Gender has been identified as a key element of human identity. Feminism has focussed particular attention on gender issues over the past five decades. Gender discourse has been dominated by discussion of women and women’s issues - “feminists have somehow set the agenda for men’s studies” as well as women studies. Mass media have been identified as key sites of discourse in feminist studies. Numerous studies have examined representations of women in mass media and argued that these have significant effects on women, on men, and on societies. A number of researchers have found that the treatment of men in mass media is not unproblematic and say that that feminist-led discourses have presented pictures of men as rapists, batterers, pornographers, child abusers, militarists, exploiters, and images of women as targets and victims. But studies of representations of men have been far fewer than those focussing on women. Furthermore, some media content analyses have been limited or unreliable because of small samples or lack of methodological rigor / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This qualitative research study examines the stories of five men's lived experiences of violence and violation. It is derived from conversations with the men that have been taped and transcribed. These in turn have been categorised into key existential themes and interpreted by myself as the researcher. The process of data collection, transcription and analysis has been performed under strict adherence to the tenets of a rigorous, ethical and trustworthy qualitative approach to undertaking research. Participant's revelations of their unique experiences of violence have been carefully and sensitively interpreted and given meaning through the lens of my personal worldview informed by a philosophical perspective. I have fully acknowledged my own influences upon the proceedings. The methodology that has informed this undertaking is based upon Martin Heidegger's (1927/1962) hermeneutic phenomenology. Phenomenology emphasises the search for raw experience buried in the text and takes me to the heart of men's lived reality of violence. Hermeneutics offers me a way of making meaning out of the subtext concealed within men's stories of violence. Heidegger's philosophy offers me a particular approach for understanding human experience. Van Manen's (1990) existential life world structures guide me towards violence as it is lived rather than as it is thought to be. As such this study emphasises ontological understanding over epistemological examination. The intention of this work is produce an understanding of the impact of violence on people's lives from the unique perspective of those who have experienced it. Its ultimate goal is to use this information to better understand the aetiology of male violence, and, more specifically, five men whose lives have been situated in the world of violence, so that it may be more effectively prevented.

This dissertation investigates how masculinities are understood and practiced through the body and how such practices are shaped and limited by modernist theories about gender. The research argues that postmodern theory allows for a greater inclusivity of genders and bodies otherwise marginalised by modernity. A qualitative postmodern and poststructural methodology, combined with a research method involving the collection of all data via an on-line questionnaire, disrupts modernist, dualistic thinking about the body and gender. By distancing the physical body from the research method, and thus separating, temporarily, discourses of gender which inhabit the body, this research creates counter-hegemonic spaces to re-articulate masculine identities and practices within the postmodern condition. Furthermore, the postmodern theory and methodology informing this work unsettles the belief that physical bodies can be counted on to reveal consistent truths. The contextualisation of this work includes a chapter that recounts various historical moments where technological advancements made way for the re-consideration and re-negotiation of gender and bodies. The intersections of technology and modernity are examined along with the rise of the postmodern condition and the advancement of computer technologies. Shifts in understanding, influenced by postmodern theory and human-computer interaction, are discussed in relation to their challenges to modernist boundaries of ?the real? and, in turn, the possibilities of gender articulations. Additionally, a chapter containing critical researcher reflexivity through an autobiographical account of masculinities and schooling acts to illustrate some of the complexities, contradictions, privileges and counter-hegemonic possibilities of masculinities and bodies. Although the majority of the research participants identified as ?male?, some identified as ?female? and others identified as ?intersex?. The geographic identities of the respondents included Australia, The United Kingdom, Ireland, The United States, and Japan. The data were analysed using postmodern and poststructural theory. The subjectivity and the role of the researcher in the analysis of data were interrogated alongside the words of the participants. The responses were grouped into four areas: Being and Knowing; The Body Engendered; Bodies On-Line and On the Line, and New Articulations. In all four areas the participants? words demonstrate tensions between modern and postmodern understandings of bodies and genders. Computer technologies often replicate modernist images of gender and bodies, yet at the same time they provide a postmodern space of multiplicity, fluidity, and hybridity, where rigid modernist configurations cannot hold. The analysis illuminates, diffracts, disrupts, and highlights disjunctures and new possibilities for gender and bodies mediated by contemporary computer and Internet technologies. Lastly, Benjaminian dialectical images were used to transform fixed modernist beliefs about gender and bodies and to move the reader toward alternative ways of understanding gender which are not body dependent. / thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2002.

The dominance of male characters in Australian films makes our national cinema a rich resource for the examination of the construction of masculinities. This thesis argues that the codes of the hegemonic masculinities in capitalist patriarchal societies like Australia insist on an absolute masculine position. However, according to Oedipal logic, this position always belongs to another man. Masculine yet 'feminised,'identity is fraught with anxiety but sustained by the 'dominant fiction' that equates the penis with the phallus and locates the feminine as its polar opposite. This binary relationship is inaugurated in childhood when a boy must distinguish his identity from his mother, who, significantly, is a different gender. Being masculine means not being feminine. However, as much as men strive towards inhabiting the masculine position completely, this masquerade will always be exposed by the elements associated with femininity that are an inevitable part of the human experience. Yet, the more men are drawn to the feminine, the more they risk losing their masculine integrity altogether under the patriarchal gaze. Men, in this dualistic regime, are condemned to negotiate their identity haunted by the promises of the phallus and the fear of its loss. I begin with a model of masculine integrity represented in the image of an ideal father, Darryl Kerrigan, from The Castle and then proceed to problematise it through an examination of its excesses observed in the father of David Helfgott in Shine. In the second chapter I investigate two films that represent mothers as the principal threat to masculine integrity: Death in Brunswick and Proof. Both films reveal a misogynistic impetus, which is expressed as violence against women in The Boys, the sole focus of my middle chapter. With misogyny and violence still resonating, I follow the contours of my argument through an examination of Chopper and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the fourth chapter, where I emphasise the performative nature of identity, before arriving at a discussion of men and their relationships in the final chapter (Mullet, Praise, and Thank God He Met Lizzie). / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Committee on Human Development, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-129).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-69).

The promotion of women's and children's rights excluded men from the process. The implementation of these rights called for a shift in domestic power relations. Men, especially certain black men, were plunged in predicament as some felt that the changes undermined their cultural and traditional masculine identities and that women and children abused their rights. In many cases the relationships between men, women and children came under pressure. This research is conducted among black men. The aim is to explore and describe black men's experience of their relationship with women and children in the context of women's and children's rights. An empirical study using a qualitative approach was followed to promote understanding of black men's experiences. In-depth interviews and personal notes/letters were used to collect data. The gist of the findings is that these changes are not important to women and children only, but to men too. The findings produced the following six main categories: Black men view women's and children's rights as good if correctly used; black men experience that women and children abuse their rights; black men feel that children do not honour them as they put their own rights above their father's rights; black men feel marginalised and use fight, flight or passiveness as coping strategies; black men experience women's and children's rights as a major cause of family disorganisation; black men suggest that there should be a platform for men and women to talk about their differences and types of power. Guidelines for appropriate service delivery programmes for families are developed from the findings. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

The promotion of women's and children's rights excluded men from the process. The implementation of these rights called for a shift in domestic power relations. Men, especially certain black men, were plunged in predicament as some felt that the changes undermined their cultural and traditional masculine identities and that women and children abused their rights. In many cases the relationships between men, women and children came under pressure. This research is conducted among black men. The aim is to explore and describe black men's experience of their relationship with women and children in the context of women's and children's rights. An empirical study using a qualitative approach was followed to promote understanding of black men's experiences. In-depth interviews and personal notes/letters were used to collect data. The gist of the findings is that these changes are not important to women and children only, but to men too. The findings produced the following six main categories: Black men view women's and children's rights as good if correctly used; black men experience that women and children abuse their rights; black men feel that children do not honour them as they put their own rights above their father's rights; black men feel marginalised and use fight, flight or passiveness as coping strategies; black men experience women's and children's rights as a major cause of family disorganisation; black men suggest that there should be a platform for men and women to talk about their differences and types of power. Guidelines for appropriate service delivery programmes for families are developed from the findings. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This study offers a comparative repertory-based approach to drama in early modern Lancashire. From 1587 to 1590, the Lancastrian Stanley household accounts record two acting companies’ frequent visits to the Stanley household. The Stanleys were a powerful northern family in the troubled region of Lancashire. The companies, the Queen’s Men and Strange’s Men, were famous, and their patrons, Queen Elizabeth I and Ferdinando Stanley respectively, make their visits to the Stanleys noteworthy. A comparative repertory approach examines how the companies’ repertories treat two contemporary concerns about Lancashire—region and religion. The companies’ repertories treat regional and religious issues differently because of their patrons’ differing political agendas. Strange’s Men’s plays reject characters’ associations to regions and punish religious diversity, and, above all, the plays praise the nobility’s role in protecting the nation. Ultimately, Strange’s Men’s plays promote ideals that suited their patron’s need to demonstrate loyalty to the realm. In contrast, the Queen’s Men’s plays value characters’ associations to regions and allow religious diversity, and, significantly, the plays promote a vision of a forgiving, inclusive monarch. Fundamentally, the Queen’s Men’s plays support Elizabeth I’s campaign to create a unified nation. The implications of this thesis are groundbreaking for the treatment of provincial drama. This repertory-based project demonstrates that Lancashire hosted a lively dramatic tradition and suggests that the Stanley household was a crucial destination for both companies. The discussion of the themes of region and religion shows both patrons negotiated political agendas and religious attitudes in the drama that they sponsored. The repertory-based approach re-examines discounted dramatic material and considers plays as part of overall trends in companies’ repertories. This thesis is the first to extensively compare two acting companies’ repertories and performances in a geographical location outside of London. / Graduate