IntroductionPerforming Straight White Masculinities is a pluridisciplinary research project funded by the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France.
Bringing together historians, cultural theorists, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, specialists of literature and the visual arts, the focus of this research project are the performances of heterosexual white masculinities in English-speaking countries. |
AimsThere is much high quality research published in the field of Masculinity Studies today, and yet much of this work remains firmly indebted to the theories of feminism and Gender Studies. For these reasons we can talk of a 'first generation' of Masculinity Studies, both from an epistemological and methodological perspective. The main contribution of this first generation of critical theory is that masculinity is an historical, cultural and social construction – rather than cast in its traditional monolithic mould, masculinity is understood as varied, inscribed in diverse historical and cultural contexts. |
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Over the past thirty years a first generation of men’s studies has offered a discussion of gender trying to uncover what Michael Kimmel has called “invisible,” or “genderless,” masculinity, and study men “as men.” Within this time period, the notion of ‘hegemonic masculinity’, as defined by R.W. Connell, has dominated conversations within the field of men’s studies. First understood as a unified normative practice guaranteeing men’s domination over women, hegemonic masculinity is now defined as “a hybrid bloc that unites practices from diverse masculinities” (Demetrakis Z. Demetriou) and also ensures domination over subordinated masculinities.