The recent critical focus on men and masculinities purports challenges to the dominance of ‘hegemonic’ or idealised dominant masculine scripts (Connell, 1995). Men’s increasing consumption of image enhancement products and especially facial cosmetics – aspects of so-called ‘metrosexuality’ (Simpson, 1994, 2002) – constitute one such example. Scholars have predominately examined ‘metrosexuality’ from sociological perspectives (Carniel, 2009; Coad, 2008; Miller, 2008) arguing it challenges gender and sexuality through an interest in feminised practices, but also by unhinging it from gender and sexuality as an asexual personal aesthetic lifestyle. Given that we know little of how self-identifying ‘metrosexuals’ define, construct and negotiate their identity in relation to other gender and sexual identities, these absences underpin this thesis. The wealth of Internet computer-mediated forms of communications provide fruitful datasets as newly forming identities like ‘metrosexual’ are arguably more easily claimed online in the absence of face-to-face interaction. This thesis examines four modes of electronic talk – an online magazine article and reader responses, forum contributions, video creator and viewer responses, marketing testimonials - with discursive psychological (Edwards & Potter, 1992) and membership categorisation analytical (Sacks, 1992) approaches. The analysis of the talk pays particular attention to the discursive features deployed in the construction of ‘metrosexual’ masculinity by both ‘metrosexuals’ and ‘non-metrosexuals’. The analysis also highlights the continued availability of, and difficulty in rejecting, conventional masculine scripts; men frequently reference sexual prowess, self-respect, corrective measures to combat the effects of extreme work and sport, whilst rejecting some of the features of conventional masculinity as outdated. This thesis shows how masculinity remains a multifaceted resource, which can be creatively deployed to fulfill various functions – to embrace contemporary social demands – making the study of ‘metrosexual’ masculinity an important and novel contribution to knowledge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:629331 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Hall, M. |
| Publisher | Nottingham Trent University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/275/ |
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