Book Review: \u3ci\u3eSome Men: Feminist Allies & the Movement to End Violence against Women,\u3c/i\u3e by Michael A. Messner, Max A. Greenberg, and Tal Peretz

In their book, Some men: feminist allies & the movement to end violence against women, Michael A. Messner, Max A. Greenberg and Tal Peretz outline the history and contributions by men to feminist, gendered, anti-violence activism. As empirical research, Some men is a formative work in two key ways: it is a historical overview of men’s place in feminist activism, and an inspiration for men looking into how to get involved. The authors provide an in-depth examination of the kinds of anti-violence work men do and how that work has shifted over time, by relying on 64 life history interviews (52 men, 12 women) with North American anti-violence activists between the ages of 20 and 70. Taking an intersectional approach, the authors also describe how race, class, and sexual orientation shape these allies’ identities and their work. For example, most of the older men in their sample began by starting therapeutic men’s groups, primarily dominated by white men. Messner, Greenberg and Peretz further examine how and when men of colour made their way into the fold, followed by men of differing sexual orientations. Reasons for entrance into anti-violence work also varied. For a number of men in the earlier cohorts, it was the intimacy of experiencing or witnessing sexual violence first-hand that inspired their vested interest in advocacy work. Subsequent generations of allies, however, often found initial motivation from established institutions – academic coursework and community groups

Give Us a Twirl: Male Baton Twirlers’ Embodied Resistance in a Feminized Terrain

There is a persistent perception that baton twirling is only for girls. This insight is not unwarranted because more often than not, audiences only see girls twirling. Baton twirling, however, is not exclusive to girls; boys twirl too. In this chapter, I explore how the participation of men and boys in the sport of baton twirling exemplifies forms of embodied resistance. In defiance of more masculine and male-dominated sports, men and boys who twirl exhibit embodied resistance in three key ways: through their participation in this feminized sport, by redefining components of twirling to downplay gender, and through choreography involving contentious body movements. Through their participation in a sport in which they are the minority, men and boys’ presence in twirling works against more traditional notions of what sports they “should” play. Within competitive twirling, male twirlers reduce certain body movements in an attempt to “undo” their feminine nature (Deutsch 2007).1 Finally, there is resistance in the ways the free hand (the hand not twirling a baton) is used, with twirlers rejecting judges’ and coaches’ suggestions to form a fist, a gesture associated with masculinity and power. The twirlers instead prefer to use the free hand for personal expression. Within these forms of embodied resistance, tension is ever present and surfaces in questions such as “What is too feminine?” “When is masculinity conformity?” and, “Can gender in twirling be ‘undone’?

Cover Guys: Masculinity, Sexuality, and Representations of Men\u27s Bodies in Popular Magazines for Men

Scant research puts magazines into conversation with sociological theories of masculinity or sexuality. Yet, magazines have long projected idealized images of masculinities, the male body, and men’s sexuality. In this dissertation, I examine representations of men in popular magazines, highlighting the multifaceted ways magazines have marketed masculinity and the sexualization of men. Using an explanatory sequential mixed method content analysis, I analyze 38 years (1980–2018; N=2,750) of magazine covers from GQ (n=516), Men’s Health (n=277), and Sports Illustrated (n=1,671). Each cover was coded using a standardized coding form developed for this dissertation. The coding scheme was tested using agreement and alpha intercoder reliability statistics. Additionally, I used multi-phase quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify underlying constructs and change over time among men on the covers. Exploratory factor analyses identify two underlying constructs around men’s aesthetic characteristics and sexualization. Using multinomial logistic regression, I identify how these factors change over time. In additional analyses, I calculated the Men’s Prevalence of Skin (MPoS) Index and predict the sexualization of men’s bodies over time. In exploratory analyses, I used qualitative, thematic analyses to explore the relationship between cover text and corresponding images. I contextualize findings with popular culture to illustrate how magazines influence or are influenced by social change. Representations of men and masculinity differ across magazines. GQ portrays a kind of man who accounts for their interest in fashion, have “style,” and be “cool.” Men’s Health primarily portrays young, white muscular men who show off their bodies, and are accompanied by text preying on their insecurities. Sports Illustrated, alternatively, portrays a diverse set of men with “winning” masculinities and referred to using violent rhetoric. This dissertation offers a window into how the marketing of American manhood has been siloed into particular categories. My findings demonstrate how these magazines perpetuate controlling images of masculinity that prioritize some groups over others and inform research on gender, sexuality, race, and the body. Advisors: Kelsy Burke and Kristen Olso

A New Spin on Gender: How Parents of Male Baton Twirlers (Un)Do Gender Essentialism

Families and sports are spaces for “doing” and “undoing” gender. The author presents qualitative interviews with 30 American men who recall their parents’ involvement in the gender atypical sport of baton twirling. The author analyzes the data using “doing” and “undoing” gender as well as “hard” and “soft” essentialism frameworks. Mothers are often supportive of their sons’ twirling, contributing to “undoing” gender and relaxing “soft essentialism.” Fathers do not see baton twirling as a normative pathway to manhood or masculinity, thus reinforcing “hard essentialism.” Fathers often take on an absentee role in their sons’ twirling. In rare cases, fathers “do” gender by reformulating their sons’ twirling into a more recognizable sport. Findings consider how parents navigate gender when sons cross gendered boundaries in sports and the consequences for gender inequality

Created by God and Wired to Porn: Redemptive Masculinity and Gender Beliefs in Narratives of Religious Men’s Pornography Addiction Recovery

The literature on hybrid masculinity suggests that some men manage subordinate or contradictory forms of masculinity while still maintaining and benefiting from gender inequality. Drawing from 35 in-depth qualitative interviews with religious participants in pornography addiction recovery programs, we expand this literature by illustrating how hybrid masculinity operates through shared cultural knowledge about sex, gender, and sexuality. We find that participants use distinct cultural schemas related to religion and science to explain how men are created by God to be biologically “hard-wired” for pornography addiction. We use the phrase redemptive masculinity to describe a type of hybrid masculinity that upholds the cultural association between hegemonic masculinity and pornography consumption, but allows religious men to describe their avoidance of pornography as a masculine feat. Redemptive masculinity depends upon particular beliefs about gender that give advantage to the religious men who work to overcome pornography addiction. We show how their stories reinforce essentialist differences between male and female bodies that protect the interests and sexual expressions of religious men. In turn, we show how hybrid masculinities may involve gender-flexible practices for men but also how these may ultimately reinforce strict and inflexible beliefs about so-called “opposite” sexes

Mixed Methods in Body and Embodiment Research

This chapter outlines the foundations of mixed methods research and discusses several examples of mixed methods research in the sociology of the body and embodiment. It begins with a brief history of mixed methods and conceptualizations of this term. To illustrate mixed methods in practice, including its benefits, drawbacks, and relevance to intersectionality research, the authors discuss the first author’s research on body weight (Kwan 2007, 2009a, 2009b, 2010; Kwan and Graves 2013), as well as a study about young women’s contraceptive use (England et al. 2016) and a study about nude embodiment (Weinberg and Williams 2010). The chapter concludes by discussing the future of mixed methods for sociologists of the body and embodiment, maintaining that mixed methods would serve well scholars who desire to understand embodiment-related trends in a population, as well as experiences of lived embodiment

“I Wanted to Raise My Hand and Say I’m Not a Feminist”: College Men’s Use of Hybrid Masculinities to Negotiate Attachments to Feminism and Gender Studies

Using a hybrid masculinities framework, we qualitatively analyzed 15 college men’s experiences with feminism and gender scholarship in Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) courses. Men described adopting particular strategies of discourse in their social interactions to manage varied reactions to feminism and gender studies. As a way of justifying their choice of academic study, these men also learned to navigate social relationships by highlighting or downplaying their own masculinity (i.e., creating or deconstructing a hybrid masculinity). Finally, men reconciled the multiple meanings of feminism and WGS studies by drawing from dominant cultural norms and expectations in attempts to make sense of the incongruence of men studying feminism. Implications for future research and college campuses and educators are considered

Effects of Sex, Race, and Education on the Timing of Coming Out among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults in the U.S.

Sexual identity formation or “coming out” as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) involves a complex process including both private realization and public disclosure. Private realization refers to the process through which an individual becomes aware of their LGB identity, whereas public disclosure reflects when an individual discloses their identity to another person. Sex, race, and class affect the timing of these processes across the life course. While extant research has identified the bivariate nature of these processes, we took a multivariate approach to understand the timing of these sexual identity milestones from a life-course perspective. Using data from the Pew Research Center’s 2013 Survey of LGBT Adults (n = 1136), we considered how the timing of private realization and public disclosure of LGB identity is a sexed, racialized, and classed experience. The sample consisted of lesbians (n = 270), gay males (n = 396), bisexual females (n = 342), and bisexual males (n = 127). Results indicated that females uniformly realized and disclosed their identities at later stages in the life course, whereas individuals with at least some college education came out during their prime college-age years. We also found variation in timing between private realization and public disclosure for Black respondents, but not other racial groups. These findings provide insight into how organizations can develop specific programs that allow LGB individuals to safely explore their sexuality and provide support over the life course

Fifty Shades of Leather and Misogyny: An Investigation of Anti-Woman Perspectives among Leathermen

The Fifty Shades books and films shed light on a sexual and leather-clad subculture predominantly kept in the dark: bondage, discipline, submission, and sadomasochism (BDSM). Such new interest in this community also generated widespread misconceptions about the sexual practices that take place in these circles, especially in regard to the treatment of women. In the current study, we investigate how a BDSM or “leather” identity is related to attitudes toward women. We use a nationally representative sample of U.S. adult men aged 18–64 stratified by U.S. Census categories of age, race/ethnicity, and census region (N = 1474) and a subsample of leathermen (n = 65; 58% hetero-leather identified and 42% nonhetero- leather identified). Specifically, we explore leather identity as it relates to the support of laws/policies helping women, non-feminist identity, patriarchal gender norms, and the stigmatization of lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LBTQ) women among both hetero and non-hetero leathermen. Overall, our findings indicate a robust relationship between these anti-woman perspectives and leatherman identity that is especially pronounced among hetero leathermen and demonstrate the importance of continuing to consider how leather identity shapes misogyny among leathermen

Male Ballet Dancers and Their Performances of Heteromasculinity

Although previous research has investigated men in feminized sports, we took a different approach in this study and examined men in ballet. Because ballet is one of the most highly gender-codified sports, male ballet dancers must negotiate their identities as men while performing a dance form that is highly stigmatized as effeminate. We investigated how five self-identified heterosexual male college dance majors perceive and perform heteromasculinity within male ballet culture using qualitative data gathered from structured interviews. Results provide three unique contributions to the literature. First, we found that these men develop and contextualize their heteromasculinity in the context of a male ballet culture. Second, the results demonstrate three unique stigma-management techniques within male ballet culture. Third, men described a hegemonic heteromasculinity and the roles of masculinity and emotionality in male ballet performance as parts of male ballet culture. We hope this study will stimulate future research that can help personnel and faculty to better understand how college ballet programs can be informed by the ways masculinity may be institutionalized and reproduced within the context of dance programs, as well as the ways male ballet dancers can challenge heteromasculine hegemony in the sports world