The men’s rights movement (MRM) is a loosely affiliated collection of primarily online communities that together form a substantial component of a broader constellation of online men’s groups known as the “manosphere”. Though the specific ideologies that comprise the core of the modern MRM have existed since the mid-1970s, it was not until the advent of modern online communications that the movement was able to iterate into the form it is today. This research project examines the MRM as a form of reactionary countermovement, rooted in a collective sense of grievance, which directs knowledge producers and movement participants alike to engage in collective identity construction and in-group boundary maintenance through a shared, collaboratively developed countermemory. The research, composed of a qualitative analysis of MRM-produced texts found across more than thirty websites and online communities, indicates that the bulk of MRM literature and online activity facilitates the maintenance of this countermemory and to enable the movement to challenge its ideological opponents. Additionally, through a limited number of narrative interviews with members of pro-feminist men’s groups, this research contrasts the inward-facing orientation of MRM knowledge production and activity against that of pro-feminist men’s organizations, which engage in outward-facing, community-focused activism rooted in a shared sense of responsibility. This dissertation contributes to social movement theory by illustrating how online movements make use of virtual space through the construction of what I term virtual geographies to facilitate identity construction and knowledge transmission. The MRM makes use of these spaces to construct alternative discursive frameworks – countermemory – which allow for a reconceptualization of men’s social position from one of privilege and dominance, to one of marginalization and oppression. / Graduate / 2019-08-22

Abstract This thesis examines the evangelical strategy for the Men’s Missionary Union in Southeastern Nigeria. Chapter 1 gives the introduction to the study, which also comprises the background, the statement of the problems, the limitations and delimitation, the literary review and the methodology. Chapter 2 is a study that views the geography and ethnography of Southeastern Igboland. In this chapter, the geographic location, the ethnographic data and the religion of the people were examined. Chapter 3 focuses on the historical background of the people of southeastern Nigeria. The areas of interest include: the historical background, cultural portraits, social life, and the religious and traditional beliefs of the people. Chapter 4 looks at the history of missions in Southeast Nigeria. The areas of focus include: Christian Missions in Southeast Nigeria, Baptist Missions in the Southeast Nigeria, the Southern Baptist Missions in Nigeria, the Nigerian Baptist Convention Missions and the Men’s Missionary Union in the Southeastern Nigeria. Chapter 5 explores the Evangelistic Strategy for the Men’s Missionary Union in Southeastern Nigeria. The thesis suggests the following strategies for the area: the theological importance of evangelism in Southeastern Nigeria, the economic empowerment, social ministry, personal evangelism, recreational and sporting ministry, house/cell group scheme, and prayer/power evangelism. Chapter 6 discovers some hindrances to evangelism in the area and then makes some recommendations toward evangelizing the Southeast people of Nigeria. According to the observation of the thesis, the Southeastern people of Nigeria are assumed to have been Christianized, but the gospel-centered message of Christ is still lacking in the area. Therefore, this thesis explores possible evangelistic strategies that will galvanize the ministry of the Men’s Missionary Union of Baptist Churches in Southeastern Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria. It discovers that the seven evangelistic strategies when applied in the area will help reach the people with the gospel message of Christ.

Dissertation submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree: Fashion, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / This study sought to reveal conceptual connections between experienced social reality and garment products as cultural artefacts. Evaluation of the aesthetic fashion appeal of garment products was seen as a specialised interpretive skill. Modelling of essential elements of fashion meaning in South African men's leisurewear aimed to render professional interpretive acumen more widely accessible / M

This thesis examines theoretical paradigms within men and masculinities studies (MMS), introducing a new materialist lens through the work of Elizabeth Grosz and Brian Massumi. Two affective dimensions of MMS are explored through the application of this new materialist lens: the affect of wonder and flat affect. These two concepts can be understood as expressions of Spinoza’s two types of affects; joyful affects, or those affects that increase a body’s capacity for movement, and sad affects, or those affects that decrease a body’s capacity for movement. The affect of wonder, a joyful affect, is theorized in conversation with antiviolence and therapeutic masculinity initiatives. Flat affect, a sad affect, is theorized in conversation with Canadian men’s suicide rates. This thesis argues that dominant forms of masculinity orient subjects away from wonder and towards an unlivable state characterized by flat affect. Men and masculinities studies theory lacks applied engagement with affect, and this thesis contributes to efforts to address this lack. / Graduate

BACKGROUND: Maladaptive patterns of alcohol consumption can lead to clinically significant impairment or distress and have been established as a partial cause of a wide variety of health conditions, including neuropsychiatric disorders, cardiovascular diseases, hepatic inflammations, certain cancers, and infectious diseases. In the United States, Hispanic and non-Hispanic white (NHW) men have comparable rates of moderate alcohol consumption, however, Hispanic men are more likely to consume higher volumes of alcohol and with more frequency and experience disproportionate levels of adverse health and social consequences of alcohol abuse when compared to NHW men. Further, Hispanic men face greater barriers than NHW men in accessing, engaging, and completing alcohol abuse treatment services despite the contrasting burden of alcohol-related consequences they face. OBJECTIVES: This dissertation is composed from three studies addressing the following aims to: 1) synthesize the culturally- and gender-responsive components of alcohol and substance abuse and dependence treatment programs designed for Hispanic males in the United States; 2) explore Hispanic male perspectives and opinions regarding alcohol use and abuse patterns that may lead to disparate rates of alcohol abuse in Hispanic males in the United States; and 3) examine U.S. Hispanic male perspectives regarding the barriers to alcohol abuse treatment-seeking related behaviors that lead to disparate treatment engagement and completion rates. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted for Aim 1 in which articles reporting on culturally- and/or gender-adapted alcohol and/or substance abuse interventions designed exclusively for Hispanic males were identified. Aim 2 and Aim 3 used semi-structured interviews to elicit Hispanic male perspectives of alcohol abuse and alcohol abuse treatment seeking behaviors. Separate thematic analyses were conducted as per the objectives of Aims 2 and 3. Data analysis was based on a deductive process including a preliminary codebook that was supplemented with inductive codes that surfaced during iterative thematic analyses. RESULTS: Regarding Aim 1, literature searches yielded 2685 titles, resulting in 12 articles that fit the parameters of the review. The most scientifically rigorous findings suggest that cultural adaptations may outperform standard treatment for Hispanic men (n=6). Nevertheless, a fraction of the included interventions (n=4) did not improve outcomes compared to standard treatment. Considering the scarce number of publications, it is difficult to discern how much findings reflect ineffective interventions or methodological limitations. Findings for Aim 2 indicate that there are intersected effects of machismo, a culture of normalized overconsumption, social context stressors, and poor coping strategies that may influence maladaptive relationships with alcohol use. Findings for Aim 3 suggest that treatment seeking behaviors are highly influenced by; a) structural factors related to treatment accessibility, and linguistic and cultural-responsiveness of available treatment, b) sociocultural factors related to difficulties problematizing alcohol abuse due to lack of knowledge and cultural normalization of consumption, and societal stigmatization of alcohol abuse treatment, and c) individual factors related to machismo-bound pride as well as lack of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: Given the rapid expansion of the Hispanic population in the United States, and the parallel growth of alcohol abuse implications in this population, it is imperative that we learn where these problems may be rooted to better understand how to diminish the existing gaps. Collectively, these findings point to the need for treatment providers to disseminate accurate information about treatment availability and eligibility, and the treatment process. This work also illustrates the need to for consciousness building efforts targeting the Hispanic male community regarding the detrimental effects of alcohol-related problems and treatment, in order to diminish the stigma. Increased or redistributed funding for linguistically and culturally responsive programs is also needed in communities with large Hispanic populations in order to meet the growing demand, particularly for the uninsured. Further research is needed to identify other potential barriers and recovery resources for this population and other Hispanic subgroups in other parts of the United States.

This thesis applies the radical feminist perspective set out by MacKinnon (1993) and Dworkin (1995), to analyze the construction of female sexuality within popular Canadian men’s pornographic magazines and non-pornographic magazines. A mixed methods approach was used to analyze the images and text within the feature articles of the selected magazines. Results revealed that women continue to be constructed as sexual objects within both categories of magazines, but the earlier link identified by MacKinnon and Dworkin between violence and sexuality was on longer apparent. Instead, women were a sexual puzzle that the magazines attempted to unpack. Rather than a strict dichotomy between pornographic and non-pornographic magazines, a continuum of grey emerged whereby the level of explicitness between the two magazines increased as the continuum progressed from left to right, thereby demonstrating the pornographication of mainstream media, as per McNair (2002).

Grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000) and objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), the purpose of this thesis was to investigate the role of dispositional autonomous and controlled motivation in predicting who might be more protected from or more vulnerable to experiencing state self-objectification (Manuscript 1), diminished cognitive functioning or cognitive performance (Manuscript 1 & 2), and poorer self-evaluations (Manuscript 2) following exposure to advertisements portraying one of two leading cultural body ideals: the male muscular ideal (Manuscript 1) or female thin ideal (Manuscript 2). The objectives were to investigate the effects of the two ideals while evaluating the contribution of autonomous and controlled motivation orientation in statistically predicting various body image consequences using five separate male undergraduate samples. Consistent with the overall hypotheses of the thesis, the muscular ideal video and thin ideal video significantly decreased men’s cognitive functioning and cognitive performance compared to men in the neutral video conditions (Manuscript 1 & 2). In addition, men who were primed with the muscular ideal video demonstrated significantly higher levels of self-objectification compared to those in the neutral condition (Manuscript 1: Study 1 and Study 2). Mediation results revealed an indirect effect of the muscular ideal video on men’s cognitive functioning (i.e., appearance schema activation) through self-objectification (Manuscript 1: Study 1), thereby supporting objectification theory as a means of explaining how portrayals of muscular body ideals affect men’s cognitive function. However, inconsistent with previous studies, the female thin ideal did not significantly affect men’s self-evaluations (Manuscript 2: Study 2). Lastly, in line with self-determination theory, all five studies (Manuscript 1 & 2) found that autonomous motivation orientation played a significant moderating role against the cognitive consequences associated with cultural body ideals among young college men. Men who viewed the muscular ideal video and who reported high levels of dispositional autonomous motivation demonstrated less appearance schema activation, less difficulty solving a challenging Soma puzzle, and performed better on the Modified Stroop task compared to men with low levels of dispositional autonomous motivation (Manuscript 1). Similarly, men who reported high levels of dispositional autonomous motivation and viewed the thin ideal also demonstrated less appearance schema activation and less difficulty solving a challenging Soma puzzle compared to men who reported low levels of dispositional autonomous motivation (Manuscript 2). In contrast, controlled motivation orientation was not a significant moderator across all five studies (Manuscript 1 & 2). Collectively, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating autonomous motivation orientation and self-objectification into theoretical models of men’s body image.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

No description available.

The purposes of this study were (1) to identify selected consumers' attitudes toward purchasing domestic- made shirts and those imported from a low-wage country, and (2) to evaluate the relative effects of price, brand name, and country-of-origin on perception of quality of men's dress shirts. A convenience sample of 120 male undergraduate students registered at Virginia Tech completed questionnaires in selected classes. Research hypotheses that consumers' attitudes toward selected beneficial and imagery attributes would be more positive for domestic shirts than for imported shirts were supported in the single cue situation. The effects of price, brand name and country-of-origin on consumers' quality perception were significant with price and brand name slightly more important than country-of-origin. The interactions between price and country-of-origin, and between brand name and country-of-origin were not significant. / Master of Science