Showing papers in "Journal of Gender Studies in 2010"
TL;DR: The authors examined the construction of masculinity among team-members within a highly successful rugby squad, at a high-ranked academic university in England, and found that the players and coaches share a sporting field in which variations in their gendered belief systems are sharply contested.
Abstract: This ethnographic research uses one year of participant observation and 24 interviews to examine the construction of masculinity among team-members within a highly successful rugby squad, at a high-ranked academic university in England. We find that the players and coaches share a sporting field in which variations in their gendered belief systems are sharply contested. Teammates believe their coaches to be exhibiting an out-of-date, orthodox version of masculinity, and instead of adopting their coaches' perspectives on masculinity, players take a more inclusive approach to masculinity-making. The players on this team – all of whom identify as heterosexual – contest three fundamental principles of orthodox masculinity: homophobia, misogyny, and excessive risk-taking. These men do not degrade women or gay men in any measureable manner, and they are emotionally supportive of each other when ill or injured. We suggest that these results require a new way for theorizing about masculinity, and we therefore pro...
174 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyse media representations of childhood obesity in Australia and draw out the discourses of maternal responsibility and the intertwining of mothers and children's bodies, suggesting that childhood obesity offers another embodied location to reinforce and extend women's roles and responsibilities as mothers, in respon...
Abstract: Currently in developed nations, childhood obesity is generating widespread concern and prompting social and institutional responses. Obesity is constructed as a broad public health crisis, but individuals are constructed as responsible for their own bodies and body sizes within this crisis. We are particularly interested in two aspects that focus on women as central to this phenomenon; the first is the imputation of maternal responsibility for the weight of children and the second is the role that specific fears about flesh and women's bodies play in how childhood obesity is represented. We analyse media representations of childhood obesity in Australia and draw out the discourses of maternal responsibility and the intertwining of mothers and children's bodies. We frame the childhood obesity crisis within a broader discussion of women, care and responsibility, suggesting that childhood obesity offers another embodied location to reinforce and extend women's roles and responsibilities as mothers, in respon...
114 citations
TL;DR: This article examined whether the later development of awareness of gender issues in Hong Kong compared to Australia is reflected in patterns of gender representation in the English language textbooks published in these two places and found that such awareness has impacted most on the use of gender-inclusive terms and symmetrical phrases in both places.
Abstract: This article examines whether the later development of awareness of gender issues in Hong Kong compared to Australia is reflected in patterns of gender representation in the English language textbooks published in these two places. A comparison of 10 currently-used Australian books with 10 Hong Kong books revealed that such awareness has impacted most on the use of gender-inclusive terms and symmetrical phrases in both places. The Australian writers tended to use generic they while their Hong Kong counterparts preferred either the coordination he or she or ‘generic’ he. Both sets of writers maintained the convention of male-first presentation, depicted women in a more limited range of social roles, and presented stereotyped images of women as weaker and more passive than men, and as operating primarily within domestic domains. The visual representations also reinforced traditional gendered roles. Hong Kong textbook writers, nevertheless, paid more heed to the inclusion of females visually. Controversy per...
94 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at nurse narratives on emotional labour and explore the gendered nature of emotional labour, and analyse the divisions of gender and emotion in the talk of nurse interviewees.
Abstract: Emotions in health organisations tend to remain tacit and in need of clarification. Often, emotions are made invisible in nursing and reduced to part and parcel of ‘women's work’ in the domestic sphere. It has been argued that there is an emotional division of labour in nursing that is based upon gender and gender stereotypes. Opinions on appropriate and inappropriate emotions shape images of nursing, interpersonal and physical contact with patients, the perceived roles of male and female nurses, and the roles of other health staff such as doctors. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to look at nurse narratives on emotional labour and explore the gendered nature of emotional labour. Data were collected primarily from 16 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with nurses. Divisions of gender and emotion will be analysed in the talk of nurse interviewees. Excerpts from interviews will be presented so as to look at views on the definition, stereotypes, gender and professional divisions of e...
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined variables that explain maternal gatekeeping (attitudes that restrict the involvement of fathers in child care) among a sample of Israeli women with young children aged between two and six.
Abstract: This study examined variables that explain maternal gatekeeping (attitudes that restrict the involvement of fathers in child care) among a sample of Israeli women (n = 88) with young children aged between two and six. Based on a family systems approach, several main explanatory variables were examined: the mother's gender role ideology; desire for control; satisfaction with her husband's involvement in child care; perception of support from the extended family in child care; and background variables of the mother, child, and dyadic unit. The findings indicate that the mother's gender role ideology contributed the most to explaining maternal gatekeeping. Other significant explanatory variables were the mother's satisfaction with her husband's involvement in child care, the mother's level of education, and family income. In light of the findings, practical recommendations for family practitioners are presented.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present survey data from a sample of 103 belly dancers in Salt Lake City, Utah, addressing issues of body image and gender identity, indicating broad and inclusive body image norms, lack of pressure for body image conformity, and high levels of body satisfaction among dancers.
Abstract: This research presents survey data from a sample of 103 belly dancers in Salt Lake City, Utah, addressing issues of body image and gender identity. While research on various forms of dance has emphasized unhealthy body image influences, belly dance offers a counter-example, indicating broad and inclusive body image norms, lack of pressure for body image conformity, and high levels of body satisfaction among dancers. Data also indicate that those norms are linked to more generalized challenges to gender roles and structures. Explanations for the maintenance of alternative collective norms focus on two institutional influences: processes of socialization to collective values, and the free space provided by a gender segregated activity.
34 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that most men who participate in this behavior are concerned with how hogging affects their relationships with their male peers, and that even men who do not engage in sexual activity gain from the sexual encounters of their peers by either participating in 'bets' or being entertained by the stories their peers tell them about hogging.
Abstract: Hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary United States involves control, domination, competition, aggression, and the devaluing of women. Hogging, a practice whereby men seek out women they deem unattractive or fat for sexual purposes, has been largely overlooked by scholars. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to explore hogging from a sociology of masculinities perspective. Interviews and content analyses were conducted to learn about why men hog and what they are able to achieve from this behavior. These data indicate that most men who participate in this behavior are concerned with how hogging affects their relationships with their male peers. Men who hog achieve status in their peer groups by gaining sexual access to women they see as ‘easy’. Even men who do not engage in sexual activity gain from the sexual encounters of their peers, by either participating in ‘bets’ or being entertained by the stories their peers tell them about hogging. Hogging, then, is less about the encounters with ...
33 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the need for a more nuanced and ethnographically informed debate around the relationship between childhood, the media, and sexualisation, and call for ethnographic research with children, to understand their perspectives of what adults view as sexualised behaviour.
Abstract: This article considers ongoing moral outrage over the assumed sexualisation of young girls by the media. It questions this taken-for-granted association between the media and the sexualisation of children. It suggests that this visceral anxiety reflects a particularly adult-centric view of children's behaviour and considers how this may serve to discipline girls’ sexuality in particular. Whilst child welfare and wellbeing are paramount, this article suggests the need for a more nuanced and ethnographically informed debate around the relationship between childhood, the media, and sexualisation. It calls for ethnographic research with children, to understand their perspectives of what adults view as sexualised behaviour. A number of questions are raised throughout the article to stimulate further research within anthropology and the social sciences more broadly. The article considers the extent to which attention could more usefully be shifted from the control of extrinsic factors such as the media to teach...
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an in-depth qualitative analysis of news coverage in five major US dailies confirms these stereotypes and reveals the implications of gendered news coverage on the way Pelosi is perceived as leader.
Abstract: Literature shows that politics remains associated with maleness in the American cultural discourse. For a female to be elected to office, she must balance common archetypical masculine characteristics that represent strong and capable leadership, with the nurturing expected of women. An in-depth qualitative analysis of Nancy Pelosi's news coverage in five major US dailies confirms these stereotypes. Portrayed as ‘very strong’ and ‘decisive’, the Speaker ‘knows what she wants’. But the woman with ‘the spine of steel’ also possesses a ‘heart of gold’. She is a mother of five and a grandmother of six, and, of course, wears Armani suits. The tension between the two opposite personalities – one predominantly ‘masculine’ and the other clearly ‘feminine’ – characterizes the coverage of the country's first female Speaker and reveals the implications of gendered news coverage on the way Pelosi is perceived as leader. The newspapers examined include the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Los Angele...
28 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of gender roles on gender awareness is mediated by neo-sexism, which is a useful concept in that it permits denial of the existence of discrimination and also upholds the belief that inequality is no longer a problem.
Abstract: Gender awareness implies the recognition of discrimination against women. Contemporary studies have shown that nowadays some people deny that gender inequality exists. This affirmation is based on covert sexist beliefs, which can go unnoticed, disappearing into the cultural norms. Those who consider themselves supporters of women's rights may maintain non-traditional gender roles, but also exhibit subtle sexist beliefs. Therefore, neo-sexism is a useful concept in that it permits denial of the existence of discrimination and also upholds the belief that inequality is no longer a problem. Based on feminist identity research, this study shows that the effect of gender roles on gender awareness is mediated by neo-sexism. In women this effect was total, while in men it was partial. In this sense neo-sexism could be considered to be a factor in maintaining gender inequality and therefore an instrument of male dominance that impedes gender awareness.
27 citations
TL;DR: The barriers women encounter when they threaten the very arena in which men seek to get validation as males are discussed in this paper. But women sportscasters face considerable challenges when entering the maledominated sports world.
Abstract: Women sportscasters face considerable challenges when entering the male-dominated sports world. In the realm of sports culture, the ongoing competition among sports teams and athletes serves as a continual mechanism for constructing, validating and commemorating manliness. Sport is the nectar that nurtures the masculine self. It is a culture; the dominant culture in the United States where men rule and women are marginalized and objectified. This study reveals the barriers women encounter when they threaten the very arena in which men seek to get validation as males.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the representation of human cloning in Kazuo Ishiguro's speculative fiction, Never let me go, published in 2005, and investigate the possibility that this exploration of human identity has a significant, if oblique, relationship to heteronormative constructions of heterosexuality and the human.
Abstract: Contemporary debate and speculation about the prospect of reproductive cloning reveals the way in which such beings, as ‘copies’ of human originals, challenge notions of the human, especially in relation to issues of individuality, authenticity and origin. This article explores the representation of human cloning in Kazuo Ishiguro's speculative fiction, Never let me go, published in 2005. It investigates the possibility that Ishiguro's exploration of the contingency of human identity has a significant, if oblique, relationship to heteronormative constructions of heterosexuality and the human. In order to trace how a fiction of human cloning might give rise to questions of heteronormativity, I will foreground issues of reproduction and their relationship to normative constructions of heterosexuality. The controversies prompted by the potential prospect of reproductive human cloning can be attributed in part to the ways in which it challenges the heterosexual prerogative to reproduction; I aim to situate hu...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the way in which British and Spanish female adolescents disclose personal information about their love-lives, arguing that these bloggers create competing narratives which consist of either crediting or puncturing traditional love and relationship myths, and reveal that these female adolescents live out different gendered discourses when they are entering and leaving, love relationships.
Abstract: Using a blog corpus, the current study of weblog writing explores changing cultural norms surrounding technology-mediated formation of interpersonal relationships and aims to gain insight into important aspects of online female behaviour. More specifically, this article analyses the way in which British and Spanish female adolescents disclose personal information about their love-lives. In doing so, I argue that these bloggers create competing narratives which consist of either crediting or puncturing traditional love and relationship myths. The study of these competing narratives, in turn, reveals that these female adolescents live out different gendered discourses when they are entering, and when they are leaving, love relationships. Furthermore, this study examines the contemporary association between laddish attitudes in female adolescents and the involvement of verbal aggression in their personal weblogs.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss anorexia as an aesthetic ideal rather than as an actual illness, as well as its erotic connotations in the context of Victorian literature and culture.
Abstract: This article discusses anorexia as an aesthetic ideal rather than as an actual illness, as well as its erotic connotations in the context of Victorian literature and culture. The nineteenth century regarded anorexia as a gendered disease: like other so-called ‘female maladies’, it is connected with male standards of femininity and the devastating effects it has on women's self-image. The sometimes contradictory representation of anorexia in literature offers a particularly interesting insight into cultural assumptions of what was (is?) considered as ‘truly feminine’. I will concentrate on the analysis of vampire women in Stoker's Dracula, since the female vampire manifests all the contradictions in Victorian and fin de siecle assumptions of femininity. In the novel, all the vampires except the Count himself are female, and the transformations these women undergo are mainly manifest in their bodies. The act of eating in Dracula becomes not only aesthetically and culturally unacceptable but monstrous and gr...
TL;DR: In this paper, a focus on religion can highlight how and why violence is so deeply engrained in the lives of women in Rajasthan whilst also, through insights into ritual, illuminating those moments when women use religion as a source of strength and courage in responding to violence.
Abstract: This article shows how a focus on religion can highlight how and why violence is so deeply engrained in the lives of women in Rajasthan whilst also, through insights into ritual, illuminating those moments when women use religion as a source of strength and courage in responding to violence. Interviews with some secular NGOs working to end violence against women in Rajasthan reveal their focus on the negative impact of patriarchal religion in sustaining male dominance, thereby sanctioning the use of violence against women. Ethnographic research looking at women-only ritual spaces reveals how positive religion can be for many women as a social and spiritual space where they work through their problems both internally and with others. A simultaneously positive and negative view of religion could help outsiders understand why violence exists whilst also supporting creative and sensitive activism working with those women most affected.
TL;DR: Schwarzenegger's ability to cross the wide divide between bodybuilding subculture, an oddball sport shunned for its homoerotic imagery, and mainstream culture where he has become a popular icon of muscular masculinity was examined in this article.
Abstract: This article examines Arnold Schwarzenegger's ability to cross the wide divide between bodybuilding subculture, ‘an oddball sport’ shunned for its homoerotic imagery, and mainstream culture where he has become a popular icon of muscular masculinity. Where no other bodybuilder before or following him has been so successful, I show that it was Schwarzenegger's ability to mould himself to popular discourses that was the secret to his success. It is revealed that he developed a hyper-heterosexual persona and peddled an image of himself as a self-made man that fitted with broader cultural notions about American manhood. It is further revealed that whiteness plays a role in his ability to market himself, where whiteness underpins notions of masculine physical perfection within bodybuilding as well as in broader cultural notions about the kinds of bodies that are fit for American citizenship.
TL;DR: This paper examined the portrayals of women by the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Press during the six-month period surrounding the 2004 election in order to determine how this religiously and politically powerful group depicts women and their role in the family, church, and society.
Abstract: Among recent controversies surrounding the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination, have been statements on the role of women in society. With the 2004 election the SBC gained political influence due to its role in the re-election of President George W. Bush and ratification of 13 state constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. This study examines the portrayals of women by the SBC's Baptist Press during the six-month period surrounding the 2004 election in order to determine how this religiously and politically powerful group depicts women and their role in the family, church, and society.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the problematics and possibilities regarding these organisations' promotion of gender change at local, national and transnational levels and foreground the significance of a coherent feminist politics and activism that responds to the social conditions and cultural nuances that impact on gender relations in particular contexts.
Abstract: While the global neo-liberal agenda has increased the impoverishment and marginalisation of many women, it has also created possibilities for pursuing gender justice. Deepened and broadened understandings and measures of equity brought about by the processes of globalisation and insights from feminism have disturbed neo-liberal regimes and produced action around the pursuit of gender equity goals. Moreover, new configurations of ‘the global’ have strengthened transnational feminist networks and coalitions and generated multiple and varied spaces for feminist engagement. Against this backdrop, this article draws attention to the ways in which these shifts have brought to light previously unrecognised complexities and tensions that continue to hinder the pursuit of global gender justice. Focusing on the feminist work of NGOs and CSOs and, specifically, issues of social capital and cultural context, the article examines the problematics and possibilities regarding these organisations' promotion of gender change at local, national and transnational levels. Such examination foregrounds the significance of a coherent feminist politics and activism that responds to the social conditions and cultural nuances that impact on gender relations in particular contexts and is supported by broader facilitative structures and social networks.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: It is shown that the management of chronic illness entails structures of production, power, cathexis, and symbols through which the experience of living with this chronic condition simultaneously reflects and produces dominant and more marginal forms of femininity and masculinity.
Abstract: Diabetes type 2 is a growing public health problem worldwide resulting in substantial costs both to the public purse and to individual health and wellbeing. The disease has long been associated with sexual and reproductive health problems, but otherwise, there has been little attention to the way gender might shape the experience of diabetes. Diabetes prevention and management place heavy emphasis on ‘lifestyle’ which foregrounds several gendered domains of social life. This study investigates how gender influences the experience of living with diabetes type 2 in a sample of 119 adults with diabetes. Employing Connell's relational perspective on gender, this article shows that the management of chronic illness entails structures of production, power, cathexis, and symbols through which the experience of living with this chronic condition simultaneously reflects and produces dominant and more marginal forms of femininity and masculinity. We conclude with suggestions for how the findings might assist servic...
TL;DR: The personas of the three female stars discussed in this article represented variations of the New Woman, particularly in the form of the flapper, and the diffusion of the norms of disinterested love within the context of consumerism.
Abstract: The popular cross-class romance films of the 1920s were influenced by two socio-cultural developments: the ‘New Woman’, particularly in the form of the flapper, and the diffusion of the norms of disinterested love within the context of consumerism. The personas of the three female stars discussed here – Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore and Clara Bow – represented variations of the ‘New Woman’. Mary Pickford combined rebellion against, and continuity with, Victorian norms of femininity. Colleen Moore balanced a fun-loving flapper image with sexual reticence. Clara Bow represented the sexually assertive and alluring flapper. All three stars were heroines in cross-class romance films and their personas informed the variations in the plots of those films, but their personas were all accommodated to disinterested love, a norm that confirmed that the freedoms of the New Woman were confined within a class system linked to gender.
TL;DR: Venus Boyz as discussed by the authors is the first documentary feature film that portrays the drag king phenomenon and other queer FTM transgender persons, a pioneering task whose merit should be acknowledged, as well as the most influential visual vehicle through which to foster visibility onto different embodiments of female masculinities.
Abstract: The representation of female masculinity is a relatively new cultural phenomenon that started in the mid-1990s, mainly in Anglo-American contexts and which was highly influenced by the tenets of queer theory. As part of the recent renaissance of drag within gender and sexuality studies, the drag king phenomenon has not received the academic attention that it should, especially when compared to representations of femininity by men. Thus, the present contribution will analyze the film Venus boyz as one of the most influential visual vehicles through which to foster visibility onto different embodiments of female masculinities. Venus boyz has the merit of being the first documentary feature film that portrays the drag king phenomenon and other queer FTM transgender persons, a pioneering task whose merit should be acknowledged. As will be seen, then, by dislodging masculinity from maleness, the social and cultural codes of gender identity can be altered and troubled, not only to shake the foundations of ortho...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the reactions of Romanian college students to three sexist jokes, as well as predictors of those reactions, concluding that women, respondents with a feminist identity and those who identified with the targets of the jokes were least likely to react favorably to the jokes.
Abstract: Sexist humor is pervasive in Romanian culture, as it is in many others. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, we examined the reactions of Romanian college students to three sexist jokes, as well as predictors of those reactions. Women, respondents with a feminist identity and those who identified with the targets of the jokes were least likely to react favorably to the jokes. A considerable proportion of the participants believed that sexist jokes carry misogynist messages and negatively influence women's social status. We conclude that even among this population of students who have not been significantly exposed to feminist discourse, sexist humor is sometimes resisted, rather than being viewed as harmless and inconsequential.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed over 1000 eBay listings and related profiles from the English-language website and found that the men depicted in listings are gay, suggest listings that are of interest to gay men, and include unconventional bodily presentations.
Abstract: eBay underwear and swimwear sellers incorporate gay identities and female masculinities into the eBay site. They indicate that the men depicted in listings are gay, suggest listings that are of interest to gay men, and include unconventional bodily presentations. While eBay asserts its role as a selling platform, gay underwear and swimwear listings are often a byproduct of men's interests in self-display and communication with other men. Their sexual representations conflict with eBay's heteronormative focus and the company often regulates them. I reflect on the political influence gay clothing sellers have when imaging their gym-built bodies, soft flesh, uneven physiques, genital bulges, and flaccid penises. The humanities-oriented methods of close visual, textual, and theoretical analysis assist me in considering over 1000 eBay listings and related profiles from the English-language website. I argue that these sellers deserve critical deliberation because they undermine eBay's normalizing discourses and...
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the book Everyday masculinities and extreme sport: male identity and rock climbing (2008), the author offers thoughts from a critical distance on two central issues the review raised: namely, that of the status of 'everyday data' and the use of interviews as a research method, and it is necessary to conceive of interviews in a way which, for example, sees them not as neutral or abstract moments but as a dialectical relationship between the hour(s) of the interview and the life course trajectories of interviewer and interviewee.
Abstract: In response to a review of the book Everyday masculinities and extreme sport: male identity and rock climbing (2008), the author offers thoughts from a (critical) distance on two central issues the review raised: namely, that of the status of ‘everyday data’ and the use of interviews as a research method. The conclusions reached are that in research on sporting masculinities we need to interrogate the everyday to enable us to, amongst other things, explore how the public world of sport cannot be understood in a nuanced manner unless we also investigate both the private sphere and the emotional/subjective aspects of sporting identities. Further, the article argues that it is necessary to conceive of interviews in a way which, for example, sees them not as neutral or abstract moments but as a dialectical relationship between the hour(s) of the interview and the life course trajectories of interviewer and interviewee. In addition, a focus on everyday cultures and men's (sporting) masculinities in relation to...