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Maria McCann paints a dark picture of masculinity and its effects in her novel As Meat Loves Salt (2001). The violent Jacob Cullen struggles with his masculinity as he faces the intricacies of religion, sexuality and politics in the midst of the English Civil War where he falls in love with fellow soldier Christopher Ferris. By using R.W. Connell and James Messerschmidt’s framework for the hierarchy of masculinities, I explore masculinities on local, regional and global levels and emphasized femininity in a close reading of McCann’s novel. My aim is not only to analyse the masculinities of the novel but also to use the framework to redefine toxic masculinity in order to make it a useable concept when analysing masculinities in literature. I redefine toxic masculinity because it lacks a clear definition anchored in an established framework used to study masculinity that does not see masculinity as inherently toxic. I believe that anchoring it to Connell and Messerschmidt’s framework will make it a useable concept. Due to the novel’s relationship to the Bible, I will use masculinity studies done on David and Jesus from the Bible to compare and reveal similarities with the masculinities in the novel, how they appear on the local, regional and global levels in the novel and its effects. I draw parallels between the love story in As Meat Loves Salt to the love story of David and Jonathan in the Bible by using queer readings of David and Jonathan in order to explore how masculinity affects the relationships and how the novel uses these two love stories as a study of toxic masculinity and how it relates it to hegemonic masculinity.

The aim of this study is to examine how the male characters are portrayed in the television series »Livet i bokstavslandet« based on Connels (1995) theory hegemonic »masculinity« and Butlers theory »gender performativity« and examine if the male characters challenge or maintain gender. The study proceed from the following questions: Does the male characters in »Livet i bokstavslandet« challenge or reproduce traditional gender roles? Are the male characters »participant«, »subordinated« or »marginalized« based on Connells hegemonic masculinity theory? A narrative content analysis has been conducted. The theoretical framework of the examination is based on men and masculinities studies, from a post-modern influenced perspective. Butler's concepts of performativity are of importance in this study. The results of shows, in conclusion, that »Livet i bokstavslandet« does neither challenge nor negotiate new gender roles. From a performativity point of view, the conclusion is that the series maintains prevailing gender roles.

Prostitucija egzistuojanti nuo pirmykščių laikų savyje talpina socialinį neteisingumą, išnaudojimą ir pažeidžiamas žmogaus teises, todėl socialinis darbas būdamas anti-engėjiška praktika, privalo imtis iniciatyvos. Darbe remiamasi interpretuojamąja – konstruktyvistine ontologija, kuri teigia, kad socialiniai reiškiniai neegzistuoja savaime, jie yra sukonstruoti ir įtakoti kitų. Prostitucijos fenomenas sąlygotas stereotipų, pasmerkimo ir visuotinės stigmatizacijos, dažnai šios nuostatos trukdo į reiškinį pažvelgti iš esmės. Pripažįstama, kad prostituciją sukuria paklausa, tačiau apie ją nekalbama, tai tarsi nematoma prostitucijos pusė, kuri palikta užribyje. Nėra aiškios informacijos, kokia ši paklausa ir kas sąlygoja jos egzistavimą, todėl siekiant kalbėti apie tuos, kurie perka seksą ir išlaiko sekso industriją, šio darbo tikslas – atskleisti vyrų, perkančių seksą, naratyvus projektuojant socialinio darbo intervencijos kryptis. Keliami tyrimo klausimai: kaip sekso pirkimo reiškinį aiškina perkantieji seksą? Kaip sekso pirkimas yra susijęs su hegemoninio vyriškumo nuostatomis? Kokios galimos socialinio darbo intervencijos kryptys sekso pirkimo kontekste? Siekiant atskleisti vyrų, perkančių seksą naratyvus buvo pasitelktas kokybinis naratyvinis tyrimas. Remiamasi subjektyvistine – interpretuojamąja epistemologija. Pasirinkta tyrimo dalyvių trianguliacija, kuri padėjo gauti tikslesnius duomenis iš reiškinio vidaus (interviu su sekso pirkėjais) ir išorės (interviu su policijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Prostitution has existed since primeval times. This phenomenon contains the social injustice, exploitation and violations of human rights. Social work, as an anti-oppressive practice, must take action. The paper is based on interpretative – constructivist ontology, which proposes that social phenomena do not exist in spite of themselves, but they are designed and influenced by others. Prostitution is conditioned by stereotypes, stigmatization and universal condemnation and often this approach doesn`t let to look at the very core of this phenomenon. It is recognized that prostitution is created by demand but it is not discussed in public. It is like an invisible side of prostitution, which is left behind. There is no clear information what the demand is and what determines its existence, so there is a need to discuss those who buy sex and support sex industry. The aim of this paper is to reveal narratives of men who buy sex with the purpose to design directions of social work based on these narratives. The questions the research raises are is: How the phenomenon of sex-purchase is explained by the buyers themselves? What are the possible directions of social work intervention in the context of the sex-purchase? In order to reveal the narratives of men who buy sex, qualitative narrative study was chosen. The research is based on subjectivist - interpretative epistemology. Triangulation of research participants was chosen, which helped to get more accurate data from inside of... [to full text]

Using secondary analysis of in-depth interviews of men with schizophrenia (N=59), in this thesis I explore the interplay between the performance of hegemonic masculinity and the treatment career of men with serious mental illness (SMI), and in doing so begin a conversation about how mental health providers can better address issues of masculinity. My findings are that significant barriers to masculinity performance are caused by the diagnosis and treatment of SMI, leading to roll loss, subsequent stress, and strategic modification of masculinity performance to attain hegemonic complicity. I identify six emergent themes and three masculinities within the data, and offer a theoretical framework with recommendations for application and future research.

Diploma thesis "TV Lifestyle Magazines : Phenomenon of Masculinity, Makeover and Success" mostly deals with the concepts of life-style, taste, makeover a masculinity and their factual manifestation in particular television shows. In its theoretical part the thesis defines fundamental themes and concepts based on literature, especially according to Pierre Bourdieu, Dick Hebdige and Michel Foucault. The concept of life-style has gained much importance in contemporary society, because it's actually the style of life which has become the most important principle of social clustering. One of the first sociologists to reflect on the concept of life-style was Pierre Bourdieu. His conception of life-style is based on stratification and social inequalities. These inequalities are - according to Bourdieu - the product of deep structural inequalities underlying the society as a whole. The thesis also concerns with style as intentional communication, hegemony and resistence as perceived by Dick Hebdige. The body and the process of moulding it into the shape of disciplined bodies is the subject of another part of the thesis. Further on the thesis deals with the problem of body and masculinity, and above all with the process of building its image in the media. Two types of masculinity are defined; first hegemonic...

This essay explores men´s relationship to training through a phenomenological understanding of bodily comfort and orientation. This is done by a survey performed with three men who identified themselves as feminist and continuingly exercise their bodies. The phenomenological understanding is then broadened by coupling the men's experiences to contemporary research on masculinity. By employing theories surrounding Sara Ahmed's view on phenomenology and Raewyn Connell's hegemonic masculinity, the essay shows that the men's bodily comfort and orientation is affected by the fact that they exercise. Through their training they construct bodies that in some aspects correlates with the conception of being in form, being fit. It also correlates with normative conceptions of masculine bodies. The conception of the fit body and masculinity is also explored through a view on norms of society. The feeling of incorporating social norms increases the men's bodily comfort, and give them a sense of being in control of their bodies. That they identified as feminist shows that they have an ambivalent relationship to their practitioner.

Although prevalence rates of gay intimate partner violence (IPV) appear to equal heterosexual IPV rates, gay male IPV does not feature strongly in public anti-­‐violence messaging. This relative silence appears to hold even within the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community. This study addresses this silence. In-­‐depth qualitative interviews were conducted and a critical discourse analysis informed by Ian Parker’s (1992) perspectives, was used to analyse the results. A review of mainstream and critical discourses of violence show that IPV is usually constructed as an exclusively heterosexual phenomenon and these influenced participants’ constructions. Findings indicated that a range of discourses intersect to produce constructions of gay IPV as ‘not violence’, normative, un-­‐ harmful, unintimidating, ‘anti-­‐gay’, erotic, cathartic and intimate. All of these formations can result in gay IPV being silenced and it was shown that gay mens’ constructions of IPV were inextricably bound in gendered, power asymmetry. The study demonstrates how particular configurations of discourse are necessary for violence to become intelligible at all. The implications of these findings are discussed and possibilities for important community intervention suggested.