Masculinities and Formation of Gender

Men’s and Masculinity Studies

Emerged as a discipline in the 1970s, gaining serious attention in the 1990s.
Interdisciplinary field drawing from gender studies, feminist studies, anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and cultural studies.
Doesn't repudiate feminist or gender studies but emerges alongside them.

Contribution of Gender and Women’s Studies

Examined the material effects of gender on identities and experiences of women.
Problematized the correspondence between gender and sex.
Challenged the understanding of sex as a biological essentialist category linked to behavioral traits of a certain gender.
Examined the male/masculine and female/feminine dyad to reveal social construction of gender.

Feminist and Gender Criticism

Literature viewed as complicit with patriarchy, maintaining the status quo.
Feminist literary criticism excavates forgotten women writers overlooked by ‘masculinist’ critics.
Exposes literature as a vehicle perpetuating patriarchy by constructing submissive female role models.
Critic operates under the 'hermeneutics of suspicion' to detect patriarchal thinking concealed in texts.

Why Study Masculinity and Men’s Studies

Extends women’s studies by revealing how gendering affects identities and experiences of both men and women.
Views masculinity as provisional, fluid, and socially constructed, varying across time and cultures.
Important extension of and ally to feminist studies.

Michael Kimmel's Argument

Masculinity studies is not the reactionary defensive rage of men’s rights groups.
Informed by a feminist project to interrogate different masculinities, whether real or imagined.

A Note on Etymology

The term ‘masculinity’ has been in use since the mid-eighteenth century, originating out of the Latin word masculines.
The terms ‘manly’ and ‘manliness’ were part of everyday vocabulary during Victorian (1837-1901) and Edwardian (1900-1914) periods.
Masculinity is everywhere and nowhere, known and unknowable, like air.

Definition of Masculinity (R.W. Connell)

Masculinity is “the pattern or configuration of social practices linked to the position of men in the gender order, and socially distinguished from practices linked to the position of women.”
It is a social construction, referring to male bodies but not determined by male biology.
Masculinities and femininities are gender projects, dynamic arrangements of social practice.

Men’s Contradictory Experience of Power

Gender is the central organizing category of our psyches.
Men experience a combination of power and powerlessness, privilege and pain.
They enjoy social power but also experience pain, isolation, and alienation.
Dominant ideals of manhood maintain a powerful presence, describing real relations of power between men and women.
Patriarchy is a system of men’s power over women and hierarchies among different groups of men.

Different Types of Masculinities

Masculinity is a social, cultural, and historical construct connected to race, class, caste, sexuality, age, etc.
There are hierarchical power relations between different kinds of masculinities.
Connell maintains that there is always one hegemonic masculinity that marginalizes others.
Each culture prefers one kind of masculinity over others.
Manliness in the Victorian and Edwardian eras was ‘not feminine’ and associated with physical strength.
Masculinity is historically variable and subject to change within and across social groupings.
Most men do not live in the model of hegemonic masculinity, and masculinity has internal contradictions and historical ruptures.

Power Relationships Between Different Masculinities

It is important to consider power relationships between different masculinities and their relationships with femininities.
Helps analyze how these relationships reproduce, support, or challenge the distribution of power in society.
Five categories of masculinities: Hegemonic, Complicit, Subordinate, Marginalized, Protest.
Others: Toxic, Metrosexual, Spornosexual

Acquisition of Masculinity

Acquisition of masculinity is a process through which men suppress emotions, needs, and possibilities inconsistent with manhood.
Men dampen these emotions because they restrict their ability to control and dominate.
They perform and stay in control, toughing it out, providing and achieving, while beating back feelings and suppressing needs.

Characteristics of Ideal or Hegemonic Masculinity

Hegemonic masculinity is the kind of masculinity in a superior position.
Distance oneself from femininity.
Restrict emotions.
Be tough and aggressive.
Be seen as highly sexual with women.
Prove one’s heterosexuality via homophobia.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Western Societies

Hinges upon heterosexuality, financial autonomy, rationality, success, status, supporting one’s family, stoicism, and rejecting anything “feminine.”
Manhood is equated with being strong, successful, capable, and in control.
Definitions of manhood maintain the power that some men have over other men and that men have over women.
Men aspiring to embody this masculinity must display aggressive behavior while restraining vulnerable emotions.

Hegemonic Masculinity as an Aspirational Model

It’s not an actual personality type but a set of societal norms men are expected to emulate.
Critics suggest it operates as an aspirational model rather than a lived reality.
These ideals are found in fantasy characters, role models, and literary and film heroes.

Substratum of Hegemonic Masculinity

Leads to heterosexuality, homophobia, and transphobia.
Women exist as potential sexual objects for men, while men are negated as sexual objects for men.
Women provide heterosexual men with sexual validation, and men compete for this.

Male Image as a Stereotype in Media

The “macho” male image is common in movies, advertising, and other forms.
The strong father/breadwinner saves his family from danger.
Stereotypes of masculine, muscular, heterosexual, dominant, and aggressive males make recurring appearances.

Hegemonic Masculinity and Power

Hegemonic masculinity contains the image of the ‘man’ in power.
Images bombard us daily and have a profound impact on who we are and the choices we make.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Gaming

Video games historically emerged within male-dominated computer science fields.
Marketing, workplace practices, and game content cater predominantly to men.
This reinforces traditional masculinity through hypersexualized female characters.
Male characters embody power and aggression.
Gameplay mechanics emphasize control, competition, and rationality, aligning with patriarchal ideals.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Social Cultures Around Gaming

Hardcore video games offer men avenues for cultural dominance and validation.
Professionalization through e-sports and streaming creates male role models.
Video games become central to masculine identity formation.
Mastery in gaming is a means of asserting dominant masculinity.
Gaming culture promotes aggression and toxicity.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Tekken 8 (2024)

Character designs and narrative tropes emphasize physical strength and combat prowess.
Storyline revolves around asserting dominance through fighting tournaments.
Mechanics rewarding players emphasize physical prowess and personal power.

Hegemonic Masculinity in Characters

Kazuya Mishima embodies the ruthless pursuit of power.
Jin Kazama's relationship with his father revolves around power struggles and rebellion.
Paul Phoenix's persona plays into the stereotype of the 'tough guy'.

Persistent Dominance of Hegemonic Masculine Protagonists

Many major releases lean heavily on the classic “gritty male hero” trope.
Traits: Stoic, muscular, violent, emotionally closed off.
Examples: Titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us, God of War: Ragnarök reinforce hypermasculinity.
Narrative Themes: Revenge, redemption through violence, moral ambiguity reinforce masculine strength through suffering and control.

Fatherhood as the “Soft” Evolution of Masculinity

The “dad-ification” of games continues as a key sub-trend within hegemonic masculinity.
Examples: God of War: Ragnarök and The Last of Us Part II.
Critique: This still centers masculinity, often granting men emotional depth only through paternal roles, while marginalizing non-father male figures or women.

Socio-cultural and Legal changes in the concept of Hegemonic Masculinity

Laws discriminating against male homosexuality were abolished.
Changing representations in media.
Changes in the Indian legal system.

Conclusion on Masculinity

Masculinity is not static but a dynamic ideological force that changes according to history.
It is socially constructed, creating different forms of masculinities and a social hierarchical structure.
Culture disseminates models of ideal masculinity through media, mythologies, and advertising.
Masculinity is a deception in which male bodies are fashioned to perform dangerous tasks.

Social Pressure and Conformity

All men are subject to pressure to conform to dominant ideas of being a man.
Those who do not conform are subordinated and marginalized.
This leads to psychological distress and marginalization.
Marginalization gives rise to social conflicts.
This reduces the quality of life and impedes human development.

Effects of Hegemonic Masculinity

Translated to institutional, legal, political, and economic spheres of society.
Global phenomenon across various social levels.
Affects domestic politics, military practices, education, and sports locally, regionally, and internationally.
Efforts to promote gender equality need to operate on these three levels.

Subordinate Masculinity

Lacks qualities of hegemonic masculinity and expresses opposite qualities.
Includes being overly emotional or acting feminine.
The dominance of heterosexual men and the subordination of homosexual men.
Homosexuality is assimilated to femininity and seen as inferior.

Marginalized Masculinity

Unable to conform to or derive benefits from hegemonic masculinity.
Covers men who are marginalized in family, work, media, and school.
Lacking characteristics of hegemonic masculinity, like being disabled or non-white.
Marginalized owing to Ethnicity, Religion, Race, Class etc.

Difference between Marginalized and Subordinate Masculinities

Marginalized masculinity refers to a lack of characteristics that allow one to conform to hegemonic masculinity, like being non-white - masculinities that are categorized as different. - They may display and enjoy masculine power in certain contexts but are always ultimately compared to the hegemonic norms and images
Subordinate masculinity refers to acting in or being in opposition to hegemonic masculinity, such as being effeminate or overly emotional.

Complicit Masculinity

Does not have all qualities of hegemonic masculinity but doesn't challenge it.
Benefits from 'looking the part' of fitting into hegemonic masculinity; admires qualities of hegemonic masculinity.
Complicit masculinities are those that benefit in general from the social dominance of men, while not actively seeking to oppress women. A complicit action would be to deny the existence of inequality or other problems, or merely not to question the way in which gender relations are generally ordered.

Protest Masculinity

Represents a pattern constructed in local working-class settings, embodying claims to power but lacking economic resources.
Instances of extreme forms of sex-typed behavior on the part of some males, exhibited through high levels of physical aggression.
Includes destructiveness, low tolerance for delay of gratification, crime, and drinking.
Distorted image of hegemonic form of masculinity in underprivileged contexts.

Toxic Masculinity

Defines aspects of hegemonic masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny, homophobia, greed, and violent domination.
Traditional male roles taken to extremes; promotes violence and aggression.
Thrives by penalizing non-conforming behavior.
Traits traditionally viewed as masculine include strength, courage, independence, leadership, and assertiveness.

Metrosexual Male

Pushed by the capitalist market economy in the early 90s.
Characterized by meticulousness with grooming and appearance, spending time and money on shopping and beauty treatments.
Upper Middle Class.
Sophisticated and Confident
Financial Ease
Coined in 1994 by Mark Simpson

Spornosexual Male

In 2014, Mark Simpson proposed that the aesthetics of male beauty are derived from sports and porn.
Men use their toned bodies on social media as a means of feeling valuable.
Spends time in the gym, emphasizing musculature and tattooing.
Simpson describes spornosexuals as frequently working class men who exercise at a gym in order to share eroticized selfies of their toned bodies on social media.
The spornosexual heterosexualizes the metrosexual because the metrosexual aesthetics were close to homosexual aesthetics

Conclusions

Cultures, not nature, create the gender ideologies along with being born male or female and the ideologies vary widely, cross-culturally.
What is considered “man’s work” in some societies, such as carrying heavy loads, or farming, can be “woman’s work” in others.
What is “masculine” and “feminine” varies: pink and blue, for example, are culturally invented gender-color linkages, and skirts and “make-up” can be worn by men, indeed by “warriors.”
Women can be thought of as stronger (“tougher,” more “rational”) than men.
Much of what has been defined as “biological” is actually cultural.
We readily accept clothing, language, and music as cultural but find it difficult to accept that gender and sexuality are not natural.
The division of humans into two categories is not universal.
Human sexuality is culturally significant and shaped by culture.

Skepticism within Feminist Studies

Some theorists are wary of focusing on men and masculinities.
They believe it might derail the cause of feminism.
Critics in men’s and masculinity studies opine that focusing on women’s issues erases the effects of normative masculinities on the psyche of men.
Both femininities and masculinities are socially and culturally produced and deserve critical attention.
Only then one can unpack and reveal the ways in which hierarchical power relations dynamically interact with the category of gender, sex and sexuality to produce their unequal relations of power between men and women.