GNDS 125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Hegemonic Masculinity, Metrosexual, Cisgender
GNDS 125 Week 10 Lecture 1
Representations of Femininities vs masculinities
In week 6, we discussed Representations of women and their consequences. Kilbourne presented
an analysis of women’s representation in advertising.
• Women’s lives are depicted as geared towards romance and relationships
• Physical appearance and looking good constitutes the most important tool in the quest for
looking for “Mr. Right.”
• The working woman has entered popular culture but there is a renewed interest in domestic
roles.
Just like representations of femininity, their counterparts for masculinity are mostly problematic
and harmful.
• Men’s lives are depicted as geared towards sexual gratification while avoiding
relationships.
• Physical appearance and looking good increasingly gain importance but heterosexuality is
reasserted.
• Work is still a significant component of men’s lives/identities but men’s lives in the
domestic sphere are also mentioned.
Representations of Masculinities
• Representations of masculinity are usually more rigid but it does not mean that they do not
change. While male voices are usually used as authority figures, as in TV anchors or
voiceover in documentaries, today we will look into fictional characters in line with
discourses on masculinity.
Discourses of Masculinity: These categories are like ideal types and there are other discourses
on masculinities that co-exist with them. We will discuss some fictional characters from popular
TV sitcoms as examples.
• The old man- traditional masculinity
• The new man and the metrosexual
• The new lad
The old man- traditional masculinity
• Defined in opposition to femininity. Associated with the arena of production-rather than
consumption.
• Traditional masculinity has been theorised as “hegemonic masculinity” for a long time. It is
an impossible ideal to achieve and it is constructed in relation to marginalised, subordinate
and complicit masculinities.
• He is unambiguously heterosexual and cisgender and could be overtly sexist and
homophobic.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
In week 6, we discussed representations of women and their consequences. Kilbourne presented an analysis of women"s representation in advertising: women"s lives are depicted as geared towards romance and relationships, physical appearance and looking good constitutes the most important tool in the quest for looking for mr. Right. : the working woman has entered popular culture but there is a renewed interest in domestic roles. While male voices are usually used as authority figures, as in tv anchors or voiceover in documentaries, today we will look into fictional characters in line with discourses on masculinity. Discourses of masculinity: these categories are like ideal types and there are other discourses on masculinities that co-exist with them. We will discuss some fictional characters from popular. Tv sitcoms as examples: the old man- traditional masculinity, the new man and the metrosexual, the new lad. The old man- traditional masculinity: defined in opposition to femininity.
