Being a Man

2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrell Carver
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Masculine Identity ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
Competitive Hierarchies ◽  
Generic Representation

AbstractMasculine identity confers advantages over the feminine ‘other’, but works differently and in a twofold way. ‘Man’ as the generic representation of ‘the human’ is only apparently de-gendered or gender-neutral. It is in fact gendered masculine and defined within heteronormativity and homophobia. However, there are also overtly gendered roles for men, though these are characteristically represented in selective and flattering ways. Men therefore have little need for an ‘identity politics’ to work against an oppressive norm. Rather they are positioned against each other within competitive hierarchies, which are co-defined with the values and structures of militarism and capitalism.

scholarly journals LINGUISTICALLY JUSTIFIED USE OF GENDERED FEMININE NOUNS OF THE CATEGORY NOMINA AGENTIS ET PROFESSIONIS CREATED BY SUFFIX -KINJA

2021 ◽  
Vol XII (35) ◽  
pp. 197-213
Author(s):  
Milena Buric
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Category ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Field ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Sound Structure ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Gender Neutral

This paper is considering scientific well-foundedness of arguments in favour of the use of generic forms and against the use of gendered feminine nouns from the word-formation semantic category of professions and ranks, using examples of the nouns derived by suffix -kinja (psiholog/psihološkinja, vodič/vodičkinja i dr.). Following the introductory part displaying her motives for choosing this topic, the author reminds us that the investigations so far have shown that the main reasons against the feminine gender nouns quote their more restricted range in comparison to their generic forms, thier complex sound structure and problematic word-formation model as well. Linguists supporting these attitudes find certain feminine forms impermissible because of their forms being derived according to unaccredited wordformation pattern. The possibility of having homonymy and double meaning happen, considering semantic heritage of certain feminine gender nouns (nouns like ministarka, trenerka), sometimes makes them unsuitable and inefficient. The arguments listed here are particularly related to the abstract communication, i.e. competitions, printed forms and so on, whereas it is more suitable to use generic forms due to their more extensive semantic range and eligibility to refer to persons of both gender, being considered gender-neutral. The author is also reminiding us of completely opposite views according to which, in the mass media, by the predominanted use of generic names for professions and ranks for feminine persons, it is clear the tendency to make women invisible in the social and political field. Supporters of such approach find it necessary, when it comes to the question of gender sensitive language, to implement codification aiming to provide humane and tolerant communication, and visibility of women in the society as well, i.e. her gender equality The author gives advantage to the pragmatic and balanced approach in resolving this problem, according to which in concrete situations the feminine forms are found necessary, i.e. situations when with a feminine personal name ought to be used a feminine gender noun indicating her profession. On the other side, in situations when neutral or common use is necesseray, generic forms can be a tool for language efficiency (for example in competitions, printed forms and so on). The author in a latent manner debates with the opinion that the generic, i.e. common forms are gender-neutral, reminding us of the morphological features of the masculine gender nouns of the first category being their charateristic, supporting it with the example: Vodič nam je davala uputstva. The author emphasises that the necessity of the existence of the feminine gender forms for professions and ranks is unquestionable for both – from the point of view of ensuring equality of genders in the society, and respecting principle of congruency point of view as well, focusing on the central part of her research afterwards. On the basis of all aforementioned in the paper it can be finally concluded that the profession nouns of the feminine gender appeared when the need for them came up and also that the tendency of their expansion is evident and proportional with the enhancement of the position of the woman in the society. The use of the feminine gender nouns denoting professions and ranks, as well as those with the suffix mentioned earlier, is necessary and practical in concrete situations. If we bear in mind that there are no liguistically justified arguments against the use of gendered feminine nouns with the suffix -kinja the categories nomina agentis et professions, it is to be expected the continuation of their expansion.

scholarly journals What is the Image of the “Typical Cancer Patient”? The View of Physicians

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 155798832098848
Author(s):  
Angeliki Tsiouris ◽  
Nadine Ungar ◽  
Martina Gabrian ◽  
Alexander Haussmann ◽  
Karen Steindorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patient ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Professional Characteristics ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Stigmatizing Attitudes ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Study Participants

Former research has identified stigmatizing attitudes toward cancer patients in the general population. Little is known about (implicit) attitudes of physicians toward cancer patients. By using the prototype approach, the study investigated German physicians’ prototypical perceptions of cancer patients. Five hundred nineteen physicians (mean age: 46 years, 47% female) who regularly treat cancer patients participated in the questionnaire study. Participants were asked to state three prototype attributes that describe the “typical cancer patient.” Open format answers were coded on the dimensions favorability (coded with unfavorable, favorable, or neutral) and gender-stereotypicality (coded with masculine stereotypical, feminine stereotypical, or gender-neutral). Of all prototype attributes ( N = 1,589), 69.9% were coded as unfavorable and 14.3% as favorable, the remaining attributes were neutral (15.9%). Analysis of gender-stereotypicality revealed that nearly half of the attributes (49.5%) were compatible with the feminine, whereas only 6.5% were compatible with the masculine stereotype. The remaining attributes (44.0%) were gender-neutral. There were no significant associations between prototype favorability or gender-stereotypicality and demographic/professional characteristics of physicians. The prototype approach was successful to identify (implicit) attitudes toward cancer patients and might be more sensitive than social distance scales when investigating stigmatizing attitudes. Physicians described the “typical cancer patient” with predominantly unfavorable and feminine attributes, while favorable attributes were underrepresented and positive masculine attributes were barely mentioned. The finding that the “typical cancer patient” lacks (positive) masculine attributes should be followed up in further research.

The unemployed hero in Indian Tamil cinema: Perspectives on youth, gender and aspiration

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandini Hebbar N.
Keyword(s):  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Masculine Identity ◽  
Late Capitalism ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Entrepreneurial Spirit ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
Tamil Cinema ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
Unemployed Youth ◽  
The Unemployed

In this article, I explore the portrayal of the information technology (IT) boom in Indian Tamil cinema to think through representations of unemployed youth. Three main questions anchor this article: one, what are the ways in which unemployment is problematized? Two, how are depictions of unemployment (and employment) gendered? How do gendered representations of unemployment feed into dominant tropes of language, given the Dravidian orientation of Tamil cinema? Three, how are these crises resolved, and what imaginaries do they present of relationships between men and women? Through a reading of three recent films that directly or indirectly relate to the IT boom, I offer an analysis of the privileging of certain professions, skills and academic disciplines under capitalism, its effects on employment prospects for youth, as well as its gendered implications. I argue that the films assert a subculture of masculinity that represents the subaltern male’s encounter with the globalizing city and its many transformations – most visibly the feminization of labour represented by the IT industry. Refuting the claim that cinema has positively embraced neoliberal subjectivity and celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of youth, I show that the ‘unemployed hero’ is constructed as a social conscience to highlight the problems of a globalizing world. Though many aspects of late capitalism are productively critiqued through such consciousness-raising, the breakdown of traditional gendered roles appears as a leitmotif, exposing the gendered nature of anxieties accompanying the IT boom. The remaking and consolidation of masculine identity then becomes a way to manage these anxieties.

scholarly journals ACEH: EXPLORING THE AFTERMATH OF 2004 TSUNAMI FROM GENDER DIMENSIONS

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Sorang Afril Srihayati Saragih
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Feminization Of Poverty ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Aceh Province ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
And Gender ◽  
2004 Tsunami ◽  
Gender Specific

This paper aims to analyse the greatest gender-specific dimensions toward women in the case of the tsunami that hit Aceh Province in Indonesia in 2004. Using three gender dimensions, which are gender identity, gender structure and gender symbolism, it argues that this catastrophe was not gender-neutral and its impacts could be shown in four conditions of women; which were women’s worsened insecurity and vulnerability, the feminization of poverty, the presence of “tsunami marriage”, and the reinforced gendered roles. The concept of ‘intersectionality’ is useful to show the heterogeneous identity of women and how they were impacted by the disastrous event. It concludes that the 2004 tsunami brought many changes in the lives of both men and women in Aceh and worsened the inequalities between them.   Keywords: Aceh, women, tsunami, gender dimensions     Abstrak   Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dimensi-dimensi terbesar yang spesifik-gender dalam kasus tsunami yang melanda Provinsi Aceh di Indonesia pada tahun 2004. Menggunakan tiga dimensi gender, yakni identitas gender, struktur gender dan simbolisme gender, tulisan ini menyatakan bahwa bencana ini tidaklah netral-gender dan dampaknya dapat ditunjukkan dalam empat kondisi perempuan; yaitu ketidakamanan dan kerentanan perempuan yang semakin memburuk, feminisasi kemiskinan, munculnya “pernikahan tsunami”, dan peran-peran berbasis gender yang semakin menguat. Konsep ‘interseksionalitas’ berguna dalam memperlihatkan identitas heterogen perempuan dan bagaimana mereka terkena imbas dari peristiwa bencana tersebut. Tulisan ini berkesimpulan bahwa tsunami di tahun 2004 itu membawa banyak perubahan dalam hidup laki-laki dan perempuan di Aceh, serta memperburuk ketimpangan di antara mereka.   Kata Kunci: Aceh, perempuan, tsunami, dimensi gender

Tasting Food, Tasting Nostalgia

2018 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Author(s):  
Jin Feng
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Masculine Identity ◽  
Culinary Knowledge ◽  
Historical Moment

In this chapter, I use Cai Lan (aka Chua Lam), a Hong Kong–based food critic, as a case study to examine the construction of masculine identity through gastronomic literature. Cai integrates a cosmopolitan outlook and traditional literati sensibilities into his work, and he draws upon both world-based culinary knowledge and locally based individual experience. His contrasting strategies of simultaneously elevating local cuisine and promoting cosmopolitan taste through literature and commerce ultimately reveal a form of identity politics at a particular historical moment in Hong Kong.

“I Come from a Dream Deferred”

2019 ◽  
pp. 208-209
Author(s):  
Erica C. Sutherlin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Third World ◽  
Alice Walker ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Politics Of Race

The author of the poem “I Come from a Dream Deferred” speaks unapologetically about the complex identity politics related to the herstory of “Third World” women in the United States. The poem’s theme resonates within the twists and turns of strategic movement for survival—not only in body, but mind and spirit as well. It is insightfully clear that the territorial background the poet’s narrator finds herself tied down to is filled with a politics of race, gender, class, and sexual identities violated by institutionalized and systemic power dynamics perpetuating a politics of inhumanity toward the “Other”—especially connected to the subjugation of the feminine. However, the narrator clearly comprehends what enabled her to survive that which she was not meant on earth to survive. According to her, it’s a “soul” matter determined by “the source [known as] the spirit,” the only “one, the god,” who possessed the power to [give] birth to the feminine.” The life-giver of the feminine that the narrator references here is the same inspirited one that Alice Walker references.

The past, the present and The Mandalorian

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Masculine Identity ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
The Face

Drawing on the notion that nostalgia enables a continuity of identity, this article explores how the aesthetics of the Disney+ lynchpin property, The Mandalorian (2019–present), facilitate a return to, and continuity of, masculine heteronormativity in the face of rapid and widespread change within the Star Wars cinematic franchise. Focusing on the excess of style, the reduction in scope and scale of the narrative aesthetics, the role of the star as an agent of the past, the conceptualization of hypermasculine fatherhood and the role of the feminine in the articulation of narrative, this article reveals how The Mandalorian constructs a narrative concerned with fatherhood. Moreover, this article demonstrates how, by appropriating nostalgia in the restorative mode to allow a continuity of idealized masculine identity, The Mandalorian is positioned as the would-be masculine heir to the legacy of the original trilogy.

scholarly journals Assessing the Mixed or Generic Feminine as an Inclusive Language Strategy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mat Pires
Keyword(s):  
Spoken Language ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
General Acceptance ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Inclusive Language ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Gender Neutral ◽  
Neutral Language

Proposed grammatical gender-neutral language practices employing rephrasing, binomials, or abbreviated double forms are unlikely to achieve general acceptance or durably modify the linguistic system given their unusual graphical features, variable treatment of speech and writing, heavy processing requirements, increased volume, and overall complexity. In contrast, use of the feminine for mixed reference is well established for female-dominated professions such as nurse, draws on established linguistic resources, and preserves correspondance between written and spoken language. We provide examples of this strategy in several languages and discuss its advantages and shortcomings.

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