COMM 101 Lecture Notes - Hegemonic Masculinity, Hypermasculinity, Masculinity
13 Jun 2018
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Masculinity and the Media
• Intersectionality – various diff intersecting aspects of race/gender/sexuality
o Intersectionality of identities, how race, class, sexuality, gender, religion
can all intersect to shape who we are, who we feel to be who we are, how
others see us
• Social Constructivism: how societies determine and manage categories through
norms, social conventions, negotiation, struggle and debate
o Masculinity and femininity are socially constructed; societies determine
and manage categories through norms, social conventions, negotiation,
struggle and debate
o Learn how to put on masculinity / femininity – both are what a culture
expects of men / women
▪ “masquerades”
• Gender--cultural meanings attributed to biological differences--men and women
are acculturated into their gender roles--masculinity and femininity a set of social
expectations
o In the past, it has been very linear (women = kitchen)
o Media reinforces certain gender roles
▪ Can help change definitions of masculinity/femininity
o Can marginalize different groups as well
o Meanings vary from culture to culture
▪ Within culture as well (i.e. age, race, etc.)
What is masculinity? What a culture expects of its men:
• Masculinities--there are dominant or preferred masculinities and subordinate
masculinities--gender based hierarchies among men
• In the media--Images of men varies by genre -
• Hegemonic masculinity: common sense of what it means to be a man --
particular masculinities that become or remain dominant
o Includes:
▪ heterosexuality, whiteness, physical strength, suppression of
emotions such as sadness, athleticism, risk-taking,
competitiveness, being emotionally stoical, being brave,
financially successful, technologically competent
• dominant image of men in action-adventure films and TV shows
o In action films, cop-shows → hyper-masculine ideal of toughness and
dominance, men defined in relation to power, technology, aggression
o Rational / sucessful
▪ features an aggressive masculinity, expressed through guns,
helicopters, tanks, other instruments of death
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