Affiliation:
1. Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
2. Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
Abstract
Recent studies on boys and young men’s heterosexual practices point in contradictory directions. On the one hand, boys and young men seem to be placing less value on “hard”, overtly aggressive masculinity and compulsive heterosexuality, in keeping with their adoption of more egalitarian attitudes in their sexual relationships. On the other hand, the hegemonic masculine notions that associate “real” men with sexual prowess persist as well. In this article, we argue that this contradiction indicates careful (re)calibration in doing respectable heteromasculinities. We draw on a small-scale qualitative study located in Helsinki, Finland, in illuminating how cis-gendered boys and young men with less privileged backgrounds construct their heteromasculinities as respectable, which requires context-specific balancing between distancing themselves from and embracing hegemonic notions of manhood. Through this balancing, the boys and young men reconfigure not necessary the substance but the style of respectable heteromasculinity; therefore contributing to sustaining masculine hegemony by attuning it according to the claims of the “#MeToo era”.
Subject
Literature and Literary Theory,Sociology and Political Science,History,Gender Studies