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This paper examines the relationship between hegemonic masculinity and violence within American society as seen in the HBO television show, True Detective. Ultimately, it claims that violence is a necessary aspect of hegemonic masculinity and that this violence not only affects the feminine other but also is destructive for men. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No / A disease of the anatomical or social body, cancer raises fears about the uncontrollable division and multiplication of some abnormality that will lead ultimately to the destruction of those very conditions that make possible our lives. Cancer incidence and mortality rates are higher in men than women, raising questions about the roles for psychologists in relation to gender and cancer. Psychologists are wont to question the division of population level statistics by sex rather than other, such as behavioural, categories. Conceptual distinctions between biological sex and psychosocial gender are taught early in the psychology curriculum, but cancer of the breast questions the easy separation of the biological body and psychosocial society.

Previous research has indicated that the Masculine Gender Role Stress (MGRS) scale has been useful in identifying men who are susceptible to appraising threat in situations that challenge their masculine gender roles. Furthermore, Zillmann's excitation-transfer theory has proposed that elevated levels of physiological reactivity may interfere with men's appraisal processes and ability to control their emotions and behavior. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the independent and combined effects of men's appraisal of threat and physiological pre-arousal on cognitive, affective, behavioral, and physiological responses to masculine relevant female partner behavior that challenges masculinity. Eighty college men who scored high or low on the MGRS were exposed to cold or room temperature water to induce the arousal or non-arousal conditions, respectively, prior to exposure to vignettes. They then listened to audio-taped vignettes of hypothetical situations involving dating partners who threatened the male's masculinity in the relationship in either masculine gender relevant or irrelevant contexts. Skin conductance level (SCL) and heart rate (HR) were obtained before, during, and after exposure to arousal or non-arousal conditions and each vignette. Measures of anger, negative affect, and appraisal were obtained in response to the different arousal conditions. Cognitive attributions, anger, negative affect, and verbal conflict tactics were obtained in response to each vignette. Results showed that the arousal condition produced greater HR than did the non-arousal condition. High MGRS men reported more negative affect and more negative appraisal in the arousal condition than in the non-arousal condition compared to low MGRS men. In response to the vignettes, high MGRS men reported more state anger, negative intent attributions, and verbal aggression tactics than did low MGRS men. Results also showed that gender irrelevant vignettes produced greater HR in the arousal condition than in the non-arousal condition. Finally, relative to high MGRS men, low MGRS men evidenced greater SCL during both arousal conditions and vignettes. However, results did not support an expected relationship between the effects of MGRS and pre-arousal on cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to gender relevant threats. Implications of these results for future research were discussed. / Ph. D.

Sport is one institution in U.S. society that, through embedded patterns of behavior, may contribute to an ideology of acceptance concerning gender inequality. Organized sport participation, which has been historically reserved for men, incorporates young men and boys into an institution that has its own norms and socialization processes. Research was conducted on college students currently enrolled at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A survey was administered to these college students during regularly scheduled class time. The survey was in part adapted from The Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) as well as the Brannon Masculinity Scale (BMS). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple regression to see if there was a relationship between the control variables, the sports participation variables, the scores on the BMS which measures the acceptance of traditional masculinity, and attitudes toward women. The results showed that gender and academic class are significantly related to the scores on the AWS. The results also showed that there were not any statistically significant relationships between the sports participation variables and the scores on the AWS. The regression analyses were consistent with these findings. / Master of Science

Waiting for Ignition, a collection of 47 poems, deals with themes of desire, masculinity, family, community, and connection/disconnection. The speaker in these poems navigates the difficulties of identifying as a young gay man in rural Missouri, the loneliness that stems from his disconnect with the queer community, and his inability to find meaningful connection through his romantic and sexual experiences. / Master of Fine Arts

The aim of this paper is to study how the image of masculinity and how perceptions of masculinity have changed over time, based on the participants' gender and age by answering a survey. The group that participated in the survey consists of members from the National Pensioners' Organization (PRO), and members from the Social Democrats. In total there are 70 questionnaires that form the basis of this paper. The participants have been divided according to age and sex by a quantitative method for responding to this essay’s purpose. The differences between men and women in the study was very small, the same applies when the age groups were studied. The fact that the differences were so small in terms of both age and gender is confirming Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity. In the study, it becomes obvious that men and women regardless of age share views on what is a good man and what characteristics a good man should have. A man should be responsible, reliable, humble, open and caring according to the participants. The results of this study suggest that men and women are very similar in their answers and highlight the importance of sharing responsibility. Men see themselves to a greater extent as breadwinners, which confirm the previous research that claims that supplying an income to the family is still one of men’s principal responsibilities in the family. The conclusion of this study is that men and women independent of age share the same picture of what are desirable characteristics of a man.

The present study set out to explore how male university students perceive their involvement in gender studies and how this intersects with their masculine identities. The research was a qualitative one and semi-structured individual interviews were used to collect data from ten Humanities postgraduate students attending a large, urban university comprising men who do gender studies and those who do not. Two key informants were also interviewed for the study. Qualitative thematic content analysis was employed to analyse the data collected; these reflected themes that bordered around the men and their identities, gender equality, engagement in gender studies, and changing attitudes towards observable gender transformation. In comparing the responses of both categories of men, an inference made was that, although the men mostly expressed positive attitudes towards engagement in gender studies, there does not seem to be a direct relationship between exposing men to gender studies courses or not, and changes in perception towards gender relations. This was evidenced by the fact that both groups of men predominantly upheld traditional hegemonic ideals of masculinity through displays of complicit, accommodating and defensive masculinities amidst a couple of progressive representations. The study affirms the thesis that masculinity is socially constructed based on the contradictory manner in which the men spoke about their identities. This reaffirms the essentiality of speaking about men in diverse ways and rejecting any notions of singularity. Key words: Gender studies, masculinity, hegemonic masculinity, masculinities, university men, changing attitudes

This thesis is a report of a study of masculinity at Canberra Grammar School, a corporate boys' school. The data were collected during 1991 and 1992. The thesis questions the conventional wisdom that a school like Canberra Grammar produces a particular hegemonic masculinity. Indeed, it identifies the production of a hierarchy of exalted, multiple masculinities. There were limitations to what could be investigated in this study, as well as to how it could be investigated. However, the ideas and work of several people were blended in order to provide a way into the questions of masculinity in this school. This eclectic approach drew upon the literature of Popkewitz, Lather, and Parlett and Hamilton, who called for narrative descriptions and interpretation, as well as Beare, Caldwell and Millikan, whose framework of school culture, albeit modified, provided very rich information. This method resulted in an emphasis on what was observed and read within the school, rather than on what might have been heard, but, nevertheless, a great deal of relevant and useful data were generated. The data were then interpreted with the help of questions and insights formed by immersion in the literature on masculinity and schools, particularly that of corporate boys' schools. It was possible to identify multiple masculinities in the school, and arrange them into a hierarchy based on the degree to which each of them was exalted. These masculinities were fluid and the hierarchy was dynamic. During the time of the study greatest support was for "the man as scholar", "the sportsman" and "the man as leader", three notions of masculinity traditionally associated with these schools. There was also considerable support for the notion of "the sensitive man", a notion that has been promoted in schools like this for many years, but which draws upon traits and qualities less traditionally associated with these schools. One area of fluidity was an official move by the school's leaders towards the notion of "the person", rather than the man. Contestation was evident as changes occurred within this hierarchy, as well as within the notions themselves. These findings are significant for several reasons. Firstly, they challenge the conventional wisdom about corporate boys' schools. Secondly, for those working in this school and schools like it who are searching for ways to bring about different gender and social relations, the findings offer an encouraging, optimistic picture of what this school is trying to do. The findings also identify those within the school who might support or oppose counterhegemonic practice, as well as areas of the school's culture that should be targeted in the future. Thirdly, for those wanting to find out about notions of maculinity in these schools, they show that the method used here can be very productive, despite its limitations. The first chapter of this thesis explains the reasons for this study in more detail, and the second chapter describes and accounts for the nature of the study. The main body of the thesis is in Chapters Three, Four and Five, where findings about the school's setting, curriculum and rituals are described and interpreted. The thesis concludes with a chapter containing reflections on the reasons for this study, as well as possible ways forward for those wishing to investigate questions of masculinity in corporate boys' schools in the future.