ABSTRACT
The field of masculinity studies also emerged in the 1990s to investigate social processes that configure experiences of masculinity. In her essay, Raewyn Connell, a leading theorist in masculinity studies, defines gender as the “social processes of configuring practices” involving bodies and the “everyday conduct of life” in relation to the “reproductive arena” (Reading 26). That is, the practices that enact, for instance, family life, birthing, parenting, marriage, and love are shaped by social processes that constrain which individuals can participate in which of these practices and when. As an example, consider the recent debates about the right to marry. For Connell, hegemonic forms of femininity and masculinity configure (and are configured through) these gender practices. Using the concept of hegemonic masculinity, Connell investigates how patriarchal power relations, gendered market relations, and heteronormative structures of desire subordinate women and valorize men (See also Box 5). Hegemonic masculinity, Connell argues, depends upon the complicity of men, the subordination of some masculinities, and marginalization of non-normative patterns of gender relations. The subordination of gay men is, in her estimation, a central feature of contemporary hegemonic masculinity. At the same time, she argues, the global gender regime hinges on the racialized discourses by which men of color and of the global south are likewise marginalized. In both cases, unfavorable contrasts to femininity feature prominently.
