What do you think about the theory of "Hegemonic masculinity"?

aussietoads · 2016-04-12T06:45:04+00:00

I suppose if the theory was printed on paper I could do something useful with it, like wiping my arse after a good bog.

orangorilla · 2016-04-12T07:00:15+00:00

So, hegemonic masculinity provides us with a ranking of the masculine behaviors. More masculinity is better, and some masculine values are worth more than others.

Now, they're saying it's informed by patriarchy and leads to gendered socialization.

Part of this, has some value. Boys and girls are inevitably raised differently, and some behaviors will be encouraged in boys that aren't encouraged in girls, and vice versa.

The problem is, this doesn't stem from masculinity being worth more than femininity. We see a system where we have "different but equal" but they see a system where it is "different, therefore unequal." Of course, they will say "it hurts men too," as in the reluctance to seek help, but inevitably blame this on people valuing masculinity so highly.

Another thing, I've never swallowed the "patriarchy" story, take one cog out of that machine, and you're stuck with no wheels turning.

So I'd give the theory a D, has some good ideas, but overshoots by a mile.

mikesteane · 2016-04-12T07:05:24+00:00

Men's power is used to attract or help women. Women's power is getting men to do things for them. Laws made by all male governments with all male electorates have still shown bias against men e.g. Britain's Victorian prostitution laws which protect the right of a woman to sell her body but may logically be used to prosecute any man who ever receives any money from any woman who has ever acted as a prostitute. (See The Legal Oppression of Men by Belfort Bax for more information on this).

The theory of hegemonic masculinity falls down not because it is illogical, but because it conflicts with observable reality.

KrisK_lvin · 2016-04-12T11:39:50+00:00

Why do you want to know?

Conceptually, hegemonic masculinity proposes to explain how and why men maintain dominant social roles over women, and other gender identities, which are perceived as “feminine" in a given society.

Note that a key point here is that the underlying premise - that men are in fact dominant over women and 'other gender identities ...perceived as “feminine”’ - goes unquestioned.

Therefore the theory is in effect a solution to a problem that has yet to be proven even exists.

Yes, of course, it’s possible to look at the gender ratios of men to women in the Houses of Parliament or on the boards of Fortune 500 companies and so on, but that, again, is to leave the fundamental premise unchallenged.

The fact that there are more male than female MPs is true, yes, but what it does not do is prove that masculinity is dominant in that society - to suggest that it does is circular reasoning because you would be asserting that the evidence for thing you are trying to prove, hegemonic masculinity, is hegemonic masculinity.

Moreover, it is rather an offensive notion to suggest that the only occupations of any value in society are those that involve being the heads of government and business.

Nurses? Fuck ‘em. Stay-at-home mothers? Fuck ‘em. Primary school teachers? Fuck ‘em. In fact, rather than celebrating every occupation in which women make up the majority, Feminists instead basically sneer at them for not trying hard enough and conceding what Feminists feel are the more important occupations to men.

That sounds like absolutely text-book sexism to me, but ...

As a sociologic concept, the hegemonic nature of "hegemonic masculinity" derives from the theory of cultural hegemony, by Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, which analyzes the power relations among the social classes of a society.

Painting with broad brushstrokes, the history of intellectual theory in the arts, humanities and social sciences in the West since 1945 can pretty much be boiled down to the worst case of butt hurt ever imagined.

What Gramsci and many others have consistently tried and failed to explain is why the greater mass of the public do not do what Leftist intellectuals insist they should do - namely, to rise up and overthrow their governments and society to install the aforementioned Leftist intellectuals to the positions as managers of communal life and social justice those same intellectuals feel they have a natural right to.

At no point, apparently, does it ever occur to the said Leftist intellectuals that the reason why their utopian visions might fail to inspire the masses is because their visions are not only utter shite, but also a nakedly transparent attempt to grab power for themselves using the efforts of others.

What Leftist intellectuals feel they are saying to the ‘masses’ is “Throw down your oppressors! Let’s all be free!”, but in their wisdom, what the masses are hearing is "Throw down your oppressors! Let me oppress you instead!”.

fengpi · 2016-04-12T07:28:27+00:00

Didja ever get the sense that the people who make these elaborate gender theories really do not seem to like men very much?

2016-04-12T11:05:43+00:00

Of course it's an Aussie feminist who conceptualised it.

Title	What do you think about the theory of "Hegemonic masculinity"?
Author	ACGlasier
Upvotes	6
Comments	7
Date	April 12, 2016 6:32 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/4eexa8/what_do_you_think_about_the_theory_of_hegemonic/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/what-do-you-think-about-the-theory-of-hegemonic.952032 https://theredarchive.com/post/952032

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