The “Supermen” Club: Organizational Secrecy and Masculine Identity in an Israeli National Security Organization

How does secrecy shape narratives of militarized hegemonic masculinity? This article assesses a gap at the intersection between theories of masculinities and organizational secrecy. Supported by 15 interviews with current and former male workers of a covert section of an Israeli national security organization, it argues that secrecy is experienced as both an external hurdle and a central component to the way that men internalize masculinity. Unable to access social capital outside the security organization, the respondents of the study construct a social field inside it through which they can assert their masculinity. They do so by conceptualizing their jobs, themselves, and the organization through a prism of sacrificial warriorhood, and actively incorporate secrecy’s constraints into a narrative of “super-men”. This study thus examines secrecy in the context of a militarized environment, showing the experience of masculinity and a perceived lack of power-access among members of a dominant group.

Trans Masculinity: Comparing Trans Masculine Individuals’ and Cisgender Men’s Conformity to Hegemonic Masculinity

Introduction Masculinity and masculine norms are still relevant in the current social context. Literature showed that some masculine norms could be considered protective health buffers, while traditional masculinity has negative consequences on men’s behaviors, relationships, and health. Methods In the present study, we aimed at investigating trans masculine and cisgender men’s levels of adherence to different dimensions of hegemonic masculinity. A total of 200 participants (100 trans masculine people and 100 cisgender men) took part in the study. Results Results exhibit that trans masculine individuals showed higher scores than cisgender men on the dimensions of emotional control and self-reliance, whereas cisgender men showed higher endorsement of norms such as heterosexual self-presentation and power over women. Conclusions Results are discussed in light of the minority stress model and masculinity threat theory. Policy Implications The present work should act as a reminder of the pressure that trans masculine people may feel to conform to certain aspects of hegemonic masculinity. This may have the adaptive function of protecting them from the discrimination and threats that they expect from others.

Hunting in a Hostile Climate?: Hegemonic Masculinity and Emphasized Femininity on a Hunting Message Board

Based on prior research about other male-dominated leisure pursuits, we might expect game hunting to present a hostile climate for its women participants. However, our qualitative analysis of 293 threads posted between 2005 and 2019 on an online hunting message board suggests that women were welcomed within the pastime. While they did not overtly exclude women from their ranks, however, posters curated the boundary between masculinity and femininity, as well as staking out the territory of emphasized femininity. In particular, they accomplished this via benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, and sexual objectification. Our findings not only shed additional light on the gendered dynamics of this pastime but also enriched our knowledge of the ways that hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity can work in tandem—within male-dominated recreational activities, and more broadly.

Construction and Deconstruction of Hegemonic Masculinity in The Arab of the Future 1: Youth in the Middle East (1978-1984) by Riad Sattouf

Through the analysis of the graphic novel L’Arabe du future 1. Une jeunesse au Moyen-Orient (1978-1985) by the Franco-Syrian cartoonist Riad Sattouf, this contribution aims to investigate the construction of hegemonic masculinity in Gaddafi’s post-colonial Libya and Hafez al Assad’s Syria. First, this study intends to track the stages of Riad’s journey towards the achievement of hegemonic masculinity. In this context, a special focus will be laid on the construction of the mother’s character through that of the father, thereby showing how the female character takes shape from the male perspective. Second and finally, it attempts to analyse how the author implements a deconstruction path of hegemonic masculinity by using certain rhetorical devices, namely irony, stereotype repetition and the adoption of his own perspective as a child.

Estonian Male Journalists’ Experiences with Abusive Online Communication

Several studies have established that female journalists experience (sexual) harassment and online abuse considerably more than their male colleagues. Understandably, this has resulted in a gap in research – male journalists’ experiences with abusive online communication have not yet been thoroughly studied. This paper seeks to understand how abusive communication is contextualised and defined by male journalists in the context of hegemonic masculinity, and to explore which coping strategies are employed to overcome such experiences. From qualitative in-depth interviews with male journalists (n=15), we found that participants considered different forms of abusive online communication from readers/sources a normalised practice, “feedback” that one must just ignore or overcome. Experiences are interpreted predominantly in the frame of hegemonic (complicit) masculinity, but the results also indicate that shifts in these rigid norms are emerging and can be embraced when acknowledged and supported by surrounding structures.