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Jack S. Kahn is a Professor of psychology at Curry College. He teaches courses in psychology and gender and has published articles in the areas of feminist identity for men, multicultural identity and family assessment. Jack is a member of the American Psychological Association, Association for Women in Psychology, Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity and the Constructivist Psychology Network. He is a steering member of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS), Boston chapter and on the editorial board for 'Women & Therapy'.

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In the last thirty years, there has been a tremendous growth in the academic inquiry to understand men in their experiences as men. This growth is largely due to growing awareness of the problems that peopleface in trying to understand what it means to be masculine. This text introduces students to the research, theories, and basic issues in the field of Men and Masculinities, highlighting debates about the definition, origin, and the crisis in masculinity. The author provides a framework for studying the field of masculinities incorporating feminist, social constructionist, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Written in an accessible style, An Introduction to Masculinities provides personal anecdotes and contemporary examples to make the theoretical concepts relevant to students’ lives. The text also introduces students to leading contributors and experts whose work have informed the field. The author gives the reader a context and structure by which they can critically understand and evaluate information about men and masculinities.

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In the last thirty years, there has been a tremendous growth in the academic inquiry to understand men in their experiences as men. This growth is largely due to growing awareness of the problems that peopleface in trying to understand what it means to be masculine. This text introduces students to the research, theories, and basic issues in the field of Men and Masculinities, highlighting debates about the definition, origin, and the crisis in masculinity. The author provides a framework for studying the field of masculinities incorporating feminist, social constructionist, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Written in an accessible style, An Introduction to Masculinities provides personal anecdotes and contemporary examples to make the theoretical concepts relevant to students’ lives. The text also introduces students to leading contributors and experts whose work have informed the field. The author gives the reader a context and structure by which they can critically understand and evaluate information about men and masculinities.

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An Introduction to Masculinities

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Introduction

Throughout the course of most of our educational experiences, the accomplishments of men have been a major topic of focus. Whether through the teaching of theories, research, or history, tales of men's contributions to culture and society have dominated our learning (Connell, 1989; Hearn, 2004; Kaschak, 1992; Sen, 2005). Most of us have learned of contributions by scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Copernicus; writers such as William Shakespeare and John Steinbeck; and political leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. The majority of the men we have learned about have been of European and middle-class backgrounds, leaving out the important contributions of working-class men and men of color (Bushweller, 2004; Iseke-Barnes, 2005). And while there has been some progress in the inclusion of more diverse voices in our curricula, our educational experiences have been dominated by stories of the contributions of men (Campbell, 2007; Connell, 1989; Hearn, 2004; Tietz, 2007; Tuwor, 2007).

This text, however, is not focused on men's historical contributions to our world. It is an introduction to the ever-growing field of masculinities. This field seeks to understand people's experiences of masculinities and the social and historical ways in which this phenomenon affects and is affected by human action. This is a relatively new area of exploration (Connell, 1989; Kimmel & Messner, 2001; Levant, 1996; Whitehead & Barrett, 2001). Scholars in this area are interested in the lived lives of men and others that grapple with masculinity and hope to understand how people view themselves and their their place in the world as a function of their negotiation of masculinities. Masculinities theorists try to understand both the challenges and triumphs that people experience.

Masculinity is defined in this text as the complex cognitive, behavioral, emotional, expressive, psychosocial, and sociocultural experience of identifying with being male. More specifically, this text will use the term masculinities, assuming that there are multiple ways in which people may experience the world of masculinity (Addis & Cohane, 2005; Amaya, 2007; Bambert, 2005; Paulsen, 1999; Silverstein & Rashbaum, 1994; Wetherell & Edley, 1999; Whitehead & Barrett, 2001). While not all people in this field take this perspective, because this text reflects multiple definitions of what masculinity means, where it comes from, and the various ways in which it may contribute to the lives of people who identify as men, the use of the pluralized term will often be warranted. Masculinity is referred to as a psychosocial phenomenon with a recognition that social and relational experiences play a crucial factor in the development and negotiation of the worlds of men (Harrison, 2005; Mahalik et al., 2001).

Masculinity as a Construct

Studying masculinities as a subject can be difficult. This is partially because it is an example of what social scientists call a hypothetical construct. Social scientists often study intangible phenomena that do not have a directly observable or measurable basis. For example, a very popular topic for psychologists (one of several kinds of social scientist) to study is self-esteem. Some people think that the construct of self-esteem can help to explain many of the things that people do or experience (Luo & Hing-Luan, 1998; Russel, Crocket & Shen, 2008). But self-esteem itself is not something that can be viewed under a microscope or weighed on a scale. It isn't a tangible physical substance the properties of which are largely agreed upon. If you want to ask someone out to dinner, you can't borrow self-esteem from someone else to make you feel more confident (although there have probably been times when you've wanted to)!

We may use the hypothetical construct of self-esteem to explain why someone may behave in certain ways. So if a person has a low opinion of themselves, doesn't have a lot of friends, and experiences anxiety around others, we may say it's due to the effect of low self-esteem. But self-esteem isn't a tangible or observable thing; it's a way of explaining a cluster (or group) of related experiences. A hypothetical construct therefore refers to a conceptual way of explaining something we cannot directly observe or measure but assume is made up of a cluster of human experiences that may include behaviors, thoughts, or emotions. Masculinity is a hypothetical construct because, in and of itself, it cannot be directly observed or measured. So, not surprisingly, social scientists do not all agree as to what we actually mean by masculinity. What aspects of human action and psychological and or social experience(s) should we focus on? Is masculinity something only experienced by people who are genetically defined as male, or can others experience masculinity? Is masculinity an identity, a set of behaviors, a cluster of characteristics? Is it stable and consistent across situations or contextual? Is it a psychological, social, or historical phenomenon? These are all questions that researchers in the field are studying, researching, and debating (and are discussed in more detail in chapters 3 and 4).

Not only do people disagree about what it is we are supposed to be studying when we study masculinity, but whatever masculinity is seems to be different in different cultures. Different cultures have varied expectations and beliefs about masculinities. For example, comparing European cultures to the United States can yield some interesting differences. While traveling in Italy in 1996, I noticed that many men kissed each other on the cheek as a sign of friendliness. This is not something I have seen many men do in the United States, where I suspect it would be viewed as "not-masculine" by many men.

On the same trip, I tried to buy a packet of blades for my razor. I usually buy razor blades that are designated for women, as they often come with aloe and other moisturizers that men's razors do not have. The blades I intended to purchase were across the counter and I had to request them from the clerk. After several interchanges, I realized she would not sell them to me. "These are for ladies." "Yes, I know. That's what I want." "These are for ladies," Finally, I said they were for my wife and she let me purchase them. Clearly cultures view gender differently and have varying ideas about the way gender works and what kinds of behaviors and items are appropriate and for whom. Furthermore, those views vary between people in the same culture and across different situations.

Beliefs about gender vary not only across and within cultures but also over time. Throughout every culture's history, expectations regarding the acceptability and meaning of human behavior has changed (Harvey, 2005). For example, until the end of the 18th century, it was very common for European men of upper-class status to wear powdered wigs as a symbol of their prominence (King, 2002; MacLeod, 2000; Pendergast & Pendergast, 2004). While some men in specialized roles can be found wearing wigs as a symbol of authority (such as some chief justices in Canada), it is much less acceptable for men to do so in the 21st century, and in fact many men suffer humiliation and harassment as a result of...