Destabilising Masculinism
Men’s Friendships and Social Change
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Beschreibung
This book explores how two generations of relatively privileged Australian men have navigated the complex terrain of same-gender friendship across their lives, to offer both empirically unique and theoretically significant insights into the mechanics of social change in masculinities. Applying a feminist poststructuralist lens to data from in-depth interviews with 14 pairs of fathers and sons, it details how masculinist discourses of emotion and intimacy have governed the participants’ friendship practices at three chronological timepoints: fathers’ early lives and later lives, and sons’ early lives. A clear but complicated shift emerges, such that the commitment to stoicism and self-reliance dominant in the fathers’ early lives has given way to a growing embrace of intimacy and emotional expression within their and their son's contemporary same-gender friendships. Engaging with key debates in the field of critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM), this book offers an alternative to the conceptualisation of this positive change as either representative of a holistic disintegration of hegemonic structures, or a superficial behavioural shift that is largely inconsequential to the gender order. Rather, it illustrates that the increasing influence of feminist, queer-inclusion and therapeutic discourse has destabilised masculinism in the context of men’s friendships, offering men an alternative subject position that allows care, expressiveness and intimacy. This book will be of interest to scholars in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Masculinity Studies.
This book explores how two generations of relatively privileged Australian men have navigated the complex terrain of same-gender friendship across their lives, to offer both empirically unique and theoretically significant insights into the mechanics of social change in masculinities. Applying a feminist poststructuralist lens to data from in-depth interviews with 14 pairs of fathers and sons, it details how masculinist discourses of emotion and intimacy have governed the participants’ friendship practices at three chronological timepoints: fathers’ early lives and later lives, and sons’ early lives. A clear but complicated shift emerges, such that the commitment to stoicism and self-reliance dominant in the fathers’ early lives has given way to a growing embrace of intimacy and emotional expression within their and their son's contemporary same-gender friendships. Engaging with key debates in the field of critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM), this book offers an alternative to the conceptualisation of this positive change as either representative of a holistic disintegration of hegemonic structures, or a superficial behavioural shift that is largely inconsequential to the gender order. Rather, it illustrates that the increasing influence of feminist, queer-inclusion and therapeutic discourse has destabilised masculinism in the context of men’s friendships, offering men an alternative subject position that allows care, expressiveness and intimacy. This book will be of interest to scholars in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Masculinity Studies.
Offers an alternative to conceptualization of what changing men’s relationships mean for “the gender order” Integrates feminist poststructuralist theory with key scholarship from critical masculinity studies Draws on in-depth empirical research with two generations of Australian men (14 pairs of fathers and sons)
Autor*in
Brittany Ralph
Themen in »Destabilising Masculinism«
patriarchy intimacy homosocial bromance masculinity
Stimmen zu »Destabilising Masculinism«
“Ralph engages with this fascinating data regarding socio-positive change in masculinities and men’s friendships with nuance, compassion and reflexivity. The work is intellectually sophisticated and complexifies established understandings of change and masculinities. Destabilising Masculinism provides significant practical conclusions for policy and practice regarding how masculinism may be challenged and dislodged.” (Lucy Nicholas, Associate Professor in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Anthropology & Sociology, Western Sydney University, Australia)
“In interviewing two generations of Australian men, Ralph eloquently unpacks how they navigate the complexities of same-gender friendship. Focusing on how men have been offered alternative subject positions that allow for care, expressiveness, and intimacy, the book sheds light on how men can now centralize their selves within their relationships with other men. In an engaging read, Ralph demonstrates how masculinities, as traditionally known, are becoming destabilized, reconstructed, and allowing for more feeling, beyond the bromance. Overall, the book provides a groundbreaking theoretical understanding of masculinities in their conceptualizations and a strong empirical argument for reinvigorating understandings of men’s relations with men.” (Rosemary Ricciardelli, Professor, Research Chair: Safety, Security, & Wellness, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada)
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