p. 181) First is the sexualized nature of warfare. Hartsock (1983, 1984) argues that all forms of Mosse (1985, p. 127) describes portrayals political power, including military power, have of women on the battlefield as victims of sexual an erotic component. She points particularly to aggression or exploitation along the lines a masculine eroticism embedded in notions depicted above. He notes, however, that of military strength and valor. Classical history “women haunted soldiers’ dreams and fan- is replete with references linking strength and tasies” in other roles as well, either as “objects valor on the battlefield with masculine sexual of sexual desire or as pure, self-sacrificing virility, hence Julius Caesar’s (1951) admonition Madonnas, in other words, the field prostitute to men to avoid sexual intercourse before a bat- or the battlefield nurse” (p. 128). Enemy women tle (or, in more modern times, before that social are more uniformly characterized as sexually equivalent of war, sport) so as not to sap their promiscuous and available: sluts, whores, or strength. Mosse (1985, p. 34) discusses debates legitimate targets of rape. The accounts of virtu- in Germany about masturbation and homosexu- ally all wars are replete with references to and ality as sexual practices that endangered national discussions of the rape, sexual enslavement, or military strength, and describes war as an “invi- sexual exploitation of women not only by indi- tation to manliness,” exemplified in the follow- viduals or small groups of men, but also by ing poem used to introduce a nationalistic play army high commands and as part of state-run about a military battle (at Langemarck): national policies (see Brownmiller, 1975; Sturdevant & Stoltzfus, 1992). A naked sword grows out of my hand, A third sexualized aspect of militarized The earnestness of the hour flows through me hard as steel. conflict is the use of the masculine imagery of Here I stand alone, proud and tall, rape, penetration, and sexual conquest to depict Intoxicated that I have now become a military weaponry and offensives. A commonly man. (Mosse, 1990, p.166) reported phrase alleged to have been written on U.S. missiles targeted on Iraq during the 1990 A second way that military institutions and Gulf War was “Bend over, Saddam” (Cohn, actions are sexualized centers on the depiction 1993, p. 236). There is a tendency in national of the “enemy” in conflicts. Accounts of many defense discourse to personify and sexually wars and nationalist conflicts include portrayals characterize the actions of states and armies. of enemy men either as sexual demons, bent on Cohn reports that one “well-known academic raping nationalist women, or as sexual eunuchs, security advisor was quoted as saying that incapable of manly virility. Bederman’s (1995) ‘under Jimmy Carter the United States is analysis of Theodore Roosevelt’s nationalist spreading its legs for the Soviet Union’” (Cohn, discourse provides examples of both. In African 1993, p. 236). She reports similar sexualized 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 407

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depictions by a U.S. defense analyst of former arms.” Many women are patriotic, concerned West German politicians who were concerned about honor, and mobilizable; many men are about popular opposition to the deployment critical of hegemonic masculinity and national- of nuclear Euromissiles in the 1980s: “Those ism, and are not mobilizable. And there are his- Krauts are a bunch of limp-dicked wimps” torical moments when hegemony wavers—the (p. 236). Such sexualized military discourse is widespread resistance to the U.S. war in Vietnam very much from a heterosexual standpoint, as is in the 1970s was one such moment. Further, clear when we consider the imagery of rape masculinist and nationalist ideology can affect during the 1990 Gulf War: Attacks that needed women as well as men. Take the epithet “wimp.” to be defended or retaliated against were cast I argued above that this is among men’s most as heterosexual rapes of women (“the rape of dreaded insults but that for women it or an equiv- Kuwait”); attacks that were offensive against the alent is either not on their list or is nowhere near Iraqi enemy were phrased as homosexual rapes the top of the list. Carol Cohn (1993) was called of men (“bend over, Saddam”) (see also Cohn, a wimp while participating in a RAND Cor- 1987, 1990). poration war simulation. She reported being “stung” by the name-calling despite the fact that she was “a woman and a feminist, not only con- CONCLUSION temptuous of the mentality that measures human beings by their degree of so-called wimpishness, What does this exploration of masculinity and but also someone for whom the term wimp does nationalism tell us? For one thing, understanding not have a deeply resonant personal meaning” the extensive nature of the links between nation- (p. 237). Cohn’s explanation for her reaction alism, patriotism, militarism, imperialism, and centers on the power of group membership and masculinity helps to make sense of some puz- reality-defining social context. While she was a zling items in the news. It has always seemed participant in the simulation, she became “a par- a mystery to me why the men in the military and ticipant in a discourse, a shared set of words, paramilitary institutions—men concerned with concepts, symbols that constituted not only the manly demeanor and strength of character— linguistic possibilities available to us but also seemed to get so agitated by, seemed to be so constituted me in that situation” (pp. 237-238). In afraid of the entry of, first blacks, then (still) other words, Cohn became “masculinized.” women, and now homosexuals into military But why don’t women who participate in institutions and organizations. This unseemly, masculine organizations or situations “femi- sometimes hysterical resistance to a diversity nize” those institutions and settings, rather than that clearly exists outside military boundaries becoming, however momentarily, masculinized makes more sense when it is understood that themselves? Do women who join the military these men are not only defending tradition but become “men”? Or if enough women join the also defending a particular racial, gendered, and military, will they “feminize” it? Is there a criti- sexual conception of self—a white, male, hetero- cal mass—a point at which women cease to sexual notion of masculine identity loaded with become masculinized in masculine institutions all the burdens and privileges that go along with and begin to transform the institutions according hegemonic masculinity. Understanding that their to the feminine interests and culture they bring reactions reflect not only a defense of male with them to that setting? I wonder, is the gen- privilege but also a defense of male culture and der makeup of governments why nationalism is identity makes it clearer that there are very fun- more associated with preparing for and waging damental issues at stake here for men who are war than with building schools, museums, hos- committed to these masculinist and nationalist pitals and health care systems, social security institutions and lifeways. systems, public transportation, arts and enter- Another puzzling issue that this study of tainment complexes, and nature preserves? masculinity and nationalism has illuminated While states concern themselves with these for me is the question of why men are so much things, they never seem to become the “moral more likely to advocate war and go to war than equivalent of war.” are women. This not to say that all men or all The answer to this question of women women respond in the same way to “a call to becoming masculinized or masculine institutions 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 408

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becoming feminized is an important one for taken 2 months after the 2003 U.S. invasion of making sense of national and international Iraq, when 52% of women and 62% of men politics. As women enter the political realm in reported supporting the war (Raasch, 2003). The greater numbers around the world, will we see a relatively closer agreement between men and shifting of state agendas and a decoupling of women on these two conflicts can be under- nationalism from masculinity? Enloe (1990, stood, in part, from the way the attacks were p. 64) is skeptical. She notes the limited change perceived and defined by the public, politicians, that has resulted from the many nationalist inde- and the media. That collective definition was pendence movements around the world, and she reflected in the title of the new cabinet-level post observes that in many post–World War II states it created immediately following the attacks: is “business as usual” with indigenous masculin- Secretary of Homeland Security. The joining of ity replacing colonialist masculinity at the helms these two differently gendered domains, “home- of states. land” and “security,” reflects a wedding of the There is one final puzzle that this exploration traditional interests of women and of men into of masculinity and nationalism has begun to one U.S. agency, and it suggests that there are solve for me—that is, the different way that I, as historical moments when cultures of masculinity a woman, may be experiencing my citizenship and femininity can combine into national gender compared with the citizenship experience of alliances. men. According to a Southern African Tswana proverb, “a woman has no tribe” (Young, 1993, p. 26). I wonder whether it might not also be true NOTES that a woman has no nation, or that for many women, the nation does not “feel” the same as 1. This narrative of the Little Bighorn battle is it does to many men. We are not expected to drawn from several historical sources: Hardorff (1997, 1998, 1999), Utley (1973/1984a, 1984b, defend our country, run our country, or represent 1988), Gray (1976, 1991), and Viola (1999). There is our country. Of course, many women do these some controversy regarding the actual number of things, but our presence in the masculine institu- native warriors whom Custer and his approximately tions of state—the government and the military— 500 men faced that June morning in 1876. Estimates seems unwelcome unless we occupy the familiar range from a few hundred to several thousand; see supporting roles—secretary, lover, wife. We are Utley (1984a), Michno (1997), Eastman (1900), and more adrift from the nation, less likely to be Means (1995). called to “important” and recognized public duty, 2. The most famous court of inquiry was the and our contributions are more likely to be seen 1879 Reno Court of Inquiry that exonerated Major as “private,” as linked only to “women’s issues,” Reno (see Graham, 1954); see also Dippie (1994), the and as such, less valued and acknowledged. Web site of the Little Big Horn Associates (www .lbha.org/newsletter/), and the Old West Legacy site, Given this difference in men’s and women’s con- which sells Little Big Horn Trading Cards (www nection to and conception of the nation and the .helenamontana.com/LBH/). state, it is not surprising that there is a “gender 3. A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted gap” dividing men and women on so many by telephone on November 5-6, 2001, among a political issues. national sample of 756 randomly selected adults; see The terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/ 2001 narrowed somewhat the U.S. gender vault/stories/data112801.htm. gap. When asking about public support for the U.S. war in Afghanistan following the attacks, opinion pollsters found a much smaller REFERENCES than usual discrepancy between men’s and women’s support for the war. In November Adams, M. C. C. (1990). The great adventure: Male desire and the coming of World War I. 2001, U.S. pollsters asked American women and Bloomington: Indiana University Press. men where they stood on the war in Afghanistan. Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities. They reported that 79% of men and 72% of London: Verso. women responded “Support Strongly.”3 This nar- Anthias, F., & Yuval-Davis, N. (1992). Racial bound- rowing of the U.S. gender gap over issues of aries: Race, nation, gender, colour and class military action had begun to widen again in polls and the anti-racist struggle. London: Routledge. 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 409

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Rashid, A. (2000). Taliban: Militant Islam, oil and Thomas, D. Q. (1992). Criminal injustice: Violence fundamentalism in Central Asia. New Haven, against women in Brazil—An Americas Watch CT: Yale University Press. report. New York: Human Rights Watch. Rotundo, A. (1993). American manhood: Transforma- Tohidi, N. (1991). Gender and Islamic fundamental- tions in masculinity from the Revolution to the ism: Feminist politics in Iran. In C. T. Mohanty, modern era. New York: Basic Books. A. Russo, & L. Torres (Eds.), Third World Sapiro, V. (1993). Engendering cultural differences. women and the politics of feminism (pp. 251-265). In M. C. Young (Ed.), The rising tide of cultural Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pluralism: The nation state at bay? (pp. 36-54). Trachtenberg, A. (1982). The incorporation of Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. America: Culture and society in the gilded age. Saunders, K. (1995). In a cloud of lust: Black GIs and New York: Hill and Wang. sex in World War II. In J. Damousi & M. Lake Twine, F. W., & Blee, K. M. (2001). Feminism and (Eds.), Gender and war: Australians at war in antiracism: International struggles for justice. the twentieth century (pp. 178-190). Cambridge, New York: New York University Press. UK: Cambridge University Press. Urdang, S. (1989). And still they dance: Women, war, Sayigh, R., & Peteet, J. (1987). Between two fires: and the struggle for change in Mozambique. Palestinian women in Lebanon. In R. Ridd & New York: Monthly Review Press. H. Callaway (Eds.), Women and political Utley, R. M. (1984a). Frontier regulars: The United conflict (pp. 106-137). New York: New York States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891. University Press. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. (Original Schwalbe, M. (1995). Unlocking the iron cage: A work published 1973) critical appreciation of mythopoetic men’s work. Utley, R. M. (1984b). The Indian frontier of the New York: Oxford University Press. American West, 1846-1890. Albuquerque: Scott, J. (1985). Weapons of the weak: Everyday University of New Mexico Press. forms of peasant resistance. New Haven, CT: Utley, R. M. (1988). Custer battlefield: A history and Yale University Press. guide to the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Seton-Watson, H. (1977). From nations to states. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Boulder, CO: Westview. Interior. Shen, H. (2003). Crossing the Taiwan Strait: Global van den Berghe, P. (1978). Race and ethnicity: A disjunctures and multiple hegemonies of class, sociobiological perspective. Racial and Ethnic politics, gender, and sexuality. Unpublished Studies, 1, 402-411. doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas. Vickers, J. (1993). Women and war. London: Zed Shirazi, F. (2001). The veil unveiled: The hijab in Books. modern culture. Gainesville: University of Viola, H. J. (1999). Little Bighorn remembered: The Florida Press. untold Indian story of Custer’s Last Stand. Sinha, M. (1995). Colonial masculinity: The “manly New York: Times Books. Englishman” and the “effeminate Bengali” in Walby, S. (1989). Woman and nation. In A. D. Smith the late nineteenth century. Manchester, UK: (Ed.), Ethnicity and nationalism (pp. 81-99). Manchester University Press. New York: E. J. Brill. Skurski, J. (1994). The ambiguities of authenticity: Walvin, J. (1987). Symbols of moral superiority: Dona Barbara and the construction of national Slavery, sport and the changing world order, identity. Poetics Today, 15, 605-642. 1900-1940. In J. A. Mangan & J. Walvin Springhall, J. (1987). Building character in the British (Eds.), Manliness and morality: Middle-class boy: The attempt to extend Christian manliness masculinity in Britain and America, 1800-1940 to working-class adolescents, 1880-1940. In J. A. (pp. 242-260). Manchester, UK: Manchester Mangan & J. Walvin (Eds.), Manliness and University Press. morality: Middle-class masculinity in Britain Warren, A. (1986). Citizens of the empire, Baden- and America, 1800-1940 (pp. 52-74). Manches- Powell, scouts, guides, and an imperial ideal. In ter, UK: Manchester University Press. J. M. MacKenzie (Ed.), Imperialism and popu- Steinfels, P. (1995, July 1). In Algeria, women are lar culture (pp. 232-256). Manchester, UK: caught in the cross-fire of men’s religious and Manchester University Press. ideological wars. New York Times, pp. 8, 10. Warren, A. (1987). Popular manliness: Baden- Sturdevant, S. P., & Stoltzfus, B. (1992). Let the good Powell, scouting, and the development of manly times roll: Prostitution and the U.S. military in character. In J. A. Mangan & J. Walvin (Eds.), Asia. New York: The New Press. Manliness and morality: Middle-class mascu- Theweleit, K. (1987). Male fantasies (Vol. 1, Stephen linity in Britain and America, 1800-1940 Conway, Trans.). Minneapolis: University of (pp. 199-219). Manchester, UK: Manchester Minnesota Press. University Press. 23-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 413

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Waylen, G. (1996). Democratization, feminism, and Williams, B. F. (1996). Women out of place: The the state in Chile: The establishment of SER- gender of agency and the race of nationality. NAM. In S. M. Rai & G. Lievesley (Eds.), New York: Routledge. Women and the State: International perspectives Young, C. (1993). The rising tide of cultural plural- (pp. 103-117). London: Taylor and Francis. ism: The nation-state at bay? Madison: Whitehorse, D. (1988). Pow-wow: The contemporary University of Wisconsin Press. pan-Indian celebration (Publications in Yuval-Davis, N., & Anthias, F. (Eds.). (1989). American Indian Studies, No. 5). San Diego: Woman-nation-state. London: Macmillan. San Diego State University. 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 414

GLOBALIZATION AND ITS MAL(E)CONTENTS

The Gendered Moral and Political Economy of Terrorism

MICHAEL S . KIMMEL

The chief social basis of radicalism has been the peasants and the smaller artisans in the towns. From these facts one may conclude that the wellsprings of human freedom lie not where Marx saw them, in the aspirations of classes about to take power, but perhaps even more in the dying wail of a class over whom the wave of progress is about to roll. —Barrington Moore (1966, p. 505)

lobalization changes masculinities, upward in the class hierarchy and outward to reshaping the arena in which national transnational corporations. Proletarianization G and local masculinities are articulated, also leads to massive labor migrations— and transforming the shape of men’s lives. typically migrations of male workers—who Globalization disrupts and reconfigures tradi- leave their homes and populate migrant enclaves, tional, neocolonial, or other national, regional, or squatter camps, and labor camps. local economic, political, and cultural arrange- Globalization thus presents another level at ments. In so doing, globalization transforms which hegemonic and local masculinities are local articulations of both domestic and public constructed. Globalization was always a gen- patriarchy (see Connell, 1998). Globalization dered process. As Andre Gunder Frank pointed includes the gradual proletarianization of local out several decades ago in his studies of eco- peasantries, as market criteria replace subsis- nomic development, development and under- tence and survival. Local small craft producers, development were not simply stages through small farmers, and independent peasants tradi- which all countries pass, and there was no sin- tionally stake their definitions of masculinity in gle continuum along which individual nations ownership of land and economic autonomy in might be positioned. Rather, he argued, there their work; these are increasingly transferred was a relationship between development and

Author’s note: The author has made every effort to obtain written permission for use of the cartoons appearing in this chapter.

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underdevelopment, that, in fact, the development women, domestically and publicly. These effects, of some countries implied the specific and delib- however, are less the result of bad policies or erate underdevelopment of others. The creation of even less the results of bad—inept or evil— the metropole was simultaneous and coordinated policymakers, and more the results of the gen- with the creation of the periphery. dered logic of these institutions and processes As with economic development, so too with themselves (Connell, 1998; Enloe, 1990). gender—the historical constructions of the meanings of masculinity. As the hegemonic ideal was being created, it was created against a screen of HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY “others” whose masculinity was thus problem- AND ITS DISCONTENTS atized and devalued. Hegemonic and subaltern emerged in mutual but unequal interaction in In addition, the patterns of masculinity embed- a gendered social and economic order. Colonial ded within these gendered institutions also are administrations often problematized the mas- rapidly becoming the dominant global hege- culinity of the colonized. For example, in British monic model of masculinity, against which all India, Bengali men were perceived as weak and local, regional, and national masculinities are effeminate, though Pathans and Sikhs were per- played out and to which they increasingly refer. ceived as hypermasculine—violent and uncon- The emergent global hegemonic version of mas- trolled (see Sinha, 1995). Similar distinctions culinity is readily identifiable: You can see him were made in South Africa between Hottentots sitting in first-class waiting rooms in airports, or and Zulus, and in North America between in elegant business hotels the world over, wear- Navaho or Algonquin on one hand, and Sioux, ing a designer business suit, speaking English, Apache, and Cheyenne on the other (see Connell, eating “continental” cuisine, talking on his cell 1998, p. 14). In many colonial situations, the col- phone, his laptop computer plugged into any onized men were called “boys” by the colonizers. electrical outlet, while he watches CNN Inter- Today, although they appear to be gender- national on television. Temperamentally, he is neutral, the institutional arrangements of global increasingly cosmopolitan, with liberal tastes in society are equally gendered. The marketplace, consumption (and sexuality) and conservative multinational corporations, and transnational political ideas of limited government control of geopolitical institutions (World Court, United the economy. This has the additional effect of Nations, European Union) and their attendant increasing the power of the hegemonic countries ideological principles (economic rationality, lib- within the global political and economic arena eral individualism) express a gendered logic. because everyone, no matter where they are The “increasingly unregulated power of transna- from, talks and acts as he does. tional corporations places strategic power in the The processes of globalization and the emer- hands of particular groups of men,” while the gence of a global hegemonic masculinity have language of globalization remains gender neu- the ironic effect of increasingly “gendering” tral so that “the ‘individual’ of neoliberal theory local, regional, and national resistance to incor- has in general the attributes and interests of a poration into the global arena as subordinated male entrepreneur” (Connell, 1998, p. 15). entities. Scholars have pointed out the ways in As a result, the impact of global economic which religious fundamentalism and ethnic and political restructuring is greater on women. nationalism use local cultural symbols to express At the national and global levels, the world gen- regional resistance to incorporation (see espe- der order privileges men in a variety of ways, cially Barber, 1995, and Juergensmeyer, 1995, such as unequal wages, unequal labor force par- 2000). However, these religious and ethnic ticipation, unequal structures of ownership and expressions are often manifest as gender revolts, control of property, unequal control over one’s and they often include a virulent resurgence of body, and cultural and sexual privileges. What’s domestic patriarchy (as in the militant misogyny more, in the economic South, for example, aid of Iran or Afghanistan), the problematization of programs disproportionately target women (as in global masculinities or neighboring masculini- population planning programs that involve only ties (as in the former Yugoslavia), and the overt women), while in the metropole, attacks on the symbolic efforts to claim a distinct “manhood” welfare state generally weaken the position of along religious or ethnic lines to which others do 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 416

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not have access and which will restore manhood independent farmers, small shopkeepers, craft to the formerly privileged (white militias in the and highly skilled workers, and small-scale United States and skinhead racists in Europe). entrepreneurs—who have been hit hardest by Thus, gender becomes one of the chief orga- the processes of globalization. “Western indus- nizing principles of local, regional, and national try has displaced traditional crafts—female as resistance to globalization, whether expressed in well as male—and large-scale multinational- religious or secular, ethnic or national terms. controlled agriculture has downgraded the inde- These processes involve flattening or eliminating pendent farmer to the status of hired hand” local or regional distinctions, along with cultural (Ehrenreich, 2001). This has resulted in massive homogenization as citizens and social heteroge- and uneven male displacement—migration, nization as new ethnic groups move to new coun- downward mobility. It has been felt the most not tries in labor migration efforts. Movements thus by the adult men who were the tradesmen, shop- tap racialist and nativist sentiments at the same keepers, and skilled workers, but by their sons, time as they can tap local and regional protec- by the young men whose inheritance has been tionism and isolationism. They become gendered seemingly stolen from them. They feel entitled as oppositional movements also tap into a vague and deprived—and furious. masculine resentment of the economic displace- In the economic South, however, the sons of ment, loss of autonomy, and collapse of domestic the rising middle classes, whose upward mobil- patriarchy that accompany further integration ity is thwarted by globalization, join the down- into the global economy. Efforts to reclaim eco- wardly mobile sons of the lower middle classes. nomic autonomy, to reassert political control, and The terrorists of Al Qaeda, or other Middle East to revive traditional domestic dominance thus terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, tend to be take on the veneer of restoring manhood. highly educated young men, trained for profes- To illustrate these themes, one could consider sional jobs that have been choked off by global several political movements of men, in North economic shifts. Historically, this rising middle America or elsewhere. Indeed, Promise Keepers, class, as Barrington Moore noted, were the men’s rights, and fathers’ rights groups all backbone of the bourgeois revolutions; today, respond to the perceived erosion of public patri- the rising middle class is no longer rising, and archy with an attempted restoration of some in its descent, the young men who trained for version of domestic patriarchy. The mythopoetic upward mobility seek enemies upon whom to men’s movement responds instead to a perceived heap their rage, as well as alternate strategies of erosion of domestic patriarchy with assertions mobility (see, for example, Barro, 2002; Kristof, of separate mythic or natural space for men to 2002a, 2002b). These are movements of the experience their power—because they can no ultra-left. Both of these groups of angry young longer experience it in either the public or pri- men are the foot soldiers of the armies of resent- vate spheres. (For more on these men’s movement that have sprung up around the world. They ments in the United States, see Kimmel, 1996a, are joined in the new ways in which masculine 1996b, and Messner, 1998.) entitlement has become gendered rage. In this chapter, I will examine the ways in In this essay, I will discuss white supremacist which masculinities and globalization are youth in both the United States and Scandinavia embedded in the emergence of extremist groups as my two primary case studies, and I conclude on the far right in Europe and the United States, with a brief comparative discussion of the ter- with a final discussion of the Islamic world. rorists of Al Qaeda who were responsible for Specifically, I will discuss the ways in which the heinous acts of September 11, 2001.1 All use globalization reconfigures certain political ten- a variety of ideological and political resources dencies among different class fractions. In the to reestablish and reassert domestic and public economic North, the members of the far right patriarchies. All deploy “masculinity” as a sym- white supremacists in the United States and bolic capital (a) as an ideological resource to Scandinavia tend to be from a declining lower understand and explicate their plight, (b) as a middle class—traditionally the class basis of rhetorical device to problematize the identities totalitarian political solutions like socialism or of those against whom they believe themselves fascism. They are movements of the far right. fighting, and (c) as a recruitment device to It is the lower middle class—those strata of entice other, similarly situated young men to 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 417

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join them. These movements look backward, both backlash efforts to reinforce domestic nostalgically, to a time when they—native-born patriarchy (covenant marriage, tightening white men, Muslim men in a pre-global era— divorce laws to restrain women’s exit from the were able to assume the places in society to home, increased domestic assault) or even a vir- which they believe themselves entitled. They ulent resurgence of domestic patriarchy (the seek to restore that unquestioned entitlement, Taliban). At the same time, women’s increased both in the domestic sphere and in the public public presence will also undermine domestic sphere. They are movements not of revolution, patriarchy, by pressing men into domestic duties but of restoration. they had previously avoided (such as housework and parenting). Types of Patriarchies All these movements exhibit what Connell (1995, pp. 109-112) calls “protest masculinity”— In this chapter, I describe the transformation a combination of stereotypical male norms with of two forms of patriarchy. It is important to note often unconventional attitudes about women. that patriarchy is both a system of domination by Exaggerated claims of potency are accompanied which men dominate women and a system by by violent resistance to authority, school, and which some men (older men; fathers, in the clas- work, accompanied by engagement with crime sic definition of the term) dominate other men. and heavy drinking. In such a model, the “grow- Public patriarchy refers to the institutional ing boy puts together a tense, freaky façade, arrangements of a society, the predominance of making a claim to power where there are no real males in all power positions within the economy resources for power,” Connell writes (1995, and polity, both locally and nationally, as well as p. 109). “There is a lot of concern with face, a the “gendering” of those institutions themselves lot of work keeping up a front.” However, those (by which the criteria for promotion, for example, groups in the economic North claim to support appear to be gender-neutral but actually reproduce women’s equality (in varying degrees), whereas the gender order). those in the Islamic world have made women’s Domestic patriarchy refers to the emotional complete resubordination a central pillar of the and familial arrangements in a society, the ways edifice of their rule. in which men’s power in the public arena is By examining extreme right white suprema- reproduced at the level of private life. This cists in the United States and their counterparts in includes male-female relationships as well as Scandinavia, we can see the ways in which mas- family life, child socialization, and the like. culinity politics may be mobilized among some Both public patriarchy and domestic patri- groups of men in the economic North; while look- archy are held together by the threat, implicit or ing at the social origins of the Al Qaeda terrorists, explicit, of violence. Public patriarchy, of we might merely sketch how they might work out course, includes the military and police appara- in Islamic countries. Although such a comparison tus of society, which are also explicitly gen- in no way effaces the many differences that exist dered institutions (revealed in their increased among these movements, especially between the opposition to women’s entry). In the aggregate, movements in the economic South and North, rape and domestic violence help sustain domes- a comparison of their similarities enables us to tic patriarchy (see Hearn, 1992, 1998). explore the political mobilization of masculinities These two expressions of men’s power over and to map the ways in which masculinities are women and other men are neither uniform nor likely to be put into political play in the coming monolithic; they vary enormously and are con- decades. stantly in flux. Equally, they are not coincident, so that increases or decreases in one invariably RIGHT-WING MILITIAS:RACISM, produce increases or decreases in the other. Nor are they so directly linked that a decrease in one SEXISM, AND ANTI-SEMITISM automatically produces an increase in the other, AS MASCULINE REASSERTION2 although there will be pressures in that direction. Thus, women’s entry into the workforce or In an illustration in W.A.R., the magazine of the increased representation in legislatures under- White Aryan Resistance, for 1987, a working- mines public patriarchy and will likely produce class white man, in hard hat and flak jacket, 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 418

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stands proudly before a suspension bridge while These fringe groups of the far right are a jet plane soars overhead. “White Men Built composed of young white men, the sons of This nation!!” reads the text. “White Men Are independent farmers and small shopkeepers. This nation!!!” Estimates of their numbers range from an “improbably modest” 10,000 to an “improbably cautionary” 100,000 (Kramer, 2002, p. 24), while the number of far-right extremists and Patriots of any sort is estimated to run to between three and four million who “believe themselves victims, real or intended, of an international plot to destroy their freedom and their faith and pol- lute their blood” (Kramer, 2002, p. 30; see also Jipson & Becker, 2000). Buffeted by the global political and economic forces that have produced global hegemonic masculinities, they have responded to the erosion of public patriarchy (displacement in the political arena) and of domestic patriarchy (their wives now work away from the farm) with a renewal of their sense of masculine entitlement to restore patriarchy in both arenas. Ideologically, what characterizes these scions of small-town rural America—both the fathers and the sons—is (a) their ideological vision of producerism, threatened by economic transformation; (b) their sense of small-town democratic community, an inclusive community that was based on the exclusion of broad seg- Illustration 24.1 W.A.R. Cartoon ments of the population; and (c) a sense of enti- SOURCE: Copyright © 2000 White Aryan Resistance. Used tlement to economic, social, and political and by permission of Tom Metzger. even military power. (It is, of course, true that women play an Most observers immediately see its racist important role in many of these groups, ranging intent, but rarely do we see the deeply gendered from a Ladies’Auxiliary to active participants as meaning of the statement. Here is a moment of violent skinheads [see Blee, 2002, and Kimmel, fusion of racial and gendered discourses, when 2002]. Yet although their activities may range both race and gender are made visible. “This from holding a Klan bake sale, using Aryan nation,” we now understand, “is” neither white cookbooks, and helping their children with their women nor nonwhite. racist coloring books to active physical violence The White Aryan Resistance that produced this and participation in hate crimes against immi- illustration is situated on a continuum of the far grants, blacks, Jews, and gays, their gender right that runs from older organizations such as ideology remains firmly planted in notions of the John Birch Society, the Ku Klux Klan, and the unchallenged domestic patriarchy.) American Nazi Party, to Holocaust deniers, neo- To cast the middle class straight white man Nazi or racist skinheads, White Power groups like simply as the hegemonic holder of power in the Posse Comitatus and White Aryan Resistance, United States would be to fully miss the daily and radical militias like the Wisconsin Militia or experience of these straight white men. They the Militia of Montana. The Southern Poverty believe themselves to be entitled to power—by Law Center cites 676 active hate groups in the a combination of historical legacy, religious fiat, United States, including 109 Klan centers 209 biological destiny, and moral legitimacy—but neo-Nazi groups, 43 racist skinheads groups, they believe they do not have power. That power and 124 neo-Confederate groups, and more has been both surrendered by white men (their than 400 U.S.-based Web sites (“Maps of White fathers) and stolen from them by a federal gov- Supremacist Organizations,” 2002). ernment controlled and staffed by legions of the 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 419

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newly enfranchised minorities, women, and with gendered readings—of the problematized immigrants, all in service to the omnipotent masculinity of the “others,” of the emasculating Jews who control international economic and policies of the state, and of the rightful mascu- political life. “Heaven help the God-fearing, line entitlement of white men. As sociologist law-abiding Caucasian middle class,” explained Lillian Rubin puts it: Charlton Heston to a recent Christian Coalition convention, especially It’s this confluence of forces—the racial and cultural diversity of our new immigrant population; Protestant or even worse evangelical Christian, the claims on the resources of the nation now Midwest or Southern or even worse rural, appar- being made by those minorities who, for genera- ently straight or even worse admittedly [hetero- tions, have called America their home; the failure sexual], gun-owning or even worse NRA of some of our basic institutions to serve the needs card-carrying average working stiff, or even worst of our people; the contracting economy, which of all, male working stiff. Because not only don’t threatens the mobility aspirations of working class you count, you’re a downright obstacle to social families—all these have come together to leave progress. (quoted in Citizens Project, p. 3) white workers feeling as if everyone else is getting a piece of the action while they get nothing. Downwardly mobile rural white men—those (Rubin, 1994, p. 186) who lost the family farms and those who expected to take them over—are squeezed One issue of The Truth at Last put it this way: between the omnivorous jaws of capital concentration and a federal bureaucracy that is at best Immigrants are flooding into our nation willing to indifferent to their plight and at worst facilitates work for the minimum wage (or less). Super-rich their further demise. What they want, says one, corporate executives are flying all over the world is to “take back what is rightfully ours” (in in search of cheaper and cheaper labor so that they Dobratz & Shanks-Meile, 2001, p. 10). can “lay off” their American employees. ...Many young White families have no future! They are not In many respects, the militias’ ideology going to receive any appreciable wage increases reflects the ideologies of other fringe groups due to job competition from immigrants...(cited on the far right from whose ranks they typically in Dobratz & Shanks-Meile, 2001, p. 115) recruit, especially racism, homophobia, nativism, sexism, and anti-Semitism. These dis- White supremacists see themselves as courses of hate provide an explanation for the squeezed between global capital and an emascu- feelings of entitlement thwarted, fixing the lated state that supports voracious global profi- blame squarely on “others” whom the state must teering. In a song, “No Crime Being White,” now serve at the expense of white men. The uni- Day of the Sword, a popular racist skinhead fying theme of these discourses, which tradi- band, confronts the greedy class: tionally have formed the rhetorical package Richard Hofstadter labeled “paranoid politics,” The birthplace is the death of our race. is gender. Specifically, it is by framing state Our brothers being laid off is a truth policies as emasculating and problematizing the we have to face. masculinity of these various “others” that rural Take my job, it’s equal opportunity white militia members seek to restore their own The least I can do, you were so masculinity. oppressed by me Contemporary American white supremacists I’ve only put in twenty years now. Suddenly my country favors gooks and tap into a general malaise among American spicks and queers. men who seek some explanations for the con- Fuck you, then, boy I hope you’re temporary “crisis” of masculinity. Like the Sons happy when your new employees are of Liberty who threw off the British yoke of the reason why your business ends. tyranny in 1776, these contemporary Sons of (cited in Dobratz & Shanks-Meile, Liberty see “R-2,” the Second American 2001, p. 271) Revolution, as restorative—a means of retrieving and refounding traditional masculinity by The North American Free Trade Agreement the exclusion of others. The entire rhetorical (NAFTA) took away American jobs; the eroding apparatus that serves this purpose is saturated job base in urban centers also led many African 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 420

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Americans to move to formerly all-white suburbs 1993, p. 28). In fact, she has ceased to be a to find work. As a result, what youngsters now “real” woman—the feminist now represents the see as the “Burger King” economy leaves no confusion of gender boundaries and the demas- room at the top so many “see themselves as being culinization of men, symbolizing a future where forced to compete with nonwhites for the avail- men are not allowed to be real men. able minimum wage, service economy jobs that The “Nanny State” no longer acts in the have replaced their parents’ unionized industry interests of “true” American men but is, instead, opportunities” (Coplon, 1989, p. 84). an engine of gender inversion, feminizing men, That such ardent patriots as militia members while feminism masculinizes women. White are so passionately antigovernment might strike men not involved in the movement are often the observer as contradictory. After all, are these referred to as “sheeple,” while feminist women, not the same men who served their country in it turns out, are more masculine than men are. Vietnam or in the Gulf War? Are these not the Not only does this call the masculinity of white same men who believe so passionately in the men into question, but it also uses gender as the American dream? Are they not the backbone of rhetorical vehicle for criticizing “other” men. the Reagan Revolution? Indeed they are. Militia Typically, problematizing the masculinity of members face the difficult theoretical task of these others takes two forms simultaneously: maintaining their faith in America and in capi- Other men are both “too masculine” and “not talism, and simultaneously providing an analy- masculine enough,” both hypermasculine—vio- sis of an indifferent state, at best, or an actively lent rapacious beasts incapable of self-control— interventionist one, at worst, coupled with a and hypomasculine—weak, helpless, effete, contemporary articulation of corporate capitalist incapable of supporting a family. logic that leaves them, often literally, out in the Thus, in the logic of militias and other cold—homeless, jobless, hopeless. white supremacist organizations, gay men are It is through a decidedly gendered and sexu- both promiscuously carnal and sexually vora- alized rhetoric of masculinity that this contra- cious and effete fops who do to men what men diction between loving the nation and hating should only have done to them by women. its government, loving capitalism and hating Black men are seen both as violent hypersexual its corporate iterations, is resolved. First, like beasts, possessed of an “irresponsible sexual- others on the far right, militia members believe ity,” seeking white women to rape (W.A.R., 8(2), that the state has been captured by evil, even 1989, p. 11; cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 81) and Satanic forces; the original virtue of the less than fully manly, “weak, stupid, lazy” (NS American political regime deeply and irretriev- Mobilizer, cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 81). In The ably corrupted. “The enemy is the system—the Turner Diaries, the apocalyptic novel that system of international world dominance,” served as the blueprint for the Oklahoma City according to the Florida Interklan Report (in bombing and is widely read and peddled by Dobratz & Shanks-Meile, 2001, p. 160). Envi- militias, author William Pierce depicts a night- ronmental regulations, state policies dictated marish world where white women and girls are by urban and northern interests, the Internal constantly threatened and raped by “gangs of Revenue Service—all are the outcomes of a Black thugs” (Pierce, 1978, p. 58). Blacks are state now utterly controlled by feminists, envi- primal nature—untamed, cannibalistic, uncon- ronmentalists, blacks, and Jews. trolled, but also stupid and lazy—and whites are In their foreboding futuristic vision, commu- the driving force of civilization. “America and nalism, feminism, multiculturalism, homosexu- all civilized society are the exclusive products of ality, and Christian-bashing are all tied together, White man’s mind and muscle” is how The part and parcel of the New World Order. Multi- Thunderbolt put it (cited in Ferber, 1998, cultural textbooks, women in government, and p. 76). “[T]he White race is the Master race of legalized abortion can individually be taken as the earth...the Master Builders, the Master signs of the impending New World Order. Minds, and the Master warriors of civilization.” Increased opportunities for women can only lead What can a black man do but “clumsily shuffle to the oppression of men. Tex Marrs proclaims, off, scratching his wooley head, to search for “In the New Order, woman is finally on top. She shoebrush and mop” (in New Order, cited in is not a mere equal. She is Goddess” (Marrs, Ferber, 1998, p. 91). 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:45 PM Page 421

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Most interesting is the portrait of the Jew. world’s media and financial institutions, and On one hand, the Jew is a greedy, cunning, con- especially Hollywood. They’re sexually omniv- niving, omnivorous predator; on the other, the orous, but calling them “rabid, sex-perverted” Jew is small, beady-eyed, and incapable of is not a compliment. The Thunderbolt (#301, masculine virtue. By asserting the hypermascu- p. 6; cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 140) claims that line power of the Jew, the far right can support 90% of pornographers are Jewish. At the same capitalism as a system while decrying the actions time, Jewish men are seen as wimpish, small, of capitalists and their corporations. According nerdy, and utterly unmasculine—likely, in fact, to militia logic, it’s not the capitalist corpora- to be homosexual. It’s Jewish women who are tions that have turned the government against seen as “real men”—strong, large, and hairy. them, but the international cartel of Jewish In lieu of their brawn power, Jewish men bankers and financiers, media moguls, and have harnessed their brainpower in their quest intellectuals who have already taken over the for world domination. Jews are seen as the mas- U.S. state and turned it into ZOG (Zionist terminds behind the other social groups who Occupied Government). The United States is are seen as dispossessing rural American men called the “Jewnited States,” and Jews are of their birthright. Toward that end, they have blamed for orchestrating the demise of the co-opted blacks, women, gays, and brain- once-proud Aryan man.3 washed and cowardly white men to do their In white supremacist ideology, the Jew is bidding. In a remarkable passage from The New the archetypal villain, both hypermasculine— Order, white supremacists cast the economic greedy, omnivorous, sexually predatory, capable plight of white workers as being squeezed of the destruction of the Aryan way of life—and between nonwhite workers and Jewish owners: hypomasculine, small, effete, homosexual, pernicious, weasely. A cartoon in Racial Loyalty It is our RACE we must preserve, not just one from 1991 illustrates this simultaneous position. class ...White Power means a permanent end to unemployment because with the non-Whites gone, the labor market will no longer be over-crowded with unproductive niggers, spics and other racial low-life. It means an end to inflation eating up a man’s paycheck faster than he can raise it because OUR economy will not be run by a criminal pack of international Jewish bankers, bent on using the White worker’s tax money in selfish and even destructive schemes. (The New Order, March 1979, p. 8; cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 140)

Because Jews are incapable of acting like real men—strong, hardy, virtuous manual workers and farmers—a central axiom of the international Jewish conspiracy for world domination is their plan to “feminize White men and to masculinize White women” (Racial Loyalty, 72, 1991, p. 3; cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 141). The Turner Diaries describes the “Jewish-liberal- democratic-equalitarian” perspective as “an essentially feminine, submissive worldview” (Pierce, 1978, p. 42). W.A.R. echoes this theme: Illustration 24.2 Racial Loyalty Cartoon “One of the characteristics of nations which are SOURCE: Racial Loyalty, 71 (June 1991). Copyright © controlled by the Jews is the gradual eradication 1991 by Racial Loyalty. of masculine influence and power and the transfer of influence into feminine forms” (cited in In the militia cosmology, Jews are both Ferber, 1998, pp. 125-126). hypermasculine and effeminate. Hypermasculinity Embedded in this anti-Semitic slander is a is expressed in the Jewish domination of the critique of white American manhood as soft, 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 422

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feminized, weakened—indeed, emasculated. Perhaps this is best illustrated with another Article after article decries “the whimpering cartoon from W.A.R., the magazine of the White collapse of the blond male,” as if white men Aryan Resistance. In this deliberate parody of have surrendered to the plot (in Ferber, 1998, countless Charles Atlas advertisements, the p. 127). According to The Turner Diaries, timid white 97-pound weakling finds his power, American men have lost the right to be free; his strength as a man, through racial hatred. In slavery “is the just and proper state for a people the ideology of the white supremacist move- who have gown soft” (Pierce, 1978, p. 33). The ment and its organized militia allies, it is racism militias simultaneously offer white men an that will again enable white men to reclaim their analysis of their present situation and a political manhood. The amorphous groups of white strategy for retrieving their manhood. As supremacists, skinheads, and neo-Nazis may be National Vanguard puts it, the symbolic shock troops of this movement, but the rural militias are its well-organized and As Northern males have continued to become highly regimented infantry. more wimpish, the result of the media-created image of the “new male”—more pacifist, less authoritarian, more “sensitive,” less competitive, White Supremacists in Scandinavia more androgynous, less possessive—the con- While significantly fewer in number than their trolled media, the homosexual lobby and the fem- American counterparts, white supremacists in the inist movement have cheered...the number of Nordic countries have also made a significant effeminate males has increased greatly...legions of sissies and weaklings, of flabby, limp-wristed, impact on those normally tolerant social democ- non-aggressive, non-physical, indecisive, slack- racies. Norwegian groups such as Bootboys, jawed, fearful males who, while still heterosexual NUNS 88, the Norsk Arisk Ungdomsfron in theory and practice, have not even a vestige of (NAUF), Varg, and the Vikings; the Green Jacket the old macho spirit, so deprecated today, left in Movement (Gronjakkerne) in Denmark; and the them. (cited in Ferber, 1998, p. 136) Vitt Ariskt Motstand (VAM, or White Aryan Resistance), Kreatrivistens Kyrka (Church of the It is through participation in these move- Creator, COTC), and Riksfronten (National ments that American manhood can be restored Front) in Sweden have exerted an impact beyond and revived—a manhood in which individual their modest numbers. Norwegian groups white men control the fruits of their own labor and number a few hundred, and Swedish groups are not subject to the emasculation of Jewish- may barely top 1,000 adherents, with perhaps owned finance capital or a black- and feminist- double that number as supporters and general controlled welfare state. It is a fantasy of “the sympathizers. Viking warrior who comes to rescue his people Their opposition seems to come precisely from the ‘evil Jews and subhuman mongrels,’” a from the relative prosperity of their homelands, militarized manhood of the heroic John Rambo— a prosperity that has made the Nordic countries a manhood that celebrates their God-sanctioned attractive to ethnic immigrants from the eco- right to band together in armed militias if any- nomic South. Most come from lower-middle- one—or any governmental agency—tries to take class families; their fathers are painters, it away from them (see Blazak, 2001, p. 991). If carpenters, tillers, bricklayers, and road mainte- the state and capital emasculate them, and if the nance workers. Some come from small family masculinity of the “others” is problematic, then farms. Several fathers own one-man businesses only real white men can rescue this American and are small capitalists or self-employed Eden from a feminized, multicultural androgy- tradesmen (Fangen, 1999, p. 360). In her life- nous melting pot. “The world is in trouble now history analysis of four young Norwegian par- only because the White man is divided, con- ticipants, Katherine Fangen (1999, pp. 359-363) fused, and misled,” we read in The New Order. found that only one claimed a working-class “Once he is united, inspired by a great ideal and identity, and his father owned his own business; led by real men, his world will again become liv- another’s father owned a small printing able, safe, and happy” (in Ferber, 1998, p. 139). company, another was a carpenter, and the The movements of the far right seek to reclaim fourth came from a family of independent their manhood gloriously, violently. fishermen. 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 423

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All the sons are downwardly mobile; they attacks on centers for asylum seekers. They work sporadically, they have little or no control struggle, Fangen notes, to recover a class identity over their own labor or workplace, and none “that no longer has a material basis” (2003, p. 2). owns his own business. Almost all members are Danish Aryans have few assets and “few prospects between 16 and 20 years of age (Fangen, 1999, for a better future” (Bjorgo, 1997, p. 104; see p. 360). Youth unemployment has spiked, also Bjorgo, 1998). especially in Sweden, just as the numbers of This downward mobility marks these racist asylum seekers has spiked, and with them skinheads from their British counterparts, who 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 424

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have been embedded within working class cul- harmony among these different national factions ture. These young Nordic lower-middle-class of the Nordic Aryan movement, the Danish boys do not participate in a violent, racist groups have begun to use Confederate flags and counterculture as preparation for their working other symbols of the racist U.S. South, which lives on the shop floor (see, for example, Willis, all sides can agree signifies the Ku Klux Klan 1981). Rather, like their American counterparts, and the “struggle against Negroes, communists, they see no future in the labor market. They do homosexuals and Jews” (in Bjorgo, 1997, not yearn nostalgically for the collective soli- p. 99). darity of the shop floor; for them, that life was Another unifying set of symbols includes already gone. constant references to the Vikings. Vikings are Like the American white supremacists, admired because they lived in a closed commu- Scandinavian Aryans understand their plight in nity, were fierce warriors, and were feared and terms of masculine entitlement, which is eroded hated by those they conquered (Fangen, 2003, by state immigration policies, international p. 36). Vikings also represent an untrammeled Zionist power, and globalization. All desire a masculinity, an “armed brotherhood” of heroes return to a racially and ethnically homogeneous and martyrs (Bjorgo, 1997, p. 136). society, seeing themselves, as one put it, as a Masculinity figures heavily in white “front against alienation, and the mixing of supremacist rhetoric and recruitment. Young cultures” (Fangen, 1998, p. 214). recruits are routinely savagely beaten in a “bap- Antigay sentiments also unite these white tism of fire.” Among Danes, status is achieved supremacists. “Words are no use; only action “by daring to do something others don’t. You are will help in the fight against homosexuals,” says a hell of a guy if you go to ‘work’ at night and a Swedish magazine, Siege. “With violence and come home the next day with 85,000 crowns terror as our weapons we must beat back the [about US$10,000]” (cited in Bjorgo, 1997, wave of homosexual terror and stinking perver- p. 104). One Norwegian racist recounted in court sion whose stench is washing over our country” how his friends had dared him to blow up a store (cited in Bjorgo, 1997, p. 127). Almost all have owned by a Pakistani in Brumunddal. He said he embraced anti-Semitism, casting the Jews as felt a lot of pressure, that they were making fun the culprits for immigration and homosexuality. of him, and he wanted to prove to them that he According to a Swedish group, Vitt Ariskt was a man after all. After he blew up the shop, Motstand, the Jew represents a corrupt society he said, the others slapped his back and cheered that “poisons the white race through the immi- him. Finally, he felt accepted (Fangen, 1999, gration of racially inferior elements, homo- p. 371). A former Swedish skinhead recounted sexuality, and moral disorder” (in Loow, 1998a, his experience of masculine transformation as p. 86). As Storm, the magazine of the Swedish he joined up: White Aryan Resistance, put it, When I was 14, I had been bullied a lot by class- In our resistance struggle for . . . the survival of mates and others. By coincidence, I got to know an the white race ...we must wield the battle axe older guy who was a skinhead. He was really cool, against our common enemy—the Zionist so I decided to become a skinhead myself, cutting Occupation Government (ZOG) and the liberal off my hair, and donning a black Bomber jacket and race traitors, the keen servants of the hook noses Doc Martens boots. The next morning, I turned up who are demolishing our country piece by piece. at school in my new outfit. In the gate, I met one of (cited in Bjorgo, 1997, p. 219)4 my worst tormentors. When he saw me, he was stunned, pressing his back against the wall, with Anti-Semitism, however, also has inhibited fear shining out of his eyes. I was stunned as well— alliances across the various national groups in by the powerful effect my new image had on him Scandinavia. Danish and Norwegian Aryans and others. Being that intimidating—boy, that was recall the resistance against the Nazis, and a great feeling! (cited in Bjorgo, 1997, p. 234) they often cast themselves as heirs to the resistance struggle against foreign invasion. Some Like their American counterparts, Swedish groups, on the other hand, openly Scandinavian white supremacists also exhibit embrace Nazism and Nazi symbols. To maintain the other side of what Connell calls “protest 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 425

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Illustration 24.4 Vigrid Cartoon

masculinity”—a combination of stereotypical as “mattresses” (in Fangen, 1999, p. 365; see also male norms with often rather untraditional Durham, 1997). attitudes that include respecting women. All In another illustration, the hypocrisy of the these Nordic groups experience significant Norwegian state and culture is ridiculed. One support from young women because the males man confronts another who is shouting in favor campaign on issues that are of significance to of censorship. “Are you against freedom of them; that is, they campaign against prostitu- speech?” he asks. Then he gets angry and tion, abortion, and pornography because these accuses the first man of being anti-democratic. are seen as degrading to women (see Durham, “You should be ashamed of your undemocratic 1997). On the other hand, many of these behavior!” he says. However, when the first man same women soon become disaffected when informs him that he’s protesting the Nazis, the they feel mistreated by their brethren, second man abandons his principles and joins “unjustly subordinated” by them, or just seen right in. 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 426

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Often, sexualized images of women are used to for Norwegians!” she shouts. She’s arrested by recruit men. In one comic strip for Vigrid’s news- the police for “selling material based on race paper, a topless woman with exaggerated breasts discrimination”; meanwhile, caricatures of blacks is hawking the newspaper on the streets. “Norway and Pakistanis burn the city and loot a liquor store.

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One significant difference between the engineering student at Kabul University. This American and the Scandinavian Aryan move- group appealed particularly to relatively well- ments concerns their view of the environment. educated radical students, most of whom were Whereas American Aryans support right-wing studying engineering. Ittihad-I-Islami was and conservative Republican efforts to discard formed by Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf, former theology environmental protection in the name of job lecturer at Kabul University (see Marsden, 2002, creation in extractive industries, and are more pp. 29-31; see also Waldman, 2002). One study than likely meat-eating survivalists, Nordic of 129 Lebanese members of Hezbollah found white supremacists are strong supporters of a them to be better educated and far less impover- sort of nostalgic and conservative environmen- ished than the Lebanese population of compara- talism. Many are vegetarians, some vegan. Each ble age (see Barro, 2002). Another study of 149 group might maintain that its policies flow suicide bombers offers a fascinating portrait. directly from its political stance. The Nordic More than two thirds (67.1%) were between 17 groups claims that the modern state is “impure,” and 23 years of age; almost all the rest were “perverted,” and full of “decay and decadence” between 24 and 30. More than one third (37.6%) and that their environmentalism is a means to had a high school education, and another 35.6% cleanse it. As Matti Sundquist, singer in the had at least some college. Nearly nine of ten were Swedish skinhead group Svastika, puts it (in single (“Who They Are,” 2002, p. 25). Loow, 1998b, p. 134), Of course, it is well-known that several of the leaders of Al Qaeda are quite wealthy. Ayman Well, it’s the most important thing, almost, al-Zawahiri, the 50-year-old doctor who was because we must have a functioning environment the closest adviser to Osama bin Laden in 2001, in order to have a functioning world...and it’s was from a fashionable suburb of Cairo; his almost too late to save the earth, there just be some 5 father was dean of the pharmacy school at radical changes if we are to stand a chance. the university there. Osama bin Laden himself was a multimillionaire. By contrast, many of the September 11 hijackers were engineering THE RESTORATION OF ISLAMIC students, for whom job opportunities had been MASCULINITY AMONG AL QAEDA dwindling dramatically. (From the minimal information I have found, about one fourth of Although too little is yet known to develop as the hijackers had studied engineering.) Kamel full a portrait of the terrorists of Al Qaeda, cer- Daoudi studied computer science at a university tain common features warrant brief comment. in Paris, and Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man For one thing, the class origins of the Al Qaeda to be formally charged with a crime in the terrorists appear to be similar to those of these United States for the events of September 11, other groups. Virtually all the young men who took a degree at London’s South Bank Univer- participated in the hijackings on 9/11 were sity. Marwan al-Shehhi, a chubby, bespectacled under 25 and well educated. Some were lower 23-year-old from the United Arab Emirates, middle class, downwardly mobile; others were was an engineering student, and Ziad Jarrah, a sons of middle-class fathers whose upward 26-year-old Lebanese, had studied aircraft mobility was blocked. design. Other terrorist groups in the Middle East The politics of many of these Islamic radical appear to have appealed to similar young men, organizations appear to be similar. All oppose although they were also organized by theology globalization and the spread of Western values; professors—whose professions also were threat- all oppose what they perceive as corrupt regimes ened by continued secularization and westerniza- in several Arab states (notably Saudi Arabia tion. For example, Jamiat-I-Islami, formed in and Egypt), which they see as merely puppets 1972, was begun by Burhannudin Rabbani, a lec- of U.S. domination. Central to their political turer in theology at Kabul University. (Another ideology is the recovery of manhood from the leader, Ahmed Shah Masoud, was an engineering devastatingly emasculating politics of globaliza- student at Kabul University.) Hisb-e-Islami, tion. Over and over, Nasra Hassan writes, she which split off in 1979 from Jamiat, was heard the refrain “The Israelis humiliate us. organized by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, also an They occupy our land, and deny our history” 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 428

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(2001, p. 38). The Taliban saw the Soviet Afghani republic that made female education invasion and Westernization as humiliations. compulsory immediately abandoned, but Osama bin Laden’s October 7, 2001, videotape women also were prohibited from appearing in (shown on CNN News on October 8, 2001, and public unescorted by men, from revealing any elsewhere) describes the “humiliation and dis- part of their body, or from going to school or grace” that Islam has suffered for “more than holding a job. Men were required to grow their eighty years.” Even more telling is his comment beards, in accordance with religious images of to the Arab television network Al Jazeera in Mohammed—but also because wearing beards December 1998, in which the masculinity of the has always been associated with men’s response American is set against that of the Muslim: to women’s increased equality in the public sphere. Beards especially symbolically reaffirm Our brothers who fought in Somalia saw wonders biological natural differences between women about the weakness, feebleness and cowardliness and men, even as they are collapsing in the of the U.S. soldier. We believe that we are men, public sphere. Such policies removed women as Muslim men who must have the honor of defend- competitors and also shored up masculinity ing [Mecca]—We do not want American women because they enabled men to triumph over the soldiers defending [it]. The rulers in that region have been deprived of their manhood and they humiliations of globalization, as well as to tri- think that the people are women. By God, Muslim umph over their own savage, predatory, and vio- women refuse to be defended by these American lently sexual urges that would be unleashed in and Jewish prostitutes. (cited in Judt, 2001) the presence of uncovered women. Perhaps this can be best seen paradigmati- This fusion of antiglobalization politics, cally in the story of Mohammed Atta, appar- convoluted Islamic theology, and virulent misog- ently the mastermind of the entire September 11 yny has been the subject of much speculation. operation and the pilot of the first plane to crash Viewing these through a gender lens, though, into the World Trade Center tower. The enables us to understand the connections better. youngest child of an ambitious lawyer father The collapse of certain public patriarchal enti- and pampering mother, Atta grew up a shy and tlements led to a virulent and violent effort to polite boy. “He was so gentle,” his father said. replace them with others, for example in the “I used to tell him ‘Toughen up, boy!’” (in reassertion of domestic patriarchal power. “This New York Times Magazine, October 7). Atta is the class that is most hostile to women,” said spent his youth in a relatively shoddy Cairo the scholar Fouad Ajami (Crossette, 2001, p. 1). neighborhood. Both his sisters are profession- But why? Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich explains als—one is a professor, the other a doctor. that whereas “males have lost their traditional Atta decided to become an engineer, but his status as farmers and breadwinners, women “degree meant little in a country where thou- have been entering the market economy and sands of college graduates were unable to find gaining the marginal independence conferred good jobs.”6 His father had told him he “needed even by a paltry wage.” As a result, “the man to hear the word ‘doctor’ in front of his name. who can no longer make a living, who has to We told him your sisters are doctors and their depend on his wife’s earnings, can watch husbands are doctors and you are the man of the Hollywood sexpots on pirated videos and begin family.” After he failed to find employment in to think the world has been turned upside down” Egypt, he went to Hamburg, Germany, to study (Ehrenreich, 2001, p. 37). to become an architect. He was “meticulous, When these groups have gained some politi- disciplined and highly intelligent,” yet an “ordi- cal power, as has the Taliban, they have moved nary student, a quiet friendly guy who was quickly to enact deliberately gendered policies, totally focused on his studies,” according to designed both to remasculinize men and to another student in Hamburg. refeminize women. “The rigidity of the Taliban But his ambitions were constantly thwarted. gender policies could be seen as a desperate His only hope for a good job in Egypt was to be attempt to keep out that other world, and to pro- hired by an international firm. He applied and tect Afghan women from influences that could was constantly rejected. He found work as a weaken the society from within” (Marsden, draftsman—highly humiliating for someone 2002, p. 99). Thus, not only were policies of the with engineering and architectural credentials 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 429

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and an imperious and demanding father—for a NOTES German firm involved with razing lower-income Cairo neighborhoods to provide more scenic 1. Let me make clear that I explore here only the vistas for luxury tourist hotels. terrorism of social movements, such as Al Qaeda, and Defeated, humiliated, emasculated, a disap- not the systematic terrorism of states, where terror is pointment to his father and a failed rival to his a matter of political strategy or military opportunity. sisters, Atta drifted into an increasingly militant My analysis, however, may well apply to social Islamic theology. By the time he assumed con- movements in the former Yugoslavia, as well as to trol of American Airlines Flight 11, he evinced other cases. An earlier version of this chapter was published in International Sociology, 18(3), September a gendered hysteria about women. In the mes- 2003. It is part of a larger research project on “angry sage he left in his abandoned rental car, he made white men.” I have benefited from comments from clear what really mattered to him in the end. “I my coeditors as well as many colleagues and friends, don’t want pregnant women or a person who is notably Amy Aronson, Abby Ferber, Michael not clean to come and say good-bye to me,” he Kaufman, and Lillian Rubin. wrote. “I don’t want women to go to my funeral 2. This section is based on collaborative work with or later to my grave” (CNN, October 2, 2001). Abby Ferber and appears in Kimmel and Ferber (2000). I recognize that the illustrations may be offensive to some. I offer them as emblematic of the ways in which Masculine Entitlement discourses of masculinity offen saturate political hate and the Future of Terrorism speech. 3. Of course, there is a well-developed literature Of course, such fantasies are the fevered on the “gendered” elements of Nazism that underlies imagination of hysteria; Atta’s body was with- my work here. See especially Theweleit (1987-1989). out doubt instantly incinerated, and no funeral 4. Interestingly, Loow (1994, p. 21) found that would be likely. But the terrors of emasculation the localities with the highest numbers of attacks on experienced by the lower middle classes all over asylum seekers in the early 1990s had the highest the world will no doubt continue to resound for concentrations of national socialist or racist organiza- these young men whose world seems to have tions in the 1920s through the 1940s. been turned upside down, their entitlements 5. In that sense, these groups are similar to snatched from them, their rightful position in British groups such as Blood and Soil, and the their world suddenly up for grabs. And they may Patriotic Vegetarian and Vegan Society. 6. All unattributed quotations come from a fasci- continue to articulate with a seething resent- nating portrait of Atta (Yardley, 2001). ment against women, “outsiders,” or any other “others” perceived as stealing their rightful place at the table. The common origins and common com- REFERENCES plaints of the terrorists of 9/11 and their American “comrades” were not lost on American Barber, B. (1995). Jihad vs. McWorld: How globalization and tribalism are reshaping the world. white supremacists. In their response to the New York: Ballantine. events of 9/11, American Aryans said they Barro, R. (2002, June 10). The myth that poverty admired the terrorists’ courage, and they took breeds terrorism. Business Week, p. 26. the opportunity to chastise their own compatri- Bjorgo, T. (1997). Racist and right-wing violence ots. Bill Roper of the National Alliance publicly in Scandinavia: Patterns, perpetrators, and wished his members had as much “testicular responses. Leiden, The Netherlands: University fortitude” (“Reaping the Whirlwind,” 2001). of Leiden. “It’s a disgrace that in a population of at least Bjorgo, T. (1998). Entry, bridge-burning, and exit 150 million White/Aryan Americans, we pro- options: What happens to young people who vide so few that are willing to do the same,” join racist groups—and want to leave? In J. Kaplan & T. Bjorgo (Eds.), Nation and bemoaned Rocky Suhayda, Nazi Party chair- race: The developing Euro-American racist sub- man from Eastpointe, Michigan. “A bunch of culture (pp. 231-258). Boston: Northeastern towel head/sand niggers put our great White University Press. Movement to shame” (in Ridgeway, 2001, Blazak, R. (2001). White boys to terrorist men: Target p. 14). It is from that gendered shame that mass recruitment of Nazi skinheads. American murderers are made. Behavioral Scientist, 44(6), 982-1000. 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 430

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Blee, K. (2002). Inside organized racism: Women in Kimmel, M. (1996a). Manhood in America: A cultural the hate movement. Berkeley: University of history. New York: Free Press. California Press. Kimmel, M. (Ed.). (1996b). The politics of manhood. Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Berkeley: Philadelphia: Temple University Press. University of California Press. Kimmel, M. (2002). [Review of the book Inside orga- Connell, R. W. (1998). Masculinities and globaliza- nized racism]. Contexts, 1(3), 60-61. tion. Men and Masculinities, 1(1), 3-23. Kimmel, M., & Ferber, A. (2000). “White men are Coplon, J. (1989, May/June). The roots of skinhead this nation”: Right wing militias and the restora- violence: Dim economic prospects for young tion of rural American masculinity. Rural men. Utne Reader, pp. 89-90. Sociology, 65(4), 582-604. Crossette, B. (2001, October 4). Living in a world Kramer, J. (2002, May 6). The patriot. The without women. New York Times. Retrieved New Yorker, pp. 23-30. January 30, 2004, from www.changemakers.net/ Kristof, N. (2002a, June 7). All-American Osamas. library/nytimes110401.cfm New York Times, p. A27. Dobratz, B., & Shanks-Meile, S. (2001). The white Kristof, N. (2002b, May 8). What does and doesn’t separatist movement in the United States: White fuel terrorism. International Herald Tribune, power! White pride! Baltimore: Johns Hopkins p. 13. University Press. Loow, H. (1994, July). “Wir sind wieder da”—From Durham, M. (1997). Women and the extreme right: A National Socialism to militant race ideology: comment. Terrorism and Political Violence, 9, The Swedish racist underground in a historical 165-168. context. Paper presented to the XIII World Ehrenreich, B. (2001, November 4). Veiled threat. Congress of Sociology, Bielefeld. Los Angeles Times, p. 37. Loow, H. (1998a). Racist youth culture in Sweden: Enloe, C. (1990). Bananas, beaches and bases: Ideology, mythology, and lifestyle. In C. Westin Making feminist sense of international politics. (Ed.), Racism, ideology and political organisa- Berkeley: University of California Press. tion (pp. 77-98). Stockholm: CEIFO Publica- Fangen, K. (1998). Living out our ethnic instincts: tions, University of Stockholm. Ideological beliefs among rightist activists in Loow, H. (1998b). White power rock and roll: A Norway. In J. Kaplan & T. Bjorgo (Eds.), Nation growing industry. In J. Kaplan & T. Bjorgo and race: The developing Euro-American racist (Eds.), Nation and race: The developing Euro- subculture (pp. 202-230). Boston: Northeastern American racist subculture (pp. 126-147). Boston: University Press. Northeastern University Press. Fangen, K. (1999). On the margins of life: Life Maps of white supremacist organizations and patriot stories of radical nationalists. Acta Sociologica, militias. (2002, Spring). Intelligence Report. 42, 357-373. Available at www.intelligenceproject.org Fangen, K. (2003). Death mask of masculinity. In Marrs, T. (1993). Big sister is watching you: Hillary S. Ervo (Ed.), Images of masculinities: Moulding Clinton and the White House feminists who now masculinities. London: Ashgate. control America—and tell the President what to Ferber, A. L. (1998). White man falling: Race, gender do. Austin, TX: Living Truth Publishers. and white supremacy. Lanham, MD: Rowman Marsden, P. (2002). The Taliban: War and religion in and Littlefield. Afghanistan. London: Zed. Hassan, N. (2001, November 19). An arsenal of Messner, M. (1998). Politics of masculinities: Men and believers. The New Yorker, pp. 31-40. movements. Newbury Park, CA: Pine Forge Press. Hearn, J. (1992). Men in the public eye. London: Moore, B. (1966). The social origins of dictatorship Routledge. and democracy: Lord and peasant in the making Hearn, J. (1998). The violences of men. London: Sage. of the modern world. Boston: Beacon. Jipson, A., & Becker, P. (Eds.). (2000). White Pierce, W. (1978). The Turner diaries. Hillsboro, VA: supremacy and hate crimes [Special issue]. National Vanguard Books. Sociological Focus, 33(2). Reaping the Whirlwind. (2001, Winter). Intelligence Judt, T. (2001, November 15). America and the war. Report, 104. Available at www.splcenter. New York Review of Books, 48(18). Retrieved org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=158 January 28, 2004, from www.nybooks.com/ Ridgeway, J. (2001, November 6). Osama’s new articles/14760 recruits. Village Voice, p. 14. Juergensmeyer, M. (1995). The new Cold War? Rubin, L. (1994). Families on the fault line. Religious nationalism confronts the secular state. New York: HarperCollins. Berkeley: University of California Press. Sinha, M. (1995). Colonial masculinity: The manly Juergensmeyer, M. (2000). Terror in the mind of God: Englishman and the effeminate Bengali in the The global rise of religious violence. Berkeley: late nineteenth century. Manchester, UK: University of California Press. Manchester University Press. 24-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 4:46 PM Page 431

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Theweleit, K. (1987-1989). Male fantasies (Vols. 1 Who they are. (2002, April 15). Newsweek, and 2) (S. Conway, E. Carter, & C. Turner, pp. 25-27. Trans.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Willis, P. (1981). Learning to labor. New York: Press. Columbia University Press. Waldman, A. (2002, April 24). How in a little English Yardley, J. (2001, October 10). A portrait of the ter- town jihad found young converts. New York rorist: From shy child to single-minded killer. Times, pp. 1, 24. New York Times, p. 22. 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 432

WAR,MILITARISM, AND MASCULINITIES

PAUL HIGATE

JOHN HOPTON

he nexus linking war, militarism, and has declined more than 30 percent to a current masculinities has remained an enduring level of 2.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product” T and consistent feature of societies and their (National Center for Policy Analysis, 2002). cultures across time. Despite these close linkages, Worldwide, it is surprising that scholars have tended to over- look the masculinist dimensions of the military; in military expenditure, which has been increasing so doing, they have unwittingly preserved the nat- since 1998, accelerated sharply in 2002, by 6% in real terms to $794 billion in current prices. It uralized dimension of military masculinity. This accounted for 2.5% of world GDP....The cur- chapter’s focus on the British military, an institu- rent level of world military expenditure is 14% tion characterized by its unique role in the acqui- higher in real terms than it was at the post-cold sition and maintenance of a global empire, aims to war low of 1998, but is still 16% below its 1988 explore the connections between the armed forces level, when world military expenditure was close and their masculinist culture. to its cold war peak. According to one source, British defense The increase in 2002 is dominated by a 10% spending is currently in the region of £36.9 bil- real terms increase by the USA, accounting for lion ($60 billion), with a further £3 billion being almost three-quarters of the global increase, in set aside for the 2003 war in Iraq (£50 per head response to the events of 11 September 2001. . . . for U.K. citizens) and an extra £330 million The USA now accounts for 43% of world military expenditure, when currencies are converted at mar- being spent on domestic counterterrorism mea- ket exchange rates, as is the SIPRI practice in this sures. This would mean that military spending Yearbook. The top five spenders—the USA, Japan, currently accounts for 6% of the total U.K. budget the UK, France and China—account for 62% of (White & Norton-Taylor, 2002). An alternative total world military expenditure. (Stockholm source suggests that “British defense spending International Peace Research Institute, n.d.)

Author’s note: This chapter is a synthesis of two previously published chapters (Higate, 2003a; Hopton, 2003) from Military Masculinities: Identity and the State (Higate, 2003b). We are grateful to Praeger for allowing to reproduce these texts in this form.

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These figures give some sense of the of more opportunities to women in the military centrality of the armed forces to government require further consideration. spending priorities and provide a context for the subsequent discussion. The British military’s development might be MILITARISM AND THE considered somewhat unique: nevertheless, the INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MASCULINITY examples drawn on throughout the chapter have a strong resonance with the universal feature of Writers who have developed critiques of armed forces more widely. The chapter begins masculinity (e.g., Connell, 1987; Harris, 1995; with a historical overview of the structural and Hearn, 1996; MacInnes, 1998; Miedzian, 1992) ideological links between masculine and mili- suggest that there is a form of masculine iden- tary cultures. This is followed by discussion sug- tity (hegemonic masculinity) to which boys and gesting that the 1990s represented a change in men are generally encouraged to aspire. This the relationship between women and the mili- form of masculinity is characterized by the tary, in terms of both the military role in the post- interrelationship of stoicism, phallocentricity, modern world and the role of the women within and the domination of weaker individuals the military. Finally, we attempt to evaluate how (Brittan, 1989; Rogers, 1988; Stanley & Wise, deep this apparent “feminization” of the military 1987; Stoltenberg, 1990), competitiveness, and runs in reality and to speculate how the military heroic achievement (Brittan, 1989; Harris, may change again in the coming decades. 1995; Miedzian, 1992). Thus, men who exem- Throughout history, there are examples of plify this model of masculinity tend to be women assuming male military dress to join accorded a higher social status than those who armed forces or to fight in specific battles or do not (Connell, 1987). By publicly demonstrat- campaigns. For example, there is the historical ing that he has at least the potential to conform example of the Ancient Briton Boudicca/ to this model of masculinity, a boy or man may Boadicea fighting the Romans, and there are have his masculinity affirmed. Military organi- many stories of women dressing as men in zations, military successes, military pageantry, the 18th and 19th centuries in order to enlist on and rituals such as the “passing out” parades for fighting ships or in armies (Wheelwright, 1989), successful recruits to the armed forces represent as well as examples of women taking up arms in the public endorsement of such values and their various locations in the Americas and Africa institutionalization in national culture (Dawson, between the 16th and 19th centuries and even 1994). Certainly, there are other manifestations during World War II. Similarly, in the late 20th of this process of celebrating masculinity, but century, women sometimes played key roles uniquely the exploits of the military are always within “liberation”/terrorist movements, and openly and aggressively celebrated in the pub- some countries at various times attempted inte- lic sphere (Hockey, 2003; McGregor, 2003). gration of women into their armed services, Indeed, there are echoes of militarism in every- including the assumption of some combat roles day language. For example, in the United (Klein, 2003; Kovitz, 2003; R. Morgan, 1989). Kingdom the term “Dunkirk spirit” (a reference Nevertheless, throughout modernity, one of to Britain fighting on after the humiliating the enduring characteristics of military organi- defeat at Dunkirk early in World War II) is used zation has been a gendered division of labor as a shorthand for expressing admiration for (Connell, 2000; Enloe, 2000; Kovitz, 2003). someone’s unwillingness to accept defeat; and Although there have been some indications in someone who is finally defeated after a lengthy recent years that this division of labor is becom- struggle may still be said to have “met their ing more fluid, barriers remain in place that Waterloo” (a reference to Wellington’s final exclude women from certain forms of military defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte nearly 200 years service. For example, in Britain women are still ago). Furthermore, boys encounter many mili- excluded from service on submarines and in tarist influences during their childhood and elite airborne and commando units. Thus, at the adolescence (Dawson, 1994). time of writing, it is still possible to see explicit Although there are exceptions to the rule links between militarism and ideologies of mas- (such as the Woodcraft folk, an explicitly culinity, although the effects of the opening up pacifist British organization that has always 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 434

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accepted both boys and girls), uniformed youth boys’ comics such as The Valiant and The Victor, organizations that were originally only for whose very titles reflected military culture, cele- boys tend to explicitly reflect military culture. brated the heroic exploits of both fictional and For example, the organization, uniforms, and nonfictional soldiers. In the 1980s, television culture of the Boy Scout movement reflect the series such as The A-Team, Airwolf, and military background of its founder, Robert Magnum, PI (some of which were aimed at Baden-Powell. Similarly, from its very begin- adults as much as children) attributed the astute- ning, military-style drilling was a core activity ness, strength, self-reliance, and sexual attrac- of the Boys’ Brigade to the extent that its tiveness of the central male characters to their founder, William Smith, originally introduced military backgrounds, while during the 1990s wooden dummy rifles into these activities. many video and computer games featured Although the use of wooden rifles was aban- violence or had explicitly militarist themes doned relatively early on in the Boys’ Brigade’s (Goldstein, 2001, pp. 294-296). Such cultural history, drilling remained a core activity, and influences are a powerful influence on how a military structure of brigade, battalions, and children and young people interpret the world companies together with a quasi-military hierar- around them and their place within it, and these chy of officers and noncommissioned officers influences may lead to them equating manliness has been retained to this day (McFarlan, 1983). with military ideals. More explicitly, the various army, air, and sea cadet forces in Britain (which were originally boys-only organizations), which offer young THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIP people opportunities to participate in many BETWEEN MILITARISM AND MASCULINITY adventure activities and sports at low cost, have been supported by the Ministry of Defence Historically, there has been a reciprocal rela- (MoD). These and other similar organizations tionship between militarism and masculinity. have played a key role in “exporting” a culture On one hand, politicians have utilized ideolo- equating masculinity and militarism from the gies of idealized masculinity that valorize the elite British privately funded schools such as notion of strong active males collectively risk- Eton and Harrow to boys from the middle and ing their personal safety for the greater good of working classes (Brod, 1987; Weeks, 1981). the wider community (see Barnett, 1982; Platt, Although not all boys and men will ever have 1992; Segal, 1990) to gain support for the use any connection with uniformed youth organi- of violence by the state (such as wars in the zations such as the Boy Scouts or the Boys’ international arena and aggressive policing in Brigade, most adult males are aware of the the domestic situation). On the other hand, mil- cultural values promoted by such organizations itarism feeds into ideologies of masculinity and will have been exposed to such influences through the eroticization of stoicism, risk- via their peers. Thus, a shared understanding of taking, and even lethal violence (Goldstein, masculinity will be influenced by the values 2001). This can be detected in populist fictional promoted by such organizations. and nonfictional books about war and weapons This valorization of military values is as well as in newspaper coverage of military reflected in other ways as well. One of the most actions (Newsinger, 1997; Shepherd, 1989). commonly cited examples is the kinds of toys The reciprocal relationship between mili- that boys traditionally have been encouraged to tarism and masculinity can be illustrated using play with by their peers and/or their parents. World War I as an example. In the earlier part Typically, these may include toy tanks, toy guns, of the 1914-1918 war, recruitment of volunteer toy warplanes, and toy soldiers (Dawson, 1994). soldiers owed much to Victorian ideologies Indeed, even many of the fantasy figure–type that defined masculinity in terms of strength, toys that have become popular over the last courage, determination, and patriotism. In turn, 20 years are armed with what clearly are meant this image of masculinity was reinforced by to be lethal weapons (Goldstein, 2001, p. 238). wartime propaganda that glamorized military Links between militarism and masculinity also culture and military success and that tacitly are evident in printed matter and other media encouraged brutality toward war resisters aimed at the youth market (Gibson, 1994, and those males (such as Jewish refugees p. 111). For example, during the 1960s, British from Eastern Europe) who were ineligible for 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 435

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military service (Showalter, 1987; Taylor & spectacle wherein the forces of law and order Young, 1987). appropriate the symbols and ritualized behavior In the British context, a more recent example of eroticized masculinity (military language, hel- of this process is the media obsession with mets, combat dress, special weapons and tactics) the Special Air Service (SAS), an obsession (see Stoltenberg, 1990, pp. 117 and following, that began with the Iranian Embassy Siege of and Macnair, 1989) to enforce the authority of a 1980 (e.g., Geraghty, 1980; Warner, 1983, government that systematically reinforced ide- pp. 271-273). Geraghty, himself a journalist, ologies of the patriarchal family (Lister, 1990; neatly encapsulated the media image of the SAS Millar & Glendinning, 1989) and attacked alter- trooper as the epitome of socially constructed native sexualities (Shepherd & Wallis, 1989). masculinity. The sexual-political undertones here are that The deployment of the SAS in situations that these masculinist symbols and ritualized behav- might (arguably) have been more appropriately iors are associated in “commonsense” assump- handled by the civil police, and the subsequent tions with the exercising of legitimate power and media coverage of such events, is particularly authority. interesting in the context of the relationship Within the penal system, militarism from between masculinity and militarism. Whether time to time has been reflected in ideas about the victims of such intervention are Iranian the rehabilitation of young offenders. For or Irish “terrorists” or protesting prisoners example, young offenders’ institutions have (J. Jenkins, 1989; Scraton, Sim, & Skidmore, adopted regimes based on military drill and 1991; Warner, 1983, pp. 271-273), the message army-style physical training in the belief that is the same: Although the dissidents are dis- this will prepare young male offenders for law- playing the masculinist virtues of aggression, abiding manhood (Muncie, 1990). Here, the domination, and endurance, glory and respect motive seems to be to deny the possibility that (see Bibbings, 2003, and Stanko, 1990) can young men’s “crimes” may represent political belong only to the fighting men whose aggres- protest or reaction to social disadvantage, and sion is controlled and regulated by the State and instead to view their “antisocial” behavior as used to uphold the authority of the State. Segal arising from destructive biological urges (e.g., has shown how, in addition to celebrating Brittan, 1989, pp. 78-82) that military-style “heroic” exploits of aggression and competitive- discipline will enable them to control. Such ness, the ideology that links maleness with policies seem to be rooted in an ideology that rugged individualism may also play a role in regards militarism as the ultimate form of disci- promoting intensely conservative politics and plined masculinity (Brittan, 1989, pp. 74-75) values (Segal, 1990, p. 20). and ignores the contradiction that militarism is However, the link between militarism and in fact a celebration of the most extreme forms masculinity reaches beyond the eroticization of violence (Harrison, 2003). of masculinism through the glamorization of If the reciprocal relationship between mas- military culture and military actions; it can be culinity and militarism is being in some sense detected in the law-and-order policies of British weakened, so too is the power of the state to governments during the 1980s and 1990s. The manipulate public support for its right to use most obvious manifestation of this is the increase violence to pursue its policies at home and in the use of paramilitary tactics by the police abroad, and to encourage young men to join the (see Jefferson, 1990), and it also can be seen in armed forces. Thus, the state has a vested inter- penal policy. The use of police cavalry charges est in maintaining strong ideological links and similar paramilitary approaches to “riot between militarism and masculinity. control” throughout the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Coulter, Miller, & Walker, 1984; Hillyard & Percy-Smith, 1988; “Tony,” 1990) have been 1991: A TURNING POINT extensively documented. Taken in isolation, such policies do not seem to have a direct bearing on The 1991 Gulf War seems to represent a turning the politics of sexuality. However, if the main point in the relationship between militarism and purpose of such actions is taken to be the sup- masculinity. On one hand, the traditional rela- pression of dissent (Hillyard & Percy-Smith, tionship between masculinity and militarism 1988), they may be interpreted as being a public was clearly evident in the political rhetoric that 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 436

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was used to justify the war. On the other hand, a female soldiers who were also mothers of weakening of the link between the traditional young children (e.g., Ellicott, 1991; this story preoccupations of hegemonic masculinity was accompanied by a picture of Captain Jo Ann and militarism also is evident in the buildup to Conley in full combat dress with a photograph of the war, the defeat of Iraq, and the aftermath of her 2-year-old daughter fixed to her helmet). the war. First, notwithstanding the contradictory Such imagery implicitly challenges the view attitudes sometimes shown toward such women, that the violence of war is inextricably linked to female armed services personnel involved in the men’s violence against women. However, when war were given a high profile. Second, as the a female soldier was captured by the Iraqis, fears war reached its conclusion, notions of a “new were expressed openly that she might be raped world order” and new forms of military inter- by her captors, or that female soldiers who were vention began to emerge, although these also mothers might be killed, and that this might were contradictory. adversely affect the morale of male troops (Muir, It has been argued that the 1991 war against 1991). Thus, although a clear message was given Iraq was an avoidable event that was delib- that war and other military interventions were no erately created by Western governments— longer to be strictly gendered activities, there principally those of the United States and the was also tacit recognition that the casual misog- United Kingdom—that previously had ignored yny that pervades military culture may lead Iraq’s poor record on human rights (Cale, to male sexual violence against women becom- 1991; Cockburn & Cohen, 1991; Farry, 1991; ing an integral part of war (see Enloe, 1988; Melichar, 1991). In this context, the rhetoric of McGowan & Hands, 1983; Mladjenovic, 1993; the “new world order” that accompanied the Smith, 1989; Theweleit, 1987). promotion of the war may be interpreted as an Nevertheless, during the period between the attempt by (mostly male) politicians in the West 1991 Gulf War and the events of September 11, to capitalize on the political changes in Eastern 2001, the pace of change to women’s service in Europe (and the resultant demise of the Warsaw the British armed forces increased. For example, Pact military alliance, which might otherwise between 1992 and 1994, the (British) Women’s have kept their ambitions in check) to justify the Royal Army Corps, Women’s Royal Naval further pursuit of militaristic policies and to act Service, and Women’s Royal Air Force became out the masculinist fantasy of becoming “heroes- fully integrated with, respectively, the British hunters-competitors-conquerors” (Brittan, 1989) Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force; on a global scale. in 1995, the first woman qualified as an RAF Nevertheless, the presence of 40,000 female combat-ready Tornado bomber pilot (Cooke, personnel among the American military force in 1995). Although these developments appear to Saudi Arabia during the war (Douglas, 1991) signal a material change in the nexus linking appeared to represent a change in the relationship women with military service, questions remain between women and the military. Historically, over the extent to which the increasing presence the militarization of women’s lives has tended to of women in the armed forces will affect the involve the regulation and control of women serv- nature of its masculinist culture. ing the needs of male military personnel. This has been manifested in the roles traditionally ascribed to women in patriarchal societies: wives, cooks, THE CONTEMPORARY laundresses, prostitutes, secretaries, and so on MILITARIZATION OF WOMEN (Enloe, 1988). During the 1991 Gulf War, though, women were serving as soldiers, marines, air To summarize, militarism is the major means force personnel, and sailors in support units close by which the values and beliefs associated with to and within combat zones (Ellicott, 1991). ideologies of hegemonic masculinity are eroti- Although, on a superficial level, this seems to sig- cized and institutionalized. Although there are nal a radical change in the relationship between alternative contexts in which traditional mascu- militarism and social constructions of femininity, line virtues are valorized and eroticized, they this new relationship was contradictory. lack the potential to link masculinity with the Press coverage of the Gulf War referring to political concerns of the state. This is not to say female personnel tended to highlight those that women are innately pacifist. Indeed, both 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 437

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male and female pacifists have been known to of combat. Although women have been allowed renounce pacifism when faced with brutal polit- to enter the combat arms since 1989, they still ical regimes or genocidal armies (Kuzmanic face many barriers that are rooted in the negative et al., 1994; Oldfield, 1989). Furthermore, attitudes of their male peers who believe that throughout history, women have participated combat should remain a male bastion (Winslow actively in military life in a variety of roles & Dunn, 2001, p. 50). Canada might be consid- (Wheelwright, 1989). ered to have one of the more enlightened armed The willingness of some women to join the forces with regard to equal opportunities and armed forces and even assume combat roles diversity initiatives, and although recent integra- may be used to refute an essentialist position in tion trials have not gone as far as some would relation to feminist pacifism (see Segal, 1990). prefer, nevertheless it has been argued that a base Nevertheless, militarism has tended to work has been established for further progress. against the interests of women, often in ways Whatever the rationale behind these develop- that directly benefit men. For example, both ments, though, the relationship between mili- Wheelwright (1989) and Rogers (1988) have tarism and masculinity appears to be shifting. shown how military organizations that openly The question is whether the essence of militarism incorporate women have sometimes contrived to has been transformed by the sexual politics of the prevent them from enjoying equal benefits, priv- last 30 years, or whether an increased presence of ileges, and advantages with the men in those women in the armed services has just modified its organizations. Furthermore, Brittain (1953) and superficial appearance. Enloe (1988) have documented the role of the military throughout modern history with regard to the regulation and control of the sexuality, CHANGING THE GENDERED CULTURE? social roles, and labor of women in the interests of patriarchal states. Will the presence of more women, particularly Since the early 1990s, there has been at the heart of the male bastion of face-to-face increased emphasis on developing policies that combat, affect the nature of the combat mas- give female armed forces personnel equal rights culine warrior ethic? Assumptions of this sort with their male counterparts; for example, may rely on naturalist discourses of sex and allowing women to take maternity leave gender, and they implicitly view femininity in a (whereas previously mothers would not be homogeneous way, a point that ignores the allowed to continue their careers) and resurrect- extent of self-selection. Said one female West ing debates about their potential to be fully com- Point graduate: batant. Although this might simply reflect growing concern to genuinely promote equal Women who are in military training to be an officer are not the girl next door or your mother... opportunities and diversity and/or change the they were among the top athletes in college. culture within the armed forces, there may be Military women are just like men who become alternative explanations. For example, the emer- airborne—he is not your average guy—he’s in the gence of a view of masculinity that refuses to top five percent. (Skaine, 1999, p. 202) equate militarism with manliness (Stoltenberg, 1990) has presented the masculinist-militarist The influence of increased proportions of power elites with a potential labor shortage that women in the military is yet to be assessed con- could be offset in part by allowing an expansion clusively, though some have suggested that of the role of women in the armed forces it may shape the behavior of male colleagues (Dandeker, 2000). in positive ways suggested by experiences in Overall, however, women remain a thorny the British police force (Martin, 1996, p. 523). issue in debates about gender integration in Similar “civilizing” effects also have been docu- the armed forces, with (military) men tending to mented within the context of particular missions, remain invisible and unchallenged in their privi- including Peace Support Operations (PSO) leged positions. In relation to a review of the (see Olsson, Ukabiala, Blondle, Kampungu, & literature examining the Canadian military in Wallensteen, 1999, pp. 1-24). In addition, respect to gender integration, for example, Donna accessibility to local civilian communities that Winslow and Justin Dunn highlight the domain have suffered at the hands of militarized men 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 438

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might be improved by the greater inclusion of Questions concerning the granting of maternity civilian and military women. Here, masculin- leave and career progress, ized gender ideologies can be challenged and Dual service marriages, less aggressive responses to volatile situations implemented. The availability of child care and single-parent However, there are numerous parallels households, between the pace of change effected by diversity The posting of women away from families, and and equal opportunity strategies in professions Overall family support policies in times of dominated by men, on one hand, and the extent increasing pressure on resources. (Winslow & of transformation of gendered culture in the Dunn, 2001, p. 50) military, on the other. Countless uniformed masculinist organizations, including the fire service, Although it is possible to point to degrees for example, have been slow to develop (Baigent, of incremental structural change with respect 2001). A further masculinist sphere of employ- to women in the armed forces, cultural and ment that has received rather less scholarly atten- structural obstacles to their integration remain. tion is that of the British construction industry. However, might this institutional resistance This gendered sphere is similarly masculinist, become diluted in the face of the alleged emer- traditional, hierarchical, and resistant to change. gence of masculinities that have appropriated In using this example, it is possible to highlight more feminized ways of being? Commentary the more universal aspects of gendered culture concerning the ascendancy of the so-called that serve to maintain the status quo with respect “New Man” could be of significance here, as to cultural shift around the acceptance of women the associated ways of “doing masculinity” are at both the formal and informal levels. Clara argued to be gaining both legitimacy and popu- Greed’s work on the British construction industry larity, and they may, over time, shape the more has considerable generalizability and has particu- traditional masculinist culture of the military via lar resonance with the military. She states that the importation of recruit values. However, the term “New Man” is often taken for granted. One [C]ritical mass...is one of the most frequently way in which to make sense of the phrase is sug- used terms in the [construction] industry when gested by Hondagneu-Sotelo and Messner discussing equal opportunities...[it] is highly (1994), who state: optimistic and over-simplistic if used as a predic- tive social concept without acknowledging the [W]hen analysed within a structure of power, the immense cultural and structural obstacles present. gender displays of the New Man might best be seen (Greed, 2000, p. 183, emphasis added) as strategies to reconstruct hegemonic masculinity by projecting aggression, domination and mis- The approach currently taken by the British ogyny onto subordinate groups of men. (p. 215) MoD is to stress the opening up of posts. Women may well be “accepted”—but will they In any case, debates about New Men may be be accepted as equal? How would we know if less than relevant to the divergence of military the negative aspects of military masculine from civilian culture, particularly when the culture—in particular, those that serve to mar- extent of self-selection among young male ginalize women—had been neutralized? What enlistees is taken into account. A number of does an organization of equal opportunities and these individuals may import hypermasculine diversity look like? As Pringle (1989) asks, values, perhaps linked to their earlier experi- might not the influx of women into certain mil- ences of growing up in deprived areas where itary jobs result in the feminization and decline frequent exposure to and the use of physical in status of particular specialties where women aggression could represent part-component of come to be concentrated? The fuller integration the motivation to enlist (Higate, 2002). The of women into the armed forces necessarily has degree to which recruits “self-select” is unlikely to take place within a framework of formalized to change as long as these masculine subcul- and wide-ranging equal opportunities. Issues that tures persist and the combat masculine warrior must be addressed if the military is to more fully ethic is linked to the armed forces in the minds integrate women could concern the following: of the wider public and potential recruits. 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 439

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The Future Military: Two Scenarios “euro-national” in composition within the context of growing debates about the future Given recent and current trends, what might role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization we expect gendered military culture to look like (NATO). Considerable advances in technology in 2020? A hypothetical all-volunteer British might come to supplant individual troop differ- armed forces of the year 2020 could take the ences in terms of physical and mental capa- form of a culturally homogeneous single service bility, and there would be a greater reliance on organization. In theory at least, it could differ quickly mobilized reserve forces. from today’s armed forces by virtue of representative levels of gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic minority integration across all mili- LOCATING THE CONTEMPORARY MILITARY tary occupations (however, see Mason and Dandeker, 2001, for discussion of the MoD’s It has been argued that the military is a micro- inconsistent thinking on women and ethnic cosm of society (Chamallas, 1998, p. 307). minorities). Service people in this future organi- Framing the military in this way provides the key zation may be held in high public esteem and point of departure when thinking through how enhance, rather than degrade, certain elements the organization might transform, as we cannot of the local civilian communities in which they ignore future economic, political, and social work and live. To these ends, there would be no change across the host society and beyond, into sign of “camp following” sex workers sustained the global context. If the armed forces truly have by servicemen (Enloe, 2000; Moon, 1997) and become “postmodern,” as some have suggested no evidence of violence in drinking establish- (Moskos, Williams, & Segal, 2000), then we ments within garrison towns—circumstances might expect to see the celebration of diversity, that may arise from a “spilling over” of the com- as it is asserted to represent a key dimension of bat masculine warrior ethic. Indeed, future the postmodern condition. It has been suggested, service personnel would be perceived as well- however, that a “postmodern” military might remunerated professional “technocratic war- mean no military at all, as uniformity remains riors” carrying out risky and challenging work the key philosophy on which military culture on behalf of the state. turns (Booth, Kestnbaum, & Segal, 2001). In the second scenario, we note little differ- Current and future political climates at ence to the British armed forces seen today. The the national level are likely to have significant three services would retain their discrete identi- impacts on the gendered characteristics of mili- ties, together with the continued underrepre- tary cultures, with a continuum ranging from sentation of women, gay personnel, and ethnic “traditional” (conservative) through to “detradi- minorities. Although public opinion would tional” (liberal) signposting the extent to which remain high in terms of perceptions of the diversity initiatives are prioritized (Dandeker, armed forces generally (Dandeker, 2000), ser- 1999, p. 64). The armed forces are likely to be vice personnel would continue to be involved in buttressed by an increasing number of reservists occasional high-profile violent incidents in and and civilians, many of whom we might imagine around garrison towns, and they would be impli- would be more tolerant of homosexuals and cated in disproportionate incidences of domestic women in the workplace, a situation that has violence in military communities and sexual evolved more fully in civilian life (Dandeker, harassment in the military workplace; the 1999, p. 31). A further trend suggesting conver- ambivalent label of “squaddie” would remain. gence between civilian and military cultures is Both of these hypothetical organizations signaled by the development of an occupational would be smaller in size when compared with or “civilianized” attitude to working life in the today’s tri-service armed forces, and they armed forces. The apparent decline in institu- would be configured to respond rapidly to tional attitude, traditionally informed by a global “hot spots,” Peace Support Operations, strong public service ethos to military service, and assisting the civil powers in antiterrorism, has received considerable attention over the drug enforcement, and illegal immigration years (Moskos, 1988). Might there be a correla- (Dandeker, 1999). One possibility might be tion between occupational/civilian attitudes to that missions would come to be mainly military service and positive perceptions of 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 440

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the drive to increase diversity in the military the archetype soldier persona creating a organization as institutional/military affiliations basically male vaguely female mechanical are noted to weaken? Other developments in the image” (p. 175), though we would argue that military include the decreasing tolerance of this view exaggerates developments thus far. A physical brutality directed toward military vision of the future in these somewhat idealized recruits by their training instructors. If physical “postmodern” terms could take technological brutality were to be considered an accepted and transformations to their end point, where com- previously unquestioned component of (mili- batant women would come to be considered as tary) masculine ideology, then changes to basic wholly interchangeable with male soldiers. army training through which recruits are more More significantly, technological developments “empowered” (rendering them less open to themselves are likely to continue to be mas- physical and mental assault from instructors) culinized, and women’s role within them consid- represents a further important development ered somewhat peripheral. Computer systems (Dandeker, 1999, p. 36; Skaine, 1999, p. 138). are one important example of vital future (and Career structures in the armed forces also have current) military technology: changed dramatically over the last 20 years, with shorter engagements becoming the norm They are “masculine,” in the full ideological sense (Dandeker, 1999, p. 40). It seems likely that this of that word which includes, integrally, soldiering, trend will continue and that more “flexible” and violence. There is nothing far-fetched in the working conditions will further align the organi- suggestion that much AI [artificial intelligence] zation with developments in civilian labor mar- research reflects a social relationship: “intelligent” kets and in so doing have the potential to give behavior means the instrumental power Western “man” has developed to an unprecedented extent relatively greater opportunities to women who under capitalism and which he has always wielded wish to take career breaks to raise families. An over woman. (Hables-Gray, 1997, p. 246) intensifying trend in contemporary militaries, frequently discussed within the context of the The gendering of science and war as mascu- execution of “clinical” wars, is the appropriation line looks unlikely to change in the near or distant of and fascination with technological develop- future. Indeed, could an example of the alleged ments. To what extent does this increasing pinnacle of technological advance, the “missile reliance on technology serve to weaken the defense system” proposed by George W. Bush, arguments of those who highlight the relative ever have been called the “daughter of Star physical shortcomings of women? Wars”? Here, we are dealing with discourses that tend to close off the technological arena from women, both structurally and culturally. TECHNOLOGY AND GENDER

Morris Janowitz suggested that changes in technology influence both organizational behavior SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND and the characteristics of combat within the MILITARY MASCULINE CULTURE— military (Winslow & Dunn, 2001). Given that CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS overall, technological developments have tended to erode the significance of physical Mark Simpson and Steven Zeeland ironically strength and aggression, we might expect illuminate the homoerotic and homosexual rather women to be more accepted in the role of “clos- than the straightforwardly heterosexual elements ing with the enemy.” However, it is the embod- of life in the armed forces in the case of both the ied elements of their combat effectiveness that British and United States’ militaries (Simpson & constantly have been questioned, frequently Zeeland, 2001). Further, anecdotal evidence sug- within an ideological context (Cohn, 2000). It is gests that a “significant proportion” of the more claimed that the “blurring” of the “cyborg” sol- senior of the female officers in the British army dier’s gender (Hables-Gray, 1997, p. 247) is may be homosexual, although this label tells likely to intensify as technology develops. As us little of their explicit views of and attitudes Hables-Gray states (1997), “It seems the female toward the organization and how they might soldier’s identity is beginning to collapse into evolve with respect to its gendered culture. David 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 441

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Morgan’s autobiographical writing about the sharp dichotomy. The experience of being British National Service includes reflection on deployed overseas frequently amplifies this an effeminate colleague who was presumed by distinction, and expressions of nationality are some to be homosexual. He was described as a refracted through military masculinity. In addi- popular man whose camp and comical perfor- tion, we might note the ways in which social mances were celebrated rather than condemned class structures these performances, with the (D. Morgan, 1987). The notion that there exists a more junior ranks embarking on high-profile uniform culture of (hetero)sexuality in the British “drinking binges” (Hockey, 2003) as a way in military and those of other countries remains an which to celebrate their nationality rowdily and area of some contestation. However, the inscrip- mark themselves out from the local “foreign- tion of heterosexuality into all aspects of culture ers.” The reputation for “squaddies” to celebrate ranging from language through to leisure activi- the masculinized ritual of high alcohol con- ties remains deeply bound up with the combat sumption is unlikely to disappear within the masculine warrior ethic, ensuring that homosex- context of either a home posting or further uality is seen as deviant and likely to threaten unit afield, as particular elements of civilian society cohesion. continue to reinforce “lad culture.” Yet, what of the future scenario outlined It has been argued that a future military above in which sexuality, like gender, is no located within rapidly changing situations, longer an issue within the military environment? tasked with multirole missions, and able to cope Might not the already present “inconsistencies” with the scrutiny of the media will need to rely flagged above give way to greater toleration in increasingly on the role of the soldier-scholar the future as civilian society becomes more dis- and the soldier-statesman to augment those posed to subvert the binaries of homo- and het- involved with fighting wars (Dandeker, 1999, erosexuality that frame the public face of the p. 36). These two roles are strongly gendered, military? The MoD’s statement on diversity rep- and it is not clear how women might be easily resents the formal face of the organization and assimilated into them. In terms of the first, the explicitly links “sexual orientation” with “toler- soldier-scholar, it is expected that technological ance.” Although future catalysts for change may and political conditions represent the central be rooted in both formal policy and human issues with which personnel would have to deal. rights legislation, it is difficult to envisage the Once again, these realms continue to be domi- ways in which advances toward equality at the nated by men (and, no doubt, these gendered level of culture can be satisfactorily achieved. processes are intensified within the context of Given the oppressive and sometimes brutal the armed forces), and there would need to be approach taken toward the identification and considerable thought given to the ways in which removal of homosexuals from the armed forces they can be opened up to women, not just at the in the very recent past, future enlightened devel- level of accessibility, but also in a cultural sense. opments will be slow in coming (Hall, 1995; In terms of the second, the soldier-statesman, Tatchell, 1995). there may be more acceptance of female service personnel from the perspective of commanders on account of their handling of “delicate mis- NATIONALITY AND sions” requiring diplomacy and sensitivity. MILITARY MASCULINE CULTURE

Military masculinities are embedded into dis- THE TENACITY OF courses of nationalism (Bickford, 2003; Caplan, MILITARY-MASCULINE CULTURE 2003; Dawson, 1994; Shaw, 1991). Construc- tions of “Englishness” or “Britishness,” invok- In the years following the conclusion of the ing past victories, and resonating with the 1991 Gulf War, there were some significant imperial and colonial trajectories of the United changes in the politics of war, the role of the Kingdom have remained tenacious for both the armed forces of the major world powers, and, military and its host society. “Our boys” belong in the case of some nation-states, the role of to us and not “the (foreign) other,” and service- women within the armed forces. However, the person identity is constructed around this observation by some commentators that the new 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 442

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world order that was emerging in the wake of Afghanistan and Iraq rather underline the point the Gulf War heralded the retreat of militarism that traditional masculinist/militarist preoccu- has proved to have been mistaken (Shaw, 1991). pations have yet to disappear. Furthermore, the Nevertheless, between the end of the 1991 Gulf high profile given to press reports of an appar- War and the events of September 11, 2001, there ently risky operation to rescue the injured were changes in the politics of war, the nature of female American soldier Private Jessica Lynch militarism, and the sexual politics of militarism. from her Iraqi captors during the 2003 war The most obvious change in the politics of war against Iraq could be interpreted as a sign that between the 1991 Gulf War and the destruction female soldiers are valued differently from their of the World Trade Center on September 11, male comrades (Hamilton & Charter, 2003). 2001, was the tendency of Western governments Leaving aside speculation that this operation to claim humanitarian motives for any mili- may not have been as risky or as necessary as tary intervention beyond their own borders. originally suggested, male soldiers were rescued Although similar arguments may be advanced to alongside Private Lynch, and it is possible that justify Britain’s declaration of war against Nazi the intelligence that led to the rescue mission Germany in 1939, Western military interven- presented the American forces with a unique tions during the 1990s were inconsistent and opportunity. The facts remain, though, that this ambiguous. For example, there was large-scale particular rescue mission was given more United Nations and NATO intervention in the prominence in the news media than any other Balkans, Somalia, and Iraq, but little attempt similar operations that might have taken place, to intervene militarily in similar situations in and that the gender of Private Lynch was very Rwanda and other “Third World” countries much stressed in much of the media coverage. (Friends Committee on National Legislation, A British Army recruiting advertisement in 1993; Gittings, 1995; Richards, 1993). Notwith- the late 1990s emphasized the integration of standing such inconsistency, though, there was a women in the Armed Forces and, significantly, steep increase in United Nations peacekeeping linked this to the growth in the army’s peace- activities after 1991 “which in 1993 cost about keeping role. The film shows a woman cowering $3bn. In 1994 almost 80,000 ‘Blue Helmets’ in the corner of a building as the commentary were deployed around the world, most based in intones, “She’s just been raped by soldiers. The ‘South’ countries and without the consent of one same soldiers murdered her husband. The last or other of the parties in the conflicts” (Assie, thing she wants to see is another soldier—unless 1995, p. 8). By the late 1990s, though, politi- that soldier is woman.” Then, as the advertise- cians were using the same logic they had used ment concludes, an armed female soldier in full to justify the deployment of ground troops to battledress enters the room. Thus, notwithstand- protect humanitarian aid convoys or act as ing the persistence of militaristic posturing on peacekeepers to justify aerial bombing raids on the part of certain politicians, there are signs Iraq and Serbia (Chomsky, 1999; S. Jenkins, that the relationship between militarism and 1998; Swain, Campbell, Rhodes, et al., 1998; masculinity have begun to change (de Groot, Wintour, 1999). Significantly, the politicians 1999). If it is the case that “pure fighting func- who sanctioned these bombing raids justified tions will become of secondary importance” and their action with a rhetoric of “determination,” that the tasks for the military after 2000 are “courage,” and euphemistic references to to “protect, help and save” (Dandeker, 1999, “diminishing and degrading” Saddam Hussein’s p. 60), these changing doctrines seem to sug- nuclear and chemical weapon stocks or “attack- gest that while a need for combat will remain, ing the heart of Slobodan Milosevic’s security its significance and centrality may decline. structure.” Although it is clear that both Hussein Given that the combat masculine warrior ethic is and Milosevic were leaders whose regimes derived from the military’s unique purpose of committed crimes against humanity, such conducting face-to-face violence, interesting rhetoric is reminiscent of traditional masculine- questions might be raised about future military militaristic political posturing. Indeed, George masculine cultures. Will any potential decline in W. Bush’s declaration of a worldwide war the significance of combat result in a similar against terrorism in the wake of the events of diminution in the “spillover” features of the September 11, 2001, and subsequent wars in combat masculine warrior ethic? Will violence 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 443

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in military and civilian communities, in military (e.g., Hicklin, 1995; Jennings & Weale, 1996). homes, and in the military workplace become Similarly, militarism (i.e., the celebration of increasingly rare as the culture evolves? military culture in national politics and popular culture) has represented an affirmation of the legitimacy of hegemonic masculinity. Con- PEACE SUPPORT OPERATIONS—A versely, men who reject militarism have often MODEL FOR THE FUTURE? been portrayed as effeminate, naive, untrust- worthy, or even politically dangerous (Taylor & Given that Peace Support Operations function Young, 1987). Thus, there are clear links in postconflict environments in which women between militaristic attitudes, male self-esteem, and girls have borne the brunt of war, we might and sexual charisma (Bristow, 1989; Hicklin, expect the activities of the Blue Helmets toward 1995; Warner, 1982). this particularly vulnerable element of the pop- Although this established relationship was ulation to be beyond question. We might even evident in the events leading up to, during, and consider that Peace Support Operations could immediately following the 1991 Gulf War, that come to represent models of good practice war and its aftermath also appeared to repre- within the context of gendered relations sent a turning point in the relationship between because their activities are informed by interna- militarism and masculinity. First, there was an tional agreements such as UN Resolution 1325 expansion of the role of the women in the British protecting the rights of women and children. armed services and full integration of separate Thus, it is difficult to escape from a sense of women’s services into the army, navy, and air pessimism when considering the future of force. Second, there was a shift in the political military-dominated institutions, their internal discourses concerning military intervention, gendered culture, and their impact on wider away from traditional masculine preoccupations gendered relations when seen against the back- with power, dominance, and territoriality and drop of recent scandals involving male peace- toward issues of human rights and peacekeeping. keepers. A number of these military personnel On the other hand, some (male) politicians con- have been implicated in trafficking in women tinued to behave in stereotypically masculinist- for the purpose of sexual slavery (Rees, 2002) militarist fashion, pursuing overtly militaristic and the routine use of prostitutes in peacekeep- foreign policy and justifying their actions in lan- ing missions (Higate, in press; Rehn & Sirleaf, guage that reflected both traditional masculinist- 2002). Although the “good news” stories about militaristic concerns and a newer rhetoric of their positive impact on gendered relations is promoting human rights and political stability. given considerably less attention by both the Since the destruction of the World Trade Center media and scholars working in the field, never- on September 11, 2001, politicians have contin- theless, military masculinist culture has proved ued to imply that being prepared to sanction mil- resistant to change, and a number of powerful itary intervention is a sign of moral courage, and privileged male peacekeepers are routinely strong government, and commitment to estab- abusing women and girls in the postconflict lishing global security. setting. Finally, PSO have signally failed to The armed forces continue to represent mainstream gender successfully, with only a the exemplar masculinist institution in terms tiny percentage of their numbers being made up of their dominant values and gendered division of female peacekeeping personnel (Lessons of labor. These models of masculinity extend Learned Unit, 2000). beyond the military and tend to shape hegemonic ideologies of what it is to be a man throughout many aspects of life. From the links CONCLUSIONS between privately funded elite British schools, through children’s toys to video games and Traditionally, the casual sexism, competitive- other aspects of popular culture, military mas- ness, and celebration of aggression and the culine culture continues to be valorized. The domination of others that are characteristic of reciprocal relationship between militarism and hegemonic masculinity have been explicitly and masculinity functions at the level of identity as unambiguously reflected in military culture well as the state (Higate, 2003b). For example, 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 444

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aspects of the British criminal justice system in tracing many practices to the level of the state are influenced by paramilitary symbols and and more globally, it is clear that militarist val- practice as a way in which to legitimate partic- ues continue to have disproportionate influence ular forms of violence such as those used by the on the ways in which hegemonic masculinity is police force. both created and reproduced. In light of the recent military action by the United States and allies against Iraq, there has been a regression to traditional gender roles, REFERENCES with men cast as the protectors and women as the protected. In looking to the future of the Assie, F. (1995, Summer). United Nations. Peace gendered culture of the British armed forces, Matters, 10, 6-9. we have made a number of speculative com- Baigent, D. (2001). Gender relations, masculinities ments about potential areas of development. As and the fire service: A qualitative study of fire- wider social change intensifies, we might fighters’ constructions of masculinity during expect that the military would reflect these firefighting and their social relations of work. influences, given that it has been argued to Unpublished doctoral thesis, Department of Sociology and Politics, Anglia Polytechnic be a microcosm of its host society. Yet, not University, Cambridge. only does military culture change slowly Barnett, A. (1982). Iron Britannia. London: Allison & (Goldstein, 2001), but in addition, it has been Busby. argued that there exists a growing gulf between Bibbings, L. (2003). Conscientious objectors in the the military and civilian spheres, particularly Great War: The consequences of rejecting mili- politicians, few of whom have direct experi- tary masculinities. In P. R. Higate (Ed.), Military ence of military service (Dandeker, 2000). In masculinities: Identity and the state. Westport, this understanding, the military is argued to be CT: Praeger. unique and to have a “need to be different” Bickford, A. (2003). The militarization of masculin- (Dandeker, 2000); it should not, therefore, be ity in the former German Democratic Republic. In P. R. Higate (Ed.), Military masculinities: treated as a social laboratory by “uninformed Identity and the state. Westport, CT: Praeger. civilians.” Booth, B., Kestnbaum, M., & Segal, D. R. (2001). We also commented on potential points of Are post-Cold War militaries postmodern? convergence and divergence concerning the Armed Forces and Society, 27(3), 319-342. permeable civilian-military interface. Here, the Bristow, J. (1989). Homophobia/misogyny: Sexual somewhat mythical New Man was invoked fears and sexual definitions. In S. Shepherd & and disregarded in the face of the extent to which M. Wallis (Eds.), Coming on strong. London: a number of young enlistees—particularly those Unwin Hyman. drawn to the combat arms—may be disposed Brittain, V. (1953). Lady into woman. London: to activities deemed hypermasculine. Other Andrew Dakers. developments, concerning the links between Brittan, A. (1989). Masculinity and power. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. technology, nationality, sexuality, the so-called Brod, H. (Ed.). (1987). The making of masculinities. soldier-scholar, and the soldier statesman, were London: Allen & Unwin. speculatively discussed. Throughout, we felt Cale, K. (1991). Kuwait was never the issue. Living unable to identify areas that might ultimately Marxism, 30, 12-15. serve to dilute either the spillover effects of Caplan, G. (2003). Militarism and masculinity as military masculinist ideologies, beliefs, and keys in the former German Democratic practices, or those that offered unarguable and Republic. In P. R. Higate (Ed.), Military mas- sustainable progress for military women. culinities: Identity and the state. Westport, CT: Finally, within the context of Peace Support Praeger. Operations, it was suggested that the recent Chamallas, M. (1998). The new gender panic: Reflections on sex scandals and the military. The sexual exploitation and abuse of local women Minnesota Law Review, 83(2), 305-375. in peacekeeping missions offers little hope for Chomsky, N. (1999). The new military humanism: future developments, perhaps pointing to the Lessons from Kosovo. London: Pluto Press. universality of wider masculine culture. The Cockburn, A., & Cohen, A. (1991). The unnecessary links between hegemonic forms of masculinity war. In V. Brittain (Ed.), The gulf between us. and the military are surprisingly tenacious, and London: Virago. 25-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 445

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ISLAMIST MASCULINITY AND MUSLIM MASCULINITIES

SHAHIN GERAMI

The terrible conflicts that herd people under falsely unifying rubrics like “America,” “The West” or “Islam” and invent collective identities for large numbers of individuals who are actually quite diverse, cannot remain as potent as they are, and must be opposed. We still have at our disposal the rational interpretive skills that are the legacy of humanistic education, not as a sentimental piety enjoining us to return to traditional values or the classics but as the active practice of worldly secular rational discourse. —Edward Said (2003, p. 23)

INTRODUCTION are never monolithic as such, never religious by definition, nor are their cultures simply reducible It has become a common mantra to acknowledge to mere religion” (2003, p. 5). the incredible diversity of Islamic cultures, identi- Accepting this dynamic and self-conscious ties, and interpretations. Having said that, we then process of cultural construction within Muslim proceed to identify and analyze commonalities societies, it is then more plausible to conceive of and even offer generalizations. Following Edward gender identities not merely reducible to Islamic Said and borrowing from Bayat, I will distinguish femininity or Islamic feminist; nor are mas- between Islamist identity as an abstract construct culinities reducible to one dimension of Islamic applied by others, on one hand, and Muslim iden- masculinity. In this chapter, I will explore the tities as “concrete, contested, and differentiated” prototype of Islamist masculinity and Muslim identities created through individual or group masculinities. The former is more of a category agency, on the other. Bayat reminds us that recognized by others; the latter is more repre- “‘Islamic society’ becomes a totalizing notion” sentative of construction of masculinities within that is undifferentiated, while “‘Muslim societies’ Muslim countries.

Author’s note: I would like to thank Doris Ewing and Michael Kimmel for their insightful comments and suggestions. I am indebted to Sondra Cogswell for her untiring assistance in preparing various versions of this chapter.

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Gender discourses in Muslim cultures have a countries (MENA). Among them, some articles double life. Similar to other gender dichotomies, in Sinclair-Webb’s (2000) volume explore gender identities have indigenous faces and individual agency and group construction of external stereotypes. The indigenous women’s masculinities in this region. Articles in a special identities are multifaceted and are becoming issue of the journal Men and Masculinities more visible and diverse. The men’s discourse (2003) deliver additional perspectives on mas- is visible as a standard and the norm. It is the culinity discourse in this region. Nevertheless, Western cultural references of these roles that are the emphasis has remained on Arab cultures and very visible and stereotypical. Middle Eastern and North African societies. Exploring Muslim masculinity has found Because the Western notions of Muslim men are its cultural context not in the Islamic societies driven from the stereotypes of Middle Eastern but in the post–September 11 context of Western cultures, I will focus on Muslim Middle Eastern cultures. The Western popular cultures have and North African societies as well. The vast seen their demons, and they are Muslim men diversities of Central and South Asian countries (Ratnesar & Zabriskis, 2004). Their universally and Muslim cultures of European and North recognized prototypes are bearded, gun-toting, American societies will not be covered. This bandanna-wearing men, in long robes or mili- will be a historical extraction of masculine tary fatigues of some Islamist (read terrorist) modalities in this region since the colonial organization or country. domination. Analysis of masculinities is another new In the remainder of this chapter, I will explore Western discourse that may eventually spread to the role of global hegemonic masculinity and other cultures. Kimmel and Messner (2001) the emergence of national masculinity figures maintain that masculinity studies in the United out of the independence movements and nation- States are influenced by feminist studies, race building process in MENA societies. Later, I will and class studies, queer theory, and poststruc- examine the postindependence and Cold War turalisms. Because masculinity studies—like period when we witness varied representations their predecessor, women’s studies—come from of Muslim masculinities on the national scene in the West, they are constructed within Western the region. In the last three decades, we have wit- gender dichotomies. The major premises of these nessed the arrival of Islamist masculinity from studies indicate that (a) gender is socially con- Islamic and fundamentalist movements. Finally, structed, and thus, gender identities are acquired; I will attempt to make plural Muslim masculini- (b) power differential is societal and not natural; ties visible. (c) the intersection of race, class, gender, and other social distinctions makes some categories of women privileged as compared with others; GLOBAL HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY (d) gender privileges of masculinities must be made visible and thus challenged; (e) human Is there a hegemonic masculinity universally biology is defined by the linguistic tools of a cul- recognized? Inevitably, one leads to the media- ture, and thus, biological hierarchies of race and projected images of Western masculinity gender are open to interpretations; and finally, broadcast around the globe. This hegemonic (f) heterosexuality is a given culturally privileged masculinity is invariably white, Christian, sexuality. Masculinities studies have borrowed heterosexual, and dominant. Its virtual presenta- from all of the above, proposing plural constructions are on movie screens and Internet sites. Its tion of masculinities (Duroche, 1990; Edwards, real-life representatives are Western political 1990; Kegan Gardiner, 2000; Pleck & Sawyer, and military leaders peering from front pages of 1974). Of the above premises, the first three have newspapers and TV screens. In the era of CNN, been accepted in the academic and intellectual even in small villages there are a few satellite gender discourses in many Muslim countries; dishes that project these images. the others, especially sexuality as socially The appearance of global hegemonic mas- constructed, has a long way to go. culinity dates back to colonial expansion. There is a nascent literature in the North Previous invasions of the motherland or its rape analyzing lived experiences of Muslim men, and pillage were more regional and by groups focusing on the Middle Eastern/North African that were culturally and physically somewhat 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 450

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similar to the victims. None had the magnitude visible; and in some cases they are omnipresent, of colonial domination by a different race and as in Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and Iran, among culture. This invasion also intensified the lan- other countries (Saghieh, 2000). Although a guage of rape of motherland by a penetrating national masculinity dominates the social scene, foreign force (Ahmed, 1992). In Muslim soci- it remains secondary to global masculinity. eties, as in many other colonized cultures, the During the nation-building period, strong colonial domination raised serious challenges to national leaders emerged and overshadowed the local masculinities across the region. Men’s tribal or ethnic ideals of masculinities. Heroic honor was threatened, and they were called models like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Turkey, upon to protect it. This catapulted women’s veil Jamaal Abdul Nasser in Egypt, Iran’s Reza to the national and political scene as the symbol Shah, and Pakistan’s Jinnah became the coun- of men’s honor. No longer was women’s honor terparts to the Western hegemonic masculinity. particular to a clan, a tribe, or a man; it became With the ideal of nationhood and a centralized symbolic of the national honor. Female sym- state came the ideal of one national leader bolisms figure strongly in independence move- subsuming regional or ethnic masculinities. As ments from Egypt to the Indian subcontinent these leaders each forcefully forged a nation- (Abdel Kader, 1987; Gerami, 1996). state, he also forged a national masculinity by What hampers the recognition of masculinity subduing other contending masculine figures. studies in the South is the marginal attention For example, Reza Shah in Iran, following the given to the colonized masculinities as opposed example of Ataturk in Turkey, not only banned to the Western hegemonic masculinity. Feminist women’s veil but also barred men from wearing studies have overcome this by both acknowl- ethnic, religious, or tribal clothing. Men’s public edgment of Western feminist scholars and the appearance was made to comply in both coun- rich literature appearing both from and by the tries with Western codes of suit and tie. feminists of the South. In contrast, when colonized masculinities are considered, they are Cold War Masculinities hyphenated ethnic masculinities of Western societies. This is less a failure of Western gender The postwar, postindependence situation of studies than a result of the cultural context the Muslim countries was dominated by the Cold of gender debate in the South. The Islamic War of the two superpowers; therefore, each societies are grappling with crosscurrents of national leader was subservient to another hege- globalization, cultural liberalization, Islamic monic male figure. For example, Egyptian fundamentalism, and democracy, to name a few. Nasser was under the protection of the Soviets’ In this context, the gender discourse for the Nikita Khrushchev, just as the Iranian Shah and foreseeable future will revolve around women’s Pakistani Butu were under the patronage of rights and roles. various American presidents from Dwight Whereas women’s studies are emerging and D. Eisenhower to Richard Nixon. The closer a even thriving in many parts of the South, mas- country was to a dominant core, the more present culinity issues remain un-organic. Needless to and dominating the hegemonic masculinity was say, the privileged position of gender discourse in the peripheral country. While Eisenhower was in the West calls for consideration of colonized present in the subtext of Iranian politics, he was masculinities, in the hope that when the time less visible and perhaps less influential in comes, organic studies of masculinities will Turkish national discourse, as Turkey was less of emerge from within gender studies of the South. a client state of the United States than was Iran. The postcolonial period offered a hierarchy of nation-states accompanied by a hierarchy of NATIONAL masculine modalities. A global hegemonic CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINITY masculinity was followed by national masculinity figures born with their nation-states. The The pervasiveness of hegemonic masculinity national masculinity of the independence move- overshadows the national and cultural masculin- ments became more diffused and more pene- ities in most Muslim societies. Needless to say, trating. The Cold War and the détente period national masculinity figures are present and offered a respite allowing diffusion of cultural 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 451

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discourses, among them gender narratives company provided potent models. I remember spreading to the mainstream of Western cul- that many of the prime-time characters of tures. From this appeared varied representations American television, such as Dr. Kildare, of plural masculinities in the core and peripheral Western cowboys, and even Perry Mason were countries. duplicated and imitated in Iranian TV productions or in radio shows. The same happened in Cultural Masculinities the Egyptian or Turkish genre of TV production. As variations of Western masculinities, par- The Iranian Contributions ticularly in terms of ethnicity and racial diversity, of the Warrier and the Shahid became visible, so did Muslim masculinities witness some diversions. Postindependence Muslim Being Shiite, the Iranian heroes had the men in the MENA region experienced some masculine attributes of Ali and Hussein; the freedom of expression that was allowed prophet’s son-in-law and grandson. Shiites the hegemonic man of the Western cultures. believe that before his death, the Prophet had Masculinities in Muslim societies came full cir- designated his son-in law, Ali, and his descen- cle by starting from the diffused ethnic, tribal, dants to be his true successors. But after the rural, and urban masculinities of precolonialism Prophet’s death, the community elders elected to a national masculinity of independence move- his father-in-law, Abu Baker, as the first caliph. ments, and then to diverse masculinities of post- Ali eventually became the fourth caliph and independence and the Cold War era. ruled for 5 years that ended with his assassina- The dominant prototype remained the strong tion by a militant group. In 680 C.E., his second nationalistic—as opposed to ethnic—Muslim son, Hussein, tried to regain the power from leader; however, mass media provided for alter- caliph Yazid to restore the true Islamic society. native masculinities. These were never too far In the Battle of Karbala, he was defeated, and he from the prototype, but less austere and more and many members of his small entourage were representative of the class and ethnic diversity killed. of a society. Weak men or funny figures were These two ideals of righteousness have col- allowed and made fun of to teach a lesson in ored the notion of justice and morality as well as proper masculinity. The national media, espe- gender ideals of masculinity in Shiite communi- cially the visual media, experimented with vari- ties. Ali and Hussein reflect different types of ations in terms of ethnic, working class, peasant, masculinities in the Shiite construction-of- and even criminal masculinities. masculinity package. Ali’s manly persona of The national cinema in countries such as “the Warrier” has been replicated in Shiite cul- Egypt, Iran, and Turkey had typecasts represent- tures from Pakistan to Lebanon, from poetry to ing these masculinities. They were virile men, cinema. Hussein represents another type of physically and morally strong. They could be masculinity, that of “the shahid,” a martyr. simple or rural, as opposed to the cunning urban Hussein’s model became the essence of injus- men. They defended the good woman’s honor tice and denied rights in the Iranian conscious- and sometimes saved a woman from turning in ness (Hegland, 1995). He is praised and vile and corrupt ways (Armbrust, 2000; Leaman, mourned every year in Shiite communities of 2001). the region in street plays (tazieh). Whereas the These prototypes, whether a strong leader, Iranian cinema seized on Ali’s myth to present working class hero, or historical figure, usually new folk heroes, Hussein’s persona as a shahid were secular but committed to Islamic moralities. became the essence of the street play and later The religious subtext informed all moral dimen- was integrated into the construction of Islamist sions of personalities and identities, female or masculinity. male. The wrongdoers and evil masculinites departed from the right path of Islamic moral codes, and heroes adhering to them saved the day. ISLAMIST MASCULINITY In addition to the indigenous portrait of Islamic masculinities, Western examples of Here I distinguish between Islamist masculinity masculinity resembling John Wayne and and plural Muslim masculinities. The former is a 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 452

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product of fundamentalist resistance movements Muslims take witness that “there is no God but and Western media. The latter are the gender Allah and Mohammad is the Prophet of Allah,” identities of real men formed across boundaries they take witness to strive against desires of of nationality, ethnicity, and class. flesh, polytheism, and concerns for worldly pos- During the 1970s, Middle Eastern experimen- sessions. The public aspect of shahadat is the tations with Western models of development such act of sacrificing one’s life in a jihad to protect as capitalism, socialism, or even a mixed econ- Islam or an Islamic nation. Needless to say, omy were showing signs of fissure. The Islamic these personal levels have been subsumed under Revolution in Iran marked the first reaction to the the public aspects of the narratives to deliver the failure of the experiments and, in hindsight, the Islamist masculinity of today. future of the Cold War policies. The Iranian revo- The invasion of Iran by Iraqi forces in 1980 lution marks the beginning of Islamic fundamen- created the perfect context for the coming talism as a solution to the problems of Muslim together of the above narratives. The Islamic nations and as a political base for the state. In the ideology of the revolution and charismatic force late 20th century, fundamentalist movements of the Ayatollah Khomeini had already created a spread across the region and contributed to the fertile ground to move beyond the personal prominence of one particular image of masculin- aspects of jihad and shahadat to the public ity. It became a response to the hegemonic global arena of a social movement. These narratives masculinity and its various national duplicates. further evolved in the context of the Iraqi inva- Fundamentalist movements in many Muslim sion and the ensuing 8-year war. Thus the mod- societies share elements of a retroactive ideology ern myth of the shahid was born. Although the to reinstate the earlier “pure” Islamic society. ideal of shahadat was used by the Afghani Therefore, their gender ideologies dictate reli- mujahideens against the Soviet Union, or the giously ordained places for each sex. There is a Palestinian resistance against the occupation, rich literature documenting Islamic fundamen- none had the force and prominence of the talisms’ doctrinal mandates and policies for Iran/Iraq war. women (Afshar, 1998; Gerami & Safiri, in press; The Iranian resistance institutionalized and Mir-Hosseini, 1999; Shehadeh, 2003). Men’s internationalized shahadat and its masculinity ideals within these ideologies are receiving some prototypes. Shahids are poster men (boys) of attention (Gerami, 2003a). Kurzman (2002) pro- Islamist masculinity. They are young men, pure vides a concise summary of characteristics of and innocent (virgin), who battle the forces of Islamic fundamentalism and the socioeconomic the infidel while taking witness to their faith. background of some famous Islamist men. Peteet There are cultural variations to this masculin- (2000) contributes to our understanding of ity script but no major deviation from its essence the construction of Islamist masculinity in the of maleness, purity, and faith. The real-life occupied territories. Indirectly, the growing body examples of Islamist masculinity may have none of work on Islamic precepts, jihad, and the of the above, but they claim admission to the rank hermeneutics of Quran further the discourse on of shohada (plural of shahid) by virtue of their Muslim identity and Muslim men (Esposito, sacrifice. In the Iran/Iraq war, this hero worship 2003; Lawrence, 1998; Soroush, 2000). prompted many boys to join the ranks of bosiji The Islamist masculinity is the product of (volunteers). To the outside world, they were this era. Two major narratives inform the proto- child soldiers or human cannonballs. To the type of Islamist masculinity discourse across Islamist discourse, they were martyrs. This ideal the world: jihad and shahadat. The majority of of martyrdom later engulfed the region. In Egypt, Muslims, regardless of their orientation, distin- various uprisings were attributed to the Muslim guish between “the greater jihad, the personal, Brotherhood (Al-ikvans al-muslimun). Among spiritual struggle, and the lesser, warfare form of their heroes is President Anwar Sadat’s murderer. jihad” (Esposito, 2003, p. 38). It is the warfare All the hijackers of September 11, 2001, have the jihad that is known by non-Muslims and forms characteristics of this prototype, and for many in the narrative of this Islamist masculinity. the region they fit the shahid persona. Equally, the shahadat (martyrdom) narrative Warrior rites in the past and soldiering rituals also occupies a personal and a public level of of modern armies mark the transition of the engagement (Gerami, 2003b, p. 266). When child into manhood. In cultures with a siege 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 453

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component, military aspects of masculinity 30 years, born to middle- or lower-class urban signal the arrival and inclusion of the “man” as parents. The majority of this population has a venerated citizen (Arkin & Dobrofsky, 1978; high school education, with some having a few Sinclair-Webb, 2000). Kaplan (2000) and Peteet years of postsecondary schooling. Regardless, (2000) illustrate how masculinities are forged they are poorly trained for limited, desirable through daily violent confrontations between jobs in technology. Their families’ expectations Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinian deem manual jobs undesirable, leaving them youth. Soldiers and the youth obtain their ven- with limited prospects of employment. This erated manhood through acts of sacrifice in the large group is in the center of two major coun- name of faith, land, and honor. tercurrents: Islamic fundamentalism and Kaplan maintains that military service in cultural liberalization. The ideal of a prosper- Israel confers “recognized and legitimate themes ous nuclear family is out of reach for most identified with hegemonic masculinity” (2000, members of this group. Islamic fundamentalism p. 136) within the Zionist enterprise. This mas- provides the answer for some segment of this culinity is then poised and ready to battle the population; however, its strict mandates of aus- enemy’s masculinity. Therefore, as the ritual- tere lifestyle do not have wide appeal, contrary ized battles confer hegemonic masculinity to the to the media views in the West. young Israeli men, the beatings by these soldiers The older generations of urban middle-class and imprisonment confer militant manhood upon men have their own unyielding problems to the Palestinian boys (Peteet, 2000). According to tame. These groups, who have moved to cities Sahmmas (quoted by Peteet, 2000, p. 106), the or were born there, have some secondary educa- Israeli military does not use the Hebrew word for tion. Most are small merchants or civil service “children” when referring to Palestinian boys; employees. With families to support, they face rather, it will report that a young man of 10 was the exorbitant cost of housing and the demands shot dead by soldiers. The military initiation that of supporting large families, usually of more turns the Israeli youth into hegemonic men, by than four. Inflation, unresponsive governments, beating, turns Palestinian youth into freedom corruption, and obligations of extended family fighters, and maybe martyrs. The Palestinian create counterpressures (Salehi Esfahani & youth then has deference and respect bestowed Taheripour, 2002). This group may welcome upon him by his community, upon release from Islamic fundamentalisms’ restrictions on prison. These daily examples of violence inflicted women, as they allows them to better control upon boys are used to confer status and mark their women in the cities. They then pay for the recognition to manhood. stay-at-home wife and daughters who cannot Islamist masculinity is one player in this contribute to the family income. Additionally, global guerrilla warfare of hegemonic masculini- they have to deal with their adolescent children’s ties. Shahid as a category is abstract and fails demands for new consumer goods. to encompass the diversity of the participants, The lower-income urban and rural men are including women (“Hamas Woman Bomber Kills further frustrated by the above-mentioned pres- Israelis,” 2004). Kimmel points out that gender, sures. Disappointed with the poor employment “their masculinity, their sense of masculine prospects of rural areas and small towns, they entitlement, and their thwarted ambitions” (2004, are the first to migrate to larger cities of the p. 82), is the commonality that bonds Timothy region. There, they swell the ranks of the under- McVeigh, Adolf Hitler, and Atta together. He and and unemployed and contribute to increased others have also pointed to the shared middle- crime. The demand for manual labor in cities is and lower-middle-class background of the partic- limited to construction and some service work. ipants in this brand of masculinity (Gerami, These jobs, when available, offer little savings 2003b; Wickham, 2002; Wiktorowicz, 2001). to be sent to the family left behind or for wedding expenses. Islamist organizations offer some of these young men an answer but cannot MUSLIM MASCULINITIES offer employment or pay for the expenses of large masses of recruits. Young urban men are the majority of men in The professional upper-middle-class men the MENA countries. They are under the age of have the advantages of a life of consumerism 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 454

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and meaningful work. They are more secure the demand for farm labor while failing to financially and can support their children’s produce living-wage manufacturing jobs in dreams. Despite their contribution to the system, cities (Coes, 1995; Onis & Webb, 1994). Unre- they remain the technocrats in most govern- sponsive governments that are run by a single ments and face blocked avenues of political par- family or stratum lack flexibility to respond to ticipation. They have the continuous anxiety of these forces. Additionally, for the majority of their children’s future. Most universities cannot Muslims, the Palestinians’ suffering has turned meet the demands of a large pool of young into a chronic feeling of guilt and shame, applicants, leaving men of this class and their regardless of ethnic identity (Kurd, Arab, or families searching for a better future for their Iranian) or religious orientation (Armenians, children. For many, this better future lies in the Druz, etc.). The Middle Eastern/Islamic psyche long lines of visa applicants at Western con- aches with the pain and humiliation of the sulates (Gerami, 2003a). Palestinians, sometimes leading to desperate Interestingly, as in the United States, higher measures. education in many Muslim countries records There are other currents worthy of note, such more female than male students. Countries such as the influx of information through the Internet, as Egypt, Iran, and Turkey report more female international migration and heightened aware- than male students passing the Herculean ness of the promised land of the West, and entrance exams and entering universities (Sachs, women’s movements of various strength. Addi- 2000; UNESCO, 2000-2001). Several factors tionally, the Muslim population worldwide is have contributed to this gender reversal, among very young, with the median age in the MENA them the increase in urban mothers who have a region about 21 years old (United Nations high school education and approve higher edu- Population Division, 2002). The demographics cation for their daughters. It is more acceptable alone promises reconstruction of gender roles for for young men to travel abroad for education the next millennium. More than ever, this large than for single women, and thus more scholar- population will form their masculine identity ships are guaranteed to men for study abroad. influenced by economic and cultural forces of a Indeed, some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, hegemonic global system. Their responses vary require that an adult supervise a young women’s by their socioeconomic background and their travel abroad. The high cost of living has led to perception of available opportunities. postponement of marriage for both sexes, and For example, in the Cape Town ghettos in the young families need the woman’s income to South Africa, urban youth combine machismo maintain their middle-class standard or even to and vigilantism to fight drug dealers and take achieve it. back their neighborhood in the name of Islam For men, higher education as a means toward (Bangstad, 2002, p. 10). In France, second- the “global good life” has failed to deliver. generation “reconvert” youth walk the cities Women with more education are making some inside or outside the country to spread Islam. men feel insecure and are challenging their sense “They are between 18 and 36 years of age and of male entitlement. In addition, the responsibility live essentially in the French suburbs, where the of being the male provider may have contributed cumulated difficulties of unemployment, exclu- to young men’s disdain of a higher education sion and racism are predominant” (Khedimellah, that does not guarantee return. Thus, some young 2002, p. 20). men look for innovative approaches (Merton, 1968) to obtain the good life for themselves and Liberal Masculinities their families. Muslim masculinities are produced within Muslim masculinities are also responding to these structural and cultural currents (Lubeck, the positive aspects of globalization, namely 2000). Islamic fundamentalisms, with their cultural tolerance and political liberalization. As associated vigilance against Western hegemony; I am finishing this chapter the Iranian experi- relaxation of traditional gender roles; and a ment of adjusting democracy to Islam is strug- strong desire for cultural authenticity, demand a gling with liberalization. The Iranian electorates conservative approach. Economic globalization are gearing for the Majles (parliamentary) elec- has reduced micro agricultural production and tion in February of 2004. The Guardian Council, 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 455

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a constitutional body of mostly conservative imperialists, or globalization, this group puts the clerics, is responsible for checking every bill and blame at the door of the national leaders. every law to guarantee compatibility with the The Iranian liberal masculinities are in Islamic mandates. The Council is also responsi- accordance with a nascent youth movement in ble for vetting candidates for the parliament or Muslim societies. This is an anti-Islamist move- presidency by reviewing their credentials for ment and anti-shahid. It is a product of, and con- their Islamic worthiness. For the current tributes to, a new discourse on modernity that elections, the Council has rejected about 3,000 has gone beyond the old dichotomy of “the West candidates, among them most of the current and the Rest.” It is an attempt not to modernize representatives. Islam, but rather to design an Islamized mod- The Islamic Republic is an experimental ernism compatible with pluralism, reformation model of negotiating between Islam and (ijtihad), and dismantling of religious jurispru- modernity. Individual civil liberties, secularism, dence. The liberal Muslim men pioneering this organizational separation of faith and state appa- narrative are writers such as Soroush, Mujtahid- ratus, universal definition of citizenship free from Shabastari, Kadviar, or the Algerian opposition gender, and ethnicity or religious restrictions all leader, Abbasi Madani. This new brand and their are being debated. ideological leaders are against “ideologization Children of the revolution, born at the end of of religion, which means turning it into an the war, call themselves “generation 3” and are at instrument of fanaticism and hatred” (Soroush, the forefront of this debate. Their middle-class 2000, p. 21). The second-generation Western- urban parents believed in small families and born youth or Muslim converts in Europe lavished on their offspring what they had desired (Allievi, 2002) echo the same sentiments. for themselves, especially on education. Now Progressive Muslim men of this brand are bor- this generation has arrived, and they are impa- rowing from the environmental and women’s tient, young, technology-savvy children of global movements to reinterpret the Quran, and they expectations. They face another group of children espouse new constructions of Muslim identity of the revolution from their own generation, (Esack, 2003). They are against exclusionary mostly from the lower strata of urban areas; they ideologies of fundamentalism and Wahabism are more inclined toward Islamic organizations and strive toward a discourse of tolerance and and are loyal to the regime and the revolution. gender redefinition. This is a fine line, espe- Families are siding with their children too. cially for Muslim men in the West. While they Families of the shahids or those of the veterans of are striving for acceptance, they are being sin- the war are vigilant to keep the spirit of the revo- gled out by the public and profiled by the lution and Islam alive and present. These families authorities. To the conservative Muslims, they have a lot to lose, both psychologically and finan- lack ethnic authenticity and have sold out their cially. The pain of giving a son for a cause when true faith for the price of admission to the West. the memories are cherished is more bearable than To the dominant group of their Western homes, when the son is forgotten or his memories are they are suspects deserving to be watched. diminished. These families receive tangible benefits from the giant Shahid Foundation in terms of pension, material goods, and favorable quotas POSTSCRIPT in employment and university admission. The university students are the countertrends My personal experiences have suggested that to the shahids. These young, clean-shaven, urban men’s class position creates more commonali- youth are for liberalized education, free access ties than do their combined ethnic and religious to civil liberties, and privatization of religious background. During my first 2 years of college, institutions and practices. They want to mix and I rented an apartment from an Armenian socialize with the opposite sex freely, and they woman in a lower-middle-class neighborhood find mandatory dress and behavior codes humil- of old Tehran. My landlady, a businesswoman, iating and oppressive. They often organize in covered her hair like her Muslim neighbors, student protests, sit-ins, and media events to though slightly differently. The majority of the express their opinions on issues. Unlike the shops and businesses belonged to ethnic Islamists, who blame mostly the outsiders, Iranians. The prominent distinguishing feature 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 456

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of the community was not its religious plurality, popular culture. Finally, it will help to make real but rather its rich language diversity. The men Muslim masculinities visible. looked, acted, and treated their businesses and their families very similarly. The only way you knew their religious background was through REFERENCES their language. With each other, they spoke in Farsi; with their ethnic members, they broke Abdel Kader, S. (1987). Egyptian women in a changing into Armani, Turkish, and Kurdish, with a few society, 1899-1987. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. sprinkles of Assyrian. As expected, they knew Afshar, H. (1998). Islam and feminism: An Iranian their customers’ backgrounds and spoke appro- case study. New York: St. Martin’s. priate languages. The class distinction bound Ahmed, L. (1992). Women and gender in Islam: men of my neighborhood from the lower mid- Historical roots of the modern debate. New dle class of the old city, to the middle class of Haven, CT: Yale University Press. suburbia, and later to the yuppie condos. Their Allievi, S. (2002, December). Converts and the mak- diverse ideologies of Sunni and Shiia Islam, ing of European Islam. International Institute Christian Armenian, Kalimi Jewry, and later for the Study of Islam in the Modern World Newsletter, 11. Retrieved February 10, 2004, Marxism-Leninism, were secondary. from www.isim.nl/files/newsl_11.pdf Men’s social class and its associated life Arkin, W., & Dobrofsky, L. R. (1978). Military chances are the primary factors in their iden- socialization and masculinity. In Journal of tity construction. Their ethnicity, rural or urban Social Issues, 34(1), 151-168. background, and religious orientations con- Armbrust, W. (2000). Farid Shauqi: Tough guy, family tribute to their agency in constructing mascu- man, and cinema star. In M. Ghoussoub & linity out of opposing trends and pressures. E. Sinclair-Webb (Eds.), Imagined masculinities: Feminist men oppose the spread of Shari’at, for Male identity and culture in the modern Middle it can restrict women’s civil rights. Contrary to East. London: Saqi. expectations that Islamic states will increase Bangstad, S. (2002, December). Revisiting PAGAD: Machoism or Islamism? International Institute men’s advantages, in countries that have imple- for the Study of Islam in the Modern World mented Shari’at law, men are not faring better in Newsletter, 11, 10. terms of economic gains or life chances of Bayat, A. (2003, December). The use and abuse health, education, or improved standards of of “Muslim Societies.” International Institute living. If fundamentalist governments were to for the Study of Islam in the Modern World improve men’s opportunities, Afghani men Newsletter, 13. Retrieved February 10, 2004, should have been at the forefront of Muslim from www.isim.nl/files/Newsl_13.pdf masculinities. Coes, D. V. (1995). Macroeconomic crises, policies, Schacht and Ewing (1998) remind us of a and growth in Brazil, 1964-1990. Washington, feminist agenda of “creating nonoppressive DC: World Bank. realities” by challenging “the invisible ways Duroche, L. (1990). Male perception as social construction. In J. Hearn & D. Morgan (Eds.), Men, patriarchal and corresponding gender assump- masculinities and social theory. London: Unwin tions have dominated our thinking” (p. 14). The Hyman. current demonization of brown men in the Edwards, T. (1990). Beyond sex and gender: Western media, particularly American, is harm- Masculinity, homosexuality and social theory. In ful to all of us. The pervasiveness and the pene- J. Hearn & D. Morgan (Eds.), Men, masculini- trating power of American media beckon us to ties and social theory. London: Unwin Hyman. challenge its continuous vilification of Muslim Esack, F. (2003). In search of progressive Islam and Middle Eastern men. A study of Muslim beyond 9/11. In O. Safi (Ed.), Progressive masculinities is necessary, for it will aid women Muslims. Oxford, UK: Oneworld. and gender studies in the Muslim societies, it Esposito, J. (2003). Unholy war. New York: Oxford University Press. will help Muslim men to understand and negoti- Gerami, S. (1996). Women and fundamentalism: Islam ate rapid social changes, and it will aid Western and Christianity. New York: Garland. masculinity studies in going beyond self- Gerami, S. (2003a). Men and immigration. In absorption with sexuality and in further incor- M. Kimmel & A. Aronson (Eds.), Men and porating the discourse of imperialism into the masculinities: A social, cultural, and historical mainstream of gender discourse and perhaps the encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 26-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:40 PM Page 457

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Gerami, S. (2003b). Mullahs, martyrs and men: politics of violence. In M. Ghoussoub & Conceptualizing masculinity in the Islamic E. Sinclair-Webb (Eds.), Imagined masculini- Republic of Iran. Men and Masculinities, 5(3), ties: Male identity and culture in the modern 257-295. Middle East. London: Saqi. Gerami, S., & Safiri, M. (in press). Qur’an: Women Pleck, J. H., & Sawyer, J. (Eds.). (1974). Men and and modern interpretations, late 1800 to the masculinity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice present. In S. Joseph & A. Najmabadi (Eds.), Hall. Encyclopedia of women and Islamic cultures. Ratnesar, R., & Zabriskis, P. (2004, January 26). The Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. rise of the Jihadists. Time, pp. 30-31. Hamas woman bomber kills Israelis. (2004, January Sachs, S. (2000, July 22). In Iran, more women 14). BBC News World Edition. Retrieved from leaving the nest for university. New York Times. http://news.bbc.co.uk Retrieved February 10, 2004, from www Hegland, M. (1995). Shi’a women of Northwest .library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/irnwmnz Pakistan and agency through practice: Ritual, .htm resistance, resilience. Political and Legal Anthro- Saghieh, H. (2000). “That’s how I am, world!”: pology Review, 18, 65-79. Saddam, manhood and monolithic image. In Kaplan, D. (2000). The military as a second bar mitz- M. Ghoussoub & E. Sinclair-Webb (Eds.), vah: Combat service as initiation to Zionist mas- Imagined masculinities: Male identity and cul- culinity. In M. Ghoussoub & E. Sinclair-Webb ture in the modern Middle East. London: Saqi. (Eds.), Imagined masculinities: Male identity and Said, E. (2003, August 4). Orientalism 25 years later. culture in the modern Middle East. London: Saqi. CounterPunch. Retrieved February 10, 2004, Kegan Gardiner, J. (2000). Introduction. In J. Kegan from www.counterpunch.org/said08052003.html Gardiner (Ed.), Masculinity studies and feminist Salehi Esfahani, H., & Taheripour, F. (2002). Hidden theory. New York: Columbia University Press. public expenditures and the economy in Iran. Khedimellah, M. (2002, December). Aesthetics and International Journal of Middle East Studies, poetics of apostolic Islam in France. Interna- 34, 691-718. tional Institute for the Study of Islam in the Schacht, S. P., & Ewing, D. W. (Eds.). (1998). Modern World Newsletter, 11, 20. Feminism and men: Reconstructing gender rela- Kimmel, M. (2004). Gender, class and terrorism. tions. New York: New York University Press. In M. Kimmel & M. Messner, Men’s lives Shehadeh, L. R. (2003). The idea of women in funda- (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. mentalist Islam. Gainesville: University Press of Kimmel, M., & Messner, M. (2001). Men’s lives Florida. (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Sinclair-Webb, E. (2000). “Our bulent is now a com- Kurzman, C. (2002, Fall/Winter). Bin Laden and other mando”: Military service and manhood in thoroughly modern Muslims. Contexts, 13-20. Turkey. In M. Ghoussoub & E. Sinclair-Webb Lawrence, B. (1998). Shattering the myth: Islam (Eds.), Imagined masculinities: Male identity beyond violence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton and culture in the modern Middle East. London: University Press. Saqi. Leaman, O. (2001). Companion encyclopedia of Soroush, A. (2000). Reason, freedom and democracy Middle Eastern and North African film. London: in Islam (M. Sadri & A. Sadri, Eds. and Trans.). Routledge. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Lubeck, P. (2000). The Islamic revival: Antinomies UNESCO Institute of Statistics. (2000-2001). of Islamic movements under globalization. In Statistical tables. Retrieved from www.uis. unesco R. Cohen & S. M. Rai (Eds.), Global social .org/TEMPLATE/html/Exceltables/education/ movements. New Brunswick, NJ: Athlone. ger_tertiary.xls Merton, R. (1968). Social theory and social structure. United Nations Population Division. (2002). Annex New York: Free Press. tables. Retrieved from www.un.org/esa/population/ Mir-Hosseini, Z. (1999). Islam and gender: The reli- publications/wpp2002/wpp2002annextables. gious debate in contemporary Iran. Princeton, PDF NJ: Princeton University Press. Wickham, C. (2002). Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Onis, Z., & Webb, S. B. (1994). Turkey: Democ- activism and political change in Egypt. New York: ratization and adjustment from above. In Columbia University Press. S. Haggard & S. B. Webb (Eds.), Voting for Wiktorowicz, Q. (2001). The management of Islamic reform. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. activism: Salafis, the Muslim brotherhood and Peteet, J. (2000). Male gender and rituals of resis- state power in Jordan. Albany: State University tance in the Palestinian Intifada: A cultural of New York Press. 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 458

MEN’S COLLECTIVE STRUGGLES FOR GENDER JUSTICE

The Case of Antiviolence Activism

MICHAEL FLOOD

en’s collective struggles for gender 1995, p. 205). Four other forms of masculinity justice are an important aspect of con- politics currently visible among men include gay M temporary contestations of gender. men’s movements, men’s groups and networks Groups and networks of men across the globe, focused on “men’s liberation” or “masculinity often in collaboration with women, are engaged therapy,” mythopoetic men’s groups, and men’s in public efforts in support of gender equality. rights and fathers’ rights groups engaged in a Men’s antiviolence activism is the most visible defense of patriarchal masculinity. These diverse and well-developed aspect of such efforts. forms of gendered activity are both symptoms of Among the range of groups and campaigns and contributors to a wider problematization of enacted by men in the name of progressive gen- men and men’s practices (Hearn, 2001, p. 85). A der agendas over the last three decades, antivio- range of terms has been used to describe male lence work has been the most persistent focus, political and intellectual endeavors sympathetic has attracted the largest involvements, and has to feminism, from antisexist and antipatriarchal achieved the greatest international participation. to profeminist. Men’s antiviolence activism therefore is an Men’s collective and profeminist mobiliza- important case study of male involvement in tions on gender issues are a delicate form of polit- struggles for gender justice. What does this ical activity, as they involve the mobilization of activism involve, why do men participate, and members of a privileged group in order to under- how do patriarchal inequalities shape both mine that same privilege. Most if not all contem- men’s efforts and their reception? porary societies are characterized by men’s Antisexist men’s networks and campaigns institutional privilege (Messner, 1997, p. 5), such are an instance of “masculinity politics”—“those that men in general receive a “patriarchal divi- mobilisations and struggles where the meaning dend” from gendered structures of inequality of masculine gender is at issue, and, with it, (Connell, 1995, pp. 79-82). The danger, there- men’s position in gender relations” (Connell, fore, is that by mobilizing men collectively as

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men and thus drawing on their shared interests, involvement, it is important for men to see their activists inadvertently will entrench gender privi- stake in feminist futures. As Brod (1998, p. 199) lege (Connell, 1995, pp. 234-238). This potential argues, “self-sacrificing altruism is insufficient has been realized among men’s rights and as the basis for a political movement” and there fathers’ rights groups, which are energetically is “a moral imperative to go beyond mere moral engaged in an antiwomen and antifeminist back- imperatives.” It is therefore vital that antisexist lash (Flood, 1997, 1998). men invite men to see beyond prevailing patri- However, men can be and are motivated by archal constructions of men’s interests and artic- interests other than those associated with gender ulate nonpatriarchal notions of what Pease privilege. There are important resources in (2002, p. 173) calls men’s “emancipatory inter- men’s lives for the construction of nonviolent ests” and Brod (1998, p. 199) calls men’s “long- masculinities and forms of selfhood, such as term enlightened self-interest.” men’s concerns for children, intimacies with women, and ethical and political commitments. Furthermore, given the intersection of gender ANTIVIOLENCE ACTIVISM with other social divisions of race, class, sexuality, nation, and so on, men share very unequally Men’s violence against women has been a key in the fruits of gender privilege (Messner, 1997, focus of antisexist men’s groups since they first p. 7), and men’s material interests are multiple emerged in the early 1970s in response to the sec- and complex. The argument that men have ond wave of feminism. Violence against women contradictory experiences of power, pioneered is widely identified as a central element in gender by Kaufman (1993), is influential in interna- injustice, as both an expression of men’s power tional discourses of male involvement in move- over women and a way to maintain that power. ments toward nonviolence and gender equality. Men’s antiviolence activism therefore addresses a Kaufman (2003, p. 14) argues that efforts to paradigmatic expression of patriarchal power. involve men in building gender equality must This activism has intensified and spread since the simultaneously challenge men’s power and early 1990s. In many countries, both developing speak to men’s pain. and developed, groups of men have emerged The tension here between men’s shared whose agenda is to end men’s violence against patriarchal interests and their interests in under- women and children. They share the fundamental mining patriarchy is one with which any men’s premise that men must take responsibility for activism for gender justice must reckon. This stopping men’s violence. Taking responsibility same tension is evident in the answers offered to begins with individual men taking personal the question “Why should men change?” There steps to minimize their use of violence (Funk, are two broad responses: Men ought to change, 1993, pp. 95-111; Kimmel, 1993; Madhubuti, and it is in men’s interests to change. First, 1993; Warshaw, 1988, pp. 161-167; Weinberg & given the fact of men’s unjust privilege, there Biernbaum, 1993). But it goes beyond this, to is an ethical obligation for men to act in support public and collective action. Antiviolence men’s of the elimination of that privilege (Pease, 2002, groups engage in community education; hold pp. 167-168). The basis of profeminist men’s rallies and marches; work with violent men; facil- politics is the moral imperative that men give up itate workshops in schools, prisons, and work- their unjust share of power (Brod, 1998, p. 199). places; and act in alliance with women’s groups Second, men themselves will benefit from sup- and organizations. There are at least two other porting feminism and advancing toward gender ways in which men have been involved in antivi- equality. Although men’s position brings power olence efforts: as the participants in programs for and status, it also involves burdens, such that perpetrators of violence and as the targets of men’s self-interest can be served by supporting public education campaigns that aim to increase feminism (Kaufman, 2003, p. 13; Kilmartin, men’s understanding of and opposition to vio- 2001, pp. 29-30; Pease, 2002, pp. 166-167). lence against women. The discussion in this This second reason is more contentious, as chapter focuses largely on efforts by men that are there are dangers of men asserting their interests community based and often voluntary. at women’s expense, denying male privilege and The best known example of men’s antivio- seeing themselves as victims. Yet to sustain their lence activism is the White Ribbon Campaign, a 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 460

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grassroots education campaign that spans at more than 100 such groups in the United States, least four continents and 35 countries. The White including Men Overcoming Violence (MOVE) Ribbon Campaign is the largest collective effort in San Francisco, the Atlanta-based Men in the world among men working to end men’s Stopping Violence, and the Men’s Resource violence against women. It began in 1991 on the Centre in Massachusetts. Men Can Stop Rape in second anniversary of one man’s massacre of 14 Washington, D.C., mobilizes young men across women in Montreal, Canada, and it has spread to the United States to behave as allies to women the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, in preventing rape and other forms of men’s vio- Asia, and Australia. During White Ribbon Week, lence. Such groups share the belief that men in November each year, men are encouraged to must act to stop men’s violence. As a full-page show their opposition to men’s violence against newspaper advertisement taken out by the women by purchasing and wearing a white Men’s Resource Centre in November 1999 ribbon. In pinning on the ribbon, men pledge proclaimed, “We call on all men to reject the themselves never to commit, condone, or remain masculine culture of violence and to work with silent about violence against women. The White us to create a culture of connection, of coopera- Ribbon Campaign also involves year-round edu- tion and of safety for women, for men and for cational strategies, including advertising cam- children” (Daily Hampshire Gazette, November paigns, concerts, fathers’ walks, and fund-raising 11, 1999, p. B7). for women’s organizations. Monies raised by the There is a growing international dialogue campaign go to services for the victims and sur- on men’s involvement in stopping violence vivors of violence and to women’s advocacy pro- against women. From June to October 2002, grams. In Canada, close to 180,000 ribbons were 560 people from 46 countries participated in a distributed in 2002 and 250,000 in 2001. Virtual Seminar Series on Men’s Roles and Alongside this international campaign, there Responsibilities in Ending Gender-Based Vio- are men’s groups in at least a dozen countries lence, hosted by the United Nations Interna- that share the goal of ending men’s violence tional Research and Training Institute for the against women. In Mumbai, India, the Men Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). From Against Abuse and Violence is a volunteer orga- May to July 2003, a similar online discussion nization focused on ending domestic violence series on “Building Partnerships to End Men’s (Greig, Kimmel, & Lang, 2000, p. 12). A sub- Violence” was sponsored by the United States– stantial educational campaign in Central based Family Violence Prevention Fund. America aimed at men and tackling domestic Men’s antiviolence groups and organizations violence began in 1999. In Nicaragua, Puntos de have adopted strategies of both violence pre- Encuentro (Meeting Points) and the Asociación vention and violence intervention. Prevention de Hombres Contra la Violencia (Men Against aims to lessen the likelihood of men using vio- Violence) ran a large-scale campaign encour- lence in the first place by undermining the aging men to respect their partners, resolve beliefs, values, and discourses that support conflicts peacefully, and seek help to avoid domes- violence, challenging the patriarchal power tic violence (Solórzano & Montoya, 2001). In relations that promote and are maintained by Namibia, a National Conference on Men Against violence, and promoting alternative construc- Violence Against Women was held in February tions of masculinity, gender, and selfhood that 2000 (Odendaal, 2001, pp. 90-91), and men are foster nonviolence and gender justice. A recent involved in networks against gender-based example is Men Can Stop Rape’s campaign violence in Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, and called “My strength is not for hurting.” The Zimbabwe (Wainana, 2002). In Australia, Men Strength Campaign includes presentations to Against Sexual Assault (MASA) began in 1989, high schools, posters for schools and buses, a a national network of MASA groups was estab- handbook for teachers and school staff, and a lished over the period from 1989 to 1992, and at youth magazine. All address men’s role as MASA’s height, marches of 300 to 500 men women’s allies in ending violence in dating were held in many capital cities (Fuller & relationships by encouraging men to practice Fisher, 1998, p. 3). consent and respect in their sexual relations. Men’s antiviolence groups appear to be most Violence intervention refers to strategies well established in North America. There are focused on those people who have committed 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 461

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acts of violence and those people who have been undermine male approval of sexist behavior subject to violence. Some men’s antiviolence (Kilmartin, 2001, pp. 63-66). groups work with male perpetrators of violence, Antirape education efforts directed at men including men who have volunteered to partici- have an increasing presence on university cam- pate in counseling programs and men in court- puses, particularly in North America. Campus mandated groups within the criminal justice rape-prevention programs typically are con- system. Men’s antiviolence activists share a ducted by male peer educators, among all-male commitment to the provision of appropriate groups, and address men’s acceptance of vio- resources and services for the victims and lence-supportive myths and lack of empathy for survivors of men’s violence. victims of rape. Such efforts generally result in An important way in which antiviolence edu- positive changes in men’s attitudes and their cation has been conducted is to find examples of intentions to commit rape and sexually coercive boys’ and men’s resistance to hegemonic and behavior (Earle, 1996; Foubert, 2000; Foubert & violent masculinities and evidence of their gender- Marriott, 1997; Foubert & McEwen, 1998; equitable practice, then to foster communities of Parrot, Cummings, & Marchell, 1994; Schewe & support with which to sustain and spread these. O’Donohue, 1993, 1996; Smith & Welchans, Among boys, an educator may identify already 2000). existing interests in and commitments to nonvio- Boys and young men in schools are a particu- lent relations with girls and women, find excep- larly important target group for antiviolence tions to dominant practices and narratives of efforts. Many males come to university, paid masculinity, affirm and build on such histories, work, and other adult settings with proabuse atti- and identify significant others who can support tudes already firmly in place, having grown up in them (Denborough, 1996). For example, in an home, school, and peer contexts that foster toler- action-research project in low-income settings in ance for violence against women (DeKeseredy, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, young men who ques- Schwartz, & Alvi, 2000, pp. 925-926). In antivio- tioned prevailing violence-supportive views lence education, “starting young” is vital, because were trained as peer educators to foster gender- adolescence is a crucial period in terms of equitable relations in their communities (Barker, women’s and men’s formation of healthy, nonvio- 2001). lent relationships later in life (National Campaign Men’s antiviolence work has involved a wide Against Violence and Crime, 1998, p. 23). Recog- range of creative strategies, including the use of nizing that the formal and informal processes of film in India to encourage men to reflect on their schools have a critical role in either discouraging relations with women (Roy, 2001), “guerrilla or encouraging violence, both men’s groups theater” in South African bars to spark discus- and government agencies have developed pro- sion, the distribution of pamphlets to men in grams for boys and young men in school settings community markets in Cambodia (Kaufman, (Cameron, 2000; Gilbert & Gilbert, 1998, 2003, p. 36), and a “Walk Across America” to pp. 222-251; Kaufman, 2003, pp. 27-28). raise community awareness about violence What motivates the men who are active in against women. Although men’s antiviolence struggles against men’s violence against efforts often aim to shift men’s attitudes in order women? What inspires men to question sexist to shift their behavior, some also work in the cultural values and patriarchal power relations? reverse direction. By inviting men to publicly John Stoltenberg (1990) offers an account of commit to a course of action, such as by wear- how men come to join the struggle for women’s ing a white ribbon or participating in an antirape equality, and its themes are pertinent ones for rally, some strategies aim to increase men’s pri- these questions. Some men come to antisexist vate acceptance of the attitudes that support that involvements because their loyalty and close- behavior (Kilmartin, 2001, p. 70). Other strate- ness to a particular woman in their lives—a gies empower men to resist conformity to sexist mother, a partner, a friend, a sister—has forged peer norms. Men typically overestimate each an intimate understanding of the injustices other’s comfort with coercive and derogatory suffered by women and the need for men to take comments about and behavior toward women, action. Some men’s advocacy is grounded in so that publicizing survey results documenting other forms of principled political activism, men’s discomfort with other men’s sexism can such as pacifism, economic justice, green 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 462

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issues, or gay liberation. They have been international organizations. The Beijing Platform exposed to feminist and related ideals through for Action in 1995 recognized that “men’s their political involvements, their workplaces, or groups mobilising against gender violence are their higher education. Others become involved necessary allies for change,” and this was reaf- through dealing with their own experience of firmed and extended in the follow-up meeting in sexual violence or sexual abuse from other men 2000 (Hayward, 2001, p. 49). In 1997, at the and sometimes women, perhaps as children or regional meeting titled “Ending Violence teenagers (Stoltenberg, 1990, pp. 11-12). Men’s Against Women and Girls in South Asia,” spon- commitments to the movement against violence sored by the United Nations International against women have blossomed in the same soil Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the of deeply felt personal experiences; particular United Nations Development Fund for Women relationships, intimacies, and loyalties; and (UNIFEM), and the United Nations Develop- ethical and political involvements. ment Programme (UNDP), the 100 or so men present added the following statement to the Katmandu Commitment, issued at the meeting: FOR GENDER JUSTICE “We men, realizing that no sustainable change can take place unless we give up the entrenched Men’s antiviolence activism is significant in at ideas of male superiority, commit ourselves least two ways. First, this activity symbolizes to devising new role models of masculinity” the growing recognition that violence against (UNICEF, 1998; cited in Hayward, 1999, p. 9). women will cease only when men join with Also in 1997, the United Nations Educational, women to put an end to it. Men are the over- Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) whelming majority of the perpetrators of vio- held an Expert Group Meeting in Oslo on “Male lence against women, a substantial minority of Roles and Masculinities in the Perspective of a males accept violence-supportive attitudes and Culture of Peace.” Participants emphasized that beliefs, and cultural constructions of mascu- the transformation from a culture of violence to a linity inform men’s use of physical and sexual culture of peace depends on the development of violence against women. Profound changes in more egalitarian and partnership-oriented forms men’s lives, gendered power relations, and the of masculinity, as opposed to traditional forms social construction of masculinity are necessary premised on dominance, authority, control, and if violence against women is to be eliminated. force (AVSC International and International More widely, in working to transform the Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemi- social structures, relationships, and ideologies sphere Region, 1998, pp. 66-67). on which gender inequality is based, it is vital Second, the existence of men’s antiviolence to engage with men and boys (Kaufman, 2003, activism demonstrates that men can take collec- p. 1). Many men participate in sexist practices tive public action to oppose men’s violence. The and the maintenance of unjust gender relations, groups and campaigns I have described represent men often play a crucial role as “gatekeepers” of successful attempts to create among men, albeit the current gender order and as decision makers sometimes small numbers of men, a public and community leaders, and men’s own health response to men’s violence. More broadly, men and well-being are limited by contemporary can and do organize and agitate in support of constructions of manhood. Involving men in gender justice. There are historical precedents in efforts toward achieving gender equality runs men’s organized support for women’s suffrage the risk of reinforcing men’s existing power and and equality in the 18th and 19th centuries (John jeopardizing resources and funding directed at & Eustance, 1997; Kimmel & Mosmiller, 1992; women, so the goal of promoting gender justice Strauss, 1982). In addition, contemporary men’s must be central. Male participation is not a goal antiviolence groups are one expression of a in itself, but a means to an end: healthy and non- wider network of profeminist men’s activism, violent relations for all. represented for example by the National Organi- The notion that it is desirable to involve zation of Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) in the men in the movements to stop violence against United States, the European Profeminist Men’s women and girls is rapidly becoming institu- Network, the Men for Change Network in the tionalized in the philosophies and programs of United Kingdom, and emergent progressive 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 463

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men’s networks in Africa and elsewhere. Thus, Levels of violence against women are higher in “it is not a question of whether men can take societies showing male economic and decision- action but how” (Pease, 1997, p. 76). making dominance in the family, and wife abuse is more likely in couples with a dominant husband and an economically dependent wife PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS GENDER (Heise, 1998, pp. 270-271). Given that men’s violence is fueled by and itself perpetuates Partnerships with women are central to men’s gender inequalities (and other forms of injus- antiviolence efforts. Most of the men’s groups tice), antiviolence work should be situated and organizations I have described conduct their within a broader project of gender justice. efforts in alliance with women and women’s Although men must take action in support groups involved in antiviolence campaigns or in of gender justice, this in no way means services for the victims of violence. More radi- that women’s groups and campaigns must cally, many profeminist men’s groups position include men. There continue to be reasons why themselves as accountable to feminist con- “women’s space,” women-only, and women- stituencies: They consult with women’s groups focused campaigns are vital: to support those before initiating their campaigns, do not com- who are most disadvantaged by pervasive gen- pete with women’s groups for funding or other der inequalities, to maintain women’s solidarity resources, and build strong lines of communica- and leadership, and to foster women’s con- tion and trust (Funk, 1993, pp. 125-126, 132-134). sciousness-raising and collective empowerment. There are debates over the processes through Nor should growing attention to male involve- which accountability is established (Hall, 1994) ment threaten resources for women and and over which feminism one is accountable to, women’s programs. At the same time, reaching and given the diversity of feminisms, this is an men to reduce and prevent violence against ongoing issue. women is, by definition, spending money to Men’s partnerships with antiviolence meet the interests and needs of women, and women’s groups are critical. They enable men it will expand the financial and political support to learn from existing efforts and scholarship available to women’s programs (Kaufman, rather than “reinventing the wheel.” They lessen 2003, p. 11). the risk that men will collude in or comply with Men’s and mixed-sex antiviolence projects dominant and oppressive forms of masculinity. are important sites for the daily reconstruction of They are a powerful and practical demonstration gender identities and relations. Antisexist men’s of men’s and women’s shared interest in stop- consciousness-raising groups have been used ping violence. Men’s partnerships with women since the early 1970s to facilitate a critical self- are an inspiring example of cross-gender collab- questioning of sexist practice, to build peer sup- oration, a form of activism that reaches across port for new ways of being, and to provide a basis and transforms gender inequalities. for public activism. Antipatriarchal conscious- Should men’s efforts to end men’s violence ness-raising can be effective in constructing probe linked to wider struggles for gender equality, feminist subjectivities among men, and it is an social justice, and human rights? Michael important element in wider articulations of a Kaufman writes pragmatically that in order for collective profeminist politics (Pease, 2000, large numbers of men to unite to end violence, p. 55). For example, an American women’s net- they should put aside their differences over work that recruited male volunteers as antivio- other issues of gender and justice such as abor- lence educators reports that it now has strong tion (Kaufman, 2000). Keith Pringle, on the male allies, dedicated volunteers who are making other hand, firmly locates men’s work against a difference to its social change work (Mohan & violence within a broader antioppressive prac- Schultz, 2001, pp. 29-30). In another example, tice. Men challenging violent masculinities although men in a campus-based Men Against must also address other dimensions of oppres- Violence network showed defensive homophobic sion that intersect with gendered domination responses to others’ perceptions of gayness (Pringle, 1995, p. 150). Support for Pringle’s and effeminacy and espoused chivalric notions position comes from the scholarship on cross- of themselves as protectors and defenders of cultural predictors of violence against women. women, they also engaged in a substantial 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 464

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rejection or reformulation of key constructions articles on the profeminist Web site XYonline, of stereotypical masculinity (Hong, 2000). one fathers’ rights advocate wrote by e-mail that Men’s collective efforts to undermine patriar- I was a “fucking faggot, feminazi pussy licker.” chal inequalities are themselves shaped by those This response, with its hostility toward and same inequalities. Although many men’s partici- conflation of homosexuality and femininity, is pation in antiviolence movements is informed typical of the coercive ways in which dominant by their critical distance from hegemonic mas- constructions of masculinity are policed among culinity, they also may struggle with complicity boys and men in general. Homophobia is a key in patriarchal behaviors and attitudes. Many means of policing heterosexual masculinities men have carried an “invisible backpack” of (Epstein & Johnson, 1994, p. 204), and among privilege, a taken-for-granted set of unearned adolescent boys, the term “gay” or other abusive benefits and assets (McIntosh, 1989). It is synonyms is a “principal repository for unaccept- understandable, therefore, that feminist women able male ‘otherness’” (Plummer, 1999, p. 81). have been hesitant about men’s participation in Men’s collective activism is a vital element campaigns against violence (DeKeseredy et al., in the struggle to end violence against women. 2000, p. 922). The American women’s network As with international efforts on other gender- mentioned above also encountered sexism, lack related issues such as HIV/AIDS, sexual and of empathy for survivors, and stereotypical reproductive health, poverty, and development, expectations of their roles as women (Mohan & in working against violence it is critical to Schultz, 2001). When women and men work involve men. Men’s participation must be together, gendered norms of male-female interac- guided by gender justice and gender partner- tion can hinder egalitarian relationships and drain ship, as these principles are integral to men’s women’s labor and emotional energies. In ways ability to cultivate a lasting legacy of peace. that mirror the patterns of traditional heterosexual relationships (Duncombe & Marsden, 1995, p. 246), men may expect nurturance and emo- REFERENCES tional support from women, and women may comply with unequal relations because of their AVSC International and International Planned internalized sexism. Parenthood Federation (IPPF)/Western Hemi- The public reception of men’s antiviolence sphere Region. (1998, October). Literature work also is shaped by patriarchal privilege. review for the symposium on male participation First, men’s groups receive greater media atten- in sexual and reproductive health: New para- tion and interest than similar groups of women digms. Oaxaca, Mexico. (Luxton, 1993, p. 368). This is partly the result Barker, G. (2001). “Cool your head, man”: of the former’s novelty, but it is also a function Preventing gender based violence in favelas. of the status and cultural legitimacy granted to Development, 4(3), 94-98. men’s voices in general. Second, men acting for Brod, H. (1998). To be a man, or not to be a man— that is the feminist question. In T. Digby (Ed.), gender justice receive praise and credit (espe- Men doing feminism (pp. 197-212). New York: cially from women) that often is out of propor- Routledge. tion to their efforts. Any positive action by men Cameron, M. (2000). Young men and violence pre- may be seen as gratifying in the face of other vention (Trends and Issues in Crime and men’s apathy about and complicity in violence Criminal Justice No. 154). Canberra: Australian against women. Third, men are able to draw Institute of Criminology. on their and other men’s institutional privilege Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Sydney: to attract levels of support and funding rarely Allen & Unwin. granted to women (Landsberg, 2000, p. 15). DeKeseredy, W. S., Schwartz, M. D., & Alvi, S. This can, of course, be turned to strategic advan- (2000). The role of profeminist men in dealing with woman abuse on the Canadian college cam- tage in pursuing an end to men’s violence. pus. Violence Against Women, 6(9), 918-935. Profeminist men’s public challenge to domi- Denborough, D. (1996). Step by step: Developing nant masculinities also attracts the ridicule, respectful and effective ways of working with contempt, and anger of men who consider them young men to reduce violence. In C. McLean, to be wimps and sissies, gay, or traitors (Luxton, M. Carey, & C. White (Eds.), Men’s ways of 1993, p. 360). For example, in response to my being (pp. 91-115). Boulder, CO: Westview. 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 465

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Duncombe, J., & Marsden, D. (1995). Can men love? Hong, L. (2000). Toward a transformed approach to “Reading,” “staging” and “resisting” the romance. prevention: Breaking the link between masculin- In L. Pearce & J. Stacey (Eds.), Romance ity and violence. Journal of American College revisited (pp. 238-250). London: Lawrence & Health, 48(6), 269-279. Wishart. John, A. V., & Eustance, C. (Eds.). (1997). The men’s Earle, J. P. (1996). Acquaintance rape workshops: share? Masculinities, male support and women’s Their effectiveness in changing the attitudes of suffrage in Britain, 1890–1920. London: first year college men. National Association of Routledge. Student Personnel Administrators, 34(1), 2-18. Kaufman, M. (1993). Cracking the armour: Power, Epstein, D., & Johnson, R. (1994). On the straight pain and the lives of men. Toronto: Penguin. and narrow: The heterosexual presumption, Kaufman, M. (2000). Working with men and boys to homophobias and schools. In D. Epstein (Ed.), challenge sexism and end men’s violence. In Challenging lesbian and gay inequalities in edu- I. Breines, R. Connell, & I. Eide (Eds.), Male cation (pp. 197-230). Buckingham, UK: Open roles, masculinities and violence: A culture of University Press. peace perspective (pp. 211-222). Paris: UNESCO Flood, M. (1997). Responding to men’s rights. XY: Publishing. Men, Sex, Politics, 7(2), 37-40. Kaufman, M. (2003). The AIM framework: Flood, M. (1998, June). Men’s movements. Commu- Addressing and involving men and boys to pro- nity Quarterly, 46, 62-71. mote gender equality and end gender discrimi- Foubert, J. D. (2000). The longitudinal effects of nation and violence. New York: UNICEF. a rape-prevention program on fraternity men’s Available at www.michaelkaufman.com attitudes, behavioral intent, and behavior. Journal Kilmartin, C. T. (2001). Sexual assault in context: of American College Health, 48, 158-163. Teaching college men about gender. Holmes Foubert, J. D., & Marriott, K. A. (1997). Effects of Beach, FL: Learning Publications. a sexual assault peer education program on Kimmel, M. S. (1993). Clarence, William, Iron Mike, men’s belief in rape myths. Sex Roles, 36(3/4), Tailhook, Senator Packwood, Spur Posse, 259-268. Magic . . . and us. In E. Buchwald, P. Fletcher, & Foubert, J. D., & McEwen, M. K. (1998). An all-male M. Roth (Eds.), Transforming a rape culture rape prevention peer education program: (pp. 119-138). Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions. Decreasing fraternity men’s behavioral intent to Kimmel, M. S., & Mosmiller, T. E. (1992). Against rape. Journal of College Student Development, the tide: Pro-feminist men in the United States, 39(6), 548-556. 1776–1990. Boston: Beacon. Fuller, B., & Fisher, S. (1998, June). A decade of pro- Landsberg, M. (2000, Spring). Canadian feminists’ feminist activism: A brief history of men against uneasy alliance with men challenging violence. sexual assault. Community Quarterly, 46, 7. Voice Male, p. 15. Funk, R. E. (1993). Stopping rape: A challenge for Luxton, M. (1993). Dreams and dilemmas: Feminist men. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers. musings on “the man question.” In T. Haddad Gilbert, R., & Gilbert, P. (1998). Masculinity goes to (Ed.), Men and masculinities: A critical anthol- school. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ogy (pp. 347-374). Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Greig, A., Kimmel, M., & Lang, J. (2000). Men, mas- Press. culinities & development: Broadening our work Madhubuti, H. R. (1993). On becoming anti-rapist. towards gender equality (Gender in Develop- In E. Buchwald, P. Fletcher, & M. Roth (Eds.), ment Monograph Series No. 10). New York: Transforming a rape culture (pp. 165-178). United Nations Development Programme. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions. Hall, R. (1994). Partnership accountability. Dulwich McIntosh, P. (1989, July/August). White privilege: Centre Newsletter, 2/3, 6-29. Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Hayward, R. (1999, October). Needed: A new model Freedom. Retrieved January 30, 2004, from of masculinity to stop violence against girls and www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/newsletters/ women. Presented at the WHO Global Sympo- vol2-2/mcintosh.htm sium on Violence and Health, Kobe, Japan. Messner, M. A. (1997). Politics of masculinities: Men Hayward, R. (2001). Needed: A culture of masculin- in movements. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ity for the fulfilment of human rights. Develop- Mohan, L., & Schultz, A. (2001, October). Mauled by ment, 4(3), 48-53. MAVEN: Our story of involving men in the Hearn, J. (2001). Men stopping men’s violence to movement. Off Our Backs, pp. 25-30. women. Development, 4(3), 85-89. National Campaign Against Violence and Crime. Heise, L. L. (1998). Violence against women: An (1998). Working with adolescents to prevent integrated, ecological framework. Violence domestic violence. Canberra, Australia: NCAVAC Against Women, 4(3), 262-283. Unit, Attorney-General’s Department. 27-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 6:21 PM Page 466

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Odendaal, W. (2001). The Men Against Violence Smith, P., & Welchans, S. (2000). Peer education: Does Against Women movement in Namibia. Develop- focusing on male responsibility change sexual ment, 4(3), 90-93. assault attitudes? Violence Against Women, 6(11), Parrot, A., Cummings, N., & Marchell, T. (1994). Rape 1255-1268. 101: Sexual assault prevention for college ath- Solórzano, I., & Montoya, O. (2001, January 8). Men letes. Holmes Beach, FL: Learning Publications. against marital violence: A Nicaraguan cam- Pease, B. (1997). Men & sexual politics: Towards a paign. Retrieved January 27, 2004, from profeminist practice. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich www.id21.org/static/insights35art5.htm Centre Publications. Stoltenberg, J. (1990). Refusing to be a man: Essays Pease, B. (2000). Recreating men: Postmodern on sex and justice. New York: Penguin. masculinity politics. London: Sage. Strauss, S. (1982). “Traitors to the masculine cause”: Pease, B. (2002). (Re)constructing men’s interests. The men’s campaigns for women’s rights. Men and Masculinities, 5(2), 165-177. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Plummer, D. (1999). One of the boys: Masculinity, Wainana, N. (2002). Men as partners in the struggle homophobia, and modern manhood. New York: for gender equality: The FEMNET experience Harrington Park Press. (Seminar 2, Virtual Seminar Series on Men’s Pringle, K. (1995). Men, masculinities and social Roles and Responsibilities in Ending Gender- welfare. London: UCL Press. Based Violence). New York: United Nations Roy, R. (2001). The eyes are silent . . . the heart International Research and Training Institute desires to speak: Exploring masculinities in for the Advancement of Women. Retrieved South Asia. Development, 4(3), 15-20. February 6, 2003, from www.un-instraw.org/en/ Schewe, P. A., & O’Donohue, W. T. (1993). Sexual research/mensroles/vss/vss_2_3 abuse prevention with high risk males: The roles Warshaw, R. (1988). I never called it rape. of victim empathy and rape myths. Violence and New York: Harper & Row. Victims, 8(4), 339-351. Weinberg, J., & Biernbaum, M. (1993). The con- Schewe, P. A., & O’Donohue, W. T. (1996). Rape versations of consent: Sexual intimacy without prevention with high-risk males: Short-term sexual assault. In E. Buchwald, P. Fletcher, & outcome of two interventions. Archives of M. Roth (Eds.), Transforming a rape culture Sexual Behavior, 25, 455-471. (pp. 87-100). Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions. Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 467

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Aarseth, H., 19, 22, 24, 29 Aldarondo, E., 354, 362 Abdel Kader, S., 450 Alexander, R., 214 Abortion, 119–120 All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, Abrahams, N., 105 But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women’s Abstract masculinity, 28 Studies (Hull), 43 Acevedo, O. F., 116 Allan, K., 249 Achatz, M., 259 Allegro, T., 235 Acker, J., 148, 166, 297 Allen, C., 75 Ackerman, M. D., 332 Allen, K. R., 192n 14 Ackroyd, S., 294 Allen, L., 184 Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Allen, R., 275 See HIV/AIDS research Allen, W. D., 259 Adam, B. D., 58 Allievei, S., 455 Adam, I., 97 Allison, A., 134, 135 Adams, A., 37 Alloway, N., 216 Adams, J., 37 Almaguer, T., 368 Adams, M., 8, 233, 235 Alonso, A. M., 44 Adams, M. C. C., 402 Altholz, J., 332 Adams, P. F., 330 Altman, D., 6, 56, 61, 62, 63, 80, 85, 278 Adams, R., 275, 279 Alvesson, M., 293, 301 ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), 337 Alvi, S., 353, 357, 361, 362, 461 Adler, A., 217, 218, 220, 223, 236 Amadiume, I., 98 Adler, P., 217, 218, 220, 223, 236 Amato, P., 249, 254, 255 Adolescent males, 205–206, 236–239, 336–337 American Academy of Pediatrics, 331 Adolph, J. B., 6 American Cancer Society, 334 Adoptive fathers, 261 American Medical Association (AMA), 337 The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert American Society for Reproductive Medicine, 337 (Elliott), 51 Anabolic steroid use, 331, 338 Affleck, G., 332 Andelin, H. B., 241 Afghanistan, 78, 404, 415 Anderson, B., 401 Africa, 90, 97, 98, 101, 106 Anderson, C., 242 African American feminist theory, 43–45 Anderson, E., 192n 7, 315 African American men. See Men of color, Anderson, K. G., 255 masculinity and Anderson, S. W., 380 African Game Trails (Bederman), 406 Andrade, X., 121 African National Congress, 75, 76, 95 Ang, I., 279 Afshar, H., 452 Angier, N., 370 Aggression. See Crime and gender; Family life, Annin, P., 237 gender in; Interpersonal violence Anthias, F., 402, 403 Ahmad, A., 94 Anti-semitism. See Global hegemonic masculinity Ahmad, L., 450 Antiviolence activism. See Men’s antiviolence AIDS. See HIV/AIDS research activism Al Qaeda terrorists, 416, 417, 427–429, 429n 1 Antonowicz, D. H., 339 Albert, M., 319 Anzaldúa, G., 47 Alcohol use, 330–331 Appadurai, A., 92

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Appiah, K. A., 92 Barnes, G. M., 319, 331, 334 Applegate, J. S., 338 Barnett, A., 434 Are We Not Men? Masculine Anxiety and the Problem Barocas, R., 254 of African-American Identity (Harper), 44 Barrett, D. C., 337 Are You Being Served? (Humphries), 51 Barrett, F., 295, 304 Arendell, T., 258 Barrett, F. J., 18 Arilha, M., 2 Barrett, M., 363n 1 Aristotle, 36 Barro, R., 416 Arkin, W., 453 Barsukiewicz, A. N., 331 Armbrust, W., 451 Bart, P. B., 368 Armed forces. See War, militarism and masculinities Barthes, R., 280 Arnot, M., 215 Bartko, W. T., 257 Aro, H. M., 238 Barton, L., 368 Aronson, A., 156, 429n 1 Basic Law for the Gender-Equal Society Arriagada, P., 320 (Japan), 134 Asch, A., 368, 372 Bastos, S., 116 Ashenden, D. J., 215, 218 Baudrillard, J., 19 Asia, 80, 90 Bauman, Z., 72, 154 See also East Asia, masculinities in Baumeister, R. F., 201 Askew, S., 138 Bay, R. C., 255 Assie, F., 442 Bayat, A., 448 Association for the Defense of Fathers’ Rights, 157 Beams, M., 290 Athletes. See Sports and gender Beattie, P. M., 123, 125 Athreya, V. B., 234 Beautrais, A. L., 334 Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 337 Beauvoir, S. de, 37 Atyeo, D., 355 Bech, H., 63 Auerbach, C. F., 251, 252, 256, 263 Becker, G., 337 Augustin, E., 405 Becker, G. S., 30 Austin, N. K., 298 Becker, P., 418 Australia, 5, 75, 78, 80, 81, 93, 97, 106, 206, 213, Bederman, G., 406 277, 282, 358, 460 Begley, S., 370 Autogynephilia, 390 Bekkengen, L., 18 Aziz, D., 340 Belenky, M. F., 42 Azuma, K., 136 Bell, C. C., 363n 13 Bell, D., 277, 279 Baagøe Nielsen, 25 Bell, M. M., 72 Baca Zinn, M., 81 Beller, A. H., 258, 259 Badfellas (Winlow), 209 Bellin, E. Y., 340 Bahrke, M. S., 331 Belona, T., 332 Baigent, D., 175, 301, 438 Belsky, J., 251, 255 Bailey, M., 390 Bem, S. L., 46, 61, 234, 235 Bairner, A., 321, 335 Benavente, M. C., 124 Bakken, R., 25 Bendelow, G., 371, 375 Bakshi, A., 236 Benedict, J., 237, 317 Balakrishnan, R., 234 Benjamin, H., 383, 390 Balkans, 153 Benjamin, J., 202 Baltic states, 149 Benkert, K., 52 Bananas, Beaches, and Bases (Enloe), 399 Berberi, Y., 405 Bangstad, S., 454 Bergeissen, L., 340 Barak, G., 203, 363n 2 Berger, P., 231 Barbalet, J. M., 224 Berk, S. F., 27 Barber, B., 415 Berle, A. A., 293 Barclay, L., 249, 251 Bernard, J. S., 240 Barker, G., 461 Berry, B., 318 Barnes, C., 368 Bersani, L., 46, 63, 190 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 469

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Bertaux, D., 175 introduction, 367–368, 375–376nn. 1,2 Bertoia, C., 243, 263 social constructionist perspectives, 370–375, Bessant, J., 355 376nn. 3,4 Between Men (Sedgwick), 60 Body & Society, 271, 272t Bhabha, H., 94 Body diversity. See Transgender theory Bhuiya, A., 234 Body image literature, 275–276 Biaggi, S., 332 See also Mass media, men’s bodies in Bianchi, S., 257 Boeringer, S. D., 317 Bibbings, L., 435 Bolduc, D., 234 Biblarz, T. J., 250, 254, 255, 261 Boli, J., 73 Bickford, A., 441 Bologh, R. W., 296, 401 Biddle, N. A., 237 Bonner, F., 282 Biddulph, S., 104 Booji, L., 103 Biernbaum, M., 459 Booth, A., 256 Bigner, J. J., 261 Booth, B., 439 Billings, A. C., 320 Borchgrevink, T, 24, 29 Billson, J. M., 260 Bordo, S., 38, 284, 368 Bin-Nun, S., 20 Bornstein, K., 368, 389 Biological theory, 181 Bose, C. E., 231, 232 Bird, S., 299 Bosse, H., 2 Birrell, S., 314 Boswell, J., 29 Birth control, 120 Boulding, E., 402 Bitterli, U., 75 Boulgarides, J. D., 306n 1 Bjorgo, T., 423, 424, 425 Bouma, J., 136 Blachford, G., 56 Bourdieu, P., 115, 149 Black feminist theory, 43–45 Bourgois, P., 357, 359 Black identity, 95–97 Bowker, L. H., 196, 353, 356, 363 See also Men of color, masculinity and Bowman, P. J., 260 The Black Jacobins (James), 95 Boxer, M. J., 47 Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman Boy Scouts movement, 75, 82, 400, 434 (Wallace), 43 Boyd, T., 320 Black Reconstruction (de Bois), 95 Boyd-Franklin, N., 339 Blagoevich, M., 158 Boyhood troubles, 236–238 Blanchard, R., 390 Boyle, M., 319, 320 Blank, B., 333 Boyle, P., 335 Blankenhorn, D., 250, 251, 253, 256 Boys Brigades, 402, 434 Blazak, R., 422 Bozett, F. W., 261, 262 Blazer, D. G., 334 Bozinoff, L., 234 Bleach, K., 219 Brackenridge, C., 317 Blee, K. M., 404, 418 Bradshaw, D., 105 Blesch, K., 334 Braidotti, R., 37 Blom, I., 149 Brake, M., 386 Blot, W. J., 334 Brandt, B., 277 Blum, J. A., 294 Brandth, B., 251 Blum, R., 334, 340 Brannon, R., 181, 192n 5 Blumer, H., 231 Braver, S. L., 255, 258 Bly, R., 42, 60, 124, 242 Bray, A., 55 Bockting, W. O., 391 Brazier, C., 85 Boden, J. M., 201 Brazil, 107, 117, 119, 121, 122, 123 Bodies. See Bodily normativity, degrees of Breaux, C., 249 Bodily modification, 383 Bredesen, O., 25 See also Transgender theory Breen, J., 331 Bodily normativity, degrees of Breines, I., 6, 73, 85 biological perspectives, 369–370 Brenner, J., 231 brief synthesis, 368–369 Brettell, C., 291 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 470

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Brickell, C., 274 Cain, P. J., 75 Brickner, B. W., 251 Caldwell, D., 332 Brickner, P. W., 332 Cale, K., 436 Bristow, J., 53, 57, 58, 443 Calhoun, A. D., 334 Britain, 78, 165, 206, 315, 432, 434, 435, Califia, P., 59, 386, 389 436, 438, 440 Cameron, E., 107 British India, 75, 415 Campbell, C., 102, 107 Brittan, A., 5, 18, 149, 433, 435, 436, 437 Campbell, H., 2, 72, 82 Broadhurst, D. D., 256 Campbell, M., 442 Brod, H., 2, 4, 327, 434, 459 Canaan, J., 206 Brody, L. R., 259 Canada, 78, 85, 93, 99, 213, 234, 277, 318, 326, Bronski, M., 56, 185 330, 341, 437, 460 Broodryk, J., 99 Cancian, M., 258 Brooks, K., 279, 280, 281, 282, 283 Canclini, N. G., 116 Brott, A., 255 Canetto, S. S., 333, 334 Brown, J., 327 Cantor, J., 279 Brown, J. A., 274, 275 Caplan, G., 441 Brown, P. L., 239 Caplan, P., 52, 53 Brown, P. R., 258 Caputi, J., 179 Brown, W., 397 Cardoso, J. L., 117 Brown, W. B., 360, 361, 363n 10 Caregiving roles, 24–25, 338 Brownmiller, S., 335, 406 See also Family life, gender in; Fatherhood Bruce, C., 263 Carey, P. C., 332 Bruce, M., 203 Caribbean, 106 Bruce, V., 385 Carlen, P., 196 Brudner, L. A., 17 Carnes, M. C., 400 Brugger, W., 131, 133 Carnes, P., 179 Brusco, E. E., 123 Carpenter, E., 53, 55, 65n 3 Brush, L. D., 233 Carr, E. H., 95 Bryson, L., 315 Carrier, J., 123 Buchanan, C. M., 255 Carrigan, T., 4, 5, 23, 59, 220, 294, 295 Buchanan, J., 109n Carrington, B., 320 Buddhism, 129, 130 Carroll, J. C., 260 Buehler, C., 258 Carter, S., 278 Bujra, J., 106 Carton, B., 102, 104 Bulbeck, C., 44, 75, 82 Carver, K., 256 Bullard, R. D., 339 Carver, T., 335 Bullough, V. L., 380 Cashmore, E., 284 Burke, R., 296 Castillo, S., 331 Burrell, G., 291 Catlett, B. S., 258, 261 Burroughs, A., 339 Cauderay, M., 334 Burrus, B. B., 339 Caulfield, S. L., 239 Bursik, R. J., 360 Cauvin, H. E., 374 Burstyn, V., 317 Cavar, T., 321 Burton, C., 294 Cavender, G., 210 Burton, J. M., 371, 374 Cavendish, M. L., 36 Bush, G. W., 84, 440, 442 Centers for Disease Control and Bushfield, J., 240 Prevention (CDC), 331, 332, Butch identity, 46 334, 336, 337, 339 Butland, D. L., 326, 328, 330 Central America, 104, 460 Butler, J., 25, 45, 46, 60, 61, 62, 116 Central Europe, 143, 146, 147, 149 See also Europe, masculinities in Cáceres, C., 120, 121, 124 Chamallas, M., 439 Caesar, J., 406 Chambliss, W. J., 354 Cahill, S. E., 203, 233 Chan, J., 278 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 471

Index • 471

Chan, R. W., 261, 262 Cleaver, F., 2 Chandler, A. D., 293 Clegg, L., 334 Chang, I., 335 Clift, S., 278 Chang, K. A., 74 Clinchy, B. M., 42 Chant, S., 100, 123, 124, 125n 1 Clinton, Bill, 275 Chapman, R., 281 Close, E., 339 Charlesworth, W. R., 236 Coakley, J., 319 Charnov, E. L., 251, 254, 257 Cochran, D. L., 260 Charter, D., 442 Cock, J., 79 Chase, C., 391 Cockburn, A., 436 Chavez, L., 251 Cockburn, C., 76, 294, 302 Chen, L. C., 234 Cockerham, D., 330 Cherlin, A. J., 258 Code of the Street (Anderson), 192n 7 Chernova, J., 142, 145, 148, 151, 152, 153, 155, Coed sports, 319 334, 335, 342 Coen, T., 123 Chesney-Lind, M., 196, 354 Coes, D. V., 454 Chessler, P., 182 Cohan, M., 259, 263 Child abuse, 361–362 Cohen, A., 196, 360, 436 Child development contributions. See Fatherhood Cohen, C., 401 Child support, 258, 263 Cohen, J., 85 Chile, 79, 122 Cohen, M., 216 Chin, J., 327 Cohn, C., 406, 407, 440 Chin, M. H., 339 Cohn, I., 102 China, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 138, 234, 249 Coie, J. D., 236 Chipika, J., 105 Colapinto, J., 374 Cho, H., 130 Cold War masculinities, 450–451 Chodorow, N., 28, 40, 42, 202, 234, 235 Cole, C. L., 320 Chomsky, N., 442 Coleman, D., 2, 6, 72, 93, 95 Chrisler, J. C., 275 Coleman, E., 391 Chrisman, L., 98, 99 College athletes. See Sports and gender Christianity, 79, 130, 401–402 Collier, R., 196, 203, 210, 210n 1, 239, 240, 297 Christiansen, S. L., 257, 260 Collins, K. S., 339 Christmon, K., 259 Collins, P. H., 38, 42, 95, 368 Christopher, F. S., 237 Collins, R., 231, 242, 243 Chung, C.-K., 135 Collinson, D. L., 8, 9, 16, 148, 292, Chunkath, S. R., 234 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 299, 300, Circumcision, 105–106, 374 301, 303, 304 Clare, D., 390 Collinson, M., 296, 297, 303 Clark, D. A. T., 399 Colonial masculinity, 74–76, 91–93, 103, 401 Clark, S. A., 317 See also Global gender patterns Clarke, S., 294 Coltrane, S., 8, 231, 233, 234, 235, 240, 241, 242, Clarke-Stewart, K. A., 236 243, 249, 251, 256, 274, 291 Clarsen, G., 276 Columbia, 122 Class and gender Comaroff, J., 96 class of masculinity, 170–172 Comaroff, J., 96 concluding thoughts, 175–176 Combat roles. See War, militarism and masculinities definitions and distinctions, 167–168 Comeaux, H., 319 on fatherhood, 260–261 Complementarity principle, 30 introduction, 165–167 Conekin, B., 281 late-modern developments, 172–175 Confucianism, 129, 130, 132 masculinities of class, 168–170 Connell, R. W., 4, 5, 6, 7, 23, 24, 30, 59, 60, 71, 72, See also specific structures 78, 79, 84, 85, 92, 116, 129, 141, 147, 148, The Classic Slum (Roberts), 171 150, 157, 170, 180, 187, 196, 197, 198, 200, Clatterbaught, K, 193n 16 202, 204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 213, 214, 215, Claussen, D. S., 251 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 226n Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 472

472 • HANDBOOK OF MEN AND MASCULINITIES

12, 231, 233, 235, 236, 238, 239, 242, 250, Critcher, C., 294 272, 278, 284, 294, 295, 305, 314, 315, 316, Crombie, G., 236 326, 328, 330, 335, 336, 340, 341, 342, 356, Crompton, R., 166 361, 362, 363, 368, 370, 371, 372, 373, 380, Cromwell, J., 381, 389, 391 400, 402, 414, 415, 417, 425, 433, 458, 459 Crosbie-Burnett, M., 262 Connolly, P., 217 Crosby, G. M., 337 Connor, S., 15 Cross dressing, 384–385 Conway, G., 340 Crosset, T., 315, 317 Cook, L. S., 334 Crossette, B., 428 Cook, S., 355 Crossley, N., 224 Cooke, R., 436 Crouter, A. C., 257 Cooksey, E. C., 257 Cucinotta, D., 332 Cooky, C., 320 Cultural feminist theory, 41–42 Cooley, C. H., 52 Cummings, N., 461 Cooley, M. E., 333 Cunneen, C., 74, 80 Coontz, S., 243 Curriculum practices, 216–217 Cooper, M., 261 See also Education, masculinities in Cooper, V., 379 Curry, G. D., 360 Copland (film), 275 Curry, T., 318, 320 Coplon, J., 420 Curtis, R. E., 168 Corman, J., 78 Cyberspace, men’s bodies in, 276–277 Corneau, G., 104 Cypress, B. K., 330 Cornell, D., 38 Cysling, J., 124 Cornwall, A., 100, 147 Czech Republic, 158 Cornwell, B., 320 Correctional institutions, 340–341 Dahl-Iversen, E., 383 Corsaro, W. A., 218, 236 Dale, D., 282 Coscelli, C., 332 Dalton, M., 293 Cosmopolitan, 281, 282 Daly, K., 196 Cosper, R., 331 Daly, M., 39, 256, 257, 354, 358 Cossette, L., 234 Dandeker, C., 437, 439, 440, 441, 442, 444 Costello, B., 276 Daniels, C. R., 250 Costello, C. Y., 369 Daniluk, J. C., 337 Coulter, J., 435 Darroch, J. E., 259 Court, D., 402 Darwinian feminist theorists, 38–39 Courtenay, W. H., 326, 327, 328, 330, 339, 340 Dasgupta, R., 78, 132 Courtship. See Family life, gender in D’Augelli, A. R., 334 Coveney, L., 182 Davenport, A., 331 Cowan, A., 236 David, D. S., 181, 192n 5 Cowan, G., 234 David, M., 215 Craig, S., 272 Davidoff, L., 5, 172 Cram, B., 375 Davidson, M., 296 Craven, D., 241 Davies, D., 368 Crime and gender Davis, K., 336, 368, 397 bodily differences and, 203–208, 210n 3 Davis, L. L., 315 concluding thoughts, 208–209 Davis, R., 81 future research, 209–210, 210n 5 Davis-Hean, P. E., 257 introduction, 196–197 Davison, B., 92 life-history dialogues, 204–208 Dawson, D. A., 330 psychoanalysis theory, 198–203, 210n 1 Dawson, G., 75, 433, 434, 441 social-structural constraints, 197–198 Day, R. D., 249, 263 Crime as Structured Action (Messerschmidt), 204, De Barbieri, T., 123, 124 210n 3 De Bois, W. E. B., 95 Crimp, D., 62 De Groot, G. J., 442 Crisp, Q., 51, 65n 1 De Keijzer, B., 116, 120, 125 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 473

Index • 473

De Suremain, M. D., 116 Divorced fathers, 258–259 De Viggiani, N., 341 Dobratz, B., 419, 420 De Vos, G. A., 130 Dobrofsky, L. R., 453 Deal, T. E., 298 Dodge, K. A., 236 DeKeseredy, W. S., 8, 353, 354, 356, 357, 359, 361, Doherty, W. J., 258, 259 362, 363, 363nn. 3,8, 461, 464 Dolan, J., 2 Del Rio, C., 337 Dollimore, J., 97 Delamont, S., 219 Domestic labor, 24–25, 78, 240–241, 290 Delaney, K., 318 See also Work, organizations and management Deliverance (film), 277 Domestic patterns. See Family life, gender in; Deloria, P. J., 399 Fatherhood Delph, E. W., 57, 186, 192n 11 Donaldson, M., 2, 4, 77, 220, 284, 298, 299, 400 Demarest, J., 275 Donovan, C., 189 Demeyere, G., 380 Dornbusch, S. M, 255 D’Emilio, J., 46 Dorr Legg, W., 380 Demographic research. See Regional gender patterns Douglas, C. A., 436 Denborough, D., 461 Douglas, P., 6 Denmark, 145 Dover, P., 101, 102, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109 Denny, D., 380, 389 Dowd, N. E., 250 Denton, N., 361 Dowdell, G., 331 Depatriarchalization, dynamics of, 30–31 Dowsett, G., 58, 190, 215, 218 Derne, S., 278, 279 Drakich, J., 243, 263 Desjardins, M. J., 236 Drucker, P., 293 DesRoches, C., 336 D’Souza, S., 234 “Detecting Masculinity” (Cavender), 210 Du Gay, P., 278, 279, 282 Deutsch, F. M., 240 Dual-sphere theory, 27 Devesa, S. S., 334 Due Billing, Y., 301 Devine, F., 166, 174 Dunbar, M. D., 319, 320 Devine, J. A., 354 Duncan, M. C., 320 Devor, H., 368, 380 Duncombe, J., 464 Dhaliwal, G. K., 339 Dunkel, F., 263 Diallo, D., 102 Dunn, J., 437, 438, 440 Dicks, B., 294 Dunning, E., 315 Digby, T., 330 Durham, M., 425 Dilemmas of Masculinity (Komarovsky), 137 Durkheim, E., 52 Dillon, P., 258 Duroche, L., 449 Dine, P., 75 Durrheim, K., 283 Dinnerstein, D., 41, 183, 234 Dutton, D. G., 138 Dippie, B. W., 408n 2 Dworkin, A., 59, 182 Direct gender hierarchy Dworkin, S. L., 274, 315, 319, 321, 367, 368 concluding thoughts, 31 Dyer, R., 179, 272 critique of, 20–24 Dzur, C., 236 current research, 17–18 introduction, 15–17 Eagly, A. H., 306n 1 Disability and gender. See Bodily normativity, Earle, J. P., 461 degrees of East Africa, 103 Disability Rights Movement, 368 East Asia, masculinities in Disability Studies Quarterly, 368 after World War II, 132–133 Disch, L. J., 318 concluding thoughts, 137–138 Disorders of Desire (Irvine), 183 empirical research, 136–137 The Dispossessed (LeGuin), 35 impact of modernization, 131–132 Diverse gender, 29 introduction, 129 Division of labor, 24–25, 78, 122, 433 premodern society, 129–131 See also Family life, gender in; Work, recent changes, 134–136 organizations and management See also Regional gender patterns Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 474

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East-Central Europe, 76, 143, 146, 147, 149, 151, Ellis, H. H., 382, 390 154, 157 Emery, R. E., 258 Easthope, A., 272 Emotional intimacy, 79–80, 230 Eastman, C. A., 408n 1 The Empire Strikes Back (Stone), 388 Eastman, S. T., 320 Employment patterns. See Work, organizations and Eberstadt, N., 341 management Ecofeminist theory, 40 Engels, F., 292 Economic development, 414–415 Engle, P. L., 100, 249 Economic divisions. See Class and gender Enloe, C., 72, 397, 399, 400, 403, 404, 406, 408, Economic Exclusion/Male Peer Support Model, 415, 433, 436, 439 357, 358f Entrepreneurialism, 297–298 The Economist, 77 Entwisle, B., 136 EDD (erectile dysfunction disorder), 332 Eonism, 382 Edelman, M. W., 253 Epistemology of the Closet (Sedgwick), 61 Eder, D., 236 Epprecht, M., 97, 98, 106 Edgerton, L., 403 Epstein, D., 464 Edin, K., 357 Epstein, S., 53, 213, 222, 223, 224 Edleson, J. L., 353 Erectile dysfunction, 183, 192n 6 Edley, N., 6, 80, 220, 299 Erickson, M. F., 258 Education, masculinities in Erickson, R. J., 260 concluding thoughts, 225 Erkut, S., 319 defining embodiment, 223–225 Eroticism. See Transgender theory gender relationships and practices, 215–217 Ervø, S., 2, 373, 376n 2 homophobia, 222–223 Esack, F, 455 introduction, 213–214, 225nn. 1,2,3 Esping-Andersen, G., 148, 159 peer-group cultures, 217–218 Espiritu, Y. L., 372 process of learning the norms, 218–219, 226nn. Esposito, J., 452 10,11,12 Essentialism, 95, 97 relations with girls, 223 Estonia, 151, 152, 153, 154 restructuring of U. K. education, 214–215, Europe, masculinities in 225–226nn. 4,5,6,7,8,9 concluding thoughts, 159–160 schools as institutions, 215 East-Central, Baltic, and Commonwealth of social theories, 220–221, 226nn. 13,14 Independent States subordination pressures, 221–222 gendered transitions, 149–152 Edwards, B. K., 334 labor and family, 152–153 Edwards, L., 130, 138 unified Europe, 153–157, 160n 4 Edwards, T., 7, 449 East-Central and Russia, 157–159 Egert, J., 332 European Union (EU) and, 146–149, 160n 2 Eglinton, J. Z., 54 introduction, 141–143, 160n 1 Egypt, 80, 450, 451, 454 Northern, Southern, and Western, Ehara, Y., 137 143–146, 160n 3 Ehrenreich, B., 38, 73, 190, 239, 242, 256, 416, 428 See also Regional gender patterns Eichler, M., 5, 291 European Commission policies, 148 Eide, I., 6, 85 European Union (EU) policies, 2, 74, 142, 143, Eisenstein, H., 83, 397 146–149, 154, 160n 2 Eisler, R., 335 Eustance, C., 462 Ekebert, O., 333 Evans, C. C., 236 Ekenstam, C., 19, 29 Evans, D., 53 Ekins, R., 8, 379, 380, 383, 384, 388, 390 Evans, T., 344 El-Solh, C. F., 405 Evaratt, D., 104 Eley, G., 150 Eveslage, S., 318 Elias, N., 115, 171 Evolutionary theory, 181 Elkin, F., 233 Ewing, D. W., 456 Ellicott, S., 436 Expert Committee on AIDS (1994), 340 Elliott, S., 51 Ezzamel, M., 291 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 475

Index • 475

Faderman, L., 54 Feinbloom, D. H., 390 Fagot, B. I., 234 Feldberg, R. L., 289 Falabella, G., 100 Feldman, D., 297 Faludi, S., 242 Feldman, H. A., 192n 6, 332 Family life, gender in Female armed forces, 436–437 concluding thoughts, 243–244 See also War, militarism and masculinities domestic division of labor, 24–25, 78, Female nationalists, 402–403 240–241, 290 Feminism in Japan (Kasuga), 137 in Europe, 152–153 Feminist theory, 35–47, 182–183 introduction, 230 Fengying, Z., 136 in Latin America, 116–117, 125n 3 Ferber, A. L., 420, 421, 422, 429nn. 1,2 male caregivers, 338 Fergus, K., 333 masculinity and femininity ideology, 232–233 Ferguson, H., 146, 148, 334, 335, 342 men’s privileged status, 239–240 Fergusson, D. M., 334 men’s sense of involvement, 241–243 Ferree, M. M., 256 separate spheres ideology, 231–232 Ferron, C., 334 social constructionist perspective, 230–231 Fertility, 119 socialization process, 233 FHM magazine, 282, 283, 284 boyhood troubles, 236–238 Ficcarrotto, T., 327 boys-becoming-men, 238–239 Figueroa-Perea, J.-G., 82, 119, 124 construction of gendered behavior, 236 Figueroa-Sarriera, H. J., 275 early gender differentiation, 233–236 Filer, A., 215, 218 in Third Worlds, 102–104 Film and TV. See Mass media, men’s bodies in Fangen, K., 422, 423, 424, 425 Finch, J., 298 Fanon, F., 95, 97 Fine, G. A., 318 Faraday, A., 58 Fine, M., 192n 13, 368, 372 Farmer, P., 341 Fineman, S., 290 Farrell, K., 277 Finkelhor, D., 363n 7 Farrell, M., 334 Finland, 143, 145, 152 Farrell, M. P., 319 Finnström, S., 91 Farrell, W., 314, 327, 331 Fiori, G., 332 Farry, M., 436 Firearms and masculinity, 335–336 Fatherhood See also War, militarism and masculinities being “too” young, 259 Fisher, S., 460 child development contributions, 252–255 Fiske, J., 272, 280 divorced fathers, 258–259 Fitch, M., 333 essentialist perspective, 251 Fitness and health. See Men’s health studies future research, 262–264 Flaks, D., 261 gay fatherhood, 261–262 Flavin, J. M., 203 gender-differences in parenting, 251–252 Fleming, M., 390 gender inequality and, 256 Fletcher, D. D., 340 introduction, 249–251 Flood, M., 2, 9, 193n 19, 459 marriage and relationships, 255–258 Fogas, B., 255 race/ethnicity factors, 260 Fondell, M. M., 257 social class and, 260–261 Fonseca, C., 71, 77, 121 unmarried fathers, 259 Foreman, A., 25, 31n See also Family life, gender in Foreman, M., 106 Fatherhood Responsibility Movement, 263 Forsèn, R., 25 Fausto-Sterling, A., 38, 39, 370 Forti, G., 332 Featherstone, M., 280 Foubert, J. D., 461 Fedele, D., 332 Foucault, M., 29, 52, 53, 188, 191, 224, 381 Federal Interagency Forum and Child and Family Foundation for Full Personality Expression (FPE), 385 Statistics (1998), 263 Fower, B. J., 240 Feigen-Fasteau, M., 327 Fowler, E., 133 Feinberg, L., 381, 389 Fowler, L., 399 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 476

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Fox, G. L., 256, 263 Gavanas, A., 263 Fox, J. A., 354 Gay fatherhood, 261–262 Fox, J. G., 239 Gay liberation movement. See Gay masculinities Fox, K. K., 337 Gay masculinities Francis, B., 225n 4 concluding thoughts, 65 Frank, A. G., 94, 414 in East Asia, 130, 131–132 Franklin, A. J., 339 fatherhood and, 261–262 Franzway, W., 402 gay liberation complaints, 55–60, 65n 5 Fraser, N., 180 health issues and, 337 Fraumeni, J. F., 334 history of homosexuality, 52–55, 65nn. 1,2,3,4 Frederiksen, B. F., 101 introduction, 51–52 Freedman, E. B., 41, 46 in Latin America, 120–121 Freedman, H. P., 339 male sexuality stories, 185–186, 190–191, Freedman, M., 98, 338 192–193nn. 11,17,18 Freedman, T. G., 333 poststructural theory, 60–64 French, S., 334 Gay Sunshine Press, 186 Freud, S., 38, 62 Gebhard, P. H., 183 Friedan, B., 37 Gecas, V., 260 Friedman, S., 5 Gee, J. P., 77 Friends Committee on National Legislation, 442 Geertz, C., 190, 231 Fries, K., 375 Gelles, R. J., 354 Fritner, M. P., 317 Gellner, E., 401 Frontier masculinity, 74–76 Gemeda, A., 103 Frosh, S., 219, 221, 223 Gender and class. See Class and gender Fuentes, A., 73 Gender and development (GAD), 99–101 Fujii, M., 134 Gender and Power (Connell), 59 Fukaya, M., 131 Gender behavior, biological perspective to, The Full Monty (film), 271, 277, 284 369–370 Fuller, B., 460 See also Gender socialization process Fuller, N., 78, 83, 116, 123, 124 Gender complementarity, 30, 42 Fulop, L., 294 Gender discrimination, 26–27, 30 Fulton, R., 380 See also Social theories Funk, R. E., 459, 463 Gender equality research. See Theoretical Fürst, E. L’o, 27, 28 perspectives Furstenberg, F. F., 258, 259 Gender justice Furukawa, M., 130, 131 introduction, 458–459 Fuss, D., 95 men’s antiviolence activism, 459–462 Fuyuno, I., 134 partnerships across gender, 463–464 struggles for, 462–463 Gadgil, J. M., 249 Gender market analysis, 27–29 Gagnon, J. H., 188 Gender-patriarchy relationships, 21–22, 417 Gaines, J., 317 Gender-power dilemma, 22–24 Gaitskell, D., 405 Gender research, introduction to, 1–3 Gang violence, 237, 360–361, 363nn. 10,11,12 future perspectives, 9–10 Garber, M., 380 global perspectives, 4–6 Garber, M. B., 368 overview and themes, 6–9 García, C. I., 124 social science perspectives, 3–4 Gardiner, J. K., 5, 7, 38, 42, 47 studies of men, 29–30 Garfinkel, H., 231 Gender schema, 235 Garofalo, R., 334 Gender socialization process, 233 Garrett, L., 332, 341 boys-becoming-men, 238–239 Gastaldo, E. L., 118 construction of gendered behavior, 236 Gates, H. L., 95 early gender differentiation, 233–236 Gauntlett, D., 283 Gender Trouble (Butler), 45, 61 Gauzas, L., 339 Gendered meaning, 21 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 477

Index • 477

Geneen, H. S., 293 concluding thoughts, 109 Geographical research. See Regional gender patterns introduction, 91–93 George, S., 234 Third World perspectives Geraghty, T., 335 AIDS, 106–109 Gerami, S., 10, 450, 452, 453, 454 differences between, 90–91, 91t Germany, 79, 143, 145 feminine shame and honor, 405 Gerschick, T. J., 8, 368, 372, 373, 376n 4 introduction, 101–102 Gerth, H. H., 400 poverty, work and family, 78, 102–104 Getecha, C., 105 violence, 104–106 Getting Sex: New Approach—More Fun, Less Guilt See also Global hegemonic masculinity; Regional (Lee), 57 gender patterns Gevisser, M., 107 Global hegemonic masculinity Ghoussoub, M., 2, 6, 79, 80 globalization process and, 415–417, 429n 1 Gibbings, S., 297 introduction, 414–415 Gibbs, J. T., 339 Islamic radical organizations, 427–429 Gibson, J. W., 83, 239, 434 right-wing militias, 417–427, 429n 2 Giddens, A., 115, 197 See also Politics, gender in Gidycz, C. A., 357 Global media industry, 278 Gierycz, D., 73, 74 Global Network of Men and Mentors on Violence Gilbert, P., 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 225 Prevention, 41 Gilbert, R., 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 225 Global sex industry, 342–344 Gilbreth, J. G., 254, 255 Globalization, 72–73, 81, 92 Giles-Sims, J., 256 Glucksmann, M., 290, 305 Gill, T., 133 Godbey, G., 240 Gillborn, D., 219 Goddard, K., 277 Gillespie-Sells, K., 368 Godenzi, A., 9, 354, 357 Gilligan, C., 42 Goffee, R., 305n 1 Gilmore, D. D., 256, 373, 375, 400 Goffman, E., 28, 231, 290, 372 Gilroy, P., 92 Goines, J. T., 298 Gislason, I., 25 Golant, S. K., 138 Gittings, C. E., 72 Goldberg, H., 137, 327 Gittings, J., 442 Goldberg, S., 181 Givens, J., 330 Goldberger, N. R., 42 Glass Ceiling Commission, 76 Goldscheider, F. K., 243 Glassner, B., 270, 331 Goldstein, J., 434, 444 Glendinning, C., 435 Goldstein, L., 272, 332, 368 Glenn, E. N., 44, 289 Goldthorpe, J. H., 166, 168, 171 Global business masculinity, 84, 147–148, 342 Gomáriz, E., 82 Global feminist theory, 44–45 Gomensoro, A., 120 Global gender patterns Gomez, F., 345 global sex industry, 342–344 Gonzalez, R., 43 globalization process Gooch, J., 293 concluding thoughts, 85 Goode, W., 240 economic development, 414–415 Goodey, J., 259 introduction, 71–72 Goodman, E., 240 local reconstruction, 77–78 Goodwin, J., 404 men’s bodies in, 81–82 Goodwin-Gill, G., 102 transnational arenas, 74–77 Gordon, D. F., 317, 326, 328, 335, 336, 344 world gender order, 72–74, 82–85 Gordon, F., 368 men’s health, 341–342 Gordon, J., 340 postcolonial perspectives Gordon, L., 354 analyzing literatures, 93 Gordon, T., 214, 215, 217 development and gender, 99–101 Gough, J., 57 indigenous knowledge, 97–99 Gould, B., 192n 15 postcolonial theory, 94–97 Grace, D., 54 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 478

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Graham, J. W., 258, 259 Hall, M., 278 Graham, W. A., 408n 2 Hall, M. A., 314 Granger, D. A., 256 Hall, R., 463 Grant, J., 402 Hall, S., 279, 284 Grant, K. R., 330 Hallam, R., 105 Grasmick, H. G., 360 Halli, S. S., 361 Grauman, D. G., 334 Hamburger, C., 383 Gray, J., 92, 178, 184, 185 Hamer, J., 260 Gray, J. J., 275 Hamilton, A., 442 Gray, J. S., 398, 408n 1 Hammer, G., 26 Gray, P., 320 Handel, G., 233 Gray, R. E., 333 Hands, J., 436 Greco, K. E., 333 Hanke, R., 279 Greed, C., 438 Hankey, B. F., 334 Green, G. E., 261 Hanmer, J., 5, 16 Green, J., 123, 125 Hänninen-Salmelin, E., 296 Green, M., 402 Hansot, E., 215 Greenberg, D. F., 52, 53 Haraway, D., 47, 275 Greene, M. E., 100 Harder, M., 145, 147 Greenfield, L. A., 241 Hardesty, C., 235 Greenspan, S., 254 Hardorff, R. C., 398, 408n 1 Gregor, T., 122 Hare-Mustin, R. T., 251 Greig, A., 100, 108, 153, 460 Harman, B., 340 Grey, C., 298 Harper, P. B., 44 Grieco, L., 263 Harris, I. M., 433 Griggs, C., 391 Harris, J. R., 217 Grindstaff, L., 279 Harris, L., 340 Griswold, R. L., 249, 255, 258 Harris, M. B., 262 Groholt, B., 333 Harris, O., 318 Grossberg, M., 240 Harris, P. B., 134 Growing Up With a Single Parent (McLanahan & Harrison, D., 435 Sandefeur), 253 Harrison, J., 327 Guatemala, 122 Harrison, K., 279 Gubernick, D. J., 251 Hart, G., 403 Gubrium, J. F., 231, 243 Hartmann, D., 319 Guest, R. H., 293 Hartsock, N., 406 Gulf War, 407, 435–436 Harwood, V., 53 Guns and masculinity, 335–336 Hasan, Z., 403 See also War, militarism and masculinities Hasbrook, C. A., 318 Gutmann, M. C., 7, 78, 91, 117, 123, 124 Hassan, N., 427 Guzmán, V., 118 Hassim, S., 99 Hatty, S. E., 361, 362, 363 Haas, L., 263 Hatzichristou, D. G., 332 Haavind, H., 16, 19 Haugen, M. S., 277 Hables-Gray, C., 440 Haugen, T., 26 Hables Gray C., 275 Hawkins, A. J., 255, 257 Haddad, T., 2 Hay Group (2001), 298 Hagedorn, J. M., 361 Hayashi, M., 135 Hagemann, K., 149 Hayward, R., 462 Halberstam, J., 46, 188, 388, 390 Haywood, C., 214, 216, 220 Haldorsen, 333 The Hazards of Being Male (Goldberg), 137 Hall, A., 339 Head, B., 95 Hall, C., 5, 92, 149, 172 Heald, S., 104, 105, 106, 107 Hall, E., 441 Health issues. See Men’s health studies Hall, K. Q., 37 Heaphy, B., 189 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 479

Index • 479

Hearn, J., 2, 4, 8, 9, 16, 19, 24, 59, 72, 105, 142, History of Sexuality (Foucault), 52 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 152, 160n 3, 189, 220, Hite, S., 183, 184 231, 232, 233, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, Hitz, D., 331 250, 290, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, HIV/AIDS research 299, 300, 301, 304, 305, 334, 335, 341, 362, male sexualities and, 186 373, 417, 433, 458 media coverage, 274 Heath, S., 30 in Third Worlds, 82, 106–109, 226n 10, 341–342 Hedren, P. L., 398 in the United States, 62–63, 332, 333t, 337 Heft, M., 332 See also Men’s health studies Hegemonic femininity, 24–25 Hobbs, D., 196 Hegemonic male sexuality, 180–186, 191–192, Hobsbawm, E., 401 192n 4, 400 Hobson, B., 169, 249, 263 See also Male sexualities Hoch, P., 92, 179 Hegland, M., 451 Hochschild, A., 256, 257, 290 Heikkinen, M. E., 238 Hockey, J., 433, 441 Heimer, G., 26, 145 Hocquenghem, G., 56 Heise, L. L., 463 Hoel, M., 19 Heiskanen, M., 145 Hofferth, S. L., 255, 257, 258 Helie-Lucas, M.-A., 403 Hoffman, C., 234 Helle, M., 26 Hoffmann, D., 332 Helmbrecht, L., 262 Hofstadter, R., 419 Henao, H., 117 Hofstede, G., 295 Henderson, B., 259 Holden, P., 76 Henderson, G. E., 136 Holland, J., 184, 214, 215, 217 Henderson, M., 282 Hollway, W., 178, 188, 294, 295 Henriksson, M. M., 238 Holmes, K. K., 337 Henriques, J., 294 Holstein, J. A., 231, 243 Henry, J., 319 Holter, H., 17, 18, 19 Herdenfeldt, M., 333 Holter, Ø. G., 5, 7, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, Herdt, G., 389 27, 28, 29, 30, 31n, 78, 79, 153, 334, 335, Hermalin, B. E., 298 342, 429n 5 Herman, E. S., 354 Homicide, 335, 356, 358–360 Hermes, J., 279 Homophobia, 97, 118, 182, 222–223, 464 Hernández, C., 123 Homophobic violence (gay bashing), 362 Hernes, H. M., 401 Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation Hernnstein, R. J., 354, 363n 5 (Altman), 61 Hershberger, S. L., 334 Homosexuality. See Gay masculinities; Male Hess, E., 190 sexualities; Transgender theory Heston, C., 419 Hondagneu-Sotelo, P., 156, 438 Hetherington, E. M., 370 Hong, L., 464 Hetsroni, A., 279 Honig, E., 133 Hevey, C. M., 236 Honor, masculine, 404–406 Heward, C., 91, 213, 214 Hood-Williams, J., 198, 201 Hewlett, B. S., 249, 252, 257, 262 Hook, E. W., III, 337 Hezbollah, 416, 427 Hooks, b, 44, 45, 96 Hicklin, A., 443 Hoop Dreams (film), 320 Hickman, N., 243 Hooper, C., 6, 72, 77, 84, 397 Higate, P., 9, 438, 443 Hoopes, J. E., 383 Higgins, M., 123 Hoover, R. N., 334 High school athletes. See Sports and gender Hopkins, A. G., 75 Hill, E. J., 257 Hopton, J., 9 Hillyard, P., 435 Horn, W., 251, 253 Hinsch, B., 130, 131 Horrocks, R., 403 Hirschfeld, M., 52, 382, 384, 390 Horwitz, A. V., 240 Hirst, P., 72 Horwood, L. J., 334 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 480

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Hoskin, K., 291, 293 Interpersonal violence Hottocks, R., 354 cultural prescriptions, 335 Housework. See Domestic labor forms of How to Be a Woman Though Male (Prince), 385 child abuse, 361–362 Howell, D., 291 homicide, 335, 356, 358–360 Howell-White, S., 240 racist/homophobic violence, 362 Howes, C., 236 violence against women, 26, 356–358, Hudson, J., 337 363nn. 7,8,9 Huff, C. R., 360 youth gang violence, 237–238, 360–361, Hughes, J. S., 231 363nn. 10,11,12 Huhndorf, S., 399 introduction, 353–355, 363nn. 1,2,3,4,5 Hull, G., 77 concluding thoughts, 362–363, 363nn. 13,14 Hull, G. T., 43 definition of, 355–356, 363n 6 Hull, J. D., 337 policy and practice, 362 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). male athletes, 317–318 See HIV/AIDS research; Men’s health male victims of sexual assault, 338–339 studies in Third Worlds, 104–106 Human Rights Watch, 343 See also Gender justice Humphries, J., 51 Intersexed bodies, 374, 380 Hungary, 151 “Invisible Masculinity” (Kimmel), 270 Hunt, D., 320 Iran, 450, 451, 454 Hunt, K., 330 Iraq, 81, 450 Huq, E., 234 Ireland, 148 Hurtado, A., 41, 43 Irigiray, L., 38 Hutcheon, L., 94 Iron Man athlete, 316 Hutchins, B., 8 Irvine, J., 183 Hutchinson, S., 259, 263 Isenhart, C. E., 330 Hwang, P., 263 Ishii-Kuntz, M., 249 Hybridity (cultural mixing), 94, 116 Islamic radical organizations, 427–429 Hyslop, J., 109, 214, 218 Islamist and Muslim masculinities concluding thoughts, 455–456 Iacocca, L., 293 global hegemonic masculinity, 449–450 Ihinger-Tallman, M., 258 introduction, 448–449 Imaizumi, N., 249 Islamist masculinity, 451–453 Imperial Leather (McClintock), 92, 397 Muslim masculinity, 453–455 Imperialism and masculinity, 72, 73, 74–76, 92 national construction of, 450–451 See also Global gender patterns Isometsa, E. T., 238 Impotence, 332 Israel, 75, 79 Imprisonment, 340–341 Italy, 143 Improved Order of Red Men, 400 Itô, K., 83, 134, 137 India, 96, 234, 460 Itô, S., 136 Indigenous gender orders, 75 Iwata, E., 372, 374 Indigenous knowledge, 97–99 Industrial Revolution, 291 Jacklin, C. N., 235 Inequality theories. See Social theories Jackson, D., 215, 216, 217, 219, 327 Infertility, 337 Jackson, M., 182 Ingrassia, M., 237 Jackson, P., 279, 280, 281, 282, 283 Inoue, T., 137 Jackson, P. A., 380 Institute of Management/Remunertion Jackson, P. G., 360 Economics, 296 Jackson, S., 188 International Bill of Gender Rights (1995), 389 Jacobs, G., 190 International Journal of Men’s Studies, 1, 342 Jacobs, S., 380 International Monetary Fund, 148 Jacobsen, R. B., 261 International politics. See Global gender patterns Jaggar, A., 202 Internet Relay Chat (IRC), 276–277 Jalmert, L., 21, 23 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 481

Index • 481

James, C. L. R., 95, 315 Kamburov, D., 2, 154, 155 James, S. P., 334 Kampungu, L., 437 Janes, L., 275, 279 Kandiyoti, D., 78, 242, 400 Janeway, E., 368 Kandrack, M., 330 Jankowiak, W., 249 Kane, M. J., 316, 318 Janowitz, M., 440 Kanin, E. J., 357 Jansen, S. C., 321 Kanter, R. M., 25, 297, 305n 1 Jansson, Y., 137 Kaplan, D., 453 Japan, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 130, 131, 132, 133, Kaplan, H., 255 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 249 Karlen, A., 402 Jardim, D. F., 116, 117 Karlsen, B., 19 Jargowsky, P. A., 363n 9 Karraker, K. H., 234 Jay, K., 57 Kashima, T., 134 Jayawardena, K., 403 Kasuga, K., 137 Jefferson, T., 96, 196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, Katz, E., 334 208, 435 Katz, J., 52, 354 Jefferson Lenskyj, H., 282 Kauffman, C. J., 400 Jeffreys, S., 58, 59, 182, 386, 390 Kaufman, M., 2, 4, 5, 42, 85, 232, 233, 237, 241, Jenkins, J., 435, 442 335, 429n 1, 459, 461, 462, 463 Jenkins, P., 354 Kawaguchi, K., 136 Jennings, C., 443 Kay, L., 182, 192n 15 Jennings-Dozier, K., 333 Kaye, L. W., 338 Jewish men, 421–422 Kazama, T., 136 Jewkes, R., 105, 107 Kazemipur, A., 361 Jipson, A., 418 Keefe, F., 332 Job structures. See Work, organizations and Keeling, R. R., 326, 330 management Kegan Gardiner, J., 449 Jock: Sports and Male Identity (Sabo & Runfola), 314 Kehily, M. J., 222 Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., 306n 1 Kelly, K., 354 Johansson, T., 2, 29, 373, 376n 2 Kempadoo, K., 278 John, A. V., 462 Kendall, L., 278 Johnsen, B., 341 Kennedy, A. A., 298 Johnson, A. G., 353 Kennedy Bergen, R., 353 Johnson, D., 92, 99 Kennelly, I., 369 Johnson, D. R., 240 Kenway, J., 214 Johnson, G. R., 333, 336 Keough, E., 333 Johnson, M., 381 Kepner, J., 380 Johnson, R., 222, 224, 464 Kerfoot, D., 220, 282, 296, 299 Johnson, V., 183 Kershner, R., 237 Johnston, J. R., 369 Kersten, J., 135, 138 Jolly, M., 80 Kessler, S. J., 215, 218, 219, 368, 391 Jonasdóttir, A., 19 Kestnbaum, M., 439 Jones, A., 30, 233 Khedimellah, M., 454 Jones, J. H., 373 Kibby, M., 276 Jordan, E., 236 Kijewski, V., 390 Journal of Men’s Studies, 1, 271, 272t Kilmartin, C. T., 459, 461 Judson, F. N., 337 Kimmel, M., 2, 5, 6, 9, 100, 108, 153, 156, 231, Judt, T., 428 235, 238, 270, 371, 375, 416, 418, 429n 2, 449, Juergensmeyer, M., 415 453, 460 Julien, I., 55 Kimmel, M. S., 22, 27, 42, 59, 62, 71, 233, 237, 291, 299, 315, 337, 354, 355, 363n 4, 368, 369, Kaare, B., 104 371, 373, 375, 400, 459, 462 Kabira, W. M., 100 Kindlon, D., 206 Kagan, J., 236 King, A. E. V., 102 Kalliokoski, A.-M., 26, 145 King, D., 8, 379, 380, 383, 384, 388, 390 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 482

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King, S., 274, 320 Kuypers, J. A., 335 King, V., 2 Kuzmanic, T., 437 Kinmonth, E. H., 78 Kinsey, A. C., 18352 Laberge, S., 319 Kinsey, A. F., 52 Labor migration, 81–82, 103 Kirk, D., 224 Labor patterns. See Work, organizations and Kirkham, P., 63 management Kirkup, G., 275 Labrecque, M., 333 Kiselica, M. A., 259 Lacan, Jacques, 38 Klaus, P. A., 241 Lahelma, E., 214, 215, 217 Klein, A., 315, 316, 317 Lake, M., 74, 81 Klein, A. M., 331, 338, 374 Lamarine, R., 340 Klein, M., 199 Lamas, M., 115 Klein, U., 82, 433 Lamb, M. E., 249, 251, 254, 255, 256, 257, 263 Klich, N., 297 Lancaster, J., 255 Klitzman, R., 337 Lancaster, R., 121, 123, 173 Knapp, J. S., 337 Landford, W., 169 KNBC.COM, 361 Landry, D. J., 259 Knickmeyer, E., 371 Landsberg, M., 464 Knights, D., 282, 296, 299 Lang, J., 100, 108, 153, 460 Knights of Columbus, 400 Lang, S., 380 Kolga, V., 151, 152, 153, 154, 334, 335 Lankshear, C., 77 Komarovsky, M., 137 Large, J., 100 Kondo, D., 81, 294, 300, 303 LaRossa, R., 249, 257 Koonz, C., 405 Laslett, B., 231 Kopstein, A. N., 331 Latapí, A. E., 122 Korea, 131, 133 Latin America, masculinities in Korten, D., 305 acknowledgments, 125 Kosary, C. L., 334 debates and controversies, 123–124 Kosofsky, E., 60 empirical research, 116 Koss, M., 317 ethnicity and race, 121–122, 260 Koss, M. P., 357 fatherhood and family, 116–117, 125n 3 Kouneski, E. F., 258 homosociality, 117–118 Kovalainen, A., 296 identity construction, 118–119 Koven, S., 401 machismo, 123, 125n 4 Kovitz, M., 433 men’s health, 119–121, 344–345 Kramer, B. J., 338 sexuality, 120–121 Kramer, J., 418 work, 122–123 Kramer, L., 58, 192n 11 future research, 124–125 Krane, R. J., 332 historical background, 114–115, 125nn. 1,2 Krause, H. D., 258 introduction, 115–116 Krenske, L., 279 See also Global gender patterns Krieger, N., 332, 341 Lattu, E., 142, 145, 148, 152, 334, 335, 341 Kristeva, J., 160n 4 Latvia, 150, 153, 156 Kristof, N., 416 LaVecchia, C., 335 Krøjer, J., 25 Lavezzari, M., 332 Krug, E. G., 333, 336 Law, R., 2 Ku, L. C., 237, 259, 336 Lawrence, A., 390 Ku Klux Klan, 418, 424 Lawrence, B., 452 Kulick, D., 123, 381 Lawrence, G., 321 Kuosmanen, J., 29 Lawrence, T. E., 400 Kupers, T. A., 196, 339, 340, 341 Layoun, M., 400 Kurzman, C., 452 Lazarus, N., 94 Kusz, K., 319 Le Vay, S., 53 Kuwait, 81 Leadership styles, 298 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 483

Index • 483

Leal, O. F., 116, 122 Linkogle, S., 104 Leaman, O., 451 Linstead, S., 294 Learning disabled, 237 Lister, R., 435 Lechner, F. J., 73 Lithuanian Human Development Report (2000), Leckie, S. A., 398 151, 152 Leclerc-Madlala, S., 108 Little Bighorn battle, 398–399, 408n 1 Lee, B., 278, 285 Lituania, 151 Lee, D. J., 166 Liu, H.-C. W., 5 Lee, J., 4, 5, 23, 59, 220, 294 Livingstone, D. W., 78 Lee, J. A., 57, 192n 11, 193n 18 Loaded magazine, 282, 283 Lee, K. K., 136 Lober, J, 3 Lefebvre, J., 332 Local gender order. See Global gender patterns Lefkowitz, B., 237, 239 Lockwood, D., 169 Legato, M. J., 326, 327 London, W., 196, 339, 340 LeGuin, U., 35 Long, J. D., 335 Lehigh, S., 285 Long, S. O., 134 Leidholdt, D., 182 Longinovich, T., 158 Leighton, P. S., 203 Lonnqvist, J. K., 238 Leijenaar, M., 397 Loomba, A., 94 Leinbach, M. D., 234 Loow, H., 424, 427, 429n 4 Leit, R. A., 275 Lorber, J., 42, 46, 231, 234, 316, 326, 368 Lemon, J., 102 Lorentzen, J., 19 Lerman, R. I., 259 Louie, K., 2, 130, 138 Lerner, S., 119 Low, M., 2 Lesko, N., 217 Lubeck, P., 454 Less-normative bodies. See Bodily normativity, Lucchini, F., 335 degrees of Luckmann, T., 231 Lettiere, M., 203 Luker, K., 259 Leupp, G. P., 130 Lukes, S., 25 Levant, R., 356 Lundberg, C., 6 Leverenz, D., 400 Lundgren, E., 23, 26, 145 Levi, F., 335 Lupton, D., 249, 251, 296 Levin, I., 231 Luria, Z., 223, 234 Levin, J., 105, 354 Luszki, W., 406 Levine, A. J., 240 Lutz, H., 404 Levine, J. A., 236, 251, 254, 255 Luxton, M., 78, 464 Levine, M. P., 337 Lyman, P., 238 Levine, W. C., 337 Lynch, K., 290 Levit, N., 340 Lyon, M. L., 224 Lewis, C., 169 Lewis, D., 99 Mabro, J., 405 Leys, C., 94 Mac an Ghaill, E., 5, 96, 173, 214, 216, 219, 220, 223 Liberal feminist theory, 37–38 MacAllum, C. A., 259 Liberation, 55 MacAloon, J. J., 400 Liburd, L. C., 339 Maccoby, E. E., 38, 42, 233, 235, 236, 255, 258 Liepins, R., 277 MacCrae, S., 173 Lievesley, G., 404 MacDonald, R. H., 75 Life expectancy, 328–330, 329t Machismo, 123 Light, R., 224 MacInnes, J., 4, 220, 301, 302, 433 Lilleaas, U.-B., 29 MacIntyre, S., 330 Limón, J., 123 Mackay, L., 279 Lindberg, L. D., 259 Mackenzie, G. O., 389 Lindisfarne, N., 147 MacKenzie, J. M., 82, 400 Ling, L. H. M., 74 Mackey, W. C., 249, 251, 252 Lingard, B., 6 MacKinnon, C., 25, 39, 40, 59, 397 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 484

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MacLeod, L., 353, 354, 357 The “Man” Question in International Relations MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, M. K., 279 (Zalewski & Parpart), 74 Macnair, M., 435 Management structures. See Work, organizations MacPhail, C., 107 and management Macve, R., 293 Mangan, J. A., 315 Madhubuti, H. R., 459 Mani, S., 332 Mager, A., 104 Manicom, L., 100 Magic Johnson, 321 Maniokas, K., 151, 152 Mahommed, P., 100 Manning, C. J., 404 Mahoney, P., 363n 7 Manning, W. D., 258 Mahony, P., 182 Månsson, S.-A., 146 Maier, M., 301 Mansurov, V., 225n 3 Maitland, S., 380 Maoism, 133 Majors, R., 96, 315, 316 “Maps of White Supremacist Organizations” Majors, R. G., 260 (2002), 418 Makang, J.-M., 99 Marchell, T., 461 Makgoba, M. W., 98 Marchioro, K., 260 The Making of the Modern Homosexual (Plummer), Maré, G., 79 56 Marecek, J., 251 Malaysia, 80 Marks, J. S., 331 Malcom X, 204 Marks, N. F., 240 Malcuit, G., 234 Marqués, J. V., 117 Male adolescent development, 205–206, 236–239, Marriage. See Family life, gender in; Fatherhood 336–337 Marriott, D., 96 Male dominance. See Social theories Marriott, K. A., 461 The Male Heterosexual (Morris), 192n 1 Marrs, T., 420 Male sexualities Marsden, D., 464 concluding thoughts, 191–192 Marsden, P., 428 dismantling the hegemony, 186–187, 192n 12 Marshall, B., 183 hegemonic male sexuality, 180–181 Marshall, G., 171 biology and evolutionary theory, 181 Marsiglio, W., 8, 249, 251, 254, 255, 257, 259, 263 clinical research, 183, 192n 6 Martin, C., 437 empirical research, 183–184, 192nn. 7,8 Martin, C. E., 183 feminist theory, 182–183 Martin, J., 305n 1 gay male sexuality, 185–186, 192n 11 Martin, K. A., 206, 209, 371 popular cultural research, 184–185, 192nn. 9,10 Martin, M., 333 sociological theory, 181–182, 192n 5 Martin, P. Y., 296 introduction, 178–179, 192n 1 Martin, R., 280 new theories of, 187–189, 192n 13 Martin, S. E., 203 penis-centered model of sex, 179–180, Martinez, G., 259 192nn. 2,3,4 Martino, W., 219 storied dialogues on Marttunen, M. J., 238 deconstruction, 189–190, 192nn. 14,15 Marx, K., 292 family-heterosexuality, 189 Masculine identity. See Male sexualities gay male sexuality, 190–191, 193nn. 17,18 Masculinities and Crime (Messerschmidt), 197, 397 sexual identities, 191 Masculinities (Connell), 60 sexual violence, 190, 193n. 16 Mason, D., 439 women’s sexuality, 190 Mason, G., 222 See also specific subjects Mass media, men’s bodies in Male violence. See Interpersonal violence body image literature, 275–276 Malkin, C. M., 256 concluding thoughts, 284–285 Malszecki, G., 321, 335 future research, 278–280 Mama, A., 104 international media, 74, 80–81 The Man on the Assembly Line introduction, 270–271, 271t, 272t (Walker & Guest), 293 men’s magazines, 280 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 485

Index • 485

“new lad” magazines, 282–284 McTeer, W. G., 316 postmodern culture, 280–282 Mead, G. H., 231 selective overview, 272–273 Mead, M., 52, 234 social constructionist perspective, 273 Means, G. C., 293 race, 274–275 Means, R., 408n 1 sexuality, 274 Mederos, F., 354, 362 sport studies, 320–321 Media, Culture & Society, 271, 272t understudied topics Media, men’s bodies in. See Mass media, men’s cyberspace, 276–277 bodies in local/global articulations, 278 Medrado, B., 2 non-Western contexts, 278 Mehdid, M., 400 rural/urban masculinities, 277–278 Melichar, J., 436 Massad, J., 400 Mellen, J., 75 Massey, D., 361 Melli, M. S., 258 Masters, W., 183 Melnick, M. J., 319, 331, 334 Maternal and Child Health Bureau (1997), 331 Men Against Abuse and Violence, 460 Maton, K. G., 334 Men Against Sexual Assault (MASA), 460 Mattis, J., 363n 13 Men and Masculinities, 1, 271, 272t, 342, 449 Mauer, M., 340 Men and nations Mauss, M., 28 concluding thoughts, 407–408, 408n 3 May, P., 340 construction of, 399–400 May, R. A. B., 279 culture and ideology of, 401–404 Mayekiso, T. V., 103 feminine shame and honor, 404–405 Mayer, T., 404 introduction, 397–398 Mayo Clinic, 333 Little Bighorn battle, 398–399, 408nn. 1,2 Mbananga, N., 105 militarized heterosexuality, 406–407 Mbeki, T., 98 nationalism, 400–401 McCartney, K., 250 Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus McCaughey, M., 279, 368 (Gray), 184 McClintock, A., 150, 397, 403, 404 Men of color, masculinity and McCord, C., 339 body image, 274–275 McCormack, D., 276 fatherhood, 260 McCracken, E., 279 feminist theory on, 43–45 McCreary, D. R., 330, 339 gang violence, 361 McDonald, M., 317, 320 health and illness, 332, 339–340 McEachern, C., 279 male athletes, 317–318 McEwen, M. K., 461 postcolonial theory on, 95–97 McFarlan, D. M., 434 Men Overcoming Violence (MOVE), 460 McGowan, R., 436 Men Who Manage (Dalton), 293 McGraw, L. A., 258 MENA region, 449, 451, 453, 454 McGreal, C., 226n 10 Mendel, M. P., 339 McGregor, R., 433 Men’s antiviolence activism McHale, S. H., 257 antiviolence efforts, 459–462 McIntosh, M., 59 introduction, 458–459 McIntosh, P., 464 partnerships across gender, 463–464 McKay, A., 344 promoting gender justice, 462–463 McKay, J., 8, 279, 280, 281, 317, 319, 320, 321 The Men’s Bibliography: A Comprehensive McKee, A., 274 Bibliography of Writing on Men, Masculinities, McKenry, P. C., 258, 261 Gender, and Sexualities (Flood), 2, 193n 19 McKinlay, J. B., 192n 6, 332 Men’s health studies McLanahan, S., 253 concluding thoughts, 344–345 McLelland, M. J., 136, 168 current issues McLintock, A., 92 alcohol use, 330–331 McMahon, A., 4, 240, 256, 257, 281, 282, 299 erectile disorders, 332 McPherson, D. G., 317 HIV/AIDS, 62–63, 332, 333t Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 486

486 • HANDBOOK OF MEN AND MASCULINITIES

pain and symptom denial, 332–333 Miles, M., 55 prostate cancer, 333 Military masculinities. See Men and nations; War, sports, 316–317 militarism and masculinities steroid use, 331 Milkin, A. R., 275 suicide, 333–334 Mill, H. T., 37 testicular cancer, 334–335 Mill, J. S., 37 violence, 335 Millar, J., 435 war and guns, 335–336 Miller, A. S., 368, 373, 376n 4 demographics of difference, 328–330, 329t Miller, B. A., 334 global sex industry, 342–344 Miller, B. D., 234 globalization, gender and, 341–342 Miller, E. M., 369 groups with special needs Miller, J., 209 ADHD, 337 Miller, K., 331, 334 gay/bisexual men, 337 Miller, K. E., 319 infertility, 337 Miller, S., 237, 435 male athletes, 337–338 Miller, T., 280, 320, 321 male victims of sexual assault, 338–339 Mills, A., 148 men of color, 339–340 Mills, C. W., 171, 400 prisoners, 340–341 Mills, M., 220 introduction, 326–327 Milovanovic, D., 203 in Latin America, 119–121 Minton, C., 236 males with special needs, 336 Mintzberg, H., 293 adolescent males, 336–337 Mir-Hosseini, Z., 452 origins and history, 327–328 Mirandé, A., 123, 260 Mentor, S., 275 Mirza, H. S., 96, 219 Menzu Senta, 85 Mladjenovic, L., 436 Menzusentâ, 135 Mnookin, R. H., 258 Mercer, K., 55 Mocnik, R., 158 Merighi, J. R., 330 Modood, T., 154 Merrell, K., 339 Moeykens, B., 331 Merton, R., 24, 454 Moghadam, V. M., 44, 404, 405 Merz, S. M., 369 Mohan, D., 331 Messerschmidt, J., 8, 105, 184, 196, 197, 198, 204, Mohan, L., 463, 464 205, 206, 207, 210nn. 1,5, 301, 343, 353, 355, Mohanty, C. T., 44, 99 356, 357, 360, 361, 362, 363, 363n 11, 397 Moletto, E., 2 Messineo, M., 274 Monaghan, P., 368 Messner, M. A., 5, 6, 8, 71, 81, 84, 242, 272, 315, Money, J., 383 316, 317, 320, 331, 338, 368, 400, 416, 438, Montagu, A., 328 449, 458, 459 Montoya, O., 460 Messner, M. M., 156, 235 Moodie, T. D., 76, 78, 81 Metler, R., 340 Moon, C., 439 Metropolitan Tokyo Women’s Foundation, 134 Mooney, J., 145 Metz-Göckel, S., 5 Moore, B., 414, 416 Mexico, 78, 80, 81, 122, 123, 231 Moore, D., 340 Meyer, J. K., 383 Moore, H., 115 Meyerowitz, J., 380 Moore, H. L., 104 Michaud, P. A., 334 Moore, K., 379, 380 Michno, G., 398, 408n 1 Moore, L., 320 Middle East, 416, 427, 449, 452, 454, 456 Moore, R. A., 334 Middlemiss, I., 280 Moore, S., 281 Miedzian, M., 239, 433 Moore-Gilbert, B., 94, 95, 97 Mieli, M., 56 Moraga, C. L., 45 Mies, M., 76, 78, 239 Moran, E. G., 368 Migrant labor, 81–82, 103 More, K., 380 Mikosza, J., 8, 282 Moreau, R., 343 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 487

Index • 487

Morgan, C. S., 235 Nanda, S., 380 Morgan, D., 2, 4, 8, 59, 400, 441 Nardi, P. M., 190, 193n 17 Morgan, D. H. J., 166, 168, 169, 292, 296, 303 Narring, F., 334 Morgan, G., 298 Nataf, Z. I., 388 Morgan, R., 433 Nategh, H., 403 Morley, D., 279 National Basketball Association (NBA), 317 Morrell, R., 2, 6, 7, 71, 73, 81, 91, 213, 214, 216, 218 National Campaign Against Violence Morris, C., 239 and Crime, 461 Morris, E., 400 National Center for Health Statistics (2002), 328 Morris, J., 379 National Center for Policy Analysis, 432 Morris, K., 119, 345 National Fatherhood Initiative, 251 Morris, L., 192n 1 National Football League (NFL), 338 Mort, F., 6, 281, 282 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Mortality rates, 328–330, 329t (NHANES), 336 Moscicki, E. K., 333 National Hockey League (NHL), 356 Moskos, C., 439 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Mosmiller, T. E., 5, 462 Health (NIOSAH), 338 Mosse, G. L., 401, 405, 406 National Institutes of Health (NIH), 332 Mother’s Taxi (Thompson), 319 National membership. See Men and nations Moynihan, M., 362 National Organization for Women (NOW), 37 Msimang, S., 98 National Organization of Fathers Club (NOFC), 135 Mudimbe, V. Y., 98 National Organization of Men Against Sexism Mueller, U., 142, 145, 147, 148, 152, 334, 335, 342 (NOMAS), 85, 462 Mugabe, S., 97 National Survey of Children (1981), 258 Muir, K., 436 National Survey of Families and Households Mukarker, F., 403 (1992–1994), 258 Mulemfo, M. M., 98 National Vanguard, 422 Mulholland, K., 297 National Vital Statistics (2000), 339 Müller, U., 5 National Youth Gang Center, 237 Multicultural feminist theory, 43–45 Nationalism. See Men and nations Multiculturalism, 115, 125n 2 Nationhood. See Men and nations Multiple masculinities, 290, 294–295, 298–304 Native Americans, 334, 340 Muncie, J., 435 Native Life in South Africa (Plaatje & Head), 95 Murdock, G. P., 291 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), Murphy, P. F., 189 141, 439, 442 Murry, C., 354, 363n 5 Nayak, A., 222 Murry, M. V., 256 Nazism, 424, 429n 3 Muslim and Islamist masculinities Neale, S., 272 concluding thoughts, 455–456 Negri, E., 335 global hegemonic masculinity, 449–450 Negus, K., 279 introduction, 448–449 Neiderhiser, J., 370 Islamist masculinity, 451–453 Nelson, D. D., 399 Muslim masculinity, 453–455 Neo-Nazi groups, 418 national construction of, 450–451 Neoliberal theory, 76, 83–84, 148, 415 Mutchler, M., 188 Nespor, J., 224 Neuhaus, C., 339 Nabokov, P., 399 Neuwirth, J., 404 Nachtigall, R. D., 337 New, C., 15 Naffine, N., 196 New Internationalist, 85 Nagel, J., 8, 72, 192n 15, 399, 403, 406 The New Male Sexuality (Zilbergeld), 185, 192n 9 Nairn, T., 401 New Men’s Movement, 60, 281–282 Naison, M., 314 New World Order, 420, 421 Nakamura, T., 137, 138 The New World Order, 420, 421, 422 Nakazawa, J., 249 New Zealand, 106, 184, 213, 277, 334 Naked Civil Servant (Crisp), 51, 65n 1 Newburn, T., 196, 356, 363 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 488

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Newby, H., 171 Okin, S. M., 258 Newman, G., 355 Ólafsdóttir, O., 85 Newman, R., 374 Olavarría, J., 2, 6, 79, 85, 116, 119, 122, 124 Newsletter of the International Association for Oldersma, J., 397 Studies of Men (IASOM), 1, 16 Oldfield, S., 437 Newton, C., 340 O’Leary, P., 339 Nichols, J., 327 Oleksy, E., 142, 145, 148, 151, 152, 153, 157, 158, Nicholson, L., 60 334, 335, 341 Niehaus, I., 104 Oliver, M., 368 Nielsen, L., 255 Olsson, L., 437 Nilsson, S., 335 Olsvik, E., 334, 335 Nishiyama, M., 131 Olympic movement, 400 Niva, S., 81, 84 One of the Guys (Miller), 209 Nixon, S., 280, 282 O’Neil, J., 334 Noble, G., 81 Onis, Z., 454 Nock, S. L., 240, 241, 255, 256 Ooms, T. J., 259 Nolasco, S., 116, 119 The Organization Man (Whyte), 293 Nordberg, M., 296 Organizations. See Work, organizations and North Africa, 449 management North America, 75, 79, 80, 148, 415, 460 Orientalism (Said), 91, 94 North American Free Trade Agreement Orr, J., 400 (NAFTA), 419 Osa, S., 132 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 141, Ôsawa, M., 134 439, 442 Osgerby, B., 281 North Korea, 133 Oslak, S., 259 Northern Europe, 143, 144, 146, 147 Osmond, M. W., 256 Norton, J., 51 Ostow, M., 383 Norton-Taylor, R., 432 Ôtsuka, T., 135, 137 Norway, 79, 143, 145, 341 Oushakine, S., 158 Nosaka, A., 234 Ouzgane, L., 2, 6, 72, 95 Novikova, I., 2, 76, 149, 150, 155, 157, 334, 335, 342 Owens, C., 58 Núñez Noriega, G., 121, 123 Ôyama, H., 135, 137 Nyamnjoh, 92 Nye, R. A., 400 Pagelow, M., 354 Pahl, R., 297 Oakley, A., 290 Pain thresholds, 332–333 Oberg, P., 276 Pakistan, 344, 450, 453 Obesity, 336 Pakulski, J., 166 O’Brien, J., 369, 370 Palkovitz, R., 254, 257, 260 O’Brien, M., 169, 240, 290 Palmer, C. T., 181, 370 Occupational structures. See Work, organizations Panos, 186 and management Papic, Z., 149, 150 O’Connell, D., 255, 258 Papua New Guinea, 75 Odendaal, W., 460 Parenting. See Family life, gender in; Fatherhood O’Donnell, M., 78 Parke, R. D., 235, 249, 255 O’Donohue, W. T., 461 Parker, A., 219, 223, 284 Oduol, W., 100 Parker, R., 80, 120, 121, 123, 124 Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), Parker, S., 236 215, 225n 6 Parkin, W., 72, 142, 145, 148, 189, 290, OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), 292, 298, 305 215, 225n 6 Parpart, J., 6, 74, 99 Oftung, K., 85 Parrini, R., 119 Ogasawara, Y., 9, 132, 134 Parrot, A., 461 Ogilvie, E., 281 Parsons, T., 22, 26 Okamoto, T., 134 Paslestine, 75, 79, 453 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 489

Index • 489

Pasley, K., 258 Pleck, J. H., 5, 8, 237, 249, 251, 254, 255, 256, 257, Patriarchy, forms of, 16, 19–22, 417 258, 263, 336, 449 Patriotism, 402 Plomin, R., 370 Patterson, C. J., 261, 262 Plummer, D., 464 Pattman, R., 97, 219, 221, 223 Plummer, K., 8, 52, 53, 56, 187, 188, Patton, C., 53, 62 190, 192n 12 Paul, J. P., 337 Poggi, C., 276 Peace Support Operations (PSOs), 437, 439, 443 Poland, 150, 151, 153, 157 Pearce, S., 277, 284 Polatnick, M., 256 Pearlman, C. L., 80 Polikoff, N., 258 Pease, B., 2, 83, 85, 141, 147, 291, 459, 463 Politics, gender in Peer-group cultures, 217–218, 222, 223 global hegemonic masculinity See also Education, masculinities in globalization process and, 415–417, 429n 1 Pellegrini, A. D., 335 introduction, 414–415 Penile enlargement, 374–375 Islamic radical organizations, 427–429 Penis-center model, of sex, 179–180, 192nn. 2,3,4 right-wing militias, 417–427, 429n 2 Pennello, G., 334 Islamist and Muslim masculinities Percy-Smith, J., 435 concluding thoughts, 455–456 Perkins, C. A., 241 global hegemonic masculinity, 449–450 Perkins, U. E., 361 introduction, 448–449 Pernas, M., 259 Islamist masculinity, 451–453 Perry, B., 357, 362 Muslim masculinity, 453–455 Perry, G., 374 national construction of, 450–451 Person, E. S., 62, 180 men and nations Personality structures, 42–43 concluding thoughts, 407–408, 408n 3 Peru, 78 construction of, 399–400 Peteet, J., 79, 403, 452, 453 culture and ideology of, 401–404 Peters, K., 102 feminine shame and honor, 404–405 Peters, T. J., 298 introduction, 397–398 Petersen, A., 5, 308 Little Bighorn battle, 398–399, 408nn. 1,2 Petersen, A. C., 205, 206 militarized heterosexuality, 406–407 Petit, G. S., 236 nationalism, 400–401 Pfannenschmidt, S., 344 war and militarism Pfeil, F., 284, 400 1991 Gulf War, 435–436 Pfiefer, S. K., 250 concluding thoughts, 443–444 Pharris-Ciurej, N. D., 334 cultural influences, 433–434 Philaretou, A. G., 192n 14 current and future trends, 440–441 Philipsen, L., 236 future contemporary military, 439–440 Phillips, A., 232, 238 gendered culture transformation, 437–439 Phillips, C., 333 introduction, 432–434 Phillips, Jock, 6, 71, 75, 81 militarization of women, 436–437 Philo, G., 170 nationalism and, 441 Phoenix, A., 219, 221, 223, 404 Peace Support Operations (PSOs), 443 Pierce, J., 306n 1 political changes in, 441–443 Pierce, W., 420, 422 reciprocal relationship, 434–435 Piispa, M., 145 technology influence, 440 Pilkington, N. W., 334 See also Gender justice Pillemer, K., 250 Polk, K., 196, 356, 358, 359 Pinfold, J., 275 Pollak, M., 57, 58 Pizan, C. de, 36 Pollak, W., 237, 241 Plaatje, S. T., 95 Pollard, A., 215, 218 Platt, A. E., 341, 434 Pollert, A., 306n 2 Playboy, 281, 282 Polych, C., 339, 340 Playgirl, 275 Pomerance, M., 284 Pleck, E. H., 249 Pomerleau, A., 234 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 490

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Pomeroy, W. B., 183 Queer theory, 45–47 Pong, S.-L., 214 Quinn, K., 334 Popay, J., 294 Quintín, P., 122 Pope, H., 337 Quirin, J., 405 Pope, H. G., 275 Popenoe, D., 250, 251, 253 Raasch, C., 408 Popular media. See Mass media, men’s bodies in Race, Gender, and Class in Criminology: The Population Reference Bureau, 102, 106 Intersection (Schwartz & Milovanovic), 203 Pornography, 39, 40, 342–343 Race and gender, 92, 95–97, 121–122, 247–275 Porter, M., 169 See also specific studies Portner, J., 333 Racial Loyalty magazine, 421 Portocarrero, P., 118 Radical feminist theory, 40–41, 42 Postcolonial theory, 94–97 Radin, N., 235 See also Global gender patterns Radway, J., 279 Postman, N., 331 Rajan, R. S., 96 Postone, M., 29 Rajaratnam, A., 234 Poststructuralists, 16, 45, 47 Ralph magazine, 282, 283 Potter, L. B., 333, 336 Ramazanoglu, C., 184 Potts, A., 179, 185, 189 Ramet, S., 380 Poverty, 102–104 Ramírez, R., 119, 123 See also specific structures Rand, M. R., 241 Powell, G., 148, 306n 1 Randall, P. K., 276 Powell, K. E., 334 Ranger, T., 401 Power, S., 214 Raphael, J., 357 The Power Elite (Mills), 171 Rashbaum, B., 233, 236 Power relations, of masculinity, 78–79 Rashid, C., 404 Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (Kristeva), Ratele, K., 97, 107 160n 4 Ratnesar, R., 449 Poynting, S., 81 Raymond, J., 182, 386, 387, 389, 390 Preuss, A., 400 Real, T., 138 Price, D., 332 “Reaping the Whirlwind,” 429 Prieur, A., 22, 121, 123 Reardon, B., 73 Prince, V., 384, 385, 386, 388, 390, 391 Rechy, J., 57, 192n 11 Pringle, K., 2, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, Redman, P., 222 148, 159, 160n 3, 291, 334, 335, 341, 463 Reed, M., 293 Pringle, R., 294, 297, 438 Reed, R., 215, 297 Prison Masculinities (Sabo et al.), 210 Rees, M., 443 Prison populations, 340–341 Refusing to Be a Man (Stoltenberg), 41 Procop, G. W., 337 Regehr, E., 102 Professional Golfer’s Association (PGA), 313 Regional gender patterns Promise Keepers, 135, 242, 251, 263, 416 East Asia Pronger, B., 315, 316, 320 after World War II, 132–133 Proprietariness, male, 358–359 concluding thoughts, 137–138 Prosser, J., 380, 389 empirical research, 136–137 Prostate cancer, 333 impact of modernization, 131–132 Protection of Women Against Violence, 363n 6 introduction, 129 Protest masculinity, 417 premodern society, 129–131 Provenzano, R., 234 recent changes, 134–136 Psychology of Men and Masculinities, 1 Europe Ptacek, J., 317 concluding thoughts, 159–160 Public patriarchy, 417 East-Central, Baltic, and Commonwealth of Public/private divisions, 232 Independent States Puerto Rico, 119, 123 gendered transitions, 149–152 Pulp Fiction (film), 277 labor and family, 152–153 Pursch, J. A., 331 unified Europe, 153–157, 160n 4 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 491

Index • 491

East-Central and Russia, 157–159 Robert, E. R., 76 European Union (EU) and, 146–149, 160n 2 Roberts, D. E., 368 introduction, 141–143, 160n 1 Roberts, I., 331 Northern, Southern, and Western, 143–146, Roberts, R., 171 160n 3 Robertson, R., 305 Latin America Robinson, J. P., 240 acknowledgments, 125 Robinson, L., 317, 339 debates and controversies, 123–124 Robinson, M., 332 empirical research, 116 Rodman, D., 320 ethnicity and race, 121–122 Rogers, B., 433, 437 fatherhood and family, 116–117, 125n 3 Rogers, D. E., 332 homosociality, 117–118 Rogness, M., 359 identity construction, 118–119 Rojas, O. L., 82 machismo, 123 Romero, M., 119, 345 reproductive health, 119–121 Romney, D. M., 257 sexuality, 120–121 Ron, A., 332 work, 122–123 Rongevær, Ø., 25 future research, 124–125 Roper, B., 429 historical background, 114–115, 125nn. 1,2 Roper, M., 5, 84 introduction, 115–116 Roper, M. R., 296 Rehn, E., 443 Rose, D., 171 Reich, R. B., 361 Rose, S., 363n 13 Reilly, R., 356 Rosenfeld, R., 293 Reis, C., 290, 298 Ross, C., 138 Reiser, K., 279 Ross, M., 43 Reiss, D., 370 Ross, M. B., 96 Reitzes, D. C., 249 Ross, R. R., 339 Religious nationalism, 404 Rotundo, A., 400 Remafedi, G., 334 Rowe, D., 280, 320, 321 Remy, J., 238 Roy, R., 85, 461 Rendel, M., 214 Rubin, G., 46, 58, 59, 115, 240 Reno Court of Inquiry (1879), 408n 2 Rubin, J., 234 Renold, E., 223 Rubin, L. B., 241, 419, 429n 1 Renzetti, C. M., 353 Rudberg, L., 335 Resnick, M. D., 334 Ruddock, A., 279 Restrick, M., 340 Rudolf, V., 334 Reynaud, E., 179 Ruhlman, R., 130 Rhodes, T., 442 Rumania, 150 Rich, A., 60 Runfola R., 314 Richards, F., 442 Rural masculinities, 277 Richards, P., 102 Russia, 151, 153, 155, 158, 341, 344 Riddell, C., 386, 387 Russo, A., 44, 99 Ridgeway, J., 429 Rutherdale, R., 279 Ries, L. A. G., 334 Rutter, P. A., 334 Rifkin, J., 102 Rutter, V., 187, 237 Right-wing militias, 417–427, 429n 2 Ryan, C., 278 Riley, D., 53 Riley, J., 332 Sabo, D., 8, 196, 210, 241, 314, 315, 316, 317, 319, Ringel, C., 241 320, 321, 326, 327, 328, 331, 334, 336, 338, Ripploh, F., 192n 11 339, 340, 344, 368 Risman, B. J., 235, 369 Sacs, S., 454 Rivara, F., 259 Saenz de Tejada, I., 332 Rivera, F., 254, 340 Safiri, M., 452 Robbins, R. H., 341 Safyer, S. M., 340 Roberson, J. E., 133 Sagi, R. J., 355 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 492

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Said, E., 91, 94, 448 Schwendinger, J., 361 Salamon, S., 132, 135, 138 Scotland, 330, 341 Salaryman culture (Japan), 132–133, 134, 135 Scotson, J. L., 171 Salcedo, H., 119, 120, 124 Scott, J., 115, 175, 403 Salehi Esfahani, H., 453 Scott, P. B., 43 Salisbury, J., 215, 216, 217 Scraton, P., 435 Salo, E., 98 Scruton, R., 178 Salomon, R., 19 Seager, J., 40 Sameroff, A., 254 Seccombe, W., 78 Sampath, N., 101 Sechiyama, K., 131, 132, 133, 138 Sanday, P. R., 237, 239, 240, 291 The Second Sex (Beauvoir), 37 Sandberg, J. F., 257 Second Wave feminists, 327, 330 Sandefeur, G., 253 Sedgwick, E. K., 46, 60, 61, 63 Sanders, R., 260 Sedlak, A. J., 256 Sanders, T., 104 Segal, D. R., 439 Sandler, I. N., 255 Segal, L., 5, 47, 53, 59, 149, 180, 434, 435, 437 Santeusanio, F., 332 Segall, A., 330 Sapiro, V., 405 Seidler, V. J., 59, 85 Sarah, E., 5 Seidman, S., 60, 64, 83 Sargent, C., 291 Seifer, R., 254 Sargent, K. P., 257 Seltzer, J. A., 255, 257 Sartre, J. P., 208 Sen, G., 335, 343 Sasano, E., 134 Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention, 37 SATs (Standard Assessment Tasks), 215, 219, 226n 7 Sentencing Project (2003), 340 Saunders, K., 405 Sernau, S., 357, 363n 8 Savage, M., 166, 172, 174, 297 Serothe, P., 99 Sawyer, J., 5, 449 Serrano, J. F., 120 Sayer, L., 257 Servicemen. See War, militarism and masculinities Sayers, J., 263 Seton-Watson, H., 401 Sayigh, R., 403 Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Lawrence), 400 Scandinavian Aryans, 416, 422–427, 429nn. 4,5,6 Sewell, T., 219 Scase, R., 395n 1 Sex change surgery, 386–387 Schacht, S. P., 456 Sex-role theory, 71, 181–182, 295, 314 Schafer, W. S., 314 Sexual addiction theory, 63, 179 Schein, E., 298 The Sexual Behavior of the Human Female Schermerhorn, C., 375 (Kinsey et al.), 183 Scheuble, L. K., 240 Sexual identity. See Gay masculinities; Schewe, P. A., 461 Male sexualities Schirato, T., 283 Sexual violence. See Interpersonal violence Schissel, B., 360 Sexuality and Homosexuality (Karlen), 402 Schoen, C., 336 Shakespeare, T., 368, 372 Schofield, T., 326, 328, 330 Shakib, S., 319 School culture. See Education, masculinities in Shakur, S., 360, 361 School social structure, 205–208, 216 Shanks-McElroy, H. A., 338 See also Education, masculinities in Shanks-Meile, S., 419, 420 Schulte, P., 340 Shapiro, J. P., 372 Schulter, M. P., 390 Sharp, S., 78 Schultz, A., 463, 464 Sharpe, A., 380 Schutz, A., 231 Sharpe, S., 184 Schwalbe, M. L., 4, 108, 263, 399 Shaw, M., 441, 442 Schwartz, M. D., 8, 203, 353, 354, 356, 357, 358, She is Goddess (Marrs), 420 359, 361, 362, 363, 363nn. 3,8, 461 Sheets, V., 255 Schwartz, P., 187, 237 Shehadeh, L. R., 452 Schwarzenegger, A., 284, 285 Shehkdar, A., 336 Schwendinger, H., 361 Shelden, R. G., 360, 361, 363n 10 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 493

Index • 493

Shen, H., 404 Smith, C., 327 Shepherd, S., 435 Smith, D. E., 242 Sheppard, D., 296, 305n 1 Smith, E., 318 Sheridan, S., 279 Smith, J., 436 Shiers, J., 57 Smith, M. D., 355, 356, 358 Shilling, C., 224, 271, 280 Smith, P., 461 Shilts, R., 62 Smith, R. J., 336 Shimomura, M., 137 Smith, S., 72 Shinozaki, M., 132 Smith, T. W., 336 Shiraishi, T., 136 Smock, P. J., 257, 258 Shirakawa, Y., 136 Smuts, B. B., 39, 251 Shirazi, F., 405 Snarey, J., 255 Shire, C., 75, 108 Snipes, W., 285 Shire, K. A., 135 Snipp, C. M., 231 Short, J. F., 360 Snodgrass, J., 327 Short, S. E., 136 Snyder, H. N., 237, 238 Showalter, E., 434 Socarides, C., 383 Shuster, T., 241 Social class. See Class and gender; Fatherhood Shwalb, D. W., 249 Social systems. See specific structures Sickmund, M., 237, 238 Social theories Siebel, B. J., 336 applications of, 24–29, 31n Sieber, K., 340 concluding thoughts, 31 Siege magazine, 424 critique of, 20–24 Sighieh, H., 450 depatriarchalization and, 30–31 Silberschmidt, M., 102, 103, 104, 107 direct gender hierarchy perspective, 17–18 The Silent Community (Delph), 57 implications of, 29–30 Silverman, K., 46 introduction, 15–17 Silversmith, D. J., 330 structural inequality perspective, 18–20 Silverstein, L. B., 250, 251, 252, 256, 263 Socialization. See Gender socialization process Silverstein, O., 233, 236 Soderberg, R., 340 Sim, J., 435 Soh, C.-H. S., 135 Simon, W., 188 Sole, K., 94 Simpson, A., 79 Solheim, J., 19, 29 Simpson, M., 63, 284, 440 Solomon, Y., 169 Simpson, O. J., 317 Solórzano, I., 460 Sinclair, R. L., 356, 358 Sômuchô-Tôkeikyoku, 136 Sinclair-Webb, E., 2, 6, 449, 453 Søndergaard, D. M., 21 Sinelnikov, A., 85 Sonenstein, F. L., 237, 259, 336 Singapore, 80 Sons of Liberty, 419 Singh, D., 276 Soprano, T., 284 Singh, V., 313 Sørensen, B. A., 29 Sinha, M., 71, 75, 95, 401, 415 Sorenstam, A., 313, 316 Sinkkonen, S., 296 Sørhaug, T., 19 Sirleaf, E. J., 443 Soroush, A., 452, 455 Skaine, R., 437, 440 Soucar, E., 334 Skelton, C., 213, 214, 217, 225n 4, 226n 14 South Africa, 73, 75, 79, 82, 83, 91, 96, 98, 99, 107, Skidmore, P., 435 108, 213, 214, 216, 277, 415, 454, 460, 461 Skow, J., 257 South America, 90, 91, 97 Skurski, J., 404 South Asia, 146 Slater, D., 276, 277 South Korea, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138 Slave trade, 92 Southern Europe, 143, 144, 146, 147 Slovenia, 158 Soviet Union, 76 Smart, L., 201 Spada, J., 52 Smidova, E., 158 Spanish American War, 400 Smith, B., 43 Special Air Service (SAS), 435 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 494

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Spergel, I. A., 360 Stratton, J., 276 Spivak, G., 94, 95, 96, 97 Straus, M. A., 354, 355 Sport, Men, and the Gender Order: Critical Strauss, S., 5, 462 Feminist Perspectives (Messner & Sabo), 315 Streatfield, K., 234 Sports and gender Streicker, J., 122 concluding thoughts, 321 Strobino, J., 338 contradictions and paradoxes, 314–315 Strong, S. M., 276 bodies, 315–316 Structural inequality health and fitness, 316–317, 337–338 concluding thoughts, 31 violence, 317–318 current research, 18–20 cultural analysis, 319–321 introduction on, 15–17 introduction, 313–314 Stryker, S., 368, 375n 1, 379 relational studies, 318–319 Stubbs, J., 74, 80 Sprecher, S., 237 Stueve, J. L., 257 Springhall, J., 401 Sturdevant, S. P., 406 Stacey, J., 231, 250, 254, 255, 261 Stürup, G. K., 383 Stall, R. D., 337 Sub-Saharan Africa, 90, 106 Stallone, S., 275 Sugarman, J., 340 Stanko, E. A., 196, 356, 358, 363, 435 Suicide risks, 238, 333–334 Stanley, L., 54, 58, 59, 185, 433 Sukemune, S., 136 Stanton, E. C., 37 Sullivan, G., 380 Staples, R., 92, 334, 339 Sullivan, M., 332 Stecopoulos, H., 92 Sunaga, F., 137 Steenland, K., 340 Sunter, C., 106 Stehr-Green, J., 340 Surowiecki, J., 298 Stein, A., 183 Sussman, M. B., 250 Steinem, G., 30, 47 Sutherland, E., 196 Steiner, B. W., 381 Sutton, P., 5 Steinfels, P., 404 Suzuki, A., 136 Stekel, W., 382 Swain, J., 8, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 225, 442 Stepfathers, 255–256 Swart, S., 7, 83, 102 See also Family life, gender in; Fatherhood Sweden, 143, 145 Stereotypes, 232, 235, 372 Sweeney, P., 259 Sterilization, 119 Sweeting, H., 330 Stern, M., 234 Sweetman, C., 100 Stern, S. J., 123, 125 Switzerland, 143 Steroid use, 331, 338 Symbolization, 80–81 Stevens, M., 318 See also Mass media, men’s bodies in Stevenson, N., 279, 280, 281, 282, 283 Symptom denial, 332–333 Stewart, K., 259 Synnott, A., 224 Stewart, R., 293 System of National Accounts (SNA), 290 Stichter, S. B., 99 Stillion, J. M., 326, 327, 333 Tabar, P., 81 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 432 Taga, F., 71, 77, 135, 137 Stodder, J., 368, 375 Taheripour, F., 453 Stolcke, V., 115 Taksdal, A., 22 Stoler, A., 92 Tallberg, T., 296, 334, 335, 342 Stoller, R., 179 Tallis, V., 106 Stoller, R. J., 382, 383 Tanaka, K., 83 Stoltenberg, J., 41, 59, 190, 433, 435, 437, 461, 462 Tancred, P., 148, 402 Stoltzfus, B., 406 Taoism, 129, 130 Stone, S., 387, 388, 389 Tarule, J. M., 42 Stonewall rebellion (1969), 56, 65n 5 Tarzian, A., 332 Story, M., 334 Tatchell, P., 441 Strate, L., 331 Taylor, D., 82 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 495

Index • 495

Taylor, R., 434, 443 Tolbert, K., 119, 345 Teachman, J. D., 243 Tolson, A., 170, 294 Technology and gender, 440 Tomaszewski, E. A., 357, 361 Teh, Y. K., 381 Tomlinson, A., 319 Terrorism, political economy of. See Global Tomlinson, J., 156 hegemonic masculinity Tomori, M., 334 Terto, V, Jr., 121 Tomsen, S., 2, 71 Testicular cancer, 334–335 “Tony,” 435 Theberge, N., 314 Toombs, S. K., 369 Theoretical perspectives Topping, A., 334 feminist theory, 35–47 Tornstam, L., 276 gay masculinities Torres, L., 44, 99 concluding thoughts, 65 Torres, R. A., 332 gay liberation complaints, 55–60, 65n 5 Tosh, J., 5 history of homosexuality, 52–55, 65nn. 1,2,3,4 Totman, R., 380 introduction, 51–52 “Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity” (Carrigan poststructural theory, 60–64 et. al.), 59 social theories Trachtenberg, A., 400 applications of, 24–29, 31n Tracy, A. J., 319 concluding thoughts, 31 Tracy, S. K., 360, 361, 363n 10 critique of, 20–24 Transgender theory depatriarchalization, 30–31 concluding thoughts, 390–391 direct gender hierarchy, 17–18 feminism and, 386–388 implications of, 29–30 introduction, 379–381 introduction, 15–17 medical discourse, pathology and, 381–384 structural inequality, 18–20 postmodern perspective, 388–390 Theweleit, K., 192n 2, 272, 276, 405, 429n 3, 436 self-identified transvestite perspective, 384–386 Thinking Sex (Rubin), 58 Transgendering. See Transgender theory Third World perspectives. See under Global gender Transhomosexuality, 390 patterns Transnational business masculinity, Thom, B., 379, 380 84, 147–148, 342 Thomas, C., 46, 279 The Transsexual Empire (Wilchins), 387 Thomas, D. Q., 405 Transsexualism: The Current Medical Viewpoint Thomas, W., 380 (Press for Change), 383 Thompson, B. W., 368 Transsexuals. See Bodily normativity, degrees of; Thompson, E. H., 373 Transgender theory Thompson, G., 72 Transvestia magazine, 385 Thompson, L., 256 Transvestism, 384–385 Thompson, M., 206 See also Transgender theory Thompson, P., 172, 294 Transvestites. See Transgender theory Thompson, S., 319 Tripp-Reimer, T., 249 Thomson, R., 184 Trost, J., 231 Thorne, B., 9, 205, 223, 236, 256, 318 Trujillo, N., 320, 321 Thorne-Finch, R., 335, 353 The Truth at Last, 419 Thornhill, R., 181, 370 Tu, W.-M., 130 Thornton, S., 221 Tucker, P., 383 Thumin, J., 63 Turcotte, A., 234 The Thunderbolt, 420, 421 Turkey, 450, 451, 454 Tiefer, L., 179, 183 Turner, B. S., 166, 224 Tiffin, H., 97 Turner, P. H., 262 Tillner, G., 82, 83 The Turner Diaries (Pierce), 420 Title IX law, 313, 314 TV and film. See Mass media, men’s bodies in Toepell, A. R., 340 Twine, F. W., 404 Toerien, M., 283 Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (Shiers), 57 Tohidi, N., 403, 405 Tyack, D., 215 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 496

496 • HANDBOOK OF MEN AND MASCULINITIES

U. N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 462 Vickers, J., 402 U. N. Development Programme, 290 Videon, T. M., 319 U. N. Division for the Advancement of Women, Vietnam War, 339, 407 85, 460 Vigoya, M. V., 6, 7, 82, 344 U. N. International Children’s Emergency Fund Vigrid newspaper, 426 (UNICEF), 462 Villarosa, L., 338 U. N. Population Division, 454 Vincent, K., 136 U. N. (United Nations), 2, 74, 85, 100, 332, 442 Vinnicombe, S., 296 U. S. Bureau of Census (1999), 258 Viola, H. J., 398, 408n 1 U. S. Bureau of Census (2000), 363n 9 Violence against women, 26, 356–358, 363nn. 7,8,9 U. S. Bureau of Census (2001), 331 See also Gender justice; Interpersonal violence U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Viveros, M., 116, 118, 122, 124, 345 (DHHS), 339 Vogler, C., 171 U. S. Department of Justice, 335 Volcano, D., 389, 390 U. S. Navy, 295, 304 U. S. Public Health Service, 373 Wachs, F. L., 274, 319, 320, 321 Ubuntuism, 99 Waddington, D., 294 Udomsak, N., 381 Waetjen, T., 79 Udry, J. R., 369, 370 Wage gap, 26 Uebel, M., 92 Wainana, N., 460 Ueno, C., 132, 137 Wajcman, J., 73, 76, 77, 306nn. 1,2 Ukabiala, Blondle, 437 Wakabayashi, K., 136 Ukai, M., 137 Walby, S., 19, 24, 26, 169, 294, 397, 403 Ukraine, 150 Waldman, A., 427 Unbehaum Ridenti, S. G., 2 Waldron, I., 326, 329, 330 Unemployment, 78, 102 Walk Across America campaign, 461 UNESCO, 454 Walker, A., 256 UNICEF, 214 Walker, A. J., 258 United Kingdom, 76, 143, 145, 166, 174, 184, 214, Walker, C., 99 217, 296, 330, 433, 441, 462 Walker, C. R., 293 United Nations (UN), 2, 74, 85, 100, 332, 442 Walker, J., 213, 219 United States, 93, 151, 174, 206, 213, 238, 277, Walker, L., 326, 328, 330 296, 315, 330, 332, 361, 449, 460 Walker, M., 435 Unmarried fathers, 259 Walkerdine, V., 216, 294 Unpaid domestic labor, 290 Wallace, A., 359 Unterhalter, E., 405 Wallace, L. J., 334 Update: Mortality attributable to HIV infection Wallace, M., 43 /AIDS, 332 Wallace, R., 332 Urban masculinities, 277–278 Wallensteen, P., 437 Urdang, S., 403 Wallis, M., 435 Urrea, F., 122 Walter, A., 53, 56 Urry, J., 175 Walvin, J., 401 Ursel, E., 363n 1 Wang, S. A., 337 Urwin, C., 294 W.A.R. magazine, 417, 420, 422 War, militarism and masculinities Vaage, O. F., 23 1991 Gulf War, 435–436 Valdés, T., 6, 79, 82, 85, 124 concluding thoughts, 443–444 Van den Berghe, P., 404 cultural influences, 433–434 Vance, C. S., 59, 182, 190 current and future trends, 440–441 Varga, C., 108 future contemporary military, 439–440 Veikkola, E.-S., 296 gendered culture transformation, 437–439 Venn, C., 294 health consequences of, 335–336 Ventimiglia, C., 334, 335, 342 introduction, 432–434 Verbrugge, L. M., 326, 329 militarization of women, 436–437 Viagra, 183, 332 nationalism and, 406–407, 441 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 497

Index • 497

Peace Support Operations (PSOs), 443 Whipple, J., 374 political changes in, 441–443 White, D. R., 17 reciprocal relationship, 434–435 White, E., 57, 192n 11 technology influence, 440 White, H. R., 240 in Third Worlds, 104–106 White, L., 255 Wardrop, J., 105 White, M., 432 Warin, J., 169 White, P. G., 316 Warner, P., 435, 443 White, S., 6, 73, 100, 101 Warr, M., 360, 363 White Aryan Resistance, 417, 418, 422 Warren, A., 400 White Ribbon Campaign, 459–460 Warsaw Pact, 436 White supremacists, in Scandinavia, 416, 422–427, Warshaw, R., 459 429nn. 4,5,6 Watanabe, T., 132, 137 Whitehead, H., 380 Waterman, R. H., 298 Whitehead, M., 344 Waters, M., 166, 175 Whitehead, S. M., 4, 18, 155, 156, 180, Watney, S., 62 188, 220, 299 Watson, J., 344 Whitehorse, D., 399 Watson, P., 150 Whiteside, A., 106 Watson, T., 293 Whitson, D., 315 Watson, W., 172 Whittington, W. L., 337 Waylen, G., 404 Whittle, S., 380, 389 Weale, A., 443 Whitty, G., 214 Webb, R. E., 337 “Who They Are” (2002), 427 Webb, S. B., 454 Whyte, W. H., 293 Weber, M., 17, 218 Wichstrom, L., 333 Websdale, N., 354 Wickham, C., 453 Wechler, H., 331 Wienke, C., 275 Weeks, J., 6, 52, 53, 56, 189, 434 Wikan, U., 380 Weinberg, J., 459 Wikblad, K., 335 Weiner, G., 215 Wikorowicz, Q., 453 Weiner, N. A., 355 Wilchins, R., 386, 387, 388 Weingartner, C., 331 Wilcox, L. S., 331 Weisbach, M. S., 298 Wilde, E., 53, 65n 4 Weiss, G., 234 Wiley, J., 337 Weiss, N. S., 334 Williams, B. F., 404 Weitzman, L., 240 Williams, C. L., 24, 183 Welchans, S., 461 Williams, E., 235 Wellings, K., 52 Williams, J. A., 439 Welzer-Lang, D., 2 Williams, L. M., 363n 7 Wenk, S., 150, 235 Williams, P. J., 43, 98, 99 Wenner, L. A., 320 Williams, S., 259 Werbner, P., 154 Williams, S. J., 371, 375 Wernick, A., 280, 281 Williams, W. L., 79, 368, 372 West, C., 373 Willis, P., 294, 315, 424 West, C. M., 43, 197, 231, 233, 343, 356, 363n 13 Willis, R., 291 West Africa, 78 Willis, S., 214, 219, 275 Western Europe, 144, 146, 147, 148, 151 Willmott, H., 293 Westerstrand, J., 26, 145 Wilson, A., 53 Weston, K., 189 Wilson, D., 293 Westwood, S., 96, 306n 2 Wilson, E. O., 369 Wetherell, M., 6, 80, 220, 299 Wilson, M., 256, 354, 358 Whannel, G., 284, 320 Wilson, M. N., 253 Wheaton, B., 319 Wilson, S. E., 249 Wheelwright, J., 433, 437 Wilson, W. J., 361, 363n 8 When Men Meet (Bech), 63 Winegard, W. C., 329 Ind-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:42 PM Page 498

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Wingo, P. A., 339 World War I, 434 Winlow, S., 196, 209 World War II, 327, 402, 405, 433 Winslow, D., 437, 438, 440 World Wrestling Federation (WWF), 338 Winter, M. F., 76 Wornian, K., 275 Winter, S., 381 Wozny, M., 337 Wintour, P., 442 Wretched of the Earth (Fanon), 95 Wise, E., 332 Wright, E. O., 17 Wise, S., 433 Wright, J. D., 354 Wisensale, S. K., 263 Wisniewski, W., 357 Xaba, T., 76, 104, 107 Wittig, M., 53 Witz, A., 270, 271, 279, 280, 297 Yajima, M., 136 Wolchik, S. A., 255, 258 Yardley, J., 429n 7 Wolkomir, M., 4, 263 Yell, S., 283 Wollstonecraft, M., 36 Yellowbird, M., 231 Women’s rights movement, 36, 82–83, 241 Yesalis, C. E., 331 Wonders, N. A., 239 Yeung, W. J., 257 Wood, J., 234 Yllö, K., 363n 7 Wood, J. F., 326, 328, 330 Young, A., 57, 210, 380 Wood, K., 107 Young, C., 408 Woodbury, M. A., 334 Young, J., 363n 8 Woods, P., 218 Young, K., 316 Woodward, A. E., 295 Young, N., 434, 443 Woodward, K., 275 Young, R., 94 Work, organizations and management Youth gang violence, 237, 360–361, 363nn. in Europe, 152–153 10,11,12 introduction, 289–290 Yugoslavia, 158, 415 concluding thoughts, 304–305 gendered studies, 293–298, 305–306n 1 Zabriskis, P., 449 hegemonic/multiple masculinities (HM/MM) Zahn, M. A., 355 descriptive orientation, 300–301 Zalar, B., 334 meaning of, 298–300, 306n 2 Zalewski, M., 6, 73 negative orientation, 301 Zambrana, R. E., 260 obsolescent emphasis, 301–302 Zax, M., 254 oversimplification emphasis, 302–304 Zeeland, S., 440 meaning of management, 292–293 Zero tolerance, 215, 226n 9 meaning of organizations, 291–292 Zhang, J. X., 339 meaning of work, 27, 290–291 Zielenbach, S., 361 in Latin America, 122–123 Zierler, S., 332, 341 in Third Worlds, 78, 102–104 Zilbergeld, B., 185, 188, 189, 192n 9, 332 Workplace masculinities. See Work, organizations Zimmerman, D. H., 197, 231, 233, 343, 356, 373 and management Zimring, F. E., 360 World Bank, 148 Zingoni, E. L., 85 World gender order, 72–74, 82–85 Zola, I. K., 372 See also Global gender patterns Zulehner, P. M., 21, 23, 26, 79 ABE-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:49 PM Page 499

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Michael S. Kimmel is Professor of Sociology at the Companies (2002). Coedited books include State University of New York at Stony Brook. His The Sexuality of Organization (1989), Men, Mas- books include Changing Men (1987), Men culinities, and Social Theory (1990), Violence Confront Pornography (1990), Men’s Lives (6th and Gender Relations (1996), Men as Managers, edition, 2003), Against the Tide: Profeminist Men in Managers as Men (1996), Men, Gender Divi- the United States, 1776-1990 (1992), The Politics sions, and Welfare (1998), Consuming Cultures of Manhood (1996), Manhood: A Cultural History (1999), Transforming Politics (1999), and Hard (1996), The Gendered Society (2nd edition, 2003), Work in the Academy (1999). He has just com- and the Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities pleted coediting Information Society and the (2004). He edits Men and Masculinities, an inter- Workplace (2004). He was Principal Contractor disciplinary scholarly journal. He is the spokes- in the EU FP5 Research Network “The Social person for the National Organization for Men Problem of Men” (2000-2003) (www.cromenet Against Sexism (NOMAS) and lectures extensively .org) and is currently researching men, gender on campuses in the United States and abroad. relations and transnational organizing, organizations, and management. Jeff Hearn is Academy Fellow and Professor, Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki, R. W. Connell, Professor of Education at the Finland, and Research Professor, University of University of Sydney, formerly was at the Huddersfield, United Kingdom. His authored University of California, Santa Cruz, and Mac- and coauthored books include The Gender of quarie University. A researcher on gender, mas- Oppression (1987), Men in the Public Eye culinities, education, social class, intellectuals, and (1992), “Sex” at “Work” (1987/1995), The social theory, he is the author of Gender (2002), Violences of Men (1998), Gender, Sexuality and The Men and the Boys (2000), Masculinities Violence in Organizations (2001), and Gender (1995), and Gender and Power (1987), among Divisions and Gender Policies in Top Finnish other books.

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ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Michele Adams is Assistant Professor at Tulane Sociology of Marriage and the Family: Gender, University. She has published in the areas of Love, and Property (5th edition, 2001, with family and gender. Her present research examines Randall Collins), and editor of Families and the cultural impacts of marriage and the gender Society (2004). His research has been published implications of the pro-marriage movement. in various scholarly journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, David L. Collinson is FME Professor of Strategic Sociological Perspectives, Journal of Marriage Learning and Leadership in the Department of and the Family, Journal of Family Issues, Gender Management Learning at Lancaster University & Society, Sex Roles, and Masculinities. Management School. Formerly at the Universities of Warwick, Manchester, St. Andrews, and South Critical Research on Men in Europe Florida, he was also Hallsworth Visiting Professor (CROME) consists of Irina Novikova, Director of at Manchester Business School in 2001. Adopting the Center for Gender Studies, University of a critical approach to management and organiza- Latvia; Keith Pringle, Professor of Social Work, tion studies, he has published on power, resistance, Aalborg University, Denmark, Honorary Profes- gender, subjectivity, safety, and humor. Through- sor, University of Warwick, United Kingdom, and out his career, he has been particularly concerned to Professor in Social Research, Malardalens examine the significance of men and masculinity Hogskola, Sweden; Jeff Hearn, Academy Fellow in shaping workplace processes of control, oppo- and Professor, Swedish School of Economics, sition, and survival. His current research focuses Helsinki, Finland, and University of Huddersfield, on the development of critical approaches to United Kingdom; Ursula Müller, Professor of leadership. Sociology and Women’s Studies and Director of the Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies Center, Scott Coltrane is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bielefeld, Germany; Elzbieta University of California, Riverside; Associate Oleksy, Professor of Humanities, University of Director of the UCR Center for Family Studies; Lodz and University of Warsaw; Emmi Lattu, recipient of the UCR Distinguished Teaching doctoral researcher, Tampere University, Finland; Award; and former President of the Pacific Janna Chernova, Department of Political Science Sociological Association. He completed his and Sociology, European University at St. undergraduate studies at Yale University and Petersburg, Russia; Harry Ferguson, Professor of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Social Work, University of West of England, received MA and PhD degrees in sociology Bristol, U.K.; Øystein Gullvåg Holter, Senior from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Researcher, Work Research Institute, Oslo, Coltrane studies gender equity and family func- Norway; Voldemar Kolga, Professor of Personal- tioning, with particular attention to the allocation ity and Developmental Psychology and Chair of of housework and child care. He has written the Women’s Studies Center, University of about the interrelationships among fatherhood, Tallinn, Estonia; Carmine Ventimiglia, Professor motherhood, marriage, parenting, domestic of Family Sociology, University of Parma, Italy; labor, popular culture, ethnicity, and structural Eivind Olsvik, formerly Nordic Co-ordinator for inequality. He is the author of Family Man: Critical Studies on Men, Nordic Institute of Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity Women’s Studies and Gender Research, Oslo, (1996; winner of the American Library Norway; and Teemu Tallberg, doctoral researcher, Association CHOICE Outstanding Academic Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland. Book Award), Gender and Families (1998), and The CROME Web site (including the European

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Documentation Centre and Database on Men’s International Journal of Transgenderism. His Practices) may be found at www.cromenet.org edited and authored books include Centres and Peripheries of Psychoanalysis (1994, with Ruth Walter S. DeKeseredy is Professor of Freeman), Blending Genders (1996, with Dave Criminology at the University of Ontario King), Male Femaling (1997), Selected Writings Institute of Technology and recently served as by Anna Freud (1998, with Ruth Freeman), and Chair of the American Society of Criminology’s Unconscious Mental Life and Reality (2002). Division on Critical Criminology. He and Katharine Kelly conducted the first Canadian Michael Flood is Research Fellow at the national representative sample survey of woman Australia Institute, a public interest think tank. abuse, including sexual assault, in university/ He has also held positions as a Lecturer in college dating. For this work, he was given the Women’s and Gender Studies at the Australian Division’s Critical Criminologist of the Year National University, and as the Sexual Health Award in 1995. DeKeseredy, who received Promotion Coordinator at Sexual Health and his PhD in sociology from York University in Family Planning ACT (Australian Capital Terri- Toronto, has also published dozens of scientific tory). His research interests include men and articles and book chapters on woman abuse, masculinities, sexualities and especially male criminological theory, and crime in public hous- sexuality and heterosexuality, interpersonal vio- ing. He is the author of Woman Abuse in Dating lence, sexual and reproductive health, and boys Relationships: The Role of Male Peer Support and youth cultures. He has been involved in pro- (1988) and is the coauthor of Woman Abuse: feminist men’s activism since 1987. Sociological Perspectives (1991, with Ronald Hinch), the second edition of The Wrong Stuff: Judith Kegan Gardiner is Professor of English An Introduction to the Sociological Study of and of Gender and Women’s Studies as well Deviance (1996, with Desmond Ellis), Woman as being Interim Director of the Center for Abuse: A Sociological Story (1997), Sexual Research on Women and Gender at the Univer- Assault on the College Campus: The Role of sity of Illinois at Chicago. She is a member of Male Peer Support (1997, with Martin D. the editorial collective of the interdisciplinary Schwartz), Woman Abuse on Campus: Results journal Feminist Studies. Her books include From the Canadian National Survey (1998, Craftsmanship in Context: The Development of with Martin D. Schwartz), Contemporary Crim- Ben Jonson’s Poetry (1975), Rhys, Stead, Lessing, inology, Contemporary Social Problems in and the Politics of Empathy (1989), and two North American Society (2000, with Shahid Alvi edited volumes, Provoking Agents: Gender and and Desmond Ellis), and Under Siege: Poverty Agency in Theory and Practice (1995) and and Crime in a Public Housing Community Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory: New (2003, with Shahid Alvi, Martin D. Schwartz, Directions (2002). Currently she is coediting the and E. Andreas Tomaszewski). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Men Tim Edwards is Lecturer in sociology at the and Masculinity. University of Leicester. He is currently writing a Shahin Gerami is Professor of Sociology and book on masculinities and cultural theory, is Gender Studies at Southwest Missouri State editing a collection on cultural theory, and holds University. She is a native of Iran and has a law an Economic and Social Research Council grant degree from the University of Tehran, as well as to research children’s consumption of fashion. a master’s and PhD in sociology from the Major previous publications include Contradic- University of Oklahoma. Her research interests tions of Consumption (2000), Men in the Mirror focus on gender issues within the context of reli- (1997), and Erotics & Politics (1994). gious fundamentalism, economic development, Richard Ekins is a psychoanalyst in private and modernization. Her publications in these practice and Reader in Cultural and Media areas include the book Women and Fundamen- Studies in the School of Media and Performing talism: Islam and Christianity (1996); articles in Arts at the University of Ulster at Coleraine, Gender and Society, Social Science Quarterly, where he is Director of the Transgender and Early Child Development; and chapters in Research Unit and Archive. He coedits the books and encyclopedias. ABE-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:49 PM Page 503

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Thomas J. Gerschick is Associate Professor 1980s and completing an MA and PhD within of sociology at Illinois State University, where the Centre for Crime and Social Justice, Edge he teaches about social inequality. His research Hill College, in the 1990s. He has been a social focuses on the intersection of gender and dis- science lecturer at Manchester University since ability, especially how people with disabilities 1995 and has published extensively in a range of create self-satisfying gender identities. Outside journals, mostly about mental health. His work of academia, he loves to build with Habitat for in the field of gender studies includes work on Humanity. masculinity and militarism, the links between Matthew C. Gutmann is Associate Professor hegemonic masculinity and managerialist of Anthropology at Brown University, where he ideologies, and an exploration of the predomi- teaches classes on gender, ethnicity-race, health, nantly masculine culture of the sport known as and ethnography in the Americas. Among his mixed martial arts or submission fighting. publications are The Meanings of Macho: Being Brett Hutchins is Lecturer in the School of a Man in Mexico City (1996), The Romance of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Democracy: Compliant Defiance in Contempo- Tasmania, where he teaches media studies and rary Mexico (2002), Mainstreaming Men Into social theory. He is currently researching the Gender and Development: Debates, Reflections, topic of regional media and globalization. He is and Experiences (2000, with Sylvia Chant), and the author of Don Bradman: Challenging the the edited volumes Changing Men and Mas- Myth (2002). culinities in Latin America (2003) and Perspec- tives on Las Americas: A Reader in Culture, Dave King is Senior Lecturer in the History and Representation (2003, with Felix Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Matos Rodriguez, Lynn Stephen, and Patricia Social Work Studies at the University of Zavella). Liverpool. He has been researching and writing on the sociological aspects of transgender for a Paul Higate is Lecturer in Social Policy at the number of years. He coedits the International School for Policy Studies at the University of Journal of Transgenderism. In addition to Bristol, United Kingdom. He has a background several articles, he has written The Transvestite in the British armed forces. His research inter- and the Transsexual: Public Categories and ests have developed in recent years to focus on Private Identities (1993) and is the coeditor military masculinities within the context of (with Richard Ekins) of Blending Genders: peacekeeping operations. In Spring, 2003, he Social Aspects of Cross-dressing and Sex- undertook a period of fieldwork in the Peace changing (1996). He is currently interested in Support Missions in the Democratic Republic of exploring issues and problems around aging Congo and Sierra Leone. He is editor of Military and transgendering. Masculinities: Identity and the State (2003) and a research monograph, Men, Masculinities and William Marsiglio is Professor of Sociology at Peacekeeping in Sub-Saharan Africa (in press). the University of Florida. Much of his writing has focused on the social psychology of fatherhood, Øystein Gullvåg Holter, PhD in sociology, is broadly defined. In addition to his numerous Senior Researcher at the Work Research Institute, articles on various aspects of men’s reproduc- Oslo, Norway. His background is in gender tive and fathering experiences, Marsiglio has research, work/family studies, and studies of written several books on these topics, including men. He has worked as Nordic coordinator for Stepdads: Stories of Love, Hope, and Repair studies of men at the University of Oslo. He has (2004), Sex, Men, and Babies: Stories of Aware- written extensively on gender, masculinities, and ness and Responsibility (2002), and Procreative equality theory, and currently participates in Man (1998). He also edited Fatherhood: Con- several Nordic and European projects in this field. temporary Theory, Research, and Social Policy John Hopton completed most of his primary (1995). He and his colleagues coauthored the and secondary education after moving to Slough decade review on fatherhood for the Journal of in 1963. He originally pursued a career in Marriage and Family (2000). He has served as a mental health nursing and nurse education, consultant for major national surveys on men undertaking higher education courses in the and sexuality/fatherhood issues. ABE-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:49 PM Page 504

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Jim McKay is Associate Professor in the Robert Morrell is Professor of Education at the School of Social Science at the University of University of Natal. He is a historian by training Queensland, where he teaches courses on gen- but currently focuses his research on masculini- der and popular culture. His most recent books ties in South Africa and the continent more are Managing Gender: Affirmative Action and broadly and on the gendered dimensions of sex- Organizational Power in Australian, Canadian, uality in a context of AIDS. He is the author of and New Zealand Sport (1997), Men, Mascu- From Boys to Gentlemen: Settler Masculinity in linities, and Sport (2000, with Michael Messner Colonial Natal, 1880-1920 (2001) and editor of and Donald Sabo), and Globalization and Sport Changing Men in Southern Africa (2001). (2001, with Toby Miller, Geoffrey Lawrence, and David Rowe). Joane Nagel is University Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of James W. Messerschmidt is Professor of Kansas. She is author of American Indian Sociology in the Criminology Department at Ethnic Renewal (1996) and Race, Ethnicity, and the University of Southern Maine. He is the Sexuality: Intimate Intersections, Forbidden author of numerous books and articles on men, Frontiers (2003). masculinities, and crime, including Masculini- ties and Crime (1993), Crime as Structured Joseph H. Pleck is Professor of Human Action (1995), and Nine Lives (2000). His Development and Family Studies at the current work involves life-history research on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His girls, gender, and violence and is published in books include The Myth of Masculinity (1981), his newest work, Embodied Masculinities, Working Wives, Working Husbands (1985), and Embodied Violence: Boys, Girls, the Body, and The Impact of Work Schedules on the Family Assault (2004). (1985). He has also published numerous articles and chapters on adolescent male contraception, Michael A. Messner is Professor of Sociology attitudes toward masculinity, and father involve- and Gender Studies at the University of ment. His current work focuses on paternal Southern California, where he currently chairs identity in residential fathers and on the devel- the sociology department. His books include opment of stable romantic unions in young adult Taking the Field: Women, Men, and Sports men. He is Co-Principal Investigator of the (2002), Paradoxes of Youth and Sport (2002), National Survey of Adolescent Males program. and Power at Play: Sports and the Problem of Masculinity (1992). He has conducted several Ken Plummer is Professor of Sociology at the commissioned studies on gender and sports University of Essex, England. His main books media, and he is a past President of the North are Sexual Stigma (1975), Documents of Life American Society for the Sociology of Sport. (1983), Documents of Life-2 (2001), Telling Sexual Stories (1995), and Intimate Citizenship Janine Mikosza is a PhD candidate in the (2003); he also coauthored Sociology: A Global School of Social Science at the University of Introduction (2nd ed., 2002, with John Macio- Queensland. Her thesis topic is the cultural pro- nis). He has written numerous articles on sexu- duction of men’s magazines in Australia. She ality, life stories, symbolic interactionism, and has authored various journal articles and book lesbian and gay studies. He is the founder and chapters on gender, the media, and the body. editor of the journal Sexualities. David Morgan recently retired from the Don Sabo is Professor of Sociology at D’Youville University of Manchester, where he taught College in Buffalo, New York, and Director of sociology for more than 35 years. He currently the Center for Research on Physical Activity, has an emeritus professorship at Manchester Sport & Health (www.sporthealthresearch.org). and a part-time position as “Professor 2” at He is a recognized expert on gender relations Norwegian Technological University, Trond- and has been writing and lecturing about issues heim. He is the author of a number of books including physical activity and health, gender and articles on gender and family, including equity in athletics, sport and masculinity, and Discovering Men (1992) and Family Connections men’s violence since 1980. His research and (1996). writing also focus on linkages among gender, ABE-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:49 PM Page 505

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health, and illness, and he has spearheaded the academic interests are gender, education, and development of “men’s health studies.” His latest identities. He is currently working as Research book, Prison Masculinities (2001, coedited Fellow at King’s College, London, on two with T. A. Kupers and W. London), explores the projects concerning adult numeracy. ways that American prisons mirror the worst aspects of society-wide gender relations. He is Sandra Swart is a socioenvironmental historian an eye-to-eye scholar, an avid keynoter, and a of southern Africa and lectures at the University public intellectual who is regularly quoted in the of Stellenbosch. She received both her doctorate national media. in history and a master’s degree in environmental change and management from Oxford Martin D. Schwartz is Professor of Sociology University. She has published on Afrikaner mas- and Presidential Research Scholar at Ohio culinity and on the socio-environmental history University and is now Visiting Research Fellow of the dog and horse in southern Africa. at the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. He has written or edited Futoshi Taga is Associate Professor in the 11 books, more than 60 refereed journal articles, Faculty of Literature, Kurume University, and another 40 book chapters, government Japan, where he teaches sociology, education, reports, and essays. A former officer of several and gender studies. He was the first person in organizations, he received the lifetime achieve- Japan to complete a PhD on a topic related ment award of the American Society of to masculinities; his thesis was subsequently Criminology’s Division on Critical Criminology published as the book Dansei no Jenda Keisei and currently serves as coeditor of the journal (The Gender Formation of Men). He also has Criminal Justice: An International Journal of a chapter, “Rethinking Male Socialisation: Policy and Practice. He serves on or has served Life Histories of Japanese Male Youth,” in the on the editorial boards or as deputy editor of 11 collection Asian Masculinities (2003). journals, including the top American criminology Mara Viveros Vigoya is Associate Professor of journals Criminology and Justice Quarterly. He Anthropology at the Universidad Nacional de has done manuscript reviews for 55 journals and Colombia in Bogotá, where she also directs the publishers. At Ohio University, he has won a master’s program in cultural anthropology. She variety of teaching and service awards, including is the author of Hombres e identidades de Graduate Professor of the Year and Best Arts and género: Investigaciones desde América Latina Sciences Professor (twice), while being the first (2001, with José Olavarría and Norma Fuller) social scientist to win the university’s research and De quebradores y cumplidores: Sobre hom- achievement award, the title of Presidential bres, masculinidades y relaciones de género en Research Scholar. His PhD is from the University Colombia (2002), as well as being the coeditor of Kentucky, where he was awarded the 2002 of Mujeres de los Andes: Condiciones de vida y Thomas R. Ford Distinguished Alumni Award. salud (1992, with Anne-Claire Defossez and Jon Swain worked for 17 years as a primary Didier Fassin), Genero e identidad: Ensayos school teacher in the United Kingdom before sobre lo femenino y lo masculino (1995, with earning a PhD at the Institute of Education, Luz Gabriela Arango and Magdalena León), and University of London, with a thesis on the con- Cuerpo, diferencias y desigualdades (1999, struction of boys’ masculinities. His particular with Gloria Garay). ABE-Kimmel.qxd 6/22/04 12:49 PM Page 506