The specific patterns of masculinity and femininity seem to play a major role in sustaining “imagined community” – the nation. At the same time, the perception of the nation determines gender roles of men and women. Their stability and invariability are to ensure the nation’s survival – both symbolic and physical. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the pattern of masculinity present in nationalistic groups. Its foundation relies on few elements: eagerness to protect the country and women, the control of female sexuality and homophobia.
Since about 2004, together with the boom of production of original Czech television series, non-heterosexual characters start to slowly but constantly appear in the series narratives. In my analysis, I have focused on gay characters: how are they, why and how they appear and disappear, how is their non-heterosexuality installed and how it/they develop in the series narrative. Regarding the development of gay male characters, a perceptible change in their depiction can be witnessed: from mostly miserable characters with the coming out as their only dramatic potential for the series narrative, to more complex characters incorporated in the storytelling experiencing love, partnerships or even parenthood – aspects so normal for the series narrative. Beside this rather descriptive layer of my analysis, taking into account Connell’s and Messerschmidt‘s concept of hegemonic masculinity, I pointed out representations of practices that produce masculinity of single (male) characters in the relation to their non-heterosexuality as subordinate, as complicit, and – for more recent characters – even as hegemonic. The production of non-heterosexual characters as hegemonically masculine seems to be “narratively redeemed” by their homonormativity.
The involvement of fathers in nurturing and raising children is regarded as one way of eroding cultural and social inequalities between genders. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is genuinely an erosion of gender inequalities in those families where fathers contribute to child nurture in the early phases of a child’s life, or whether the status quo is merely modified. It examines when gender equality is (or can be) achieved in families and what the relationship is between gender equality in the family and gender inequality in society. The paper is based on a qualitative study conducted in 2006, in which semi-structured interviews were used to capture the ways in which parents construct their parenting and non-parenting roles, and how they form and perceive their parenting and gender identity. To analyse this issue, the paper also goes beyond this one study and looks at findings from other research and studies related to this issue.
“Masculinity” in the Western European culture is entrenched by many principles. These rules demand that a man must “not be too female” because this threatens the “hegemonic masculinity” which has many privileges in the society. Men who do not respect these cultural recommendations can be called traitors of the “hegemonic masculinity”. It may be observed on the example of homosexuals who realize a non-normative subjective strategy and therefore can be cast out of the “male group” which was described by Raewyn Connell in the book Gender and Power to which I will refer in this article. The aim of this work is to verify this thesis and to scrutinize the way of constructing “masculinity” in the Western European culture, especially in its global and local spins. I want to focus on the consequences for homosexuals and their subsisting in the society from the philosophical perspective by the analysis of the concepts and standpoints of chosen researchers (Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Raewyn Connell, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens and Bartosz Lis).
The South Korean film industry represents a masculine-privileged gender regime that over the last few decades has shown a newfound strength both at home and abroad. However, challenging this masculine privilege are a growing number of important though unheralded female writer–directors operating in both the independent and commercial sectors of the industry. In this article, we present a case study that explores the work of five of these female writer–directors within this context. We begin by asking two key questions: can female writer–directors find a voice within the Korean film industry that challenges the traditional gender stereotypes both within the industry and in the wider Korean culture? How can the Korean experience connect to the Western experience? The first methodological step in explicating the case study is the setting out of a particularly Western theoretical approach that emphasises the idea that masculine privilege exists hegemonically within the so-called “hegemony of men.” We then go on to highlight specific elements in the work of these female writer–directors that expose aspects of both challenge and constraint within the hegemony of men. We conclude that although the work of these female writer–directors indeed challenges tradition and gendered stereotypes sustained within the hegemony of men, such challenges represent moments of reformism rather than revolutionary systematic change.
The aim of the article is to investigate men’s reproductive rights and reproductive health. I want to answer questions concerning men’s freedom and autonomy in decisions about their own sexuality and fertility and about restrictions imposed on them by the society through informal and formal social norms. The research refers to such fields of reproductive rights as sex education, fertility and reproductive health control and are based on the analysis of secondary data (publications, law regulations, results of social research, media coverage, websites) related to male sexuality and procreation. In the first part of the paper the model of hegemonic masculinity is presented, with particular emphasis on the elements relating to sexuality and procreation. The second part of the article refers to the impact of this model on the implementation of reproductive rights of Polish men in three mentioned above areas of reproductive rights. The analysis of the results of the previous research and literature on the subject resulted in formulating a hypothesis that male reproductive rights are limited not by formal, legal norms (as is the case of women, for example access to contraception or abortion), but by cultural norms – patriarchal, hegemonic concept of masculinity and male sexuality.
In contemporary (not only) Czech society, the share of childless persons is increasing. Research in the field of social sciences focuses mainly on explanation of female childlessness than male one. This text tries to at least partially fill the gap in research when focusing on male childlessness from the perspective of masculinity, resp. hegemonic masculinity. Thematic analysis of repeated problem-oriented interviews with 12 heterosexual men (of different age and education) focuses on explanation of the life experience of these men with childlessness, respectively their perception of childlessness in relation to the conditions and circumstances of their lives according to the construction of their masculinity along the main axes, i.e. "values and norms", "perception and meaning of close relationships", "meaning of work and leisure activities", "experiencing the individual's life situation". The combination of these basic axes leads to the re-production or disruption of hegemonic masculinity characteristics. The analysis has shown that even in the case of childlessness, men more often construct their masculinity in terms of its hegemonic mode than crossing it. However, the construction of hegemonic masculinity also occurs through "unspoken", "concealed", i.e. what is not directly articulated in interviews, so attention should also be paid to this issue in research on masculinities.
Tekst stanowi próbę odczytania debiutanckiej powieści Stefana Żeromskiego Syzyfowe prace jako biofikcji o dojrzewaniu do męskości. Jako biofikcji, czyli fikcji literackiej połączonej z doświadczeniem biograficznym. Powieść w sensie interpretacyjnym odczytuje się poprzez wprowadzenie, a następnie odrzucenie kategorii męskości hegemonicznej, powszechnie używanej w badaniach nad męskością prowadzonych na Zachodzie. W szczególnych warunkach braku suwerenności polskiego terytorium w XIX wieku kategoria ta okazuje się nie do utrzymania. W jej miejsce autor proponuje dwie inne kategorie: męskości bohaterskiej, będącej tragicznym lub fantazmatycznym rewersem męskości hegemonicznej, oraz męskości ironicznej, będącej równorzędną kategorią wobec tej pierwszej i będącej odmienną odpowiedzią na wyzwania stojące przed mężczyznami tamtych czasów.
EN
The article is an attempt of close reading of the Stefan Żeromski’s first novel entitled Syzyfowe prace [Sisyphus’ works]. Author tries to prove that this novel is a kind of biofiction which means the specific connection between biography and fictional prose. Then the author leads in the term hegemonic masculinity which appears not to be useful for describing a specific situation of Polish men during 19th-century unsovereignty of Polish territory. Instead author suggests two other terms which are more suitable for a problem: heroic masculinity and ironic masculinity.
Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities offer an array of terms and categories to describe masculinities and gender relations. The hegemonic masculinity theory of R.W. Connell is the most common theory that has monopolised studies on masculinities. However, it has been criticised heavily, the result being new ways of describing masculinities, including hybrid masculinities. The main aim of the article is to provide Polish readers with comprehensive descriptions and a critique of theoretical theories on men and masculinities with special focus on the hybrid masculinity theory. The analysis provides definitions of hybrid masculinities and considers consequences of hybridisation. Besides, the author analyses studies, which use the concept of hybrid masculinities. Finally, the hybrid masculinity theory is presented and discussed in the light of other theories of masculinities.
PL
Krytyczne studia nad mężczyznami i męskościami oferują coraz większą pulę terminów i kategorii opisujących męskości oraz zależności genderowe. Najbardziej zananą teorią, która zmonopolizowała badania w obrębie studiów, jest teoria męskości hegemonicznej R.W. Connell. Teoria ta została poddana krytyce, która przyczyniła się do wyłonienia kolejnych propozycji opisu męskości. Jedną z takich propozycji są męskości hybrydowe. Celem tekstu jest poszerzenie dostępnych w języku polskim opisów i krytyki koncepcji teoretycznych w obrębie krytycznych studiów nad mężczyznami i męskościami. Autorka skupiła się na przybliżeniu koncepcji męskości hybrydowych. W ramach opisu kategorii męskości hybrydowych autorka wskazała na sposoby definiowania konceptu, opisała konsekwencje hybrydyzacji oraz odniosła się do badań, które wykorzystały tę kategorię analityczną lub których wnioski odnosiły się do męskości hybrydowych. Koncept męskości hybrydowych został również ukazany na tle wybranych kategorii męskości i poddany dyskusji.
The main goal of the paper is description of strategies created by men, when they build their own image. The Author states that main component of self-creation is men’s profession, especially cultural meaning linked with given activities realized within men’s professional actions. Raising that issue leads the Author into two problems. On the one hand, the paper shows idea of interpretational efficiency – in case of using “hard (quantitive) data” as a source of qualitative interpretation. On the second hand, it shows the way of using by men descriptions of professions and cultural meaning as a tool of men’s self-creation strategies. The Author suggests that men tend to create such self-creation (self-image), which is stable grounded at social respect, moreover it will be an answer to expectations of modern women.
Artykuł o ostatnim dramacie Witolda Gombrowicza powstał jako wyraz niezgody na wcześniejsze odczytania sztuki (Jan Błoński, Jerzy Jarzębski, Maria Janion, Michał Paweł Markowski, Małgorzata Sugiera, Tamara Trojanowska), nie uwzględniające należycie – zdaniem autora – pewnej fundamentalnej niezgodności kwestii historycznych i historiozoficznych poruszanych w sztuce z jej nieoczekiwanym zakończeniem, w którym – przypomnijmy – z trumny wyłania się naga Albertynka. Wysiłek interpretacyjny zmierza więc w kierunku określenia: 1) wcześniej nie odnalezionych intertekstualnych śladów postaci Albertynki, głęboko tkwiących w cyklu powieściowym Marcela Prousta „W poszukiwaniu straconego czasu”; 2) problematyki „Operetki” jako gruntownego przewartościowania XIX-wiecznej nowoczesności; 3) samej sztuki jako dramatu męskości hegemonicznej, z istoty swej nieprzerwanie uczestniczącej w obracaniu historii ludzkości w niewypowiedziany koszmar; 4) Albertynki jako czynnika ustanawiającego inny, radykalny projekt męskości, którą autor proponuje nazywać męskością atopiczną.
EN
The article about Witold Gombrowicz’s last drama was composed as an expression of discontent about the former readings of the play (by Jan Błoński, Jerzy Jarzębski, Maria Janion, Michał Paweł Markowski, Małgorzata Sugiera, Tamara Trojanowska) that inaccurately, in Mazurkiewicz’s view, consider certain fundamental literary historical and historiophilosophical issues touched upon in the play with its unexpected conclusion in which naked Albertine emerges from a coffin. Thus, Mazurkiewicz’s interpretive efforts leads to defining 1) previously not found intertextual traces of Albertine deeply rooted in Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time;” 2) the problems of “Operetta” as a thorough reevaluation of 19th century modernity; 3) the play as a hegemonic masculinity drama in its nature constantly taking part in turning history of humanity into a terrifying nightmare; 4) Albertine as a factor establishing a different, radical project of masculinity which the author proposes to be referred as “atopic.”
Czy mężczyzna, który robi na drutach, wykazuje się dziś odwagą? Tak sformułowane pytanie odsyła do znaczeń przypisywanych dzierganiu, tradycyjnie postrzeganemu jako zajęcie kobiece, wykonywane w przestrzeni prywatnej. W ramach prezentowanego artykułu, odwołując się do przeszłości oraz w oparciu o analizę współczesnych praktyk rękodzielniczych, opisuję proces dekonstrukcji dokonujący się w tym obszarze. Szczególną uwagę poświęcam analizie aktywności mężczyzn, którzy robią na drutach publicznie, naruszając tym samym stabilność znaczeń rozpiętych pomiędzy tym, co męskie i niemęskie, pomiędzy praktyką hegemoniczną i subwersywnymi aktami jej kwestionowania.
EN
Does a man who knits demonstrate courage? The question refers to the meanings attributed to knitting, which has traditionally been perceived as a female occupation performed in private space. In this article, referring to the past and the analysis of contemporary craft practice, I describe the process of deconstruction in this area. I am particularly interested in men knitting in public. The aim of my considerations is to analyze the difference between the meaning of what is male and female in knitting, and between hegemonic practice and subversive acts of deconstruction.
The article deals with the presence of reflections on emancipation and women’s rights in alternative and steampunk stories. The author points out that in both of the above‑mentioned genres of fantasy literature, these issues are not an overarching theme, despite the fact that criticism and subversive rewriting of past eras from the point of view of the present is inherent in these genres. The analysis shows that anachronically conceived emancipation of women takes place mainly in novels set in historical eras far removed from the present (deep antiquity and, far less frequently, the Middle Ages). Novels closer to contemporaneity, set in the 18th and 19th centuries, generally do not subject emancipation and women’s rights to alternative reflection. This is all the more astonishing if one bears in mind the fact that the 19th century was time of the birth of the feminist and suffragette movements. This reluctance to rework the nineteenth century from the point of view of women’s emancipation is due to the still active cultural memory of the period. The author’s thesis is that the unwillingness to rework the issues of emancipation and women’s rights in an alternative way is related to the still active cultural paradigm, founded, among others, on the Judeo‑Christian tradition. Another reason is the domination of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ in alternative and steampunk, which is a literary, phantasmatic reaction to the dynamic processes of women’s emancipation taking place in the actual world.
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