Abstract
A robust literature ties emasculation to a range of compensatory behaviors. The present study shifts focus away from the effects of masculinity threat toward an understanding of young adult men’s experiences of emasculation in their own words. Drawing on 42 in-depth interviews with undergraduate men attending a selective U.S. university, we examine the behaviors, situations, and narratives—both experienced and hypothetical—that privileged young men perceive as threatening. We use these data not only to contribute to the empirical literature on masculinity threat, but also as a novel approach for theorizing about the meaning and structure of masculinity more broadly. This is an important task given recent social and economic changes that may have altered contemporary definitions of masculinity. Emasculation accounts provide unique analytical leverage for revealing men’s often unspoken understandings of acceptable masculine behavior. We find that, while many interviewees superficially espoused egalitarian and anti-homophobic beliefs, their emasculation narratives implicitly call for the subordination of women and other men. These performances consequently obscure and maintain traditional, hegemonic power relations. We discuss the implications of our finding for scholars, practitioners, and individual men who desire a more equitable gender structure.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful for research assistance from Thomas Carman, Jessica Kendra, Stephanie Menke, and Claire Sears-Tam. For helpful feedback, we thank Mary Bernstein, Shelley Correll, Susan Fisk, Beth Hirsh, Sharon Jank, Ed Lawler, Nancy Naples, Karen Powroznik, Daisy Reyes, Jessica Su, Catherine Taylor, and Lindsey Trimble O’Connor.
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Munsch, C.L., Gruys, K. What Threatens, Defines: Tracing the Symbolic Boundaries of Contemporary Masculinity. Sex Roles 79, 375–392 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0878-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0878-0