Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Hair: A Discussion Of Performative American Masculinities, Adam Lee

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The presence of male facial and body hair is not a fad that has simply come to forefront of men’s grooming standards in a few short years. Dating back to the beginnings of America hair has been cut,shaved, and plucked off the bodies of men. Hair has had the ability to connote power and presence, or poverty and homelessness. No matter the social, political, or economic status of the male, his identity can (and has) been expressed through hair. In “Hair: An Analysis of Masculine Aesthetics”, I examine the history of the performance of masculinity and the grooming standards that …

"So, Are We Good?" The Emerging Sensitive New Man Movement In The Boys' Club Of Stand-Up Comedy, Stephen Kohlmann

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the emerging new man comedic persona in contemporary stand-up comedy. The new man comedian eschews the hypermasculine and heteronormative traits that were common among male stand-up comedians during the boom era (1980s-1990s). The new trend of a feminized and feminist comedic persona will be analyzed through case studies of two comedians: Louis C.K. and Marc Maron. Their comedic personae transcend their on-stage comedic routines and are augmented through transmedia texts. In the case of Louis C.K., he challenges the audience's perception of his persona through his semi-autobiographical and sometimes surrealistic television series, Louie. Maron's comedic persona is …

Negotiating Masculinity: How Infertility Impacts Hegemonic Masculinity, Myscha Burton

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Between Men: A First-Person Documentary Video, Thomas C. Prutisto

Masters Theses

ABSTRACT

BETWEEN

MEN:

A

FIRST

PERSON

DOCUMENTARY

VIDEO

May

2014

THOMAS

C.

PRUTISTO,

B.S.,

ROCHESTER

INSTITUTE

OF

TECHNOLOGY

Directed

by:

Professor

Susan

E.

Jahoda

Masculine Status, Sexual Performance, And The Sexual Stigmatization Of Women, Brian N. Sweeney

Faculty of Sociology/Anthropology Publications

Collegiate hookup culture advances ideas of masculinity but contradicts notions of appropriate feminine sexuality. Drawing on focus group and interview data with college students, I examine how a group of class- and race-privileged fraternity men face dilemmas as they enact a group constructed masculinity focused on sexual performance and the objectification of women. I employ a symbolic interactionist framework to illustrate how men, attentive to peer status yet anxious about the sexual stigmatization of women, draw on cultural ideas about appropriate feminine sexuality as they account for their approaches to sex and women (both with whom they interact sexually and …

How Sexism Makes The Man: Examining The Relationship Between Masculinity, Ambivalent Sexism, And Gender Stereotyping, Mariah L. Wilkerson

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Masculinity is a precarious social status, meaning it can be lost through social and gender transgressions (Bosson & Vandello, 2011). Men often act in stereotypically masculine ways to reassert their masculinity and restore their social status after it has been threatened. The current study also examines masculinity in a new way, as a collective gender identity (e.g., Tajfel, 1982). I hypothesized that threatened men and men who identify as more masculine will display masculinity through more polarized attitudes towards traditional and nontraditional groups of men and women, endorsing traditional gender stereotypes, and intensified ambivalently sexist attitudes. Two empirical studies tested …

Beyond Bad Behaving Brothers: Productive Performances Of Masculinities Among College Fraternity Men, Frank Harris Iii, Ed.D., Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Research on fraternity men focuses almost exclusively on problematic behaviors such as homophobia and sexism, alcohol abuse, violence against women, sexual promiscuity, and the overrepresentation of members among campus judicial offenders. Consequently, little is known about those who perform masculinities in healthy and productive ways. Presented in this article are findings from a qualitative study of productive masculinities and behaviors among 50 undergraduate fraternity men from 44 chapters across the U.S. and Canada. Findings offer insights into participants’ steadfast commitments to the fraternity’s espoused values; their acceptance and appreciation of members from a range of diverse backgrounds; strategies they employed …

Femininity, Masculinity, Gender, And The Role Of Shame On Christian Men And Women In The Evangelical Church Culture, Joy L. Hottenstein

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Previous research has suggested that individuals (men and women) who endorse more feminine characteristics according to Bem’s Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) are more prone to shame. There have been no known studies conducted to determine if this link also exists within the Evangelical Christian church. Shame, across the research literature, is linked to psychological maladjustment and is defined as a sense that one’s core self is defective and comes up short on expectations. The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between gender, gender role, and shame for men and women who are active in the Evangelical church …

Take Off Your Masc: The Hegemonic Gay Male's Gender Performance On Grindr, Duncan Shuckerow

Cultural Studies Capstone Papers

The hegemonic Grindr clone is a gay male Grindr user who enforces the privileging of traditional masculine gender performance and condemns effeminacy. Through this project’s own field work along with the website “douchebagsofgrindr,” the hegemonic Grindr clone is here within analyzed. Drawing upon the theory ofhegemony articulated by Gramsci, a historical analysis of the 1970s urban gay male clone, and contemporary analysis and research, the project argues that the hegemonic Grindr clones, while only a minority group of Grindr users, rules over the cyberspace as sexual gatekeepers. Hegemonic Grindr clones maintain their privileged status on the application through depicting and …

Party Animals Or Responsible Men: Social Class, Race, And Masculinity On Campus, Brian N. Sweeney

Faculty of Sociology/Anthropology Publications

Studies of collegiate party and hookup culture tend to overlook variation along social class and racial/ethnic lines. Drawing on interview data at a “party school” in the Midwest, I examine the meanings and practices of drinking and casual sex for a group of class and race-diverse fraternity men. While more privileged men draw on ideas of age and gender to construct college as a time to let loose, indulge, and explore, men from disadvantaged backgrounds express greater ambivalence toward partying. For these men, partying presents both opportunities and dilemmas and taps into tensions inherent in being upwardly mobile college men. …

Exploring Customer Contexts: How A Communitarian Business Model Enables Meaningful Customer Relationships, Deirdre Duffy

Conference papers

Broadly this study explores the individual’s constructions of identity as situated within historically and locally particular cultural practices. Following this approach facilitates a better understanding of how consumers negotiate the world around them. In turn this provides marketers with valuable insights that better equip them to engage with their customers. The subject matter is the male consumer engaging in bodywork practices to construct a desired body type. The subjects are situated within two discursive regimes: practices of self-presentation and national sport. Moreover, looking across these contexts reveals situational differences that contribute further to managerial decision-making, helping build stronger customer relationships.

In Search Of Progressive Black Masculinities: Critical Self-Reflections On Gender Identity Development Among Black Undergraduate Men, Keon M. Mcguire, Ph.D., Jonathan Berhanu, Charles H.F. Davis Iii, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

During the last several decades, research concerning the developmental trajectories, experiences, and behaviors of college men as ‘‘gendered’’ persons has emerged. In this article, we first critically review literature on Black men’s gender development and expressions within college contexts to highlight certain knowledge gaps. We then conceptualize and discuss progressive Black masculinities by relying on Mutua’s germinal work on the subject. Further, we engage Black feminist scholarship, both to firmly situate our more pressing argument for conceptual innovation and to address knowledge gaps in the literature on Black men’s gender experiences. It is our belief that scholars who study gender …

Doing Gender On Stage: Karaoke And Gender Presentation, Andrew Bisenius

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article investigates how karaoke participants “do gender”. An ethnographic analysis of a karaoke bar in the Northwestern U.S. demonstrates how individuals routinely accomplish gender presentation. Previous research has indicated that karaoke’s simulated character can provide a conduit for personal growth and interpersonal empathy. Each karaoke performance allows for several dimensions of gender presentation/identification (e.g. song choice, performance attitude, and clothing). In addition, audience participation and their reaction to the performer is observed to gauge the accountability of each performance. My findings indicate that men are more likely than are women to perform ironically, establishing that masculinity is reinforced by …

Gender Performance In Womens' Mixed Martial Arts, Linda Tompkins, Michael Ian Borer

McNair Poster Presentations

Academic research has typically focused on men who practice Mixed Martial Arts and their expression of hyper-masculinity. There is a lack of comparative work which examines women who practice MMA as a sport. This article aims to address this oversight by exploring the meaning and importance of the sports for women. The main focus is to explore how women navigate and “perform gender” in the patriarchal subculture of MMA. Drawing on a “grounded theory” approach, semi-structured interviews, content analysis, and participant observation, I developed a preliminary model of female Mixed Martial Artist. I examine three female fighter “types” (“Feminine inclined …

The Australian Football League And The Closet, Andrew Douglas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines the complete absence of openly gay males from the ranksof the professional players in the Australian Football League (AFL). It seeks to explain this absence in the context of the modern gay rights movement. incontemporary Australian society. It compares and contrasts the effects of thismovement on both the AFL and other mainstream Australian social institutions.

Over more than four decades, the gay rights movement has effected a number of social changes. These changes include both specific legal reforms and more general trends such as the increasing social visibility of gay men across a range of mainstream institutions …