Gender: Not Just Women
Masculinity in a Global Perspective,
an Annotated BibliographyCompiled by Drew Yamanishi; Updated by Kevin Penzien (2003), and Erin Drummond (2007)
While attention to the status of women in developing countries has improved in recent years, the efforts of most major development organizations to improve women's status and access to resources have largely been characterized as an "add women and stir" approach. Because gender relations are a fundamental dynamic of all societal change, pro-women policies directed towards "women's issues" have not been enough to improve the lives of women across the globe. Recently a shift has occurred away from a focus solely on women to an approach centering on gender relations and critical analyses of men and masculinities. This bibliography contains a collection of resources that addresses masculinities in the context of international development, including books, journal articles, research monographs, and Internet resources. The theoretical, empirical, and political research offered here holds significant policy implications for development efforts aimed at improving the status and well-being of women.
Key Volumes
Abbott, Franklin, 1998
Boyhood, Growing Up Male: A Multicultural Anthology. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
This anthology chronicles the transition from boyhood to manhood, with contributions by authors from around the globe, including Nigeria and the Philippines. Entries include personal narratives and poems, exploring subjects that range from growing up gay to experiencing war as a child.Archetti, Eduardo P., 1998
Masculinities: Football, Polo and the Tango in Argentina. London: Berg Publishing.
In this book, Archetti questions the assumption that male concepts of courage and virility are at the core of nationalism. He advances the debate through an empirical analysis of masculinity in the context of same-sex(football and polo) and cross-sex (tango) relations. The discussion in this book poses important comparative questions and theoretical issues, such as the interplay of morality and ritual, and the comparison between the popular and the aristocratic.Banerjee, Sikata, 2005
Make Me a Man! Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Make Me a Man! argues that ideas about manhood play a key role in building and sustaining the modern nation. It examines a particular expression of nation and manliness: masculine Hinduism. This ideal, which emerged from India’s experience of British imperialism, is characterized by martial prowess, muscular strength, moral fortitude, and a readiness to go to battle. Embodied in the images of the Hindu soldier and the warrior monk, masculine Hinduism is rooted in a rigid “us versus them” view of nation that becomes implicated in violence and intolerance. Masculine Hinduism also has important connotations for women, whose roles in this environment consist of the heroic mother, chaste wife, and celibate, masculinized warrior. All of these roles shore up the “us versus them” dichotomy and constrict women’s lives by imposing particular norms and encouraging limits on women’s freedom.Bledsoe, Caroline, Susana Lerner and Jane I. Guyer, Editors, 2000
Fertility and Male Life Cycle in the Era of Fertility Decline. London: Oxford University Press.
Traditionally, women have been the sole focus of fertility studies. Ranging broadly over ethnographies, national surveys, and historical texts, this volume breaks imaginative new ground in grappling with immense variation in male reproduction across the world.Brandes, Stanley, 2002
Staying Sober in Mexico City. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Staying sober is a daily struggle for many men living in Mexico City, one of the world’s largest, grittiest urban centers. In this engaging study, Brandes focuses on a common therapeutic response to alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), which boasts an enormous following throughout Mexico and much of Latin America. Over several years, Brandes observed and participated in an all-men’s chapter of A.A. located in a working class district of Mexico City. Employing richly textured ethnography, he analyzes the group’s social dynamics, therapeutic effectiveness, and ritual and spiritual life. Brandes demonstrates how recovering alcoholics in Mexico redefine gender roles in order to preserve masculine identity. He also explains how an organization rooted historically in evangelical Protestantism has been able to flourish in Roman Catholic Latin America.― 1980
Metaphors of Masculinity: Sex and Status in Andalusian Folklore. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Brandes demonstrates the ways in which Andalusian male masculinities are formed in relation to and through local folklore. With anthropological methods, he shows how folklore reinforces and teaches the local notions of masculinity.Brod, Harry and Michael Kaufman, Editors, 1994
Theorizing Masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
A compilation of works from a variety of disciplines exploring theoretical approaches to the study of masculinity. The editors attempt to integrate new areas of diversity into the field of men’s studies with work concerning masculinities and their relation to areas of theory like sexuality, class, or race.Brownell, Susan and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, Editors, 2002
Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities: A Reader. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
The past two centuries have witnessed tremendous upheavals in every aspect of Chinese culture and society. At the level of everyday life, some of the most remarkable transformations have occurred in the realm of gender. Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities is a mix of illuminating historical and ethnographic studies of gender from the 1700s to the present. The essays in this highly creative collection are organized in pairs that alternate in focus between femininity and masculinity, between subjects traditionally associated with feminism (such as family life) and those rarely considered from a gendered point of view (like banditry). The chapters provide a wealth of interesting detail on such varied topics as court cases involving widows and homosexuals; ideal spouses of early-twentieth-century radicals; changing images of prostitutes; the masculinity of qigong masters; sexuality in the era of reform; and the eroticization of minorities. While most of the essays were specifically written for this volume, a few are reprinted as a testament to their enduring value.Brusco, Elizabeth E., 1995
The Reformation of Machismo: Evangelical Conversion and Gender in Colombia. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
A study documenting the effects of conversion to evangelical Protestantism on Columbian society, Brusco argues that the religious changes act as a movement to empower women and destabilize Colombian male hegemony. She describes how the process of conversion is somewhat “a domestication of men.”Bujra, Janet, 2000
Serving Class: Masculinity and the Feminisation of Domestic Service in Tanzania. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
In colonial Tanganyika, when housework was transformed into wage labor, the only available labor force was predominantly male, so men became domestic servants and even nursemaids to babies. Paradoxically there were also militant domestics, in an occupation usually characterized by passivity and inability to organize. Exploring the institution of domestic service, the author discloses processes of postcolonial class formation both as exploitation and cultural elaboration.Carrier, Joseph, 1995
De Los Otros. New York: Columbia University Press.
Anthropologist Carrier summarizes the socio-cultural background of sex roles, family life and homosexuality among Mexican men, and chroniclizes male/male eroticism and complex social and sexual relations.Carver, Terrell, 2002
“Men and IR/Men in IR.” In Gendering the International, edited by Louiza Odysseos and Hakan Seckinelgin. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
In this essay, Carver echoes the charges of fellow feminists in international relations (IR) that the field is dominated professionally and conceptually by men, and that traditional approaches have considered gender relations and inequalities irrelevant. More specifically, this chapter presents a response to the non-feminist, hyper-reductionist approach to gendered international relations (IR) as seen in Adam Jones’s work on ‘gendercide’, the gendered aspects of mass killings. Carver asserts that reducing gender to a synonym of sex will not contribute to our understanding of men as gendered agents in the field of IR. The author advocates a more accurate approach to men in IR that conceptualizes gender as a socially and sexually constructed identity, gender as a power structure rather than a biological ordering.Clatterbaugh, Kenneth, 1990
Contemporary Perspectives on Masculinity. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
In this accessible introduction to masculinity studies, the author outlines and compares differing standpoints on gender relations, including conservative, profeminist, men’s rights, spiritual, socialist, and group-specific (gays, blacks) perspectives on masculinities. This book presents an objective and balanced presentation of a scope of conservative and progressive perspectives on men and masculinity, while acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The book concludes with the author’s predictions for the future of each perspective, as well as expected coalitions and conflicts between camps.Cleaver, Frances, Editor, 2003
Masculinities Matter!: Men, Gender and Development. London: Zed Books.
This book provides a collection of policy-oriented case studies of masculinities in both development theory and practice. The contributors present an interesting assortment of geographical cases from Vietnam to Namibia, as well as various thematic areas such as education, sexual health, nationalism, and the intersections between masculinities, race, and class. From these diverse case studies, the book presents a coherent argument on why and how to include men as strategic partners in development.Clements, Barbara Evans, Rebecca Friedman and Dan Healey, Editors, 2002
Russian Masculinities in History and Culture. Houndmills, NY: Palgrave.
This collection takes as its subject the conceptualizations of masculinity in Russian history, the ways in which these ideas were expressed in the behavior of Russian men and women, and the ways in which they affected and were affected by social change. The contributors cover the years from Muscovy through to the Soviet period, but their main concentration is on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Connell, R.W., 2000
The Men and the Boys. London: Polity Press.
In recent years, questions about men and boys have aroused remarkable media interest, public concern and controversy. Across the world, health services are noticing the relevance of men’s gender to problems as diverse as road accidents, diet, and sexually transmitted disease. Teachers are increasingly preoccupied with the poor educational performance of boys, and criminologists have begun to explore why men and boys continue to dominate the crime statistics. In this timely new volume, Connell helps explain these developments, and make sense of the multiplying issues about men and boys. Five years on from the publication of his seminal study, Masculinities, Connell reflects on the growing social scientific research in this area. He assesses its strengths and weaknesses and explores its implications for contemporary problems from boys’ education and men’s health to international peacemaking.― 1995
Masculinities. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Connell analyzes how notions of masculinity have evolved in psychoanalysis, social science, and history in the creation of a global economy. The author also seeks to counteract the recent ascendance of masculinity-related pop psychology, which has provided a cover for conservative factions to challenge the recent advancements of women and gay men. The three sections of the book address the history of masculinity in social science and political movements, the author’s field studies of four groups of men, and the global history of masculinities in comparison to modern gender relations in the West. The author concludes by integrating social science, feminist theory, gay theory, and psychoanalysis to develop a new theory of masculinity politics.Cornwall, Andrea and Nancy Lindisfarne, Editors, 1994
Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies. London and New York: Routledge.
This book brings together a critical set of papers on men and masculinities that raise important new questions on gender studies. In a sustained cross-cultural enquiry, local experiences of “hegemonic masculinity” are deconstructed to reveal the complexities of gendering and gendered difference. In both the theoretical and ethnographic chapters, the contributors – through a discussion of embodiment, agency, and subordinate masculinities – challenge essentialist and constructionist arguments, which underwrite dominant ideologies of masculinity.Correia, Maria C. and Ian Bannon, Editors, 2006
The Other Half of Gender: Men’s Issues in Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
This book is an attempt to bring the gender and development debate full circle, from a much-needed focus on empowering women to a more comprehensive gender framework that considers gender as a system that affects both women and men. The chapters in this book explore definitions of masculinity and male identities in a variety of social contexts, drawing from experiences in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on a slowly emerging realization that attaining the vision of gender equality will be difficult, if not impossible, without changing the ways in which masculinities are defined and acted upon. Although changing male gender norms will be a difficult and slow process, we must begin by understanding how versions of masculinities are defined and acted upon.de la Mora, Sergio, 2006
Cinemachismo: Masculinities and Sexuality in Mexican Film. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
In this book, de la Mora offers the first extended analysis of how Mexican cinema has represented masculinities and sexualities and their relationship to national identity from 1950 to 2004. He focuses on three traditional genres (the revolutionary melodrama, the cabaretera prostitution melodrama, and the musical comedy “buddy movie”) and one subgenre (the fichera brothel-cabaret comedy) of classic and contemporary cinema. By concentrating on the changing conventions of these genres, de la Mora reveals how Mexican films have both supported and subverted traditional heterosexual norms of Mexican national identity. In particular, his analyses of Mexican cinematic icons Pedro Infante and Gael García Bernal and of Arturo Ripstein’s cult film El lugar sin límites illuminate cinema’s role in fostering distinct figurations of masculinity, queer spectatorship, and gay male representations. De la Mora completes this exciting interdisciplinary study with an in-depth look at how the Mexican state brought about structural changes in the film industry between 1989 and 1994 through the work of the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE), paving the way for a renaissance in the national cinema.Derne, Steve, 2000
Movies, Masculinity, and Modernity: An Ethnography of Men’s Filmgoing in India. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Men in India are attracted to Hindi films partly because of their attraction to depictions of “modern” lifestyles. Derne argues that films help men handle their ambivalence about modernity by rooting their sense of “Indianness” in women’s acceptance of traditional food habits, clothing, and gender subordination. The book is one of the first ethnographic studies of filmgoing and one of the first to focus on mainstream male audiences.― 1995
Culture in Action: Family Life, Emotion, and Male Dominance in Banaras, India. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Derne explores the interconnections between male dominance, joint-family living, Indian emotional life, and a cultural focus on pressure groups. Derne’s suggestion that Indian men’s cultural focus on the group limits men’s and women’s strategies for breaking cultural norms offers a new approach to understanding their experiences.Dudink, Stefan, Josh Tosh and Karen Hagemann, Editors, 2004
Masculinities in Politics and War: Gendering Modern History. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
In this collection, a group of historians explores the role of masculinity in the modern history of politics and war. Building on three decades of research in women’s and gender history, the book opens up new avenues in the history of masculinity. The essays by social, political, and cultural historians therefore map masculinity’s part in making revolution, waging war, building nations, and constructing welfare states. Although the masculinity of modern politics and war is now generally acknowledged, few studies have traced the emergence and development of politics and war as masculine domains in the way this book does. Covering the period from the American Revolution to the Second World War and ranging over five continents, the essays in this book bring to light the many “masculinities” that shaped ― and were shaped by ― political and military modernity.Dunbar Moodie, T., 1994
Going for Gold: Men, Mines, and Migration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
This book tells the story of the lives of migrant black African men who work in the South African gold mines, told from their own point of view and, as much as possible, in their own words. Moodie examines the operation of local power structures and resistances, changes in production techniques, the limits and successes of unionization, and the nature of ethnic conflicts at different periods and on different terrains of struggle. He treats his subject thematically and historically, examining how notions of integrity, manhood, sexuality, work, power, solidarity, and violence have all changed over time, especially with the shift to a proletarianized work force in the mines in the 1970s. Moodie integrates analyses of individual life-strategies with theories of social change, illuminating the ways in which these play off each other in historically significant ways. He shows how human beings (in this case, African men) build integrity and construct their own social order, even in situations of apparent total repression.Elson, Diane, Editor, 1995
Male Bias in the Development Process. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
This book offers an exploration of sexism in the process of development, but departs from the traditional WID approach in favor of a focus on ‘gender relations.’ This theoretical framework draws attention to the structures that perpetuate male advantage, rather than viewing ‘women’ as an agent easily incorporated into the development process. This strategy allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the ways women experience gender, which varies significantly as the result of differences in class, race, or sexual preference. Following an introductory chapter on this theoretical paradigm, the book includes a variety of case studies that examine male advantage in development, and concludes with strategies to contest male bias.Friedman, Rebecca, 2005
Masculinity, Autocracy and the Russian University, 1804-1863. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
This is the first book-length study of masculinity in Imperial Russia. By looking at official and unofficial life at universities across the Russian empire, this project offers a picture of the complex processes through which gender ideologies were forged and negotiated in the nineteenth century.Gardiner, Judith Kegan, Editor, 2002
Masculinity Studies and Feminist Theory: New Directions. New York: Columbia University Press.
This book is a broad and intensive review of one of the recent debates in contemporary gender studies. The compilation contributes new facets to our understanding of gender relations by examining the role of masculinities in art, spirituality, pedagogy, and race. The included essays accurately present masculinity studies not as anti-feminist backlash, but as a derivative of and ally to feminist theory.Geng, Song, 2004
The Fragile Scholar: Power and Masculinity in Chinese Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
The Fragile Scholar examines the pre-modern construction of Chinese masculinity from the popular image of the fragile scholar (caizi) in late imperial Chinese fiction and drama. The book is an original contribution to the study of the construction of masculinity in the Chinese context from a comparative perspective. Its central thesis is that the concept of “masculinity” in pre-modern China was conceived in the network of hierarchical social and political power in a homosocial context rather than in opposition to “woman.” In other words, gender discourse was more power-based than sex-based in pre-modern China, and Chinese masculinity was androgynous in nature. The author explains how the caizi discourse embodied the mediation between elite culture and popular culture by giving voice to the desire, fantasy, wants, and tastes of urbanites.Ghoussoub, Mai and Emma Sinclair-Webb, Editors, 2006
Imagined Masculinities: Male Identities and Culture in the Modern Middle East. London: Saqi Books.
Writings on gender in the Middle East have tended to focus overwhelmingly on the status of women, on the rise of Islamist politics and veiling, and on the social construction of female identity. In the process issues of male identity in a region which has seen enormous social transformations over the past thirty years have been somewhat neglected. This book looks at the process by which stereotypical male identities get constructed, reproduced, and contested in different parts of the Middle East.Gilmore, David D., 1990
Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity. London and New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Gilmore presents a cross-cultural comparative collection of ethnographic work dealing with cultural conceptions of manhood. The author deals with the question of what a “real man” is through a sampling of various cultures.Gutmann, Matthew C., 1996
The Meaning of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
An in-depth ethnography of machismo and men in Mexico, Gutmann provides a broad look at Mexican men’s lives that attempts to debunk many stereotypes. Gutmann touches on several aspects of life, including social conditions, sex and sexuality, fatherhood, and violence.Gutmann, Matthew C., Editor, 2003
Changing Men and Masculinities in Latin America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This recently published anthology articulates the similarities and differences of dynamic masculinities in Latin American societies. The authors avoid blind regurgitation of the stereotypes of the “Latin male,” and instead attempt to outline recent changes in traditional gender relations and the hegemonic notion of masculinity. Despite its focus on men and masculinity, the book’s professed objective remains a pro-feminist critique of social inequality between women and men in Latin America.Hatty, Suzanne E., 2000
Masculinities, Violence and Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
This unique analysis links the growing sociological and psychological literature on masculinity with contemporary criminological research. Hatty critically examines the major biological, psychological, sociological, and anthropological models of masculinity and violence and formulates an integrated theoretical approach to the relationship between violence and masculinity.Haynes, John, 2003
New Soviet Man: Gender and Masculinity in Stalinist Soviet Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
This is the first full-length study of masculinity in Stalinist Soviet cinema. A detailed analysis of Stalinist discourse examines the imagined relationship between the patriarch Stalin and his “model sons” in the key genre cycles of the era: from the capital to the collective farms, and ultimately to the very borders of the Soviet state. Informed by contemporary and present day debates over the social and cultural significance of cinema and masculinity, this book draws on a range of theoretical and comparative material to produce engaging and accessible readings accounting for both the appeal of ― and the inherent potential for subversion within ― films produced by the Stalinist culture industry.Heald, Suzette, 1999
Manhood and Morality: Sex, Violence and Ritual in Gisu Society. London and New York: Routledge.
Manhood and Morality explores issues of male identity among the Gisu of Uganda in the context of the moral dilemma faced by men who define themselves in terms of their capacity for violence. Drawing extensively on twenty years of fieldwork experience and informed by psychological theory, Heald’s discussion encompasses circumcision, Oedipal feelings, witchcraft, deviance, joking, sexuality, and ethnicity. In examining the power of masculinity to set the moral agenda, this ethnographic study challenges our preconceptions of manhood, especially African virility, inviting a wider re-evaluation of masculinity. The book comprises self-contained sections in which the narrative is contextualized within contemporary debate, providing an engaging and highly readable text.Herdt, Gilbert H., 1994
Guardians of the Flutes, Volume I: Idioms of Masculinity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
In the first systematic documentation of New Guinea rituals of manhood, Herdt places the homosexual customs of the Sambia in their ecological and ideological contexts while exploring what they mean to the individuals who practice them. Raising a host of issues concerning gender identity, hostility between the sexes, and the relationships between myth, culture, and personal experience, Herdt provides a vivid and convincing portrait of how Sambia men experience their sexual development.― 1993
“Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea.” In Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective, edited by Caroline B. Brettell and Carolyn F. Sargent. Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall, Inc.
This chapter deals with the Sambia people of Papua New Guinea and their practice of male initiation. Herdt gives an ethnographic description of the cultural concept of manhood as being earned or imparted, and the rituals surrounding this process.Hobson, Barbara, Editor, 2002
Making Men into Fathers: Men, Masculinities, and the Social Politics of Fatherhood. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Fatherhood is on the political agenda in many countries, often cast in terms of crisis. One side of the policy debate focuses on fathers as deadbeat dads who do not provide financial support and care for their children. The other revolves around making men into active and engaged fathers. However, these policies are often at odds with the employers’ reluctance to accommodate work schedules to fathers’ needs. In Making Men into Fathers, prominent scholars in gender studies and the critical studies of men consider how varied institutional settings and policy logics around cash and care contour the possibilities and constraints for new models of fatherhood, determining the choices open to men. From different historical and societal perspectives, the authors provide new insights into the studies of men as gendered subjects, including the role of transnational and global issues of fatherhood, and the emergence of men’s movements, contesting and reimaging fatherhood.Hofstede, Geert, Editor, 1998
Masculinity and Femininity: The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Regarding the concept that nations have many psychological dimensions, this compilation of works examines the somewhat controversial dimension of nations as masculine or feminine. A cross-cultural work in psychology, the contributors apply the masculine/feminine dimension as it applies to “Culture’s Consequences.” Besides a definition and validation of the dimension, the contributors relate it to issues like gender roles and relations, and to rarely touched areas like religion and sexuality.Hooper, Charlotte, 2000
Manly States. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hooper explores how the theory and practice of international relations produces and sustains masculine identities and masculine rivalries. This volume asserts that international politics shapes multiple masculinities rather than one static masculinity, positing an interplay between a hegemonic masculinity and other subordinated, feminized masculinities.Huang, Martin W., 2006
Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Why did traditional Chinese literati so often identify themselves with women in their writing? What can this tell us about how they viewed themselves as men and how they understood masculinity? How did their attitudes in turn shape the martial heroes and other masculine models they constructed? Huang attempts to answer these questions in this valuable work on manhood in late imperial China. He focuses on the ambivalent and often paradoxical role played by women and the feminine in the intricate negotiating process of male gender identity in late imperial cultural discourses. Two common strategies for constructing and negotiating masculinity were adopted in many of the works examined here. The first, what Huang calls the strategy of analogy, constructs masculinity in close association with the feminine; the second, the strategy of differentiation, defines it in sharp contrast to the feminine. In both cases women bear the burden as the defining “other.” In this study, “feminine” is a rather broad concept denoting a wide range of gender phenomena associated with women, from the politically and socially destabilizing to the exemplary wives and daughters celebrated in Confucian chastity discourse.Hudson, Valerie M. and Andrea M. den Boer, 2004
Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
In this provocative book, Hudson and den Boer argue that, historically, high male-to-female ratios often trigger domestic and international violence. Most violent crime is committed by young unmarried males who lack stable social bonds. Although there is not always a direct cause-and-effect relationship, these surplus men often play a crucial role in making violence prevalent within society. Countries with high male-to-female ratios also tend to develop authoritarian political systems. Hudson and den Boer suggest that the sex ratios of many Asian countries, particularly China and India ― which represent almost 40 percent of the world’s population ― are being skewed in favor of males on a scale that may be unprecedented in human history. Through offspring sex selection (often in the form of sex-selective abortion and female infanticide), these countries are acquiring a disproportionate number of low-status young adult males, called “bare branches” by the Chinese. Hudson and den Boer argue that this surplus male population in Asia’s largest countries threatens domestic stability and international security. The prospects for peace and democracy are dimmed by the growth of bare branches in China and India, and, they maintain, the sex ratios of these countries will have global implications in the twenty-first century.Huggins, Martha K. and Mika Haritos-Fatouros, 1998
“Bureaucratizing Masculinities Among Brazilian Torturers and Murderers.” In Masculinities and Violence, edited by Lee H. Bowker. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Huggins and Haritos-Fatouros explore two different constructions of masculinity found among former torturers and murderers from Brazil’s authoritarian military state, from 1964-1985. The ‘lone-wolf’ masculinity was typical of the early days of military rule among the police forces, where the officer acted as an individual with a commitment to what he was doing, independent of bureaucracy. In contrast, the ‘institutional functionary’ masculinity was found in the later years of military rule. These men mostly hailed from the military, and were loyal to the organization and its bureaucracy at the cost of their individuality. Huggins and Haritos-Fatouros show how each of these masculinities were able to commit horrible acts of violence, but for very different reasons. The lone-wolf believed he was doing what was right; the institutional functionary was following orders. The authors show that the institutional functionary was preferred during military rule as they were easier to control and could be subordinated to the state’s interests, whereas the lone wolf obeyed his own conscience. Interestingly, upon the return to ostensible democracy, the number of lone wolf officers increased once again.Irwin, Robert McKee, 2003
Mexican Masculinities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
This book traces literary representations of masculinity in Mexico from independence in 1810 to the 1960s, and shows how these intersect with the constructions of nation and nationality. The rhetoric of “Mexicanness” makes constant use of images of masculinity, though it does so in shifting and often contradictory ways. Irwin’s work follows these shifts from the male homosocial bonding that was central to notions of national integration in the nineteenth century, to questioning of gender norms stirred by science and scandals at the turn of the century, to the virulent reaction against gender chaos after the Mexican revolution, to the association of Mexicanness with machismo and homophobia in the literature of the 1940s and 1950s ― even as male homosexuality was established as an integral part of national culture. As the first historical study of how masculinity and, particularly, homosexuality were understood in Mexico in the national era, this book not only provides “queer readings” of most major canonical texts of the period in question, but also uncovers a variety of unknown texts from queer Mexican history.Jackson, Cecile, 2001
Men at Work: Labour, Masculinities, Development. London and New York: Routledge.
Gender analysis of development focuses on gender relations, rather than women and men as separate gender categories, but it has necessarily been women-orientated in its concerns with subordination. This work moves gender analysis towards a fuller understanding of men’s diverse gendered identities, and how these are implicated in their everyday working lives in developing country contexts. The questions addressed in the papers range from conceptual and methodological issues of definitions and measurement of men’s work, to case studies of working men in specific settings, but all are concerned with the recognition of gendered vulnerabilities of (some) men as men, as well as with a re-thinking of gender relations in the light of consideration of the subjectivities of specific groups of men.Jackson, Peter A., 1996
Dear Uncle Go: Male Homosexuality in Thailand. Bangkok and San Francisco: Bua Luang Publishing Company.
Jackson’s book analyzes a unique corpus of texts, and provides a series of insights into a society that has hardly been analyzed in relation to homosexuality. This is a rare book that discusses sexual orientation and gender identification in a positive manner outside of a Western context, and gives a historical perspective of positive homosexuality outside of ancient Greece.Jerome, Roy, 2001
Conceptions of Postwar German Masculinity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
This book examines the issue of masculinity and masculine identity in German culture, society, and literature from 1945 to present. Utilizing men’s studies theories, feminism, historicism, psychoanalysis, and literary studies, the book provides a resource for understanding how masculinity informs homosocial, male-female, and adult-child relations.Jones, Adam, Editor, 2006
Men of the Global South: A Reader. London: Zed Books.
This Reader is designed to fill a glaring gap in the proliferating literature on gender and development, gender and international political economy, and gender and conflict. While there is now a broad and sophisticated feminist literature on the lives and experiences of Third World women and their role in development, there has been a tendency either to ignore men as gendered subjects, or to consign them to negative and stereotypical gender roles, often as victimizers and exploiters of Third World women. While it is vital not to overlook men’s roles in crime, exploitation, and violence, it is obvious that a more nuanced and empathetic portrait of Third World men remains to be painted. This perspective makes this Reader a genuinely original intervention into the study of both gender and development.Kimmel, Michael S., Jeff Hearn and R.W. Connell, Editors, 2004
Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
This handbook is an interdisciplinary and international culmination of the growth of men’s studies that also offers insight about future directions for the field. The Handbook provides a broad view of masculinities primarily across the social sciences, with the inclusion of important debates in some areas of the humanities and natural sciences. The various approaches presented in this text range across different disciplines, theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and conceptualizations in relation to the topic of men. The Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities examines the construction of masculinities in four different frames: the social organization of masculinities in their global and regional iterations; the institutional reproduction and articulation of masculinities; the ways in which masculinities are organized and practiced within a context of gender relations; and the ways in which individual men express and understand their gendered identities. The Handbook is organized in a way that moves from the larger, global, and institutional articulations of masculinities, to the more intimate and personal expressions.Klein, Laura F., 2004
Women and Men in World Cultures. New York: McGraw Hill.
This book provides students a comprehensive and coherent anthropological perspective on gender relations. The introductory chapters of the book present a highly detailed yet accessible review of gender theory. The next section examines the place of men and women in a variety of contexts, using multinational case studies. The third section looks at the role of gender in power, family, and religion. The book’s final chapters map out the gendered aspects of colonialization, globalization, and contemporary identity.Knauss, Peter R., 1987
The Persistence of Patriarchy: Class, Gender, and Ideology in Twentieth Century Algeria. New York: Praeger Publishers.
Knauss presents a political science look at the system of patriarchy as it exists in post-revolution Algeria after 1962. With an extensive historical background, Knauss argues that nationalist Algerian reaction to French cultural and political domination resulted in a renewed emphasis on hegemonic patriarchy.Lancaster, Roger N., 1992
Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Lancaster provides an ethnography of post-Sandinista Revolutionary Nicaragua that follows the lives of three families. He pays particular attention to an idea of multiple systems of power (such as machismo or U.S. imperialism), which affect the lives and hardship of Nicaraguans. This is done in an attempt to provide solutions to the problems of poverty, injustice, and powerlessness in Nicaragua.Lindsay, Lisa and Stephan F. Miescher, 2003
Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa. Sandton, South Africa: Heinemann.
This collection is the first to analyze the concepts and issues involved in exploring African men and the constructions of masculinity in sub-Saharan Africa.Louie, Kam, 2003
Asian Masculinities: The Meaning and Practice of Manhood in China and Japan. London and New York: Routledge.
This book shows how East Asian masculinities are being formed and transformed as Asia becomes increasingly globalized. The gender roles performed by Chinese and Japanese men are examined not just as they are lived in Asia, but also in the West. The essays collected here enhance current understandings of East Asian identities and cultures as well as Western conceptions of gender and sexuality. While basic issues such as masculine ideals in China and Japan are examined, the book also addresses issues including homosexuality, women’s perceptions of men, the role of sport and food, and Asian men in the Chinese diaspora.― 2002
Theorising Chinese Masculinity: Society and Gender in China. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
This book attempts to establish a theoretical framework on Chinese masculinity in order to replace inaccurate Western interpretations of Asian men and sexuality. The author does this through the theorization of masculinity using the concepts of wen (cultural attainment) and wu (martial valour), the mental and physical ideals of Chinese manhood. Chinese masculinity has traditionally been associated with a more cerebral and sensitive ideal male, which has been considered effeminate and neutered from the standard Western and macho perspective on masculinity. Louie also proposes an alternative to the common yin-yang gender theory, which is too fluid and dynamic to realistically represent the male-only aspects of Chinese men. The overall argument provides an important reminder that masculinity is not universal, but culturally and historically defined.Lumsden, Ian, 1995
Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
This remarkable account of gays in Cuba links the treatment of male homosexuality under Castro with prejudices and preconceptions prevalent in Cuban society before the Revolution. Lumsden argues that much of the present discussion does not acknowledge the significant improvements that have occurred in the last decade. Lumsden explores the historic roots of the oppression of homosexuals through such issues as race, religion, and gender. He considers the cultural history and current erosion of traditional “machismo,” the correlation between traditional women’s roles and the relationships between gay men, and homosexuality as defined by the law and as presented in typical sexual education. He addresses the international controversy over state-imposed sanatoriums for HIV/AIDS patients, and details the social scene, the varying ideals among different generations of gay Cubans, gay life and family ties, and the difference between being publicly and privately gay in Cuba.MacInnes, John, 1998
The End of Masculinity: The Confusion of Sexual Genesis and Sexual Differences in Modern Society. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
This text seeks to explain why commentators have found it impossible to define masculinity. MacInnes asserts that this is because no such thing exists and challenges established ways of thinking about sex, gender, and masculinity within the social sciences, history, and philosophy.Marsigilio, William, 1995
Fatherhood: Contemporary Theory, Research and Social Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
This book offers theoretical analysis and empirical research from a number of social sciences on what it means to be a father in times of changing families and gender roles at work and society at large. The essays include race and poverty, life-course patterns, and comparisons between perceptions towards fathers’ roles.Mellström, Ulf, 2003
Masculinity, Power and Technology: A Malaysian Ethnography. Hampshire, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing.
Drawing on fieldwork carried out among male motor mechanics in the Chinese diaspora of Penang, Malaysia, this informative volume explores the links between technology and the masculinization of power. Malaysia shares an obsession with modernity by way of technological development and a “can do” entrepreneurial spirit where technology is held in high esteem. Technology holds such positive connotations in Malaysian society that it is therefore a source of individual and national empowerment. Technology and modernity are therefore important factors when understanding contemporary Malaysian society. Just as there is very much a masculine ethos pervading Malaysia’s spirit and belief in modernity and progress, this insightful and rewarding book focuses on technology and machines in relation to masculinity to provide an innovative, anthropological perspective of Malaysian society and the Chinese diaspora.Mirande, Alfredo, 1997
Hombres y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
This book provides an ethnographic look at Latino and Mexican masculinity and concepts of “macho” and “machismo.” Mirande attempts to reexamine traditional societal and social science characterizations of Latino machismo and masculinity as a “pathological” or “dysfunctional” system.Morrell, Robert, 2001
From Boys to Gentleman: Settler Masculinity in Colonial Natal, 1880-1920. Pretoria, South Africa: UNISA Press.
A century ago there was a small white settler population in the colony of Natal. This book looks at that section concentrated around the capital, Pietermaritzburg, where they developed into a tight-knit community. At its centre was the idealized unit called the ‘Old Natal Family,’ with a white man at the helm. This book is the first on South African history to focus on the concept of masculinity which catalogues and explores the significance of the political and public dominance of white men. It argues that a particular type of masculinity, settler masculinity, was constructed and became dominant as a prescription for proper male behavior. It excluded and silenced rival interpretations of ‘being a man’ and promoted the development of a closed and racially exclusive colonial society. This book examines how the forces of race and class were expressed in gendered ways, and how children were raised to learn to embrace their roles.Morrell, Robert, Editor, 2001
Changing Men in South Africa. London: Zed Books.
The political transition from apartheid to democracy disturbed the established gender order of South Africa. This book looks at the way in which men, under apartheid and in the transition period responded to, were affected by and themselves contributed to the transitions in Southern Africa. The book examines different forms of masculinity, highlighting the importance of race and class. The contributors explore how the position of men has changed.Mosse, George, 1998
The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity. London: Oxford University Press.
Mosse provides an historical account of the masculine stereotype, tracking the evolution of the idea of manliness to reveal how it came to embody physical beauty, courage, moral restraint, and a strong will. He finds that the manly ideal incorporated mixed elements from the past, the aristocracy, and newer sciences like anthropology and sexology. Mosse also discusses how the masculine image is being challenged today.O’Donnell, Katherine and Michael O’Rourke, 2006
Queer Masculinities, 1550-1800. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
This book offers the most up to the minute snapshot of scholarship on queer/gay historiographies in a number of geographical regions in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It features the work of the most established scholars in the field of the history of same-sex desire and promises to take the study of same-sex relations in the early modern period in radical new directions.Oetomo, Dédé, 2000
“Masculinity in Indonesia: Genders, Sexualities and Identities in a Changing Society.” In Framing the Sexual Subject: The Politics of Gender, Sexuality and Power, edited by Richard Parker, Regina Maria Barbosa and Peter Aggleton. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Oetomo discusses the various constructions of masculinity in Indonesia, focusing on the banci and waria, constructed ‘third genders’ within Indonesian society. In discussing the relation between and among these third genders and men, Oetomo reveals the power differentials that dominate sexual relations in Indonesian society, as well as create and define sexual identities and preferences.Osella, Filippo and Caroline Osella, 2006
Men and Masculinities in India. London, New York, and Delhi: Anthem Press.
Men and Masculinities in India aims to increase understanding of gender within South Asia, and especially South Asian masculinities, a topic whose analysis and ethnographizing in the region has had a very sketchy beginning and is ripe for more thorough examination. This ground-breaking study covers a range of areas including work, cross-sex relationships, sexuality, men’s friendships, religious practices, and leisure. This book is especially concerned with issues arising from debates which broadly argue over the differences and merits of approaches to gender ― more broadly, identity ― rooted in essentialism versus performativity. The authors present a range of original ethnography and explore the tensions between different types of theoretical stance and competing local discourses on gender and how it is made.Osella, Filippo, Caroline Osella and Radhika Chopra, Editors, 2004
South Asian Masculinities: Context of Change, Sites of Continuity. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.
What it means to be a man ― in word, flesh, deed, and affect ― in the various arenas of social life in South Asian societies is the thread that runs through the essays in this volume, the first of its kind on masculinity. These essays deal with different planes of experience, and various modes of expression: films, national history, ethnography, and literature are examined within a range of methodological and theoretical orientations. Regional differences as well as similarities between the societies of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are carefully observed and analyzed.Ouzgane, Lahoucine, Editor, 2006
Islamic Masculinities. London: Zed Books.
This innovative book outlines the great complexity, variety, and difference of male identities in Islamic societies. From the Taliban orphanages of Afghanistan to the cafés of Morocco, from the experience of couples at infertility clinics in Egypt to that of Iraqi conscripts, it shows how the masculine gender is constructed and negotiated in the Islamic Ummah. It goes far beyond the traditional notion that Islamic masculinities are inseparable from the control of women, and shows how the relationship between spirituality and masculinity is experienced quite differently from the prevailing Western norms. Drawing on sources ranging from modern Arabic literature to discussions of Muhammad’s virility and Abraham’s paternity, it portrays ways of being in the world that intertwine with non-Western conceptions of duty to the family, the state, and the divine.Ouzgane, Lahoucine and Robert Morrell, Editors, 2005
African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late 19th Century to the Present. Houndsmill, NY: Palgrave.
With African Masculinities, Ouzgane and Morrell have secured solid ground for the emerging field of critical men’s studies in Africa. The chapters they have selected for this volume provide the latest multidisciplinary research on African men and masculinities from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in understanding gender politics and practices as they have emerged in Africa during the postcolonial era. The chapters thoughtfully address key issues such as the reconfiguration of masculinities resulting from the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the negotiations of gay African masculinities, and the impact of globalization on masculine practices from historical, sociological, literary, economic, and political perspectives.Pease, Bob and Keith Pringle, Editors, 2001
A Man’s World?: Changing Men’s Practices in a Globalized World. London: Zed Books.
This book approaches the study of gender relations through an examination of men’s gender roles and practices. It provides a comparative analysis of the dynamics of men’s practices in diverse socio-cultural contexts, incorporating case studies from South Africa and India to Western democracies. Additionally, special emphasis is placed on how transnational interactions are changing men’s practices in a variety of ways. While this collection of essays demonstrates some commonalities of male gender roles across borders and time, it avoids asserting broad generalizations without supporting evidence.Ramirez, Rafael, Peter Guarnaccia and Rosa Casper, 1999
What It Means to Be a Man: Reflections on Puerto Rican Masculinity. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Ramirez critically reviews anthropological and social science literature on masculinity and male sexualities. He practices cultural reflexivity and suggests new approaches to understanding masculinity in Puerto Rico and more widely.Reddock, Rhoda E., Editor, 2004
Interrogating Caribbean Masculinities: Theoretical and Empirical Analyses. Kingston, Jamaica: University Press of the West Indies.
This anthology of new Caribbean scholarship on masculinities establishes masculinity studies as an important new area of research and theorizing in the Caribbean. The content of this volume reflects a range of disciplinary approaches, including anthropology, history, international relations, literary criticism, and art and installation. Special attention is paid to the interaction of power and sexuality in the construction of masculine identities. To understand how men express and exert power, it is necessary to include the analysis of power in the context of structural relationships: the class system, political and economic inequalities, racism, colonialism, homophobia, and other systems of oppression and exclusion.Richter, Linda and Robert Morrell, 2006
Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Human Sciences Research Council.
Authors from a range of backgrounds and disciplines break new ground in this collection of essays exploring the centrality of fatherhood in the lives of men and the experiences of children. The book is separated into sections that address different ways that the presence or absence of a father affects both the man and the family, from the conceptual questions of fatherhood to historical perspectives — including the input of class and race issues — to the portrayal of fathers in the media. By turning attention to aspects of fatherhood, each study illuminates the role of the male parent, making the ultimate argument that the contribution of men to their families can be a positive force for change in society as a whole.Roberson, James and Nobue Suzuki, 2002
Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan: Beyond the Urban Salaryman Model. London and New York: Routledge.
This book is the first comprehensive account of the changing role of men and the construction of masculinity in contemporary Japan. The book moves beyond the stereotype of the Japanese white-collar businessman to explore the diversity of identities and experiences that may be found among men in contemporary Japan, including those versions of masculinity which are marginalized and subversive. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of contemporary Japanese society and identity.Ruxton, Sandy, Editor, 2004
Gender Equality and Men: Learning From Practice. Oxford, UK: Oxfam Publishing.
In international debates on gender equality there is a growing emphasis on men, not only as holders of privileges or as perpetrators of violence, but also as potential and actual contributors to gender equality. The conclusions of the 48th session of the UN commission on the Status of Women in 2004 urged key stakeholders to promote action at all levels in fields such as education, health services, training, media, and the workplace to increase the contribution of men and boys to furthering gender equality. Based on examples of interventions in five fields (reproductive and sexual health, fatherhood, gender-based violence, livelihoods, and work with young men) from a range of countries, Gender Equality and Men aims to provide a critical account of practical experience of work with men for gender equality and to share knowledge and expertise gained from programs run by Oxfam GB and other organizations.Sabo, Donald and David F. Gordon, Editors, 1995
Men’s Health and Illness: Gender, Power and the Body. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Contributors from the social, medical, and biological sciences draw on both qualitative and quantitative research to demonstrate that gender is a key factor for understanding the pattern of men’s health risks, the ways men perceive and use their bodies, and their psychological adjustment to illness.Schade-Poulsen, Marc, 1999
Men and Popular Music in Algeria: The Social Significance of Raï. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Raï music is often called the voice of the voiceless in Algeria, a society currently swept by tragic conflict. Raï is the voice of young Algerian men caught between generations and classes, in political strife, and in economic inequality. In a ground-breaking study, anthropologist Schade-Poulsen uses this popular music genre as a lens through which he views Algerian society, particularly male society. He situates raï within Algerian family life, moral codes, and broader power relations. The lyrics deal with male-female relationships but also with generational relationships and the problems of youth, as they struggle to find a place in a conflicted society. The study, in its innovative approach to music as a template of society, helps the reader understand the two major movements among today’s Algerian youth: one toward the mosque and the other toward the West.Schmitt, Arno and Jehoeda Sofer, Editors, 1992
Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
Until now there has existed a lack of solid information about sexuality in Islamic society, but this volume portrays very clearly the relationship between same-sex eroticism and the ideal of the man as penetrator. As a result, Sexuality and Eroticism illuminates not only homosexuality but the whole sexual culture and role of gender in the Muslim world. Despite its occurrence in this region of the world, sex between males is not considered to be “homosexuality” by most men ― a concept that is reiterated in chapter after chapter. In addition to major differences in the attitudes toward homosexual acts in Muslim countries and the West, this enlightening book also shows great differences among the Muslim countries themselves, depending upon the degree to which Islamic law is enforced, the impact of different Western colonial influences and legal systems, and the sheer impact of cultural variation within so vast a geographic area.Seidler, Victor J., 2006
Young Men and Masculinities: Global Cultures and Intimate Lives. London: Zed Books.
The lives of young men in a globalized world are influenced by the mass circulation of images of men’s bodies, desires and sexualities, and the cultural masculinities of particular histories, cultures, and traditions. Questioning universalist theories of ‘hegemonic masculinities,’ Young Men and Masculinities argues that young men often feel caught between prevailing masculinities and how they want to define themselves. It explores how the idea of men as ‘the First Sex’ has been established within the West and how young men affirm their male identities in different cultures and societies. It draws on the experience of young men in different continents in creating their own male identities and establishing more equal relationships within a world of intense inequalities.Silverman, Eric Kline, 2001
Masculinity, Motherhood, and Mockery: Psychoanalyzing Culture and the Iatmul Naven Rite in New Guinea. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
This book analyzes the relationship between masculinity and motherhood in an Eastern Iatmul village along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea. It focuses on a metaphorical dialogue between two countervailing images of the body, dubbed by literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin as the “moral” and the “grotesque.” Throughout this work, Silverman details the dialogics of mothering and manhood throughout Eastern Iatmul culture, including in his analysis cosmology and myth; food and childraising; architecture and canoes; ethnophysiology and sexuality; shame and hygiene; marriage and kinship; and perhaps most significantly, a ceremonial locus classicus in anthropology: the famous Iatmul naven rite. This book provides the first sustained examination of naven since Bateson, presenting new data and interpretations that are based entirely on original, first-hand ethnographic research.Sinha, Mrinalini, 1995
Colonial Masculinity: The ‘Manly Englishman’ and the ‘Effeminate Bengali’ in the Late Nineteenth Century. New York: Manchester University Press.
This text explores how the British resisted Bengali empowerment through stereotyping them as effeminate, and therefore unable to wield power in colonial India. Sinha explores Bengali resistance through historical deconstruction of four controversies that took place in British colonized India in the 1880s.Smith, Richard, 2005
Jamaican Volunteers in the First World War: Race, Masculinity and the Development of National Consciousness. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
This groundbreaking study explores the dynamics of race and masculinity to provide fresh historical insight into the First World War and its imperial dimensions, by examining the experiences of Jamaicans who served in British regiments. Despite their exclusion from the battlefield, the author shows that the experience of war was invaluable in allowing veterans to appropriate codes of heroism, sacrifice, and citizenship in order to wage their own battles for independence on their return home, culminating in the nationalist upsurge of the late 1930s.Sparke, Matthew, 1996
“Displacing the Field in Fieldwork: Masculinity, Metaphor and Space.” In Bodyspace: Dislocating Geographies of Gender and Sexuality, edited by Nancy Duncan. London and New York: Routledge.
A critique of the “heroic masculinity of the spatial practice of fieldwork,” Sparke notes how metaphors and conceptualizations of the field in masculinist terms need to be destabilized for future geographical research. He argues in favor of a more progressive form of fieldwork based on the “space of between-ness.”Srivastava, Sanjay, 2004
Sexual Sites, Seminal Attitudes: Sexualities, Masculinities, and Culture in South Asia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
This book situates current research into the sexual cultures of South Asia within a cross-cultural perspective. The book argues that in societies undergoing rapid social and cultural change, the construction of sexuality and the discourses that gather around it have a fundamental connection with an entire range of processes ― social, cultural, economic, political and global ― with which people must engage. The contributors have studied sexuality as a site around which social and cultural ideas may be expressed.Streets, Heather, 2005
Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
This book explores how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs, and Nepalese Gurkhas became identified as the British Empire’s fiercest soldiers in nineteenth century discourse. As “martial races” these men were believed to possess a biological or cultural disposition to the racial and masculine qualities necessary for the arts of war. Because of this, they were used as icons to promote recruitment in British and Indian armies ― a phenomenon with important social and political effects in India, in Britain, and in the armies of the Empire.Sweetman, Caroline, Editor, 2003
Gender, Development and Marriage. Oxford, UK: Oxfam.
Marriage is now acknowledged as an institution of key relevance to development policy, practice, and research. Yet marriage experienced by men is very different from marriage for women. This is because marriage is, in all male-dominated societies, an institution imbued with inequality, in which husbands and fathers rule the roost. The collection of articles traces the economic and social impact of inequality in marriage on women, men, and wider society, and considers its implications for development. Topics include child marriage; the link between women’s economic contribution and equality within marriage; NGO responses to domestic violence; and the need to understand particular forms of marriage as prerequisite for appropriate development policy.― 2001
Men’s Involvement in Gender and Development Policy and Practice: Beyond Rhetoric. Oxford, UK: Oxfam.
This study presents several papers that explore the ways in which development organizations have addressed gender and development in the past, the problems they have faced, and possible ways of working which will take account of future concerns. The two key questions addressed are: In what sectors should gender and development work involve men as beneficiaries? What issues face men who work in activities which have a commitment to gender equality and feminist perspectives?― 1997
Men and Masculinity. Oxford, UK: Oxfam Publishing.
Over the last decade, researchers from many different disciplines have taken an increasing interest in studying men’s gender identity and role. This collection of articles by development practitioners and theorists explores new ground by considering the implications of male gender identities for the rights of both men and women, and for gender-equitable development. The authors examine the concept of masculinity, drawing on experiences from Trinidad, South Africa, and around the world.Taggart, James M., 1997
The Bear and His Sons: Masculinity in Spanish and Mexican Folktales. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
James Taggart contrasts how two men ― a Spaniard and an Aztec-speaking Mexican ― tell such tales as “The Bear’s Son.” He explores how their stories present different ways of being a man in their respective cultures. He also focuses on how fathers reproduce different forms of masculinity in their sons, showing how fathers who care for their infant sons teach them a relational masculinity based on a connected view of human relationships.Tuzin, Donald, 1997
The Cassowary’s Revenge: The Life and Death of Masculinity in a New Guinea Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tuzin spent time in the New Guinea village of Ilahita during the aftermath of a startling event: the village’s men voluntarily destroyed their secret cult that had allowed them to dominate women for centuries. The book is an account of how Ilahita’s men and women think, emote, dream, and explain themselves. Tuzin also explores how the death of masculinity in a remote society raises implications for gender relations in our own society.Vale de Almeida, Miguel, 1996
The Hegemonic Male: Masculinity in a Portuguese Town. Providence, RI: Berghahn Books.
Vale de Almeida examines the cultural construction and performance of hegemonic masculinity ― straight, white, and patriarchal ― in the context of the Alentejo region in southern Portugal. His goal is to show how hegemonic masculinity is constituted and reproduced through a series of different social relations and symbolic constructs, and he describes and analyses how masculinity is rooted in social processes of work and leisure.Waetjen, Thembisa, 2004
Workers and Warriors: Masculinity and the Struggle for Nation in South Africa. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
In this compact, powerful new study, Waetjen explores how gender structured the mobilization of Zulu nationalism in South Africa as anti-apartheid efforts gained force during the 1980s. Undercutting assumptions of male power and nationalism as monolithic, Workers and Warriors demonstrates the ways that masculinities may be plural, conflict-ridden, and crucial not only to the formation of loyalty but also to why some nationalisms fail.Whitehead, Stephen and Frank J. Barrett, Editors, 2001
The Masculinities Reader. London: Polity Press.
The Masculinities Reader provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the key debates informing the study of masculinity. Structured in an accessible format, the book makes available in a single text some of the most important work on a range of subjects including male power; patriarchy; management and organizations; sexualities; gay friendships; sport; intimacy; identity; hegemonic masculinity; violence; schooling; language; homophobia; Black, Latino and Chicano masculinities; families; media; postmodernism; and subjectivity. The book opens with a substantive introductory chapter that looks at masculinity in crisis, post-feminism, men’s power, changing men, nature/nurture debates, and concepts of identity. Recognizing the global dimensions of gender change, the book draws on research from many corners of the world.Zalewski, Marysia and Jane Parpart, Editors, 1998
The “Man” Question in International Relations. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
This book compiles a diverse body of works to deal with gender issues in international relations. The theme is to specifically problematize men and masculinities in order to solve the theoretical question of whether gendering international relations studies is best done with modernist or post-modernist feminist theory.Zarkov, Dubravka and Cynthia Cockburn, Editors, 2002
The Postwar Moment: Militaries, Masculinities, and International Peacekeeping. London: Lawrence and Wishart Ltd.
This feminist analysis of the postwar movement in Bosnia argues that a crucial but often overlooked factor in the successful reconstruction of societies after conflict is the level of importance accorded to transforming gender power relations. Focusing on two countries, Bosnia and the Netherlands, linked through a “peacekeeping operation,” the contributors illuminate the many ways in which processes of demilitarization and peacekeeping are structured by notions of masculinity and femininity. Several chapters also analyze the self-questioning provoked in the Netherlands after the Dutch contingent of the UN peacekeeping forces was widely held responsible for failing to prevent the Srebrenica massacre; these provide a rich source of insights into relationships between soldiering and masculinities, war-fighting, and peacekeeping.Zhong, Xueping, 2000
Masculinity Besieged? Issues of Modernity and Male Subjectivity in Chinese Literature of the Late Twentieth Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
In Masculinity Besieged, Zhong looks at Chinese literature and films produced during the 1980s to examine male subjectivities in contemporary China. Reading through a feminist psychoanalytic lens, Zhong argues that understanding the nature of male subjectivities as portrayed in literature and film is crucial to understanding China’s ongoing quest for modernity.
Articles
Abraham, Janaki, 2006
“The Stain of White: Liaisons, Memories, and White Men as Relatives.” Men and Masculinities, 9(2):131-151.
During British colonial rule some matrilineal Thiyya women in North Kerala, India, had liaisons with British men. While the response of the caste to these liaisons shifted over time, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many women who had liaisons and their families were excommunicated. A “white connection” became a stain and kinship with the white man was denied or shrouded. This article looks at the ways in which both the liaisons and the denial of the white man as father or relative were located within practices of matrilineal kinship. Furthermore, this article seeks to understand how these liaisons are remembered today and how the presence of the white man as a relative is layered over by processes of forgetting and remembering.Agadjanian, Victor, 2002
“Men Doing ‘Women’s Work’: Masculinity and Gender Relations Among Street Vendors in Maputo, Mozambique.” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 10(3):329-342.
Gender inequality in sub-Saharan urban settings is perpetuated through the differences in men’s and women’s positions in the labor market. However, rising unemployment and increasing informalization of the economy that result from both the demographic structure and the structural adjustment reforms undermine men’s economic advantage by pushing them into low-income and low-prestige “women’s” occupations, such as street commerce. Men’s entry into such niches of the labor market leads to both de-gendering and re-gendering of the workplace, which in turns questions the broader gender hierarchy and stereotypes and transforms gender relations. The author analyzes these occupational dynamics and their profound implications for gender identity and relations drawing primarily on in-depth interviews conducted with men street vendors in Greater Maputo, Mozambique, in 1999.Ahmed, S.M.F., 2006
“Making Beautiful: Male Workers in Beauty Parlors.” Men and Masculinities, 9(2):168-185.
Many competing sociological debates intersect in the world of beauty parlors. There is an increasing proliferation of male or “gents” parlors — a space where a new formation of the male self is being produced and established through new cultures of care and work. Because “work” has always been understood as central to the lives of men, a major basis of their identity, it is often seen as being identified with masculinity. “Beauty” and “caring,” on the other hand, are often viewed as something intrinsically feminine. This article weeds out such notions by presenting life histories of men in “beauty work” and argues that just as different work situations produce different models of masculinities, the same work situation also may prove an arena of a variety of masculinities. The article also explores the possibilities and potentials of understanding gender relations in South Asia that will prove helpful in making comparisons with other masculinity studies.Allen, Michael, 1998
“Male Cults Revisited: The Politics of Blood Versus Semen.” Oceania, 68(3):189-200.
Allen focuses on the differential emphasis that was placed on blood-letting as against semen-ingesting as the key means whereby boys were believed to be transformed into men in Melanesia.Allison, Edward and Janet Seeley, 2004
“HIV and AIDS Among Fisherfolk: A Threat to ‘Responsible Fisheries’?” Fish and Fisheries, 5(3):215-234.
Fishing communities are often among the highest-risk groups in countries with high overall rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence. Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS stems from complex, interacting causes that may include the mobility of many fisherfolk, the time fishermen spend away from home, their access to daily cash income in an overall context of poverty and vulnerability, their demographic profile, the ready availability of commercial sex in fishing ports, and the subcultures of risk taking and hypermasculinity among some fishermen. HIV/AIDS in fishing communities was first dealt with as a public health issue, and most projects were conducted by health sector agencies and NGOs, focusing on education and health care provision. More recently, as the social and economic impacts of the epidemic have become evident, wider social service provision and economic support have been added.Alméras, Diane, 2000
“Equitable Social Practices and Masculine Personal History: A Santiago Study.” The European Journal of Development Research, 12(2):139-156.
The issue of shared family responsibilities is central to the actual process of rethinking gender relations because it is one of the main expressions of the sexual division of labor which still rules the organization of most human groups. In all patriarchal societies, the attribution of the private domain to women and the hegemony of men on the public space have reciprocally generated and strengthened themselves in a vicious circle. In most Latin American societies, the uneven distribution of roles inside the household is becoming the main obstacle to women’s equality of opportunities in social life. While problems of formal access to areas of social participation such as education and work are confronted with growing success, it is now the quality of this integration which remains unsolved ― and this is a question which is closely related both to the mechanics of the sexual division of labor and to its role in the construction of gender identities.Alter, Joseph S., 2004
“Indian Clubs and Colonialism: Hindu Masculinity and Muscular Christianity.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 46(3):497-534.
Following Edward Said’s Orientalism, there has been considerable interest in studying gender images and engendered practices that emerged out of colonialism, both during the era of colonialism and subsequently. Many of these studies have shown how colonized women were subject to the gendered and often sexualized gaze of Western men, and how colonized men were often regarded as either effeminate or ‘martial’ by virtue of their birth into a particular group. Arguably, the latent ambiguity of regarding all colonized men as effete, and yet categorizing some colonized men as strong and aggressively virile, points to one of the many complex contradictions manifest in the cultural politics of colonialism. A similar point could be made with regard to nationalism, wherein women, and the image men want women to present of themselves, reflects masculine ambivalence about modernity. In any case, even when colonial discourse essentializes the virile masculinity of various subject groups ― in particular the so-called martial castes of South Asia ― the putative masculinity of these groups is ascribed to breeding and latent ‘savagery,’ and is rarely, if ever, conceived of as an achieved status, much less something an individual from some other group might achieve on the basis of training or practice.― 1997
“Seminal Truth: A Modern Science of Male Celibacy in Northern India.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 11(3):275-298.
Many scholars have noted that brahmacharya (celibacy) is an important concept in Hindu notions of male identity. Although the psychological basis of this concept has been studied, there is very little in the literature on the “medical mechanics” of becoming and being a brahmachari. Nor is there a comprehensive account of the precise relationship between sex and the meaning of physical health in modern urban India. Through an examination of the popular Hindi literature on brahmacharya, interpreted within the context of therapeutic celibacy as put in practice by a modern yoga society, this article shows how a discourse about sex, semen, and health is conceived of in terms of embodied truth. Using Foucault’s critique of Western sexuality as a contrasting frame of reference, the author argues that the “truth” about sex in modern North India is worked out in somatic rather than psychological terms, in which morality is problematically defined by male physiology and gendered conceptions of good health.Andrade, Xavier, 2001
“Machismo and Politics in Ecuador: The Case of Pancho Jaime.” Men and Masculinities, 3(3):299-315.
This article explores the political uses of machismo and dominant notions of masculinity as tools for constructing agendas for popular redemption in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The focus is on the life and work of Pancho Jaime (1946-1989), the most controversial and widely known independent journalist in Guayaquil. Between 1984 and his assassination in 1989, Jaime illegally produced political magazines using gossip, pornographic caricatures, and obscene language to comment on the corruption of politicians and oligarchs. Jaime’s strategy was to make connections between the conduct of powerful figures in public office and the “deviant” sexuality of these same individuals. This large body of cultural material is interpreted as part of a politics of masculinity historically linked to everyday life and local populist traditions. Analyzing images and audience responses to Jaime’s grotesque visual and aggressive textual discourses, ethnographic findings are discussed in relation to concepts of vulgarity, the performance of masculinity in the public sphere, and carnivalesque inversions of power.Attwood, Lynne, 1995
“Men, Machine Guns, and the Mafia: Post-Soviet Cinema as a Discourse on Gender.” Women’s Studies International Forum, 18(5-6):513-521.
Recent Russian cinema has been dominated by representations of the mafia, a catch-all term embracing anyone involved in organized crime, protection racketeering, etc. A number of Russian film critics have offered a symbolic reading of such films, arguing that the mafia represents the political chaos and the breakdown in public order in post-Soviet society. This essay suggests an alternative reading: that these films can be understood as a discourse on gender. Analyzing six recent films, the author seeks to demonstrate that although they do no overtly applaud the actions of the mafia, they do celebrate traditional conceptions of masculinity, and they can be said to accord with the perception, widespread in post-Soviet Russia, that the move to the market ― with its resurrection of individualism, entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and ruthlessness ― is releasing men from decades of feminization wrought by the ‘nanny state.’Bacigalupo, Ana Mariella, 2004
“The Struggle for Mapuche Shaman’s Masculinity: Colonial Politics of Gender, Sexuality, and Power in Southern Chile.” Ethnohistory, 51(3):489-533.
Bacigalupo questions Western notions of sexual and gender identity as dichotomous and unchanging by analyzing the differences in conceptions of gender identity between the native Mapuche and colonial Spaniards. While Spanish gender norms viewed men and women as fixed and distinct categories with little overlap, the Mapuche accepted ‘co-gendered’ identities and a more fluid conception of gender norms. The author relates Spanish views on gender norms to their systems of gendered power, justifying Spanish oppression of the Mapuche by their failure to internalize Spanish masculinity and thus capitalize on masculine privilege.Bahsin, Kamla, 1997
“Gender Workshops with Men: Experiences and Reflections.” Gender and Development, 5(2):55-61.
This article describes the experiences of gender trainers that organized gender-sensitivity workshops with male decision-makers in several South Asian development NGOs. Their unique program combined theoretical discussion about sex, gender, and patriarchy with personal reflection. Also included were analyses of various development policies and programs. Although the workshops sessions had mixed results, reactions from men were usually positive and helped introduce them to issues of gender inequality.Bandyopadhyay, Mahuya, 2006
“Competing Masculinities in a Prison.” Men and Masculinities, 9(2):186-203.
This article draws on fieldwork conducted in a central prison in Kolkata, India, which is an overwhelmingly male space. This ethnographic material demonstrates the nature of the male space and the practices through which male identities were made and defined within this space. The author argues that the experience of the prison and incarceration is one in which the dominant norms of maleness are challenged. Through the processes of divestiture of rights implicit in imprisonment, the image of a man as an independent agent of his destiny, as protector of his family, as a worker and bread earner, or even as a strong and influential man in the neighborhood are displaced. This article explores the ways male prisoners deal with this “less than a man” image within the prison. The gendered nature of the prison as an organization emerges when examining contexts in which male identities are enacted and made.Banerjee, Sikata, 2006
“Armed Masculinity, Hindu Nationalism and Female Political Participation in India: Heroic Mothers, Chaste Wives, and Celibate Warriors.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, 8(1):62-83.
Male and female bodies as well as societal ideas defining cultural interpretations of masculinities and feminities are potent metaphors for expressing nation. This article examines two cultural expressions of nation and manliness ― the Hindu soldier and warrior monk ― disseminated in Hindu nationalist organizations in India. These images, among others, emerged from India’s experience of British imperialism and are defined by values of martial prowess, muscular strength, a readiness to go to battle and moral fortitude. This article argues that this masculinized vision of nation carries important implications for women. Women enter this masculine environment through roles such as heroic mother, chaste wife, and celibate warrior. Although divergent in their articulation at the grassroots, all three models of female behavior articulate two social themes. One, women’s bodies represent national honor, and two, this embodiment only works if women are chaste and virtuous. Indian feminists view such feminine activism with suspicion because the considerable empowerment women may derive from Hindu nationalist politics ultimately does not challenge the gendered power imbalances within the patriarchal Hindu family.Barker, Gary, 2001
“‘Cool Your Head, Man’: Preventing Gender Based Violence in Favelas.” Development, 44(3):94-98.
Barker presents results from an action-research project that sought to identify more gender-equitable young men in a low income setting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where violence against women was common. The research identified factors that may have contributed to the young men’s alternative values and were incorporated into a community intervention that seeks to change young men’s attitudes toward women.Battaglia, Debbora, 1985
“‘We Feed Our Father’: Paternal Nuture Among the Sabarl of Papua New Guinea.” American Ethnologist, volume 12, number 3, pp. 427-441.
Among matrilineal peoples in Papua New Guinea, power symmetries and asymmetries, with their bases in indigenous models of gender and generation-based relations, are often revealed in the way paternal nurture is conceptualized and the way people act in relation to it. In the case of the Sabarl, these relations are marked in “paths” of symbolic action and embodied concretely in the movement of ritual foods and objects featured in affinal exchanges. The ritual action and exchange scene is especially elaborate and circumscribing at death, when the contribution of males to the reproductive process is formally acknowledged. The position of males within the matrilineal system is examined here in relation to the larger theme of societal and cultural continuity.Beattie, Peter M., 2002
“Beyond Machismos: Recent Examinations of Masculinities in Latin America.” Men and Masculinities, 4(3):303-308.
This article is an overview of recent literature examining Latin American masculinities, drawing from both literary criticism and anthropology.Boellstorff, Tom, 2004
“The Emergence of Political Homophobia in Indonesia: Masculinity and National Belonging.” Ethnos, 69(4):465-486.
This article explores an unprecedented series of violent acts against ‘gay’ Indonesians beginning in September 1999. Indonesia is often characterized as being ‘tolerant’ of homosexuality. This is a false belief, but one containing a grain of truth. To identify this grain of truth the author distinguishes between ‘heterosexism’ and ‘homophobia,’ noting that Indonesia has been marked by a predominance of heterosexism over homophobia. The author examines the emergence of a political homophobia directed at public events where gay men stake a claim to Indonesia’s troubled civil society. That such violence is seen as the properly masculine response to these events indicates how the nation may be gaining a new masculinist cast. In the new Indonesia, male-male desire can increasingly be construed as a threat to normative masculinity, and thus to the nation itself.Bracewell, Wendy, 2000
“Rape in Kosovo: Masculinity and Serbian Nationalism.” Nations and Nationalism, 6(4):563-590.
Accusations of Albanian rape of Serbs in Kosovo became a highly charged political factor in the development of Serbian nationalism in the 1980s. Discussions of rape were used to link perceptions of national victimization and a crisis of masculinity, and to legitimate a militant Serbian nationalism, ultimately contributing to the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. The article argues for attention to the ways that nationalist projects have been structured with reference to ideals of masculinity, the specific political and cultural contexts that have influenced these processes, and the consequent implications for gender relations as well as for nationalist politics. Such an approach helps explain the appeal of Milošević’s nationalism; at the same time it highlights the divisions and conflicts that lie behind hegemonic gender and national identities constructed around difference.Brison, Karen, 1995
“Changing Constructions of Masculinity in a Sepik Society.” Ethnology, 34(3):155-175.
Changing conceptions of person and community among the eastern Kwanga of the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea are analyzed to examine the “politics of identity.” Experiences under the colonial system and now in the independent nation of Papua New Guinea have caused the Kwanga to view male strength in a more negative light than they once did.Brown, Jill, James Sorrell and Marcela Raffaelli, 2005
“An Exploratory Study of Constructions of Masculinity, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS in Namibia, South Africa.” Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7(6):585-598.
The goal of the current study was to explore notions of masculinity and their linkages to HIV/AIDS among Owambo men and women in Namibia, where an estimated one-fifth of 15–49 year-olds have acquired HIV. Thirteen open-ended interviews and three focus groups were conducted with 50 male and female participants aged 19–50 in rural and urban Namibia. Qualitative analysis revealed six central themes: the evolving meanings of masculinity, power dynamics between men and women, women as active agents, the tension between formal and informal education and HIV transmission, alcohol and masculinity, and the blending of masculinity and explanations of HIV and AIDS. The findings suggest both direct and indirect linkages between notions of masculinity and AIDS, and highlight the need for prevention efforts that focus on providing alternative avenues for attaining culturally recognized markers of masculinity.Brown, Matthew, 2005
“Adventurers, Foreign Women and Masculinity in the Colombian Wars of Independence.” Feminist Review, 79(1):36-51.
This paper examines changing conceptions of honor and masculinity during the Colombian Wars of Independence in the early 19th century. It explores the position of the foreign women who accompanied British and Irish expeditions to join the war against Spanish rule, and shows how colonial, imperial, and republican conceptions of masculinity were affected by the role that women played in these volunteer expeditions and in the wars in general. The paper considers women’s experiences during war and peace, and examines their experiences in the light of changing conceptions of masculinity at home, in the British empire and in Hispanic America in the early nineteenth century. The social mobility of the Wars of Independence shifted the ground on which these concepts rested for all groups involved. The participation of foreign women alongside male adventurers was a further ingredient in this disorientating period.Campbell, C., 1997
“Migrancy, Masculine Identities and AIDS: The Psychosocial Context of HIV Transmission on the South African Gold Mines.” Social Science and Medicine, 45(2):273-281.
Levels of HIV infection are particularly high amongst migrant workers in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents a case study of one such vulnerable group of migrants ― underground workers on the South African gold mines ― and highlights the psychosocial context of HIV transmission in the mining setting. On the assumption that social identities serve as an important influence on peoples’ sexual behavior, the study examines the way in which miners construct their social identities within the parameters of their particular living and working conditions. It also identifies some of the key narratives used by miners to make sense of their experience in the realms of health, ill-health, HIV, and sexuality. Masculinity emerged as a leading narrative in informants’ accounts of their working life, health, and sexuality, and the paper examines the way in which the construction of masculine identities renders miners particularly vulnerable to HIV. The implications of these findings for HIV educational interventions are discussed.Carter, Marion and Ilene S. Speizer, 2005
“Pregnancy Intentions among Salvadoran Fathers: Results from the 2003 National Male Reproductive Health Survey.” International Family Planning Perspectives, 31(4):179-182.
In El Salvador, fathers less commonly say that pregnancies are unintended than mothers do. However, men’s pregnancy intentions are not understood as well as women’s. Data from 425 fathers participating in the 2003 National Male Reproductive Health Survey of El Salvador were analyzed to examine their intentions in regard to partner’s pregnancies that had ended in a live birth in the last five years. They were asked whether they had been trying to avoid pregnancy at the time of conception, whether they had been trying to get their partner pregnant, how they felt about the pregnancy, and what they thought their partner’s pregnancy intentions had been. A quarter of the pregnancies had been unintended from the men’s perspective ― 13% had been mistimed, and 11% had been unwanted. Almost half of unintended pregnancies had been conceived when the father was trying to avoid pregnancy. However, 36% of men reporting an unintended pregnancy said they had been happy when they found out about it. For 20% of all pregnancies, men perceived that their partner’s pregnancy intentions differed from their own. Thus, family planning services in El Salvador need improvement, and services and outreach should target men. Men’s experiences with unintended pregnancies ― in particular, contraceptive failures and discordance within couples about pregnancy intentions ― are complex and merit further investigation.Carter, T., 2001
“Baseball Arguments: Aficionismo and Masculinity at the Core of Cubanidad.” International Journal of the History of Sport, 18(3):117-138.
Baseball has been the national sport of Cuba since it struggled for independence from Spain in the nineteenth century. The links between baseball and the nation provide Cubans with definitive ideals of masculinity displayed in their passion for the sport of baseball. Rather than focusing on baseball players as the embodiment of Cuban masculinity, however, this article examines one current group of baseball fans’ constructions of their own masculinity and Cubanness. Through their passions for their sport, fans forge social links on an individual basis and larger group identities, in this instance gender and national identities. Such constructions are based on individual articulateness, memory, and location, all of which are determined by a particular set of historical circumstances.Chant, Sylvia, 2000
“From ‘Woman-blind’ to ‘Man-kind’: Should Men Have More Space in Gender and Development?” IDS Bulletin, 31(2):7-17.
This article considers a series of conceptual, practical, and strategic reasons why gender and development policy and planning might benefit from incorporating men to a greater degree than has been the case thus far. The article is divided into three main sections. The first sketches some of the background to the emergence of interest in ‘men in GAD.’ The second outlines some of the main problems associated with the exclusion of men from gender planning at institutional and grassroots levels. The third identifies how a more active and overt incorporation of men as gendered and engendering beings in gender policy and planning has the potential of expanding the scope of gender and development interventions, and of furthering struggles to achieve greater and more sustained equality between men and women.― 2000
“Men in Crisis? Reflections on Masculinities, Work and Family in North-West Costa Rica.” The European Journal of Development Research, 12(2):199-218.
Based on interviews conducted with 80 low-income men in the province of Guanacaste, northwest Costa Rica, this paper explores men’s relationships with work and family. The discussion highlights the causes of an emergent ‘crisis of masculinity’ among men in the region, and its interconnections with employment, gender, and conjugal relationships. The main argument of the paper is that while the ‘family’ in Guanacaste has always been an unstable entity to some degree and a source of stress for women and children, this is presently becoming a problem for men as well, whose traditional bases of power and identity in family units are being undermined by changes in the labor market and legislative/policy initiatives in women’s interests. Men’s current ‘crisis’ in Guanacaste is strongly tied to their loss of power within families rather than the break-up of family units per se, and to the fact that decisions within and about households are increasingly being taken out of their own hands. The paper concludes with pointers to the need for social policy to assist in creating space for new familial masculinities and more egalitarian and cooperative relations between men and women.Chapman, Kris, 2004
“Ossu! Sporting Masculinities in a Japanese Karate Dojo.” Japan Forum, 16(2):315-335.
By taking the ethnographic example of a Tokyo karate dojo (training hall), this article explores the social construction of gendered identities in sporting contexts. Describing the masculine hegemony that prevails in the dojo and more generally in sporting environments both within and beyond Japan, the extent to which masculine ideals are embedded in sporting culture is acknowledged and problematized. The ‘naturalness’ of male physical superiority is not questioned through a physiological comparison of male and female sporting capabilities. Instead, it is suggested that masculine hegemony in sport is contingent rather than inherent, and the dialectic between hegemonic cultural constructions of masculinity and personal expressions of gendered performance forms the central analytical theme of this paper. Exploring the potential for the subversion of the traditional masculine hegemony through individual agency, the author suggests the possibility for types of involvement in sports which, rather than being gender-free, are non-gender-specific and thus equally open to participants whatever their sex.Charsley, Katherine, 2005
“Unhappy Husbands: Masculinity and Migration in Transnational Pakistani Marriages.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11(1):85-105.
This article, based on fieldwork in the Pakistani Punjab and with predominantly Punjabi families in Bristol, is concerned with the common practice of British Pakistanis marrying Pakistani nationals. Informants stress the risks that such marriages hold for women, but this research highlights the social, cultural, and economic difficulties faced by migrant husbands, comparing their position to that of the ghar damad (house son-in-law). Whilst women are instructed from a young age on the adjustments the move to their husband's household will entail, male migrants are often unprepared for this situation. A lack of local kin support can combine with the culturally unusual proximity of the wife’s family to restructure gendered household relations of power. Frustrations experienced by such men may help to explain instances where such marriages have ended in the husband's violence, desertion, or taking a second wife, but the model of the unhappy ghar damad is also significant in understanding the experiences of many other migrant men and their British wives.Chopra, Radhika, 2006
“Invisible Men: Masculinity, Sexuality, and Male Domestic Labor.” Men and Masculinities, 9(2):152-167.
This article addresses the issue of gendering the veil in the Middle East and North Africa and argues that veiling must expand beyond the primary focus on clothing and must be viewed as a system that frames bodily styles, speech forms, and the language of gestures. Veiling has feminine and masculine forms but evokes different things for men and women and is experienced in dual-gendered ways. The ethnography focuses on the lives of male domestic workers who are liminal and incomplete members of contemporary urban households to address the issue of the performance of maleness and male veiling practices by the partial members of social units such as households to argue that we must understand veiling as a way of undoing gender. The intersections of class, sexuality, and gender within interior spaces of domesticity reconfigure relations of gender. Work as a site within which masculinity, identity, and power are constituted enables us to view male veiling beyond the shame and honor discourse to address the bodies and dispositions of men who labor.Clark, Marshall, 2004
“Men, Masculinities and Symbolic Violence in Recent Indonesian Cinema.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 35(1):113-131.
This article investigates images of men and masculinities in post-New Order Indonesian popular culture, focusing on a recent and path-breaking Indonesian film, Kuldesak. The theoretical sociology of Pierre Bourdieu is utilized to suggest that if Indonesian women are to be assisted in their efforts to resist the gender inequality of Indonesia’s patriarchal gender regime, then the social gendering of men and masculinity must also be understood.Cleaver, Frances, 2000
“Analysing Gender Roles in Community Natural Resource Management: Negotiation, Life Courses and Social Inclusion.” IDS Bulletin, 31(2):60-67.
This article considers the absence of convincing analyses of gender roles in thinking about community-based natural resource management. It suggests that policies and approaches are inadequately gendered and particularly omit the relational nature of gender. Such approaches are further criticized for promoting women’s development to the neglect of men, for perpetuating normative generalizations about men and women, and for an excessive focus on public manifestations of gendered participation and decision making. This results in policies which overlook the changing and negotiated nature of gender roles, the intersection of productive and reproductive concerns in gendered decision making, and the costs to women and men of inclusion in and exclusion from public life. This article draws on examples of gendered decision-making and negotiation over the management of land, livestock, and water in Zimbabwe. It argues for a more sophisticated conceptualization of the roles of men and women which takes account of their capacities as individual agents as well as the different structural constraints operating on them. The article suggests areas where further analysis is urgently required.Connell, R.W., 2003
“Masculinities, Change and Conflict in Global Society: Thinking About the Future of Men’s Studies.” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 11(3):249-266.
Contemporary men’s studies arises from a history of debates about gender relations, men, and masculinities, yet represents a new departure based on social analysis of gender and close-focus empirical work. This approach is now becoming world-wide, and has found important practical applications in areas such as education and health. Problems are increasingly recognized in the field, including dilemmas of research method and debates about ways of theorizing masculinities. New approaches emphasize discursive and situational analysis and demand a clearer recognition of global forces. Gender relations have a global dimension that shapes contemporary masculinities, for instance emerging patterns of business masculinity. The connection between violence and masculinity is a key contemporary issue. Recent research shows both institutional bases and situational triggers of gendered violence, which are important in understanding contemporary global conflict and developing strategies for peace.Conway-Long, Don, 2002
“Sexism and Rape Culture in Moroccan Social Discourse.” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 10(3):361-371.
In March 1993, Hajj Mustapha Tabit was arrested in Morocco for abusing his power as a police commissioner by abducting and sexually assaulting hundreds of women over a period of 13 years. The reaction in the local Moroccan press is examined here, demonstrating a structure of discourse that blamed female victims, elevated the male offender to a kind of cult status, and generally contributed to the perpetuation of a sexist subjectivity in a nation that was only beginning to deal with crimes against women in any organized manner. The specifics of the case study are placed in the general context of women’s struggle for emancipation in Morocco.Cornwall, Andrea, 2000
“Missing Men? Reflections on Men, Masculinities and Gender in GAD.” IDS Bulletin, 31(2):18-27.
This article explores the implications of missing men for gender and development. Men, in all their diversity, are largely missing from representations of ‘gender issues’ and ‘gender relations’ in GAD. Mainstream development purveys its own set of stereotypical images of men, serving equally to miss the variety of men who occupy other, more marginal, positions in households and communities. Men remain residual and are often missing from institutionalized efforts to tackle gender inequity. Portrayed and engaged with only in relation to women, men are presumed to be powerful and are represented as problematic obstacles to equitable development. Men’s experiences of powerlessness remain outside the frame of GAD, so threatening is the idea of marginal man. Amidst widespread agreement that changing men, as well as women, is crucial if GAD is to make a difference, new strategies are needed. This article suggests that rather than simply ‘bringing men in,’ the issues raised by reflecting on men, masculinities, and gender in GAD require a more radical questioning of the analytical categories used in GAD, and a revised politics of engagement.― 1997
“Men, Masculinity and Gender in Development.” Gender and Development, 5(2):8-13.
This article focuses on the implications of recent work in feminist theory, and on questions of masculinity, stressing the need to take account of the complex and variable nature of gender identities, and to work with men on exploring the constraints of dominant models of masculinity.Derné, Steve, 2002
“Globalization and the Reconstitution of Local Gender Arrangements.” Men and Masculinities, 5(2):144-164.
This article explores how globalization shapes the construction of masculinity among nationalist Indian men, filmgoing men in India, and diasporic Indian men in Fiji. These men are often attracted to transnational media depictions of male violence as the basis of male identity. But bureaucratic transnational forms and transnational media celebrations of cosmopolitan lifestyles also engender anxieties about national identity. Men often handle these anxieties by rooting their own national identity in women’s acceptance of food habits, clothing, and gender subordination that men regard as traditional. Although partcipation in bureaucratic economies is an important source of men’s anxieties about globalization, men address these anxieties in the realm of interpersonal gender relations over which they have some control.Doss, D.B. and J.R. Hopkins, 1998
“The Multicultural Masculinity Ideology Scale: Validation from Three Cultural Perspectives.” Sex Roles, 38(9-10):719-741.
The Multicultural Masculinity Ideology Scale (MMIS) measures an individual’s adaptation and internalization of a culture’s norms about how men should act. This study extends previous research on masculinity ideology by generating a scale representing multiple cultural perspectives using 190 Chilean, 283 Anglo-American, and 296 African-American undergraduates. Two components consistent across cultures emerged: Hypermasculine Posturing and Achievement. In addition, there were culturally-specific components: Toughness, Pose, and Responsibility among Chileans; Sensitivity among Anglo-Americans; and Sexual Responsibility among African-Americans. Results indicate that the MMIS can be useful for examining a variety of research questions relating to culture and masculinity.Downes, Aviston, 2005
“From Boys to Men: Colonial Education, Cricket and Masculinity in the Caribbean, 1870-c.1920.” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 22(1):3-21.
This article contends that elite middle-class schools established in the Caribbean from the latter half of the nineteenth century played a central role in masculine identity formation in the region. Like the English public schools after which they were modelled, sport, especially cricket, reinforced by popular juvenile literature and paramilitarism was at the core of the creation of this masculine identity. Boys were taught that the sports field and the battlefield were arenas for proving their manhood. Although the elite schools catered primarily to the white elite and a selected few from the non-white middle class, the masculine games ethos assumed a hegemony across Caribbean societies. Black men in the Caribbean, like their white counterparts at home and across the empire, enthusiastically embraced the sporting codes and enlisted to defend imperial interests in the First World War. Racial discrimination, however, fragmented any notion of a common British transatlantic manhood. The emergence of ‘bodyline’ bowling in West Indian cricket from the 1920s reflected a challenge to entrenched notions of white colonial and imperial masculinities.Duncan, J.S., 2000
“The Struggle to be Temperate: Climate and ‘Moral Masculinity’ in Mid-Nineteenth Century Ceylon.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 21(1):34-37.
This paper examines a particular type of imperial literature, the writing of the plantation in mid-nineteenth century Ceylon. These writings, by and for the male planting community, were written to recruit, instruct, and entertain, and drew upon discourses of tropicality and moral masculinity. But discourses are constrained by the material conditions under which they are put into practice. Consequently, writings about a place such as highland Ceylon recognised the divergence of this place from the archetypal tropics. Accounts, nevertheless, remained within the conceptual grid that Livingstone has termed the “morality of climate.” These texts were also pervaded by the discourse of moral masculinity. More particularly, the narrative structure of these writings was inflected by the masculinist adventure novel, which was cross-cut by concerns of race, class, religion, and nationality. The tropical highlands were represented as an adversary that presented a moral test of the planters’ manhood, race, and class.Duwury, Nata and Madhabika B. Nayak, 2003
“The Role of Men in Addressing Domestic Violence: Insights From India.” Development, 46(2):45-50.
The authors outline a broad framework for understanding domestic violence and masculinity based on emerging data from an ongoing multi-site project in India. They highlight the links between norms and practices of masculinity and violence and the affects of socio-cultural, political, and economic processes.Ehrenreich, Nancy, 2004
“Disguising Empire: Racialized Masculinity and the ‘Civilizing’ of Iraq.” Cleveland State Law Review, 52:131-138.
The author explores the gender-based messages conveyed by current popular discourse on the recent American invasion of Iraq. The author argues that this discourse on war and terrorism enacts and reinforces an image of masculinity as nationalistic, racially aggressive, homophobic, and sexist. Yet this discourse also disguises these negative attributes by presenting masculinity as principled, civilizing, and beneficient. Media coverage in particular has expressed and reinforced this construction of masculinity, disguising American imperialism as noble expressions of manly, civilizing power.Elliston, Deborah, 2004
“A Passion for the Nation: Masculinity, Modernity, and Nationalist Struggle.” American Ethnologist, 31(4):606-630.
In the mid-1990s, young Polynesian men emerged at the frontlines of pro-independence sentiment and mobilization in the Society Islands of France’s overseas territory, French Polynesia. In this article, the author asks why. In purusing that question, she argues for the theoretical and empirical productivity of shifting the associations between masculinity and nationalist struggle out of the realm of common sense and into that of the sociological; that is, of moving away from the analytics of gender foundationalism and into interrogations of the very social processes through which gender differences, masculinities more specifically, are produced. Through ethnographic analysis of gendered labor practices and their mediation by and through households, the author tracks how young men’s positioning within most local arenas of social action shaped their engagements with competing local formulations of ‘tradition,’ ‘modernity,’ and, through those engagements, their commitments to large-scale nationalist struggle.Engle, Patrice L., 1997
“The Role of Men in Families: Achieving Gender Equity and Supporting Children.” Gender and Development, 5(2):31-40.
This article surveys the role of fathers in development initiatives designed to increase the wellbeing of wives and children. The author argues that while much of the development literature and projects stress the importance of women in the lives of children, more effective interventions need to recognize the unique roles of men in families.Epprecht, Marc, 2005
“Black Skin, ‘Cowboy Masculinity’: A Genealogy of Homophobia in the African Nationalist Movement in Zimbabwe to 1983.” Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7(3):253-266.
This paper examines the intellectual and social origins of racialist homophobia in contemporary Zimbabwean political discourse, exemplified by President Robert Mugabe’s anti-homosexual speeches since the mid-1990s. It challenges the notions that such homophobia is either essential to African patriarchy or simple political opportunism. Tracing overt expressions of intolerance towards male-male sexuality back to the colonial period, it focuses on ways in which notions of appropriate, respectable, exclusive heterosexuality within the ‘cowboy’ culture of white Southern Rhodesia trickled into, or were interpreted in, the African nationalist movement. It concludes that understanding this history could improve efforts to address concerns around sexual health in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in the region, particularly silences around same-sex sexuality in HIV/AIDS education and prevention.― 2002
“Male-Male Sexuality in Lesotho: Two Conversations.” The Journal of Men’s Studies, 10(3):373-389.
Lesotho has an assertively heteronormative and ‘macho’ culture. Indeed, Basotho men have long possessed a reputation in southern Africa for being among the fiercest gangsters, toughest workers, and most incorrigible womanizers of all the African peoples of the region. In 1907 an official enquiry into ‘unnatural vice’ at the South African mines exonerated the Basotho of homosexual behavi