ABSTRACT
Reading Sam Shepard's plays of the 1970s next to the works of Robert Bly and the men's movement, this essay contends that a new masculinity became hegemonic in the US beginning in the mid to late 1970s in response to the Vietnam War and the very limited success of the women's movement. It argues that what Freud called reflexive sadomasochism (in which the ego is split between a sadistic half and a masochistic half) has become the decisive characteristic of what passes for white masculinity during this period of backlash. This figuration is unique in allowing the white male subject to position himself both as an aggressive, authoritative individual and as a victim.
