In 2005, MTV Movies and ThinkFilm released Murderball, a groundbreaking documentary about wheelchair rugby. Due to its popularity and its subject matter, the film presents a unique opportunity to reflect on representations of disability in the contemporary North American context. The narrative of the film constructs a rivalry between Team U.S.A., captained by Mark Zupan, and Team Canada, coached by Joe Soars. Murderball works exceptionally well to disrupt notions of people with disabilities as fragile and helpless, countering ableist assumptions about what persons with quadriplegia can accomplish. However, based on a close reading of the film, I suggest that Murderball accomplishes this disruption by also celebrating ableist, sexist and heterosexist representations. I critique the film’s construction of the relationship between competitive international sport settings, disability, and masculinity by drawing on the tools of feminism and anti-normative politics. I also examine representations of hegemonic masculinity that are discursively linked to sport competition and violence in ways that work to support a U.S. nationalist and imperialist impulse. Overall, I suggest that recuperations of normative identity in Murderball rely on a jingoistic and violent air of moral authority where American men work to preserve the winning reputation of the U.S.A., while subjecting themselves to the constraints of normalcy. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-14 16:16:58.087

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Female apologetic behaviour in sport includes any behaviour by female athletes that emphasizes a female athlete’s femininity. This behaviour is in response to the masculine and/or lesbian stereotypes associated with female sport participation. This thesis analyzed the female apologetic within Canadian women’s rugby. Attention was paid to the relationship of level of competition, racial identity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status with female apologetic behaviours. In-depth interviews with nine Canadian, female rugby players from various levels of competition, races and sexual orientations were conducted to explore these negotiations. Judith Butler’s idea of gender performativity was used as a research lens. The participants stated that they did not currently engage in any apologetic behaviour, and it was found that level of rugby, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status did not impact female apologetic behaviours. Rugby was found to be a safe place for the participants to perform resistant versions of femininity.

In South Africa, the erosion of jobs in the formal economy, the increased role played by the informal economy in people's survival and the high unemployment rate are the main causes of chronic poverty. Between 40% and 50% of the South African population is considered as poor and 25% categorised as ultra-poor. As Von Holdt and Webster wrote (2005:31), "the restructuring of work has a destructive impact on society and social cohesion". This research is interested in finding what the consequences of unemployment on the construction of black men's identities are. The construction of African masculinity was shaped throughout the 20th century by the economic and social policies of the colonial and apartheid regimes. New types of masculinities emerged related to the capacity of African men to earn a salary through employment and provide for their families. This research looks at masculinities in times of economic hardship: how are African men constructing their masculine identities when work has historically been a defining variable of their manhood and that they are now deprived from employment? Do men still abide to the hegemonic norm that they are supposed to provide financially for their families or do they reject this patriarchal model and assert their masculinity differently? This research has found that unemployment and deteriorating working conditions have distressing consequences on men. Some pal1icipants expressed their need for political and economic freedom but abide to the nomlS of patriarchal masculinity and are therefore ashamed of their unemployed situation. Their obedience to this system oppresses them as they cannot provide for their families. They do not allow themselves to talk about their pain. They show self-hatred, lack of confidence, fear and uncertainty. Patriarchal masculinity marginalises them further. On the contrary, participants who have rejected the norms of capitalist patriarchy have a healthier sense of family and community. Although unemployed and unable to provide for their families, those men have refuted the hegemonic norms of masculinity and asserted their manhood positively. They are involved fathers and partners. They share responsibilities and decision-making power within their households. They are not depressed and anxious. Self-actualisation, love and ubuntu are the pillars unemployed men need to work with in order to overcome capitalist patriarchy and reconstruct masculinity. Reconstructing masculinity would not only benefit men but is also a necessity for gender equality. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Tema: Akademinio jaunimo moteriškumo ir vyriškumo įvaizdžiai (VPU atvejis) Tiriamos temos pagrindimas. Pastaraisiais metais daugiau dėmesio skiriama vyriškumo bei moteriškumo savivokai. Kai kurie stebėtojai mano, kad visuotinės ekonominės bei socialinės transformacijos sukelia vyriškumo bei moteriškumo krizę, kurioje irsta tradiciniai vyrų ir moterų vaidmenys. Lyčių vaidmenys šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje yra labai persipynę – kas tradiciškai priskiriama vyriškiems vaidmenims vis dažniau yra atliekama moterų ir priešingai – vis daugiau vyrų „sumoteriškėja“. Moteriškumas ir vyriškumas turi daug atmainų – būtent tai sukelia sumaištį, prieštaravimus ir lyčių krizę. Darbo tikslas – Ištirti VPU akademinio jaunimo moteriškumo ir vyriškumo įvaizdžius.. Uždaviniai: Išanalizuoti sociologinę lyties sampratą bei lyčių tapatybės teorijas. Ištirti socialinį kultūrinį lyčių formavimosi teorinius aspektus. Išanalizuoti moteriškumo ir vyriškumo sampratas bei raiškos būdus. Išryškinti lyčių krizę ir vyriškumo bei moteriškumo transformacijas nūdienos visuomenėje. Tyrimo objektas – Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto fizinių ir humanitarinių studijų sričių studentų moteriškumo ir vyriško įvaizdžiai. Tyrimo hipotezės: 1. Jaunimo grupėje socialiai formuojant vyriškumą ne itin daug dėmesio kreipiama į teigiamą emocionalumą (draugiškumą, švelnumą, nuoširdumą). Čia vyrauja hegemoninio (norminio) vyriškumo modelis, kuris apima tokius bruožus kaip finansinė nepriklausomybė, sėkmė, statusas. 2. Formuojant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The survey topics justification. In recent years, more attention is paid to male and female consciousness. Some observers believe that the global economic and social transformations of femininity and masculinity caused by the crisis, which led to an erosion of traditional gender roles. Gender roles in modern society are very intertwined - what is traditionally assigned to men's roles are increasingly being carried out in women and vice versa - still more men are "effeminate". Femininity and masculinity are many variations - this is what leads to confusion, contradictions and gender crisis. Aim - Investigate Pedagogical university students femininity and masculinity images .. Objectives: To analyze the sociological concept of gender and gender identity theories. To investigate the socio-cultural aspects of gender formation theory. To analyze the concepts of femininity and masculinity and ways of expression. To highlight the gender crisis of masculinity and femininity and the transformation of modern society. The object of investigation - Vilnius Pedagogical University, physical education and humanities students in fields of female and male images. The study hypotheses: 1. Youth social groups in shaping masculinity is not very much attention to the positive emotionality (friendship, affection, sincerity). The predominance of hegemonic (normative) model of masculinity that includes features such as financial independence, success, status. 2nd Formation of feminine attention paid... [to full text]

This study explores how fathers exist within socially constructed micro and macro systems and are positioned within a discourse on gendered masculinity. Seven fathers from the Nanaimo, B.C. region volunteered to participate in two focus groups, to discuss “what makes a father”. An exploration of the men’s lived experiences reflected on memories from childhood that influenced choices they make in fatherhood. Through generative exchanges and personal narratives subjective and evolved perspectives on gender binaries, masculine stereotypes and traditional belief systems were articulated. The compilation and analysis of data attempts to disrupt preconceived notions of masculinity in the 21st century. Based on the focus group data the study reveals roles that challenge traditional paternal archetypes relevant to parental relationships and demonstrates that contemporary fathers continue to evolve and navigate what is being referred to as “new” fatherhood. The study contributes to the research on fathers as an exclusive research subject and their understanding of fatherhood in their own terms. The fathers in this study are challenging antiquated belief systems of how men are supposed to be within the structures of gendered masculinity. The study indicates there is no one-way or right way to be a dad and the curiosity and a conscious effort to trouble heteronormative archetypes by the participants indicates that men create space to chose to father according to their subjective experiences. / Graduate

This thesis analyses the links between masculinity and representations of power in the fiction of John Banville and argues that his use of the category of the aesthetic,especially the sublime, strategically presents the masculine subject as the site of a loss of power, often figured as selffragmentation or self-delusion. This strategy is particularly evident in Banville’s approach to problems of representation, especially with regard to narrating the past, the construction of systems of knowledge, and efforts to achieve or articulate self-presence balanced by an ethical relation to the other. In each case, gender difference and sexual desire act as markers within Banville’s key themes as part of the enactment of failure that defines the male protagonist. Existing gender criticism has examined many of the representations of women and femininity in Banville’s fiction, but has fully considered neither the ways in which these representations contribute to the construction of the male narrative subject that is the origin or focus of the text, nor the gender politics of the various articulations of creativity and intellectual activity valorised by Banville. Drawing upon Nick Mansfield’s work on cultural masochism, the thesis argues that the disavowal of power, or its entanglement in unresolvable dialectics, constitutes a subtle technique for managing power relations, the origins of which lie in the ambivalent relation to power at the heart of subject-formation. Contrary to the view that Banville’s fiction directly de-centres or deconstructs subjectivity, it shows that by aestheticising the de-centred subject the fiction works to neutralise difference and ultimately recuperate unity within elastic, even contradictory, narratives of self. Through readings of seven of Banville’s novels, it demonstrates that the misrecognitions and ironies that drive his fiction present epistemological and representational failures within an aesthetic closure that asserts itself, paradoxically, through these very failures to establish closure. Crucially, it is in the language of desire that this paradox is expressed. The thesis concludes that the logic of the sublime enables Banville to dramatise a fragmented masculinity that has lost its basis in traditional representational and philosophical ideals, but that it simultaneously brings about a recuperation and consolidation of the very power structures his writing appears to disavow.

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This study is about gender stereotypes that occur in the magazines of ELLE and KING's advertisements in 2014. The purpose of this inquisition is by using a gender perspective to examine the interpretation of women and men, compare how they relate to the traditional gender stereotypes. To answer our purpose of this study, a selection of 400 advertisements were analyzed based on it's content and visual expression. Through a content analysis, we could measure the frequency of 18 variables and put them in relation to each other to grasp the differences that exist between the genders. The results are presented in bar charts based on the variables that proved most interesting outcome between the genders. Our result indicated that ELLE and KING's advertisements relates to many of the traditional gender stereotypes even today.

The construction of hegemonic masculinity cannot be understood outside its relationship to emphasized femininity. Women’s negotiation of masculinity is dependent on their own feminine identity narratives (emphasized or liberated) in a corresponding context. Replicating and extending previous work, this study is aimed at exploring women’s construction of masculinity in the contexts of work, family, friendship and romantic relationships. However, where previous studies explored this in the South African context, the present study is aimed at determining if women’s construction of masculinity followed similar patterns for women from different countries across the world. The UNDP inequality index was used to estimate the developmental status (low, medium and high) of the country to explore whether participants from countries with different levels of development showed differing constructions of masculinity across the different contexts. The results supported Brittain (2010, 2011), in that this sample advocated for traditional hegemonic masculine traits in the context of family, romance and work, while constructing non-hegemonic ‘nice guy’ masculinities in the context of friendship. It was found that women from high and medium equality countries incorporated a few acceptable non-hegemonic and majority hegemonic masculine traits in their constructions of the ideal man across work, romance and family, while predominantly choosing non-hegemonic traits for friendship. In Low equality countries, women advocated predominantly for traditional hegemonic masculine traits across all four contexts. It seems that women’s negotiation of masculinity (traditionally hegemonic or non-hegemonic) is interdependent on their own identity narrative and their ability to construct and negotiate their own femininity (emphasized and liberated) in the same contexts. This study demonstrates that (1) despite the level of equality women have gained in society, they continue to advocate for and perpetuate hegemonic masculine ideals (2) that male/masculine and female/feminine identities are intrinsically bound together; and the production of female identities valued by women requires the simultaneous production of complementary masculinities. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.