2. Masculinity

3. Task
On the handout provided
write down 5
characteristics / traits that
belong to the „typical‟ male

4. This all changed
•The Second Wave of feminism
•Women became increasingly
empowered as legal reforms such
as:
The Equal Pay Act (1970) and The
Sexual Discrimination Act (1975)
can into force

5. The death of the industrial male
In the 1970s and 1980s a lot of Britain‟s heavy industries were dismantled as the country
moved towards a more computer driven, service based economy where traditional male
roles were taken away and replaced by jobs that could be undertaken by women.

6. Aids: the queering of the mainstream
AIDSraised the gay profile; suddenly
you couldn‟t ignore the existence of the
homosexual male.
The financial muscle of the pink pound.
The queering of the mainstream
brought eroticised images of the male
body into fashion and advertising

7. The feminised male
Wears nice clothes
Keeps himself
(or skirts in
groomed
Beckhams case)

8. Confused Masculinity
The emasculation of traditional male identity has led to a „crisis of masculinity‟.
Men were no longer certain of what their role in society was.

9. An American poet,
author, activist and
Robert Bly leader of the
mythopoetic men's
movement, most famous
for his Iron John: A Book
About Men (1990)

10. Today's men as half
adults, trapped
somewhere
between childhood
and maturity The decline of the father's
role in the modern family
Men raised by women
A deeply troubled situation in which
most men find themselves in
western societies today
Men are an "experimental Older men would
species" and have to be taught teach young boys on
what it is to be a man these gender-specific
issues.
Rites of passage

11. Confused masculinity in FC
Both the author, Palahniuk and the director have said that the story of Fight Club reflects and
explores real men‟s lives today.
Palahniuk said he wrote his book „in public‟ by talking to real men in diners, bars, coffee shops and
their work places.
Fincher said that the unnamed narrator is “an everyman. Every young man”

12. FC and collective identity
FC and collective identity
3 principle examples of the
modern man‟s confusion over
masculine roles and what being a
„man‟ actually means:

13. First example: the life of the narrator pre- Fight
Club
Based on an illusion of materialist accumulation and career hierarchy,
The pursuits of these false goals = no male friends, no sexual partner in the „nest‟
apartment, no physically demanding work or action-based solution to problems. No libido:
“we used to read pornography; now we read the IKEA catalogue”.
Sees himself through his meaningless possessions
“a refrigerator full of designer condiments and no food”.
He is emasculated by pursuit of consumerism

14. Second example: The „Remaining Men Together: testicular
cancer group
This group is compromised of men who have
attempted to conform to traditional roles, but who
have failed. They have been emasculated by
castration
First speaker- talks of ambition to be a father, a
goal he will never achieve; the ultimate insult is
that wife has abandoned him and procreated with
another man.
Bob- pathetic and grotesquely breasted. His
attempt to attain a traditional male image, the
Muscle Man has resulted in the exact opposite
and becoming feminised

15. Third example: the group of men in Fight Club
Supposed to be the „solution‟ to the problems of confused masculinity. But it eventually
turns into another form of the same confusion: the neo-fascist-anarchist „Project
Mayhem‟. This form of „male fundamentalism‟ is, ultimately as empty as the other male
roles it reacts against.

16. Other examples:
23” Vibrating bag on plan – The Dildo NOT your Dildo
25” Possessions being burned – first signs of destroying the female
31” Cinema pornography – destroying it
43” Gucci MAN
58” Using women's fat and „boys scout‟

17. List all MALE CHARACTERS
List their MALE characteristics and their FEMALE
characteristics
Are they a ‘NEW MAN’ or a ‘REAL MAN’?