Sofia Aboim

Plural masculinities : the remaking of the self in private life

Contents: Introduction: plural masculinities: evidence from the field From dualism to pluralism: the power of categories and the making of gender Domination, hegemony and hybrid selves: rethinking the plural dynamics of masculinity Masculinities and private life: power behind the scenes Labour and love: the gender division of labour and caring in a cross-national perspective Inclusion, defamilializatiom, autonomy: the changing boundaries of masculinities within family life Of pleasures and violence: sex and sexuality in mens discourses Conclusion: reinventing patriarchy? Renegotiating power and identities Bibliography Index.

From political to social generations A critical reappraisal of Mannheim’s classical approach

Faced with the confused meanings of the concept of generation, this article defends the need to move from Karl Mannheim’s excessive emphasis on political and intellectual self-awareness as a pre-condition for generation formation to an enlarged social and cultural definition of generations. By developing the concept of social generations, we argue that rather than concrete groups, generations are better conceived as discourses with which individuals relate in order to build self-identification. Individuals living in similar historical contexts may share mental and practical dispositions, but must always position themselves in face of the narratives that have come to be dominant to describe a given generational location. Such a contention implies redressing Mannheim’s culturalist view through a reformulation of his hierarchical view of the scheme of generations. By replacing generation-units by dominant ideas, we contend that generations are better conceived as discursive formations in the Foucauldian sense.

Men between Worlds Changing Masculinities in Urban Maputo

In 2003 Mozambique’s parliament approved a new legal code that proposes a “Western” view of family and gender roles. These changes question the social organization and the symbolic views of gender in Mozambique. We show how men are reconstructing their identities when caught between tradition and male dominance and the Westernized values of the modern equalitarian family. We analyze change at the levels of individual practices and identities and of societal symbolic models to show how entanglements are produced at both levels. At the macro-level the law legitimates Western values and deals with hybrid realities. At the micro-level, men live entangled trajectories in which they mix different references and social times when relating themselves to hegemonic masculinity(ies). The analysis draws on data collected in urban Maputo both through a survey applied to Eduardo Mondlane University students and in-depth interviews with men from several generations and contexts.

Risco e prevenção do HIV/Aids: uma perspectiva biográfica sobre os comportamentos sexuais em Portugal

On the basis of a representative survey carried out in 2007 of the Portuguese population aged between 18 and 65, this study investigates the impact of factors during the course of sexual life on risk-taking behavior and perceptions among 3055 heterosexual men and women. A number of sexual biography profiles were identified through cluster analysis of indicators related to the identity, number and sequence of partners throughout life. We discovered different profiles, from systematic occasional partnerships and use of paid sex, more frequent among men, to the single partner profile, which is more prevalent among women. By carrying out several linear regression analyses, we were able to evaluate the predictive impact of biographical factors on condom use and prevention behavior. Our results indicate that sexual biographies are more important in explaining the prevalence of condom use with different sexual partners. On the other hand, fear of infection and information on HIV transmission seem to influence the cognitive mobilization of prevention strategies and change of sexual behavior. However, condom use is still more dependent on sexual life pattern and interaction with sexual partners.

Redes sociais e comportamento sexual: para uma visão relacional da sexualidade, do risco e da prevenção

Com base num inquerito representativo da populacao portuguesa entre 18 e 65 anos, realizado em 2007, este estudo investiga o impacto de fatores de rede social sobre os comportamentos sexuais dos individuos. Atraves da percepcao normativa dos inquiridos sobre a moral sexual dos seus amigos e familiares e de indicadores relativos a caracterizacao da rede de confidencia sexual, tais como o numero, a identidade, o genero, a idade e o comportamento dos confidentes em materia de sexualidade e prevencao face ao risco de infeccao por DSTs, obtivemos um retrato multidimensional das redes sociais dos individuos. A realizacao de analises de regressao linear e logistica permitiu avaliar o impacto preditivo da rede sobre o numero de parceiros sexuais, as relacoes sexuais ocasionais e o uso do preservativo. Os dados mostram que os fatores de rede sao importantes para explicar o comportamento sexual dos individuos. Redes constituidas por amigos e mais liberais em termos de moral sexual tendem a influenciar o comportamento sexual, levando a um maior experimentalismo, sobretudo no caso das mulheres. Por outro lado, a homologia entre o comportamento sexual dos confidentes e o dos inquiridos e relevante para explicar o recurso ao preservativo nas relacoes sexuais ocasionais, especialmente no caso dos homens. Tanto numa perspectiva relacional da sexualidade como numa optica epidemiologica, a analise das redes sociais dos individuos constitui um aspecto importante para a compreensao e explicacao da variedade de experiencias sexuais, mais restritas ou mais plurais, e para os riscos de infeccao que dai podem advir.

Trans-masculinities, embodiments and the materiality of gender: bridging the gap

ABSTRACT Transsexual and transgender men have had less visibility than other forms of gender variance, thus occupying a relatively narrow space in gender, masculinity or even trans-scholarship. They are neither particularly relevant subjects of masculinity studies nor particularly visible in Trans Studies. Furthermore, the theoretical and political struggles that separate theorization about butch female masculinities and the FtM transitions have contributed to an even higher invisibility of trans-men and a misconceptualization of their potential as emancipatory subjects in the field of gender as doers of masculinities. Drawing on fieldwork with trans-men in Portugal and the United Kingdom, two lines of argument will be developed. Firstly, from a theoretical standpoint, the importance of building bridges between different areas of critical gender studies, namely Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities and Trans Studies is advocated. Secondly, with the aim of contributing to a fruitful dialogue between two key areas of critical gender studies, trans-masculinities are discussed as practice, place and effect. Following Connell’s proposal, it is suggested that redressing the conceptual premises of masculinity is a fundamental step so as to understand the plurality of trans embodiments, bodily materiality and the possibilities of doing masculinity without men.

Book Review: Rethinking Transnational Men: Beyond, between and within Nations

white–black high school drop-out rate (much of which was attributable to greater levels of educational achievement among African Americans). If, however, we include prisoners in national estimates of the drop-out rate, we find a drop-out rate that is 40 percent higher among African American men than what is suggested by the Current Population Survey. Pettit reports similar problems in calculating racial progress in employment and wages, voter participation, and health outcomes. In many respects, Invisible Men serves as an excellent companion piece to Michelle Alexander’s (2010) best-selling book on the racial politics of mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow. Alexander offered a paradigm-shifting frame for understanding how mass incarceration eroded decades of racial progress and shored up systems of racial inequality. Pettit’s book should be, for social scientists and policy makers at least, no less significant. Her meticulous and thorough review of the data convincingly demonstrates that the ‘‘fact’’ of racial progress depends on the systemic exclusion of a sizable portion of the African American community.

Narrativas do envelhecimento: ser velho na sociedade contemporânea

Based on interviews conducted with men and women over the age of 65 living in Portugal, the article aims to produce a depiction of what it means to be old and the impact of the aging process on the life and identity of the elderly person. Setting out from the premise that despite the greater regulation of age in contemporary society, a huge diversity of forms of experiencing old age exist, the text employs a microsociological, first-person analytical approach to discourses of aging. As well as differences in gender and social status, the senior population reveals a degree of resignation to aging as a natural process. However a number of aspects emerge as problematic for the elderly persons identity: the decline of the body and health, sexuality, the loss of activity, isolation and social discrimination are particularly relevant dimensions in terms of conceptualizing the elderly person as a reflexive actor.