A Critical Investigation of Masculinity in Education

This chapter treats the concept of masculinit(ies) in two distinct ways. It offers a discussion relating to the notion of masculinit(ies) as a research foci. This construct is problematized by facing up to the methodological paradox of examining the unmarginalized subject and how that can increase in complexity when contextualized within an institutional setting such as education. The popular notion of hegemonic masculinity and the development of the term masculinit(ies) is unraveled to acknowledge the plural condition of how gender can be represented. What can be lost by a treatment of masculinity that relies on an overly sociological approach that is necessarily historical and localized is then briefly examined. By focusing on the research perspective and the common framing of masculinit(ies), a case study of Tom is used to highlight both the possibilities and also the restrictions of how gendered representation can be addressed within an institutionalized environment such as education

Homophobic Conduct as Normative Masculinity Test: Victimization, Male Hierarchies, and Heterosexualizing Violence in Hate Crimes

Homophobic violence can be considered as an expressive act. Violent behavior can be considered as anti-homosexual when victims are chosen because they are considered or perceived as homosexual. Following this reasoning, hate crimes as homophobic crimes have a communicative value, since they represent a range of “masculinization” practices within the processes of gender socialization, both in conventional and illegitimate social worlds. Every homophobic act aims to intimidate not just the victim, but the whole group associated with the, whether concretely or merely in the perception of the perpetrator. This chapter will take into account the main research on victimization from an international perspective; it will highlight how both the gender of the perpetrator and the cultural constructions of masculinity(ies), in a heterosexist and hegemonic system, seem to play a fundamental role in producing homophobic and anti-homosexual behaviour