Masculinities class given as part of the Sociology of Gender Relations BA class, University of Glasgow

1. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Masculinities
Dr Matt Maycock
Settings and Organisations Team, MRC/CSO Social and Public
Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
2nd March 2016
‘Sociology of Gender Relations’ - SOCIO4092

2. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Session overview
Aims of class
• To recognise and distinguish conceptual models of
masculinities
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this class students will be able to:
• Think about and understand what masculinites are
• Identify multiple theoretical perspectives on masculinity
• Understand what considering masculinities can contribute to
understandings of gender relations

3. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
What are or is masculinity?

4. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Some views on masculinity

5. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
What theories can help us understand
masculinity?
1) Hegemonic Masculinity, Raewyn Connell
(2005)

6. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.

7. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Hegemonic Masculinity
• “hegemonic masculinity” - a form of masculinity that is
dominant in society, establishes the cultural ideal for what
it is to be a man, silences other masculinities, and
combats alternative visions of masculinity.
• Hegemonic masculinity’ is a concept that draws upon the
ideas of Gramsci. It refers to the dynamic cultural process
which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant
position of men and the subordination of women.
• hegemonic masculinity - rejection of the idea that all men
are the same

8. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Hegemonic Masculinity Cont…
• a change from the concept of masculinity to the concept
of masculinities
• allows meaningful distinction between different
collective constructions of masculinity and identification
of power inequalities among these constructions.
Masculinities:
• Are actively constructed (not biologically determined)
• Are dynamic- change over time
• Have negative impacts- be tough don’t cry, can lead to
disengagement, health problems, aggression, overwork and
lack of emotional responsiveness.

9. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Criticisms (V. Seidler)
• Leaves gender roles, and in particular patriarchy unchallenged
• Leaves out personal and emotional perspectives- emotional
lives of men ignored.
• “There is a danger of creating a fixed category of ‘abusing men,’
rather than learning how pregnancy invokes unresolved
emotional feelings in men”
• Is often applied to research quite uncritically

10. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
What theories can help us understand
masculinity?
2) Inclusive Masculinity, Eric Anderson (2009)

11. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Inclusive Masculinity, Eric Anderson (2009)

12. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
• Eric Anderson’s theory of Inclusive Masculinity describes
changes in the ways some men conceive of and enact their
masculinity. Employing ethnographic methods and “social-
feminist thinking” (14)
• Inclusive masculinity, like hegemonic masculinity, frames
gender (partially) in terms of power relations. However, it
suggests a shift toward a more egalitarian conception of
masculinity and a less rigidly vertical notion of hierarchy
• Anderson claims that “university-attending men are rapidly
running from the hegemonic type of masculinity that scholars
have been describing for the past 25 years” (4).
Inclusive Masculinity (2009)

13. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
• Connell’s definition of “hegemonic masculinity”—emerges
as insufficient for describing “the complexity of what
occurs as cultural homohysteria diminishes.” To rectify
this shortfall, Anderson proposes “inclusive masculinity
theory,” his own “new social theory” (7).
• homohysteria “describes the fear of being
homosexualized,”
• diminishing “homohysteria,” which Anderson defines as
combining “a culture of homophobia, femphobia, and
compulsory heterosexuality” (7).
Inclusive Masculinity

14. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Criticisms (de Boise, 2014)
• Misread hegemonic masculinity to be a type of person as opposed
to a web or matrix of configuration
• Assumes that hegemonic masculinity is inflexible and doesn’t adapt
to periods of low homohysteria
• Assumes a singular dominant ideal, but Connell uses a
multidimensional understanding of gender
• Claims of a ‘decline’ homophobia and homohysteria are questioned;
can levels of prejudice be objectively established; are acts like
same-sex kissing indicative of attitudes, is homophobia is really as
insignificant as inclusive masculinity claims.

15. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
‘Ethnographic turn’ in masculinity studies
“…men do masculinity according to the social situation in which they find
themselves.” (Messerschmidt, 1993, 84)
In Masculinities (1995, 2005), Raewyn Connell talks about a ethnographic turn
in masculinity studies, what does she mean by this?
Ethnographic studies of masculinity tend to:
• Assume masculinities are multiple (both locally and globally).
• Unpack the ways in which masculinities are socially and culturally constructed and performed.
• Examine how masculinities impact on each other.
• Examine the ways in which masculinity is constructed in relation to subordinate women and
femininities.
• Be ‘micro’ level in focus.
• Undertaken in both urban and rural contexts.
• Consider ‘positive’ masculinities and subvert the idea of men as a [or the] problem.

16. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Ethnographic studies of masculinity have:
• Illustrated the cross-cultural variance in performances and modes of masculinity.
• Proven that there is no single masculinity.
• Showed that masculinities can and do change.
This was important in overcoming the tendency in the mass media and popular culture to treat ‘men’ as a
homogenous group ‘masculinity’ as a fixed, ahistorical entity.
• Identified the importance of intersectionality of gender with class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age
etc…
• Consolidated men and masculinities as a world-wide field of knowledge.
• A significant amount of the research at the beginnings of this turn focused on discourses
of hegemonic and subordinate masculinities (following Connell).
• More recently a number of studies have focused more on intricate studies of social
practice, with a focus on ambiguity and context specific performances of masculinity.
• Collections of micro-research and applied studies of masculinity exist for practically
every continent or culture-area.
Consequences of the ‘Ethnographic Turn’ in
Masculinity Studies

17. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Until relatively recently masculinity has not received significant explicit attention,
despite the gender ‘awareness’ of the NGO and academic sectors. For example,
in South Asia:
“For a long time, South Asian men have been treated as universally
given, ungendered objects and have rarely been examined as
gendered.” (Sharma, 2007a: 33)
There is an unresolved tension between [western] theories of masculinity and
performances of masculinity in other [non] western contexts.
I am still unclear of the utility of of hegemonic masculinity within ethnographic
research on masculinity.
How has this shaped my research?

18. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Prison masculinities in Scotland
(post-doc)

19. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Prison masculinities

20. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Can FFIT be adapted to attract men to positive lifestyle change in a
prison?
Football Fans in Training (FFIT) has helped overweight and obese men
lose weight, improve diet, and increase physical activity (Hunt et al,
The Lancet, 2014)

21. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Methods
Prison A
Delivered to 18 prisoners by prison
Physical Education Instructors (PEIs)
Data collection
Observations of all 15 sessions
Interviews with participants who
completed programme (n=9)
Interviews with participants who did
not complete (n=3)
Focus group with PEIs (n = 1)
Delivered to 21 prisoners by
community coaches from a
professional football club
Data collection
Observations of all 12 sessions
Interviews with participants who
completed programme (n=9)
Interviews with PEIs and staff
(n=3)
Prison B

22. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Prison masculinities
In (largely male) prisons environments, there are performances of masculinity that
are structured in hierarchical ways in reference to both orthodox/hegemonic' and
'inclusive' masculinities
Orthodox/ hegemonic
masculinity
" inclusive form of
masculinity based on social
equality for gay men,
respect for women, and
racial parity and one in
which... men bond over
emotional intimacy"
(Anderson, 2008, 604)
"masculine performance
labelled as orthodox attempts
to approximate the hegemonic
form of masculinity, largely by
devaluing women and gay
men." (Anderson, 2005, 338)
(Bourdieu, 1998) (Connell,
1995)
Inclusive
masculinity

23. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Prison is an ultramasculine world where
nobody talks about masculinity. (Sabo et
al 2001, 3)
…a hegemonically defined hypermasculine
and heteronormative environment with an
abundance of alpha males, sexism, and
violence. (Jenness and Fenstermaker,
2013, 13)
…prison facilities are a
particular kind of institutional
setting, one that actively resists
the diversity of masculine
practices and identities.
(Curtis, 2014, 121)
…places of great humour and
playfulness, of friendship and
camaraderie, of educational
enlightenment, of successful
therapeutic intervention. (Jewkes,
2013, 14).
in their mutual support and
encouragement, it was also possible
to discern sublimated forms of
intimacy. Certainly, the vivid and
joyful ways in which prisoners
engaged in collective exercise, and
the sheer amount of physical
horseplay among younger prisoners,
pointed to submerged emotional
sentiments. (Crewe et al, 2013, 11)
Orthodox/ hegemonic
prison masculinities
Inclusive
Prison masculinities

24. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Orthodox masculinities in the context of the
Fit for Life programme
I can understand aboot guys being
apprehensive an’ that, ken I think
when, especially wi’ everybody else
in the hall, ken, an’ you’re goin’ and
they’re goin’ “aye, goin’ tae fat
club,” an’ a’ this carry on, ken whit I
mean? So I could imagine people
being apprehensive aboot it, eh.
(Prison A - P2)
I was hammering everybody fae
the word go. I'm the sort o' person,
see once I get up there I don't like
anybody beating me, you know?
Determined an' that, you know?
(Prison B - P11)
Ken what I mean? I’ll par—ken, I’ll... I’ll
take—I’ll partake in anythin’ eh? And as I
say when, ken when I got there I was
like that, ‘right, fair enough.’ I mean
you’re only putting your view forward. I
mean we’re in a hostile situation
here, eh? And people dinnae want
tae speak forward in case the boy,
“he’s a fucking idiot,” excuse my
French. (Prison A - P11)

25. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Inclusive masculinity within the context
of the Fit for Life programme
I think it was a part of—it was
being a part of a group. On the
outside I’m a lone person. I’m no’
part of any group. So see learning in
a group, and interacting wi’
people, and speaking to people
in the group that kept me
motivated as well. (Prison A - P11)
it was important for me tae, for me tae
do my thing and for me tae tell people
that they was doing good at their
thing, and encouraging them and
pushing them and stuff like that.
(Prison A - P3)
Well you’re having a laugh wi’
people and it’s like yous are losing a
wee bit o’ weight an’ you’re kinda
like, it’s just you’re no’ coming an’
you’re no’ like if you’re coming tae
the gym, it’s like you’re no’ the
fattest person in the gym. So
you’re here and yous are all
kinda fat, yous are all here for
the same reason. (Prison B - P3)

26. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Embodied masculinity - The gym,
muscularity and weight
You’ve gottae get big, aye, you’ve
got a group, your group o’ guys,
that’s what they’re intae, their
bodybuilding an’ they’re strength
things like that. (Prison A - P8)
You want everybody tae go intae a
prison an' they all want tae dae the
weights, they a’ want tae get big
an' strong. That's what they all want
tae dae. (Prison B P11)
I actually get people that go like
that, “oh how long did it take you to
get that [large] size?” And this is the
first time I’ve ever trained in my life!
Know what I mean? And I’ve just
worked hard at it, and worked hard,
and I explain that to guys. I just,
know what I mean? Guys were all
wanting to get like me, and like
as big as me kinda thing. (Prison
B-P1)

27. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Changes to bodies and appearance
I think people in general do take a
lot more care of themselves
nowadays and it happens more in
prison. So you're not
automatically in inverted
commas 'a poof' if you use face
cream and keep yourself clean
and... yeah. (Prison A - P4)
When I lost weight I kind o'... I
like tae keep my strength up an’ I
felt as if when I was losing my
weight that I was losing my
strength as well, that my strength
was falling away. (Prison B - P11)
Some people don't care aboot
themselves 'cause they're in the jail,
they've hit rock bottom. (Prison A
- P7)

28. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Orthodox to Inclusive masculinity -
Group dynamics
I think it was a part of—it was being
a part of a group. On the outside I’m
a lone person. I’m no’ part of any
group. So see learning in a group,
and interacting wi’ people, and
speaking to people in the group that
kept me motivated as well. I mean I
enjoyed the group. It’s one of
the biggest things I’ll take away
fae it has been involved in the
group. (Prison A - P11)
...you dinnae want tae be yourself,
‘cause you just single yoursel’ oot, ken
whit I mean? As I say you can put
yourself the gither as a team an’ you
take it on as a team, ken whit I
mean? An’ you support each other
through it. (Prison A - P2)
Yeah, there was two lads in
particular that were like really
taking the piss an’ I didn’t enjoy
that bit. No-one had control over
them. D’you know what I mean?
But other than that everything went
really, really well. (Prison B - P5)

29. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Fit for Life - Conclusions
• Masculinity has shaped the planning and the experience of engagement in the
Fit for Life programme.
• An approach to men's health similar to that taken by Football Fans in Training
(FFIT) has the potential to be successfully adapted for secure settings.
• A gender and context sensitised health promotion intervention has the potential
to facilitate engagement with a cohort of hard to reach and disadvantaged men
in a secure setting.
• Performances of both hegemonic/orthodox and inclusive forms of masculinity
were evident amongst men who took part in the Fit for Life programme.
• Programmes such as Fit for Life have the potential to enhance more inclusive
forms of masculinity.
• There are many, often contradictory implications for masculinities in taking part
in programmes to enhance health and wellbeing.

30. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
Questions for discussion
• What are the main differences between Anderson and Connell’s theories of
masculinity?
• What is the hegemonic masculine position in your community/area/life?
• Who occupies the hegemonic masculine position at Glasgow University?
• How are masculinities changing within the University context?
• Do inclusive masculinities exist at Glasgow University, if so in what forms?

31. MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow.
matthew.maycock@glasgow.ac.uk
www.matthewmaycock.com
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