This philosophical inquiry challenges the conventional perspective that ‘boys will be boys’ moving towards opportunities for social change through the lived experience of masculinities. The conservative political perspective has failed to challenge the dominant discourse on masculinity, resulting in the maintenance of patriarchal systems that perpetuate issues like sexism and homophobia in our communities. At the same time, social justice spaces are often precarious spaces for privileged males. My inquiry acknowledges masculinity as a state of ambiguity and considers future implications for social justice education through an analysis of male privilege and the epistemic conditions of this particular social location. My conceptual analysis provides a pedagogical exploration that connects interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives related to theories of the self including subjectivities, social performances, and socio-cultural structures of gender identity. My critique of the current status of social justice education directed towards men and boys is explored through dialectics, intersectionality, postmodernism, gender theory, and phenomenology which are used as methods for mapping the hermeneutics of privilege and masculine-oriented experiential knowledge. I suggest that educational reform can offer a humanist approach to learning about gender-based violence by addressing barriers to learning such as opposition, complacency, and ignorance and instead directing resources towards possibilities for change through situated knowledge. / Graduate

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O estudo analisa os discursos de homens e da revista Mens Health acerca do corpo, saúde e sexualidade. Para a construção dos discursos dos homens, realizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 19 homens leitores e nove não leitores. E dois eventos de grupos focais que reuniram 11 homens no total. Foi entrevistado também o editor da revista. Os principais conceitos norteadores deste trabalho foram os de gênero, sexualidade, poder e masculinidades hegemônicas e subalternas. Evidenciou-se que a revista está fortemente atrelada à sociedade de consumo ao estimular a inserção dos homens em um mercado de produtos e serviços até então estranhos a esse gênero. E que suas concepções sobre saúde estão relacionadas a de bem-estar e de individualização que se articulam com os discursos hegemônicos que vêm dando sentido às concepções de saúde e doença atualmente. A publicação investe fortemente na ideia de um corpo musculoso que proporcionará ganhos sociais, sexuais e profissionais aos sujeitos, nem sempre atrelado às questões de saúde. Ela ratifica a heterossexualidade do leitor projetado, expondo o corpo feminino e o sexo heterossexual e silenciando sobre outras formas de sexualidade. Por isso consideramos que a revista se vincula a uma concepção tradicional da masculinidade. Seus discursos, no entanto, não são monolíticos ou isentos de contradição, e também manifestam nuances relativas a um modelo mais contemporâneo de masculinidade, como quando apresenta a ideia de uma nova pedagogia da sexualidade e a valorização dos cuidados estéticos e de saúde com o corpo, aspectos considerados pouco próximos da masculinidade tradicional. Com relação aos discursos dos homens, evidenciou-se que a classe social e a geração são as variáveis mais importantes nas suas concepções sobre corpo, saúde e sexualidade masculina. Que, entre os não leitores, de modo geral, há evidências mais fortes de flexibilização com relação aos padrões mais tradicionais entre os homens mais jovens e/ou de classes mais altas. Enquanto os homens com idade acima dos 30 anos e das classes populares estão mais atrelados às concepções tradicionais. Entre os leitores, observou-se uma grande reflexividade com relação aos discursos da revista demonstrando que eles vêm se apropriando de forma importante dos discursos da revista e ressignificando suas concepções e práticas sobre os três temas da pesquisa a partir desses discursos. E, assim como os discursos da revista, os discursos dos homens, leitores ou não, também apresentaram aspectos contraditórios, ora demonstrando mais afiliação a um novo modelo de masculinidade, ora ao modelo mais tradicional. / The study analyzes the speeches of men and Men's Health magazine about the body, health and sexuality. For the construction of discourses of men, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 men and nine readers not readers. And two events focus groups that gathered 11 men in total. Was also interviewed the magazine's editor. The main drivers of this work were the concepts of gender, sexuality, power and hegemonic and subordinate masculinities. It was evident that the magazine is strongly tied to the consumer society to encourage the inclusion of men in a market for goods and services hitherto strangers to this genre. And that his views on health are related to wellness and individualization that articulate with the hegemonic discourses that are giving meaning to the concepts of health and illness today. The publication invests heavily in the idea of a muscular body that will provide professionals subject to social gains, sexual, and not always linked to health issues. She confirms heterosexuality designed the reader, exposing the female body and heterosexual sex and silencing of other forms of sexuality. Therefore we consider that the magazine is linked to a traditional conception of masculinity. His speeches, however, are not monolithic or free from contradiction, and also express nuances on a more contemporary model of masculinity, as when he presents the idea of ​​a new pedagogy of sexuality and appreciation of aesthetic and health care with the body aspects considered next bit of traditional masculinity. With regard to the resources of men, it became clear that social class and generation are the most important variables in their conceptions about body, health and male sexuality. That, among non-readers in general, there is stronger evidence of flexibility with respect to more traditional patterns between younger and / or more upper class men. While men above the age of 30 years and the lower classes are more tied to traditional concepts. Among readers, there was a big reflexivity with regard to the resources of the magazine showing that they are appropriating important form of speeches and magazine redefines its conceptions and practices of the three research themes from these speeches. And just like the speeches of the journal, the speeches of men, or not readers also showed contradictory aspects, sometimes showing more affiliation to a new model of masculinity, sometimes the more traditional model.

A pesquisa que deu vida a esta tese teve como objetivo seguir rastros da construção de corpos inseridos num Centro de Atenção Psicossocial para Álcool e outras Drogas (CAPS ad) de Aracaju, Sergipe, particularmente, em seus arranjos de masculinidades. A tentativa foi a de forjar um corpo de pesquisa e de escrita bem ali entre o mandato de produzir corpos normalizados, identificados, generificados e a teimosia em resistir desses mesmos corpos submetidos a tal mandato, inclusive do próprio corpo do cuidado. As perguntas que nortearam esta pesquisa foram: que insistências, que (re)existências experimentam corpos num cenário de cuidado em álcool e outras drogas? Que (re)existências experimentam corpos num contexto biopolítico de face neoliberal, em que o exercício de poder pretende encerrar a produção da vida e dos corpos humanos numa dimensão empresarial, fabricando corpos e sujeitos empreendedores de si? Os campos teóricos que fundamentaram a pesquisa foram os estudos foucaultianos, alinhavados por algumas questões e conceitos de Nietzsche, Deleuze e Guattari operados no campo da saúde pública, em particular, o da saúde mental, bem como no dos estudos de gênero e sexualidade. Para a montagem metodológica, inspirou-se em questões propostas pelo método etnográfico, em discussões da escola francesa de análise institucional e em pistas apontadas pela cartografia. Os dados foram produzidos por meio de: 1) cadernos de formação desenhados durante o trabalho na rede de saúde mental aracajuana e no CAPS ad em particular, bem ali onde um processo de trabalho se constituiu como uma paisagem de formação e pesquisa; 2) diários de campo; 3) entrevistas individuais com usuários/as e profissionais; 4) grupos focais com usuários/as e profissionais; 5) roda de conversa com usuários de álcool e outras drogas numa praça da cidade; e 6) realização de uma oficina de “contação de histórias”. Foi pactuado um modo coletivo de acompanhamento da pesquisa e produção de análises por meio da formação de um grupo pesquisador composto por duas profissionais do CAPS ad, duas profissionais e um profissional do Projeto de Redução de Danos e um usuário. Os seguintes eixos funcionaram como focos para a produção de análises: corpo, gênero, sexualidade, cuidado em ad; arranjos corporais, arranjos de gênero e sexualidade; arranjos terapêuticos em articulação com arranjos pedagógicos; CAPS como um território de ensino e formatação corporal; CAPS como território de (des)aprendizagens corporais, abertura dos corpos para a variância, para composição de novas formas, inclusive do corpo do cuidado; projetos terapêuticos como projetos pedagógicos; projetos terapêuticos-pedagógicos de gênero. A partir desse itinerário de pesquisa, se o que se quer é resistir ao biopoder por meio de um acompanhar a potência dos corpos, sinaliza-se a importância da composição de uma clínica da experimentação, clínica artesanal, menor; clínica das passagens, da (des)aprendizagem, da abertura dos corpos para outras rotas, outras formas. / The research which has brought the present thesis to life was aimed at following traces of the construction of bodies involved in a public alcohol and drug rehab center called ‘Centro de Atenção Psicossocial para Álcool e outras Drogas/CAPS ad’ in the city of Aracaju, Sergipe, mainly in their arrangements of masculinity. The attempt was to form a body of research and writing right in between the mandate of producing normalized, identified, generalized bodies and the stubbornness of these bodies – submitted to such mandate, including that of the caring body itself – in resisting. The questions which the research was based upon were: what insistences, what re-existences do these bodies experience in a care scenario of alcohol and drugs? What re-existences do these bodies face in a neoliberal biopolitical context, in which the exercising of power is intended extinguish the production of life and human bodies in a corporate context, manufacturing bodies and subjects that are entrepreneurs of themselves? The theoretical fields which served as fundaments for this research were the foucaultian studies, complemented by some issues and concepts of Nietzsche, Deleuze and Guattari operated in the field of public healthcare, particularly in mental health, as well as gender and sexuality studies. The methodological foundation was inspired by questions and issues posed by the ethnographic method, in discussions of the French school of Institutional Analysis and also clues and leads pointed out by cartography. Data were obtained by means of: 1) study notebooks used during the work at the City of Aracaju’s mental healthcare network, especially at CAPS ad, right in the place where the work began to build the grounds for further studies and research; 2) field diaries; 3)one on one interviews with patients and professionals; 4) focus groups with patients and professionals; 5) informal conversation circle with alcohol and drug users at a city square; and 6) “story telling” workshop. A collective research monitoring and analysis system was agreed on, one which was formed by two CAPS ad professionals, three Damage Mitigation Project professionals and one patient. The following guidelines served as analytical directions in the process: body, gender, sexuality, alcohol and drug care; bodily arrangements, gender and sexuality arrangements; therapeutic arrangements in articulation with pedagogical arrangements; CAPS as a teaching and body formation territory, CAPS as a bodily (un)learning territory; the opening of bodies to variance, to the composition of new forms, including the caring body; therapeutic projects as pedagogical projects, therapeutic-pedagogical projects of gender. Based on that research direction, if the intention is to resist biopower by means of keeping up with the potency of bodies, the importance of the composition of an experimentation clinic, a smaller handcrafted clinic; the clinic of passages, of (un)learning, of the opening of bodies to other routes, other forms, becomes noticeable.

Submitted by Celso Magalhaes (celsomagalhaes@ufrrj.br) on 2018-08-28T13:41:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Natanael de Freitas Silva.pdf: 3959556 bytes, checksum: 8943fd092c9031d528a367a7046b05f7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T13:41:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017 - Natanael de Freitas Silva.pdf: 3959556 bytes, checksum: 8943fd092c9031d528a367a7046b05f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-19 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / As a constellation of speaking and desiring bodies, producing displacements, dispersion of gender and individuality. This way I can tell that Dzi Croquettewas important in a period of great effervescence and creativity in the field of the arts (theater, literature, music), Customs and habits such as sexual liberalization, but also of control, censorship, repression and violence, between beards, purples and sequins, the Dzi Croquettes, in the years 70, with their artistic performances marked by the ambiguity of genre, in a fusion of theater and humor, with strong steps, dances and rolls and combining in an unusual way football socks with high heels, bras with hairy breasts, false eyelashes with beards, erased the historical borders of gender. Not by chance, they said: ?We are not men, nor are we women. We are people, people computed just like you!? In view of this, my goal is to historicize the meanings attributed to the experiences of masculinities and femininities in Dzi Croquettes. From a post-structuralist theoretical contribution, I appropriate some of the propositions of authors such as Michel Foucault, Joan Scott and Judith Butler, to think how generalized experiences and positions of identity are forged historically and to what extent Dzi Croquettes Helped to destabilize heteronormativity and a project/desire of social homogenization engendered by the "rotten powers" during the dictatorship / Como uma constela??o de corpos falantes e desejantes, produzindo deslocamentos, dispers?o do g?nero e do indiv?duo, assim posso caracterizar os Dzi Croquettes. Em um per?odo de grande efervesc?ncia e criatividade no campo das artes (teatro, literatura, m?sica), dos costumes e dos h?bitos como a liberaliza??o sexual, mas tamb?m de controle, censura, repress?o e viol?ncias, entre pelos, barbas, purpurinas e paet?s, os Dzi Croquettes, nos anos 70, com suas performances art?sticas marcadas pela ambiguidade de g?nero, numa fus?o de teatro e humor, com passos fortes, dan?as e rebolados e combinando, de maneira inusitada, meias de futebol com salto alto, suti?s com peitos cabeludos, c?lios posti?os com barbas, borravam as hist?ricas fronteiras de g?nero. N?o por acaso, eles diziam: ?N?s n?o somos homens, nem somos mulheres. N?s somos gente, gente computada igual voc?s!? Em vista disso, o meu objetivo ? historicizar os sentidos atribu?dos ?s experi?ncias de masculinidades e feminilidades em Dzi Croquettes. A partir de uma aporte te?rico p?s-estruturalista, me aproprio de algumas das proposi??es de autores como Michel Foucault, Joan Scott e Judith Butler, para pensar como as experi?ncias e posi??es de identidade generificadas s?o forjadas historicamente e, em que medida os Dzi Croquettes ajudaram a desestabilizar a heteronormatividade e um projeto/desejo de homogeneiza??o social engendrado pelos ?podres poderes? durante a ditadura

Under-acknowledged both clinically and socially as a threat to men’s health, breast cancer in men continues to be a critical health issue, with complex ramifications for those affected. Research exploring men’s breast cancer experiences and their lives beyond the diagnosis remain limited. Hence, this inquiry asks ‘How do men describe breast cancer and their experiences of the illness?’ the aim, to advance understandings about men’s meaning-making of breast cancer and masculinity, and to ‘give voice’ to this under-researched population. Embedded theoretically and methodologically within a critical qualitative health framework, the research has two parts. Part one is a qualitative synthesis of nine existing international studies exploring men’s breast cancer experiences, following Noblit and Hare’s (1988) method for synthesising interpretive qualitative data. The outcomes of this synthesis were used to inform part two: a multi-method phenomenological exploration of men’s breast cancer accounts using verbal and visual data. Thirty-One British men recruited through NHS records, Breast Cancer Care, and social media platforms, used self-authored photographs to illustrate their breast cancer experiences, which they later discussed as part of extended semi-structured interviews. All data were analysed together using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Integrating and triangulating the findings from the two study phases, the on-going marginalisation of men across the breast cancer trajectory, and how this influences men’s experiences of, and adjustment to the illness, are revealed. Findings from the qualitative synthesis suggest current approaches to breast cancer care and advocacy serve to isolate men, potentially alienating and emasculating them; while patient management practices and informational resources unequivocally marginalise men. Findings from the new inquiry corroborate those from earlier studies, further illuminating the difficulties men encounter and some of their coping strategies. Specifically, three superordinate masculinities were identified: ‘threatened and exposed’, ‘protected and asserted’, and ‘reconsidered and reconfigured’. A schematic representation is presented to show how these interconnected masculinities are encountered, performed and utilised by men from pre-diagnosis through treatment and beyond as they manage, make sense of, and live through breast cancer. How and why men encounter/perform these different masculinities at different points in time across the breast cancer trajectory, and how this aids men’s adjustment to illness, and life beyond the diagnosis, is considered. The findings are expected to have both academic and real-world impact through informing future research, and recommendations for advocacy and intervention for improved future breast cancer care and practices.

Diversos indicadores educacionais demonstram que meninos tendem a estabelecer uma trajetória escolar mais conturbada e marcada por interrupções. A partir desses indicadores, pesquisas têm sido realizadas com o intuito de compreender a produção do fracasso escolar mais acentuado entre alunos do sexo masculino, por meio de uma discussão sobre gênero, masculinidades e desempenho escolar. Tomando essas diferenças de indicadores educacionais como ponto de partida, realizei uma pesquisa qualitativa sobre meninos avaliados como bons alunos por suas professoras, apostando numa inversão epistemológica - do fracasso ao sucesso escolar como um meio profícuo para pensar na multiplicidade de práticas de masculinidades entre os meninos e nuançar as discussões sobre a temática. Baseada nas elaborações teóricas sobre masculinidades da socióloga Raewyn Connell, pretendia analisar como estes meninos faziam para articular um bom desempenho escolar e as interações entre seus pares, considerando a agência das crianças como um dos aspectos do regime de gênero das escolas. A pesquisa empírica foi realizada em uma escola pública da cidade de São Paulo que atendia alunos e alunas das camadas trabalhadoras. Durante o segundo semestre de 2014 e o primeiro semestre de 2015 observei o cotidiano escolar de uma turma de 4º ano e de outra turma de 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental. Além da observação participante, realizei entrevistas semiestruturadas com as crianças, o professor e a professora dessas turmas. Questionários socioeconômicos também foram respondidos pelos familiares. Diferentemente do que eu imaginava a partir da literatura sobre a temática, identifiquei que ser bom aluno não parecia contraditório ou difícil para a afirmação da masculinidade dos meninos, ao contrário, o engajamento e o bom desempenho escolar era valorizado e reconhecido como um aspecto positivo entre os alunos. Apesar disso, nem todos os meninos eram bons alunos e aqueles avaliados positivamente pela professora ou pelo professor tendiam a se distanciar dos maus alunos, indicando uma dimensão relacional na constituição e percepção de si como um bom aluno. Envolvidos em práticas de hierarquização, para ser um bom aluno os meninos precisavam conseguir jogar nas relações de poder entre pares, valendo-se de práticas de masculinidades valorizadas, assim como construindo e reconstruindo hierarquias escolares, socioeconômicas e raciais em suas interações. / Several Brazilian educational indicators show that boys tend to establish a shorter and more troubled school life. Considering these indicators, academical research has been done in order to understand boy\'s underachievement through a discussion about gender and masculinities. Taking these educational indicators as a starting point, I conducted a qualitative research about high-achieving boys as a way to think about the multiplicity of masculinities practices among boys and to nuance the discussion about the topic. Based on Raewyn Connell\'s sociological theory about masculinities and her ideias about the agency of children as an aspect of the schools gender regime, I analyzed how high-achieving boys articulate a good school performance and their interactions among peers. The qualitative research was done in a public primary school in São Paulo (Brazil) that is attended by working-class pupils. During a semestre in 2014 and a semestre in 2015, I did a participant observation in the daily school life of a group in the 4th and 5th grades of elementary school. In addition to the participant observation, I interviewed the children, a male and a female teacher. Socioeconomic questionnaires were also answered by family members. Contrary to what I expected from the literature about masculinities and achievement, to be a \"high-achieving pupil\" was not contradictory or difficult for the boys, instead, engagement and academic achievement was valued and recognized as a positive aspect among boys students. Nevertheless, not all the boys were \"hich-achieving pupils\" and those tended to distance themselves from the \"underachieving pupils\". Involved in hierarquical relations among peers, in order to be a high-achieving pupil boys have to be able to play on the power relations, constructing and reconstructing social and school hierarchies among their peer group.

Este projeto propõe uma análise do galã na telenovela brasileira por seis décadas, dos anos 1960, com a primeira produção diária (2-5499 Ocupado - TV Excelsior, 1963), a 2017. O trabalho busca elencar pontos em comum que permeiam a figura do galã ao longo desse período, além de investigar como a cultura e os aspectos socioeconômicos de cada época (com um recorte recortadas por décadas) influenciam nesse perfil. Partimos de um corpus definido a partir de um levantamento de todos os galãs das telenovelas desse período, delimitando o corpus de análise para as produções exibidas no chamado prime time, das 19h às 22h. A seleção dos personagens a serem analisados foi realizada com base em critérios quantitativos (número de aparições como galã) e qualitativos (percepção do ator/personagem como galã pela mídia e, consequentemente, pela recepção). Lembrando sempre que a categorização se apoia na proposta de Weber de tipo ideal, que define a análise de tipos para melhor entendimento da realidade, sem pretender, no entanto, que esses tipos encerrem o real ou seja sua única representação. / This project proposes an analysis of the heartthrob in the Brazilian telenovela for six decades, from the 60s, with the first daily production (2-5499 Occupied - TV Excelsior, 1963), to 2017. The work intends to list common points that permeate the figure of the heartthrob along with investigating how the culture and socioeconomic aspects of each era (by decades) influence this profile. We defined our corpus finding the heatthrobs presented in every telenovela of that period, delimiting the corpus of analysis for the productions exhibited in the so-called prime time, from 7 p.m to 10 p.m. The selection of characters to be analyzed was based on quantitative (number of appearances as heartthrob) and qualitative criteria (perception of the actor / character as a heartthrob by the media and, consequently, by reception). Always remembering that our categorization is based on Weber\'s ideal type proposal, which defines type analysis for a better understanding of reality, without intending, however, that these types contain the real or that is their only representation.

La thèse porte sur la construction de soi, le sujet masculin dans le livre d’Ezéchiel. Il s’agit de comprendre et d’analyser les différentes stratégies de pouvoir qui manipulent le sujet et canalisent son sentiment d'identité. Le livre d'Ezéchiel est analysé à travers l’articulation pouvoir/savoir, princeps fondateur de la pensée occidentale. L'hypothèse principale est que l'homme et ses représentations constituent le bloc fondamental des sociétés (y compris les sociétés bibliques). Un homme est un «Soi» qui est pris dans un processus d'identification par des mécanismes de construction et de déconstruction, dans un discours incessant qui façonne et refaçonne des mythes dans le but politique de déterminer ce qui va être «bon» ou «mauvais». L’homme existe comme une notion neutre, même s’il s’inscrit constamment dans un processus d'identification, auquel il importe d’intégrer le rôle de la femme dans la construction du sujet mâle, et l'utilisation du féminin comme une practice dans l'économie des hommes. Une autre hypothèse est que l'identité n’est jamais fixe, que toutes les identités sont fluides et à même de se transformer afin de répondre à des événements politiques ou pour viser un but politique. Ce qu’on désigne comme identité est en réalité un sujet pris au piège dans un processus d'identification constante. La question principale de cette recherche est ainsi : « quelle est la généalogie du processus théologique de subjectivation politique dans le livre d'Ézéchiel? » Une autre question traverse ce travail : « quelles sont les stratégies de pouvoir à l’oeuvre et comment manipulent-elles le lecteur afin de générer un sujet qui souscrit au texte? » / The dissertation focuses on the construction of the self, in this case the male self. It wishes to understand and analyze different technologies of power that manipulate the subject and render his a self to an ‘I’ with a strong sense of identity. The case study is the book of Ezekiel as a manifesto of power/knowledge process, and as a brick in the adobe of western thinking. The main assumption is that the fundamental building block of (also the biblical) societies is Man and his images. A Man is a ‘Self’ that is caught in an identification process through construction and deconstruction, in an ever-changing discourse that shapes and reshapes myths and produces the ‘correct’ and ‘wrong’ knowledge in order to fulfill a political end. The notion Man exists as something neutral even though it is constantly in the process of identification. Another assumption is that no identity is fixed, and all identities are fluid and are changing as response to political events or to fulfill a political end. In fact, there is no such thing as an identity but a subject trapped in a constant identification process. The main research question is: What is the genealogical theological process of the political subjectivization in the book of Ezekiel? Asked differently: What is the total sum of the technologies of power that are manipulated on the reader and generates the subject who subscribes to the text?

There is little known about the daily lives of gay teachers at school. Studies have been conducted in this area, but the wide range of individual life experiences makes it difficult to define the gay teacher experience. Gay teachers geographic location, gender, age,and race, are a few of those factors that will have a direct influence upon their lives.Therefore, I believe more focused, regional or case studies will yield better understandings of the lives that gay teachers lead at school. Until now, no other study had investigated the lives of gay teachers in West Central Florida. I decided to focus this study on male teachers who teach in secondary schools because I believe the lesbian experience at school differs to such a degree to warrant aseparate study for them. I also believe that secondary teachers must confront controversial issues that are connected to the mandated curriculum and a more mature student audience that will be more apt to ask questions about those issues to a far greater extent than elementary school students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of gay male teachers in West Central Florida and uncover their understandings of various key issues:the perceived impact of their sexual orientation on curricular decision-making, the perceived impact of their sexual orientation on classroom management, and their understandings of the perceived barriers to addressing homophobic language and coming out at school. After six months of conducting personal interviews, engaging in telephone conversations, and exchanging electronic mail messages with the seven participants inthis study, my analysis of the data resulted in the emergence of ten themes: (1) gay themed materials in the classroom, (2) interactions with students perceived to be gay, (3)separation of informants private lives from life at school, (4) informants perceptions ofproper conduct by a gay male teacher, (5) challenges and problems faced by the informants at school, (6) informants understandings of how students use homophobic language, (7) informants use of humor in the classroom, (8) informants relationships and interactions with colleagues at school, (9) informants perceptions of the acceptance of gay male teachers, and (10) informants perceived special talents of gay male teachers. In the end, all seven informants shared their unique stories, but demonstrated some commonalities as well. All of them addressed gay-themed issues when they came up in class, all addressed homophobic language to some degree, and, with the exception of one individual, most agreed that it was best for gay male teachers to remain closeted at work, even if they personally wished that it could be different. I believe the one dissenting voice offers hope that at some time in the near future, gay male teachers will be able to be out at school despite the negative stereotypes that surround them. Further, the one dissenter demonstrated his ability to help all students better understand diversity, and his presence increases the possibility that someday teachers, administrators, and students will all be more open to accept the existence of and the performance of multiple forms of masculinity at school.

In this qualitative study, gay and straight men's experiences in male friendships were examined in order to explore differences and similarities between the participants' construction of masculinities. A social constructionist approach to understanding human experience was utilised, through an examination of in-depth interviews with 21 men (10 straight, 11 gay). The data was interpreted following a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, utilising the lens of Gestalt therapy theory, resulting in a series of essence statements, which expressed the underlying structures of the participants' experiences of masculinity. These findings revealed constructions of masculinities which were explored in relation to the participants' close male friendships and support seeking processes. A major finding was the importance of shame as a regulating variable in the gay and straight participants' construction of their masculinity. Shame or avoidance of shame appeared to be linked to the influence of a dominant heterosexual masculine ideology. It was revealed that whilst dominant masculine ideologies were experienced as powerful 'background' beliefs, the participants were able to construct contemporaneous masculinities that were contextual and field sensitive. Thus the concept of masculinities appears inherently fluid, and changeable. Furthermore, the results indicated different definitions of friendship which appeared to be related to different constructions of masculinity. The gay participants' friendships were described in interpersonal terms compared with the straight participants' friendships which appeared more focussed on external activities. The experience of shame, or fear of the potential for shame emerged as important variables that influenced intimacy, closeness and distance in gay and straight participants' friendships and their ability to seek and receive emotional social support. The finding that men appear to seek help from male friends in ways that are consistent with their constructions of masculinity has important implications for fostering supportive interactions between men. Furthermore, an understanding of men's experiences regarding what constitutes a supportive interaction and defines intimacy appears important as these views will most likely guide their decision making processes about from whom and how they might seek support. Finally, the possibilities for constructing new masculinities are explored as men's friendships and support behaviour are both influenced by, and in turn influence, the construction of masculinities.