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Background: In South Africa (SA), women with breast cancer (BC) present to the health care system at advanced stages of the disease, resulting in poor prognosis. Limited awareness of the disease, large distances to health care centers, and lack of affordable transportation have all been implicated as factors delaying presentation. In addition, women in SA have limited social and financial independence, which may make it difficult for them to resolve their own health care needs. Despite this, little is known about what South African male partners know about breast cancer and what role they play in their partner’s access to health care. Methods: This interpretive qualitative case study, guided by the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity(ies), used semi-structured interviews to investigate perceptions and knowledge of BC and gender norms in regards to health care access in a group of black South African males (n=20) in long-term heterosexual relationships living in a resource-poor setting. Interview data was analyzed using thematic analysis and compared to observational data collected through opportunities with local BC organizations. Results: Participants demonstrated very little knowledge of breast cancer and cancer in general. Some specific misconceptions about cancer are reported, including confusion between cancer and HIV. Participants were positive about receiving health care for cancer but are burdened by barriers to reaching care and a lack of access to information about the disease. The men describe themselves as playing an active, mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. They demonstrate perspectives about gender relations that defy hegemonic forms of masculinity. Conclusions: Major public health efforts are required to increase awareness of BC in order to encourage earlier presentation to the healthcare system. These efforts should recognize the importance of the male partner in women’s health issues. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In South Africa, women with breast cancer often do not reach the conventional healthcare system until the disease has progressed significantly and chances of survival are poor. This occurs because of a lack of knowledge about the disease and large distances to health care centers. Furthermore, in the male-dominated society of South Africa, women have limited independence. Therefore, this study sought to determine what men in South African know about breast cancer and how they are involved in their partner’s access to health care. Interviews were conducted with 20 men living in a resource-poor setting. The men portrayed little knowledge and specific misconceptions about breast cancer and cancer in general. They appear to be playing an active and mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. Public health efforts should increase awareness of the disease and recognize the significant role of the male partner in women’s health issues.

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TRPG) which offers playersthe chance to create and inhabit a fantastical hero in an equally fantastical world, creating ashared experience with their other players and the Game Master (GM) who facilitates play.Much research has examined D&D as an artifact, highlighting its problematic aspects and thepotential of the worlds and rules it presents as reinforcing real world hegemony orshortcoming such as male domination and racism. While building upon these ideas, thisresearch explores how players’ experiences in D&D interact with notions of heroism, how thegame presents what it means to be a hero and how it truly is experienced within my longtimeD&D playgroup. It does this through semi-structured interviews, to examine how the playersexperience the game, including my own reflections and input as GM for this group for anextended period of time. It utilizes the concepts of coloniality and hegemonic masculinity asframes for understanding the mechanics and narratives of D&D and how they interact withconceptualisations of heroism. Through thematic analysis of the interview data, it highlightswhere the players' experiences line up with conceptualisations of coloniality and hegemonicmasculinity, yet also highlights where players' experiences break with or undermine theseconcepts, highlighting alternatives that move away from colonial and masculine heroism.Ultimately determining that while these players understand heroism in D&D in ways whichreinforce or echo coloniality and hegemonic masculinity such as imperial violence, theiractual experiences with heroism are often removed from this, focusing more on collaborationand problem solving devoid of violence.

After sixteen intensive months, I quit my employed position as a security guard at a local hospital. By drawing on my autoethnographic experiences in the form of “ethnographic fiction writing”, as well as eight interviews with my former male colleagues, I explore how the guards’ constructions of masculinity intersect with their security assessment and subsequent application of force, chemical incarceration, and other coercive security tactics on involuntarily-committed mental health patients. The narratives are framed by the available literature on gender and masculinity within the security, police, prison and military institutions, as well as the theoretical notions of gendered institutions (Acker), hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt), doing gender (West & Zimmerman), and Dave Holmes’s application of Foucauldian biopolitical power to forensic healthcare settings. These concepts are used in tandem with a creative methodological tool to reveal the “messy”, “bloody” and “gendered” ways in which hospital life unfolds between the guard, the nurse, and the patient prisoner. By escaping more traditional forms of academic writing, I am able to weave raw, sensitive and reflexive thoughts and emotions into the research design and analysis. The analysis is divided into two narratives: “Us” and “Them”. “Us” emphasizes the gendered ways in which the hospital guard learns, reproduces, resists, lives up, or fails to live up to the masculine codes of the profession. Here, the guard must confront cultural demands to demonstrate physical prowess, authority and heroism during a patient battle. “Them” explores how hegemonic masculinity shapes the hierarchical and coercive relations between the guard, the nurse, and the patient, and reinforces psychiatrized discourses that promote punishment, pain, bureaucracy and control. Overall, these findings call for the abolition of physical restraint, chemical incarceration and other coercive security measures within our healthcare institutions, and encourage future research to give voice to the lived experiences of women guards and security management teams.

This thesis aimed to analyze how men and masculinity were portrayed in The Hunger Games. I intended to investigate the most salient masculine characters. I also wanted to analyse the one-on-one interactions between men as well as their group interactions. I sought to investigate if one could see any power relations between the male characters and if they were traditionally masculine or not in this interaction, and also if this book could be used for discussions in the work with the core values of the Swedish national curriculum. The questions used in the thesis were: ”How are the men portrayed, and how do they act, compared against a traditional masculinity norm?”, ”What happens in the homosocial interaction between the men?”, and ”How do the men treat Katniss, seen from a masculinity perspective?” The theories used in the analysis were found within the field of masculinity studies. Hegemonic masculinity theory was the first one, and the second theory was the theoretical framework of traditional masculinity ideologies by Mahalik et al., specifically the measurement tool of CMNI – Conformity to Masculinity Norm Inventory. The method used to collect the data for the analysis was Close Reading. In the analysis I compared the men to a set of masculinity norms. The measurement tool was the norm inventory of CMNI. The results of the analysis found that at all the men in the study lived in accordance with at least some of the traditional masculinity norms. Out of the four men analysed, three of them had a gender equal relationship with the female lead character. Some men in the book were shown to act based on a patriarchal power structure. It was found that the men who acted in accordance with this structure were conforming more to the traditional masculity norms in their interaction with other men than in their interaction with women.

This thesis aims at identifying, through Will Wright methods of narrative analysis, how the different masculinities are represented in the first season of the TV-series True Detective via the protagonists Rust Cohle and Marty Hart. Theories about hegemonic masculinity and Will Wright's theories for narrative analysis are further applied to see how these similarities and differences are formed by what Wright calls “the professional plot". Through 32 chosen scenes from the first season, this study examines the narrative of True Detective and the relationship between the main characters Rust Cohle and Marty Hart from a point of view that will highlight their hierarchic positions in the hegemonic masculinity, using Raewyn Connell’s studies as a theory. We have found that there are two separate hegemonic spheres, one within the relationship between the main characters, and one within the society as a whole. In the latter, Marty Hart is displayed as a member of the hegemonic masculinity up to the point where he loses his family while Rust Cohle constantly belongs to the subordinate masculinity. This is due to him being in constant clash with the traditional cultural values of Louisiana where the series takes place. Regarding the hegemony within their relationship, Rust Cohle goes through a hegemonic transformation, from the subordinate masculinity to the hegemonic while Marty Hart makes the journey from occupying the hegemonic masculinity to serve as the participating dito.

À partir d'une enquête par observation participante conduite au sein d’une grande entreprise de distribution, du siège social aux entrepôts, ce travail a pour objectif d’étudier la construction sociale des masculinités au et par le travail. L’histoire de Transfrilog est imprégnée d’une culture familiale forgée autour du management paternalisme des autodidactes du transport. Aujourd’hui devenu les cadres dirigeants de l’entreprise, la professionnalisation du secteur les oblige désormais à composer avec les jeunes diplômés issus des formations logistiques dont le style de management se détache des formes traditionnelles d’expression de la masculinité et de l’autorité. Dans ces conditions, comment la masculinité perpétue-t-elle son hégémonie ? La thèse s’attache à montrer que la capacité de la masculinité hégémonique à se (re)produire tient à son processus d’hybridation. La thèse montre par ailleurs la coexistence d’une pluralité de masculinités hégémoniques spécifiques à chaque filière (transport, logistique, fonctions supports) et qui sont hiérarchisées entre elles. Pour autant, la mobilisation autour d’un idéal viril propre aux injonctions productivistes et à l’intensification des tâches propose un référentiel commun aux hommes, au-delà des clivages de classe, de race et des différents métiers de la chaîne logistique. Aussi, et malgré la volonté de certains dirigeants d’amorcer une réflexion sur l’égalité professionnelle, l’hybridité de la masculinité hégémonique n’interroge qu’à la marge une répartition genrée des emplois et l’inégale échelle de valeur entre les différentes formes de masculinités. / From a participatory observation survey conducted in a logistics company, from head office to warehouses, this work aims to study the social construction of masculinities at and through work. The history of Transfrilog was built through a family culture forged around the paternalistic management of self-taught employees. Today, having become the company's senior executives, the professionalization of the sector now compels them to deal with young graduates from supply chain training whose management style stands out from the traditional forms of expression of masculinity and authority. In these conditions, how does masculinity perpetuates its hegemony? The thesis aims to show that the capacity of hegemonic masculinity to (re)produce itself is due to a process of hybridization. The thesis also shows the coexistence of a plurality of hegemonic masculinities specific to each sector (transport, logistics, support functions) and which are hierarchized between themselves. However, the mobilization around a virile ideal specific to the productive injunctions and to the intensification of the tasks proposes a common reference to men, beyond divisions of class, race and different trades of the logistic chain. Also, and despite the desire of some leaders to initiate a reflection on professional equality, the hybridity of hegemonic masculinity asks only marginally a gendered distribution of jobs and the unequal scale of value between different forms of masculinities.

Studiens syfte var att öka förståelsen för hur maskuliniteter och femininiteter kan iscensättas inom gruppen män. Detta gjordes under hashtagen pappaledig på det sociala nätverket Instagram. Variationer och mönster undersöktes i relation till könsstereotypa normer. En semiotisk bild- och textanalys användes för att kunna besvara studiens syfte och frågeställningar. Begreppen maskuliniteter och femininiteter användes som en integrerad analysenhet i syfte att frångå könsdikotomi.  Studiens huvudresultat visade att majoriteten av männens bilder kunde tolkas maskulina medan texterna uppvisade en mer feminin eller mixad karaktär. I relation till Connells teori om hegemonisk maskulinitet tycks de hegemoniska idealen reproduceras i de hårdare och mindre uttrycksfulla bilderna medan en mjukare och mer emotionell karaktär kunde ses i bildtexterna. Texternas mer omhändertagande prägel kunde relateras till ett modernt faderskap. / The aim of the study was to increase understanding of how masculinities and femininities exhibit within a group of men. This was done in the hashtag #pappaledig on the social network Instagram. Variations and patterns were examined in relation to gender stereotyped norms. A semiotic image- and text analysis was used to answer the study's purpose and questions. The terms masculinities and femininities were used as an integrated analysis unit for the purpose of departing from sex dichotomy. The main results of the study showed that the majority of men's images could be interpreted masculine while the texts showed a more feminine or mixed character. In relation to Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity, the hegemonic ideals appear to be reproduced in the tougher and less expressive images while a softer and more emotional character could be seen in the captions. The more disposal character of the texts could be related to modern paternity.

The gender balance in Swedish preschool and elementary schoolteachers is highly uneven. Male preschool and elementary schoolteachers consist of only 4% and 25% respectively. The study’s motivation is found here. The aim is to get knowledge of the way male students at university who are studying to become preschool or elementary schoolteachers use and take benefit of existing male discourses and if they make opposition on these discourses. By the use of qualitative interviews, the material in this study is based on subjective views and experiences of male students doing gender in the context of a female-dominated space of study and anticipated future career. Within a broader social constructive approach, the empirical material is analyzed by the use of Connell’s theory on gender and hegemonic masculinity. Other theoretical concept that have been used in this study to display and analyze the way the students are doing gender are such as “male discourses” and “masculinity”. The result of this study suggest that male students are not giving up their use of male discourses, instead they are constructing a new role in relation to their future profession and existing discourses. They construct their profession roles in relation with their use of existing male discourses as well as opposition towards them, as well as the use of female discourses. The result of this study suggest that male students are in some cases using existing male discourses in relation to their profession, but that they are also using active resistance towards these discourses with the use of female discourses. These results go mostly in line with results presented by earlier studies in the field. The students are negotiating with the hegemonic masculinity in the way they are constructing their professional role as teachers and role models.

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