Bad Ass or Punk Ass?: The Contours of Street Masculinity

In this article, we examine the utility of R.W. Connell’s conceptualization of hegemonic and subordinate masculinities through the examination of qualitative interviews with active criminal offenders in Saint Louis, Missouri. The article describes contours of “bad ass” masculinity, the hegemonic form, and “punk” masculinity, the primary subordinate form. After an examination of the nature of these masculinities, we discuss how these elements of the cognitive map of the streets are refractions of mainstream masculinities, exploring the convergences and divergences that emerged in the data. Finally, we point out how the work on masculinities is important to gender studies and feminist criminology