ABSTRACT
In this chapter I explore Australian men’s relationship to such ideals. I argue that while these men are articulate in their response to what Australian masculinity is, further discussions indicate what I call a (de)evolution of Australian masculinity, where once revered traits have slowly become stigmatised and associated with anti-intellectualism, chauvinism, and rurality, while simultaneously, being idolised. This is captured in the figure of the bogan, where I explore more readily the masculine context of the identity, its entangled relationship to race, class and nationality, and argue that bogan figure has become not only a figure of mythic bad masculinity for some Australian men, but also illustrates an emerging tension between Australian nationality, masculinity, and Australia’s increasing globalised, postfeminist, and diverse culture. The bogan, in contemporary Australian culture, is for some urban men in Australia the epitome of Australian (and therefore bad) masculinity. I demonstrate this by exploring media representations of the bogan identity in popular culture, contemporary scholarship on the bogan, and interviews with the young men who used the figure of the bogan to differentiate themselves as practising “good” or “acceptable” masculinity when contrasted to that of bogan males.
