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<\/a>What it means to be masculine changes over time and from place to place.\u00a0 After all, men used to wear dresses and high heels<\/a>, take intimate pictures with one another<\/a> and wear pink in childhood<\/a>. \u00a0In our scholarship and blog posts we have been grappling with making sense of some of these more recent changes as we\u2019ve watched (and contributed to) a discussion about what it means to be an ally and changing views on gender and sexual inequality\u2014primarily among men (see here<\/a> and here<\/a>). \u00a0We recently published an article<\/a> thinking through changes in contemporary definitions of masculinity allegedly occurring among a specific population of young, white, heterosexual men.<\/p>\nWe sought to make sense of some complex issues like the contradiction between what seems like an \u201cepidemic\u201d of homophobic bullying alongside rising levels of support for gay marriage. \u00a0Or the seeming contradiction between young white men\u2019s adoration and emulation of hip hop culture side by side with deeply entrenched racism toward African-American men.\u00a0 Or the way in which contemporary men speak of desiring equal partnerships and marriages, yet women still earn less \u00a0in the workplace and do more of the housework and childcare.<\/p>\n
In our article, we collect a body of research illustrating that, often, what is going on in contradictions like this, is that systems of power and inequality are symbolically upheld even as their material bases are (partially) challenged (e.g., here<\/a>). We show how these seemingly disparate issues might be better understood as small pieces of a larger phenomenon\u2014something we refer to as \u201chybrid masculinity\u201d (drawing on other scholars\u2014see here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Hybrid masculinity refers to the way in which contemporary men draw on \u201cbits and pieces\u201d of feminized or marginalized masculine identities and incorporate them into their own gender identities.\u00a0 Simply put, men are behaving differently, taking on politics and perspectives that might have been understood as emasculating a generation ago that seem to bolster (some) men\u2019s masculinities today.\u00a0 Importantly, however, we argue that research shows that this is most often happening in ways that don\u2019t actually fundamentally alter gender and sexual inequality or masculine dominance. In other words, what recognizing hybrid masculinity allows us to do is to think through these changes in masculinity carefully. \u00a0While these changes may\u00a0 appear to challenge gender and sexual inequality, we argue that most research reveals that hybrid masculinities are better understood as obscuring than as challenging inequality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHybrid masculinities\u201d is an exciting area of research that reminds us that social change is complex. Sometimes things might seem to be more transformative than they actually are. \u00a0While these transformations offer incredible potential<\/i> for change, research suggests that much of this potential is largely unrealized.<\/p>\n _________________________<\/p>\n *Thanks for hanging with us through the more “academic-y” than usual tone of this post. \u00a0We promise to return with less dense language next month.<\/p>\n![\"walk-a-mile-in-her-shoes\"](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/files\/2014\/04\/walk-a-mile-in-her-shoes.jpg\")
<\/a>One of the things we see happening with hybrid masculinity is what we call \u201cdiscursive distancing\u201d<\/b>\u2014attempts made by men to distance themselves from masculinities that have been subject to sustained feminist critique.\u00a0 Research has shown that, often, this \u201cdistancing\u201d is more superficial than it might at first appear. Tristan\u2019s study<\/a> of \u201cWalk a Mile in Her Shoes\u201d<\/a> marches (in which men walk in high heels to empathize with women and raise awareness about gender and sexual violence) is one example.\u00a0 He found that the men (and often women) present were often less interested in the message of the march and much more interested in jokingly perpetuating stereotypes that symbolically reinforce issues the marches are designed to challenge. \u00a0The anti-rape campaign directed at men\u2014\u201cMy Strength is Not for Hurting\u201d<\/a>\u2014works in a similar way: simultaneously shoring up gender inequality (by framing men\u2019s power and dominance as natural) while fighting it (here<\/a>). Research on a diverse set of issues has shown that this kind of \u201cdiscursive distancing\u201d works in ways that create the appearance of larger moves toward equality than are actually taking place.<\/p>\n![\"0804776954\"](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/files\/2014\/04\/0804776954.jpg\")
<\/a>Hybrid masculinity also allows primarily white men to \u201cstrategically borrow\u201d<\/b> from less powerful men, while not suffering the structural constraints those men endure. For instance, young, straight, white men borrow from Black hip hop style without suffering the same criminalization that African American young men face \u2013 as evidenced by research showing that young African American men are seen as more adult and dangerous by police<\/a>. Research suggests<\/a> that the motivations behind \u201cstrategic borrowing\u201d often stems from feelings of meaninglessness associated with the identities young, straight, white men perceive as available to them.\u00a0 Indeed, Tristan published on a similar process at work among young, straight, white men who co-opt elements of \u201cgay men’s culture.\u201d <\/a>\u00a0\u00a0While \u201cstrategic borrowing\u201d might illustrate great change in what masculinities look like and in how they are performed, this research shows that the practice is more often obscuring inequality than challenging it.<\/p>\n![\"one-marriage-under-god-campaign-promote-in-melanie-heath-paperback-cover-art\"](\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/files\/2014\/04\/one-marriage-under-god-campaign-promote-in-melanie-heath-paperback-cover-art.jpg\")
<\/a>Finally, by expressing a \u201csofter\u201d masculinity, hybrid masculinities can actually \u201cfortify boundaries\u201d<\/b> by perpetuating existing inequalities in new ways.\u00a0 This is perhaps best exemplified by \u201cEx-gay\u201d and evangelical Christian masculine practices.\u00a0 As Melanie Heath documented in her research with the Promise Keepers<\/a> (among other places), men are encouraged to be sensitive, emotional, caring and loving\u2014not necessarily traits we associate with a dominant masculinity.\u00a0 They are simultaneously, however, encouraged to be the head of their household and to enact a sort of biblically sanctioned patriarchy that entails gender inequality in the home.\u00a0 This is only one example.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a great example of a more general trend documented in research on masculinities: while the outward styles of (some men\u2019s) masculinity seem to have changed a great deal, the underlying structure of gender and sexual relations and inequality have been subject to much less change.<\/p>\n