Michael S. Kimmel

Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity

In this article, I explore this social and historical construction of both hegemonic masculinity and alternate masculinities, with an eye toward offering a new theoretical model of American manhood. To accomplish this I first uncover some of the hidden gender meanings in classical statements of social and political philosophy, so that I can anchor the emergence of contemporary manhood in specific historical and social contexts. I then spell out the ways in which this version of masculinity emerged in the United States, by tracing both psychoanalytic developmental sequences and a historical trajectory in the development of marketplace relationships.

Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence Random School Shootings, 1982-2001

Since 1982, there have been 28 cases of random school shootings in American high schools and middle schools. The authors find (a) that the shootings were not a national problem but a series of local problems that occurred in “red states” or counties (places that voted Republican in the 2000 election); (b) that most of the boys who opened fire were mercilessly and routinely teased and bullied and that their violence was retaliatory against the threats to manhood; (c) that White boys in particular might be more likely than African American boys to randomly open fire; and (d) that the specific content of the teasing and bullying is homophobia. A link between adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence is proposed. Finally, the authors offer a few possible explanations as to how most boys who are teased and bullied achieve the psychological resilience that enables them to weather adolescence without recourse to random school violence.

Sexual Violence in Three Pornographic Media: Toward a Sociological Explanation

This study measures the sexually violent content in magazine, video, and Usenet (Internet newsgroup) pornography. Specifically, the level of violence, the amount of consensual and nonconsensual violence, and the gender of both victim and victimizer are compared. A consistent increase in the amount of violence from one medium to the next is found, although the increase between magazines and videos is not statistically significant. Further, both magazines and videos portray the violence as consensual, while the Usenet portrays it as nonconsensual. Third, magazines portray women as the victimizers more often than men, while the Usenet differs sharply and portrays men as the victimizers far more often. A series of possible explanations for these findings are offered, with the conclusion that the competition among men on the Usenet is an under‐analyzed component of the differences among these media.

MEN'S RESPONSES TO FEMINISM AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY:

This article examines the variety of mens responses to feminism in late nineteenthand early twentieth-century United States through texts that addressed the claims raised by the turn-of-the-century womens movements. Antifeminist texts relied on traditional arguments, as well as Social Darwinist and natural law notions, to reassert the patriarchal family and to oppose womens suffrage and participation in the public sphere. Masculinist texts sought to combat the purported feminization of American manhood by proposing islands of masculinity, untainted by feminizing forces; proscribed homosociality was also cast as an effective antidote to homosexuality. Profeminist texts openly embraced womens claims for changes in public participation and private and family life, both out of a sense of justice and the conviction that such changes would benefit men and challenge the emerging industrial capitalist order. Parallels to contemporary mens responses to the womens movement are suggested.

Suicide by mass murder: Masculinity, aggrieved entitlement, and rampage school shootings

Abstract School shootings have become more common in the United States in recent years. Yet, as media portrayals of these ‘rampages’ shock the public, the characterisation of this violence obscures an important point: many of these crimes culminate in suicide, and they are almost universally committed by males. We examine three recent American cases, which involve suicide, to elucidate how the culture of hegemonic masculinity in the US creates a sense of aggrieved entitlement conducive to violence. This sense of entitlement simultaneously frames suicide as an appropriate, instrumental behaviour for these males to underscore their violent enactment of masculinity.

Revolution, a sociological interpretation

1. Revolutions in the Sociological Imagination. 2. On the Shoulders of Giants:. Classical Sociological Perspectives on Revolution. 3. Stages, Systems, and Deprivation:. Non--Structural Theories of Revolution. 4. Revolution in International Context:. Geo--Political Competition and the Capitalist World--Economy. 5. Class Struggle and Revolution. 6. The State and Revolution. 7. Motivation and Mobilization:. A Structural Social Psychology of Revolution. Conclusion. Bibliography.

Women in college : shaping new feminine identities

In Women in College, feminist and sociologist Mirra Komarovsky interviewed women who entered Barnard College in the fall of 1979, finding that the demands of college life facilitated and occasionally forced many of these women to change their self-concept. Many felt trapped between new ideals of femininity - including action, vigor, rational competence, and effectiveness - and traditional notions of femininity, centered around emotional nurturance, passivity and kindness. This study forms the basis of her critique of the struggle that arose from the differences in what were seen as the mutually exclusive roles of homemaker and those who pursued work outside the home.

HOOKING UP: Hot Hetero Sex or the New Numb Normative?

Abstract Hooking up, or sexual activity outside of a committed relationship, has become the normative form of intimacy on American college campuses. Much research has focused on the extent of hooking up, and its effects. We situate hook-ups within the institution of heterosexuality, arguing that it is deeply gendered. Hooking up becomes a mode of homosocial communication, as well as a way for young adults to prove their heterosexuality. Others have pointed out that hooking up leads to negative consequences for women; we aim to highlight the positive aspects of hooking up for agentic and sex-positive young American women.

The Hidden Discourse of Masculinity in Gender Discrimination Law

T he relationship among difference, sameness, and equality is one of the founding relationships of liberal democracies. It was an assumption made by John Locke that different talents, motivations, and abilities would lead to different outcomes, that is, to unequal economic and social consequences. Meritocracies presume different inputs and outputs: the harder you work, the more able you are, the higher you will rise. The inequalities at the end of the road are the natural outcomes of differences. By contrast, equality has often been confused with sameness. In the 1950s, for example, images of economic equality often caricatured Russian communists as all looking and acting (and thinking) exactly the same, while attacks on racial and gender equality played on fears of widespread miscegenation and androgyny. Difference, we are told, leads to inequality; equality means sameness. In the United States, the relationship among difference, sameness, and equality has also been the foundation of efforts to rectify discrimination based on race and sex. The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees “equal protection under the law,” and on this clause an entire antidiscrimination edifice has been built. Equal protection is generally considered to have two meanings: one cannot treat “alikes” as if they were unalike, nor can one treat “unalikes” as if they were alike (see, e.g., MacKinnon 1987). Equality therefore has two meanings, and this duality has provided the foundation for a wide range of discrimination cases. Treating the same as if they were different is the basis for most sex and race discrimination cases. The landmark 1954 case, Brown v. Board of Ed-

Marxism and Domination: A Neo-Hegelian, Feminist, Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexual, Political, and Technological Liberation.

The Description for this book, Marxism and Domination: A Neo-Hegelian, Feminist, Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexual, Political, and Technological Liberation, will be forthcoming.