James W. Messerschmidt

Hegemonic Masculinity Rethinking the Concept

The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified nor essentialist. However, the criticism of trait models of gender and rigid typologies is sound. The treatment of the subject in research on hegemonic masculinity can be improved with the aid of recent psychological models, although limits to discursive flexibility must be recognized. The concept of hegemonic masculinity does not equate to a model of social reproduction; we need to recognize social struggles in which subordinated masculinities influence dominant forms. Finally, the authors review what has been confirmed from early formulations (the idea of multiple masculinities, the concept of hegemony, and the emphasis on change) and what needs to be discarded (onedimensional treatment of hierarchy and trait conceptions of gender). The authors suggest reformulation of the concept in four areas: a more complex model of gender hierarchy, emphasizing the agency of women; explicit recognition of the geography of masculinities, emphasizing the interplay among local, regional, and global levels; a more specific treatment of embodiment in contexts of privilege and power; and a stronger emphasis on the dynamics of hegemonic masculinity, recognizing internal contradictions and the possibilities of movement toward gender democracy.

Crime as structured action : gender, race, class, and crime in the making

Prologue Structured Action Theory Lynchers Hustler Bad Girls Murderous Managers Epilogue Summary Thoughts and Future Directions

Engendering Gendered Knowledge Assessing the Academic Appropriation of Hegemonic Masculinity

The appropriation of concepts long established as salient contributions to gender theory and research recently has come under scholarly scrutiny. In this article, the author contributes to this dissection of crucial gender concepts by assessing the recent academic appropriation of the reformulated concept of “hegemonic masculinity” and how this appropriation engenders gendered knowledge. The author first briefly revisits the concept of hegemonic masculinity as reformulated by Connell and Messerschmidt. Following this, the author examines selected studies to illustrate how hegemonic masculinity has been appropriated differently, how this dissimilarity is significant for the production of gendered knowledge, and how several new directions in the appropriations extend gendered knowledge on hegemonic masculinity. Finally, the author discusses the relevance of all his conclusions to the wider debates over the concept of hegemonic masculinity and posits how these conclusions arguably impact future feminist/gender research and theory construction.

Becoming “Real Men” Adolescent Masculinity Challenges and Sexual Violence

Previous studies of adolescent male sexual violence have ignored—among other issues—offender agency and gender. The life-history method offers a means to explore both. In this article, the life histories of two adolescent male sex offenders are juxtaposed and analyzed. Although both boys initially launched a hegemonic masculine project, bodily and sexual practices institutionalized in the school presented “masculinity challenges” to both boys and played a major role in structuring their subsequent formation of subordinate masculinities. Both boys eventually used sexual violence as a resource for over-coming the masculinity challenges and, thus, constructing a fragmented representation of in-school dominant masculinity. The life-history data support feminist perspectives that highlight the meaningful actions of individual agents and the significance of gender accomplishment as socially situated and intermittent. The article suggests that future research examine the salience of masculinity challenges, the body, and sexuality to adolescent male sexual violence.

Masculinidade hegemônica: repensando o conceito

The concept of hegemonic masculinity has influenced gender studies across many academic fields but has also attracted serious criticism. The authors trace the origin of the concept in a convergence of ideas in the early 1980s and map the ways it was applied when research on men and masculinities expanded. Evaluating the principal criticisms, the authors defend the underlying concept of masculinity, which in most research use is neither reified nor essentialist. However, the criticism of trait models of gender and rigid typologies is sound. The treatment of the subject in research on hegemonic masculinity can be improved with the aid of recent psychological models, although limits to discursive flexibility must be recognized. The concept of hegemonic masculinity does not equate to a model of social reproduction; we need to recognize social struggles in which subordinated masculinities influence dominant forms. Finally, the authors review what has been confirmed from early formulations (the idea of multiple masculinities, the concept of hegemony, and the emphasis on change) and what needs to be discarded (onedimensional treatment of hierarchy and trait conceptions of gender). The authors suggest reformulation of the concept in four areas: a more complex model of gender hierarchy, emphasizing the agency of women; explicit recognition of the geography of masculinities, emphasizing the interplay among local, regional, and global levels; a more specific treatment of embodiment in contexts of privilege and power; and a stronger emphasis on the dynamics of hegemonic masculinity, recognizing internal contradictions and the possibilities of movement toward gender democracy.

The Struggle for Heterofeminine Recognition: Bullying, Embodiment, and Reactive Sexual Offending by Adolescent Girls

No criminological research has yet examined how embodied interaction in a particular local in school, gendered milieu, may be related to engaging in sexual offenses by adolescent girls outside school boundaries. Additionally, studies of adolescent sexual offending by girls are appallingly gender and sexuality blind; no research considers the impact of both gender and sexuality on such girls. This work seeks to remedy these two crucial oversights by scrutinizing the movement from having been bullied to engaging specifically in outside-school sexual offenses, and how this social process is related specifically to embodied heterofemininities by adolescent girls.

Osama Bin Laden and His Jihadist Global Hegemonic Masculinity

This article examines for the first time the jihadist global hegemonic masculinity of Osama bin Laden. Based on Bin Laden’s public statements translated into English, the authors examine how in the process of constructing a rationale for violent attacks primarily against the United States, he simultaneously and discursively formulates a jihadist global hegemonic masculinity. The research adds to the growing interest in discursive global hegemonic masculinities, as well as jihadist masculinities in the Middle East, by scrutinizing how Bin Laden’s jihadist global hegemonic masculinity is produced in and through his public statements. The authors close their discussion by demonstrating how Bin Laden’s discursive practices are embedded in a clash of competing global hegemonic masculinities on the world stage.