briarpatchmagazine.com/2006/02/28/gender-mending-men-ma -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/1/2006
Last Visited: 5/9/2008
MURRAY KNUTTILA, A PROFESSOR OF sociology at the University of Regina, researches a variety of issues related to men and masculinities, including what he refers to as "hegemonic masculinity."Maintaining that masculinities are performed in a multitude of ways, Knuttila defines hegemonic masculinity as a set of social practices that characterize the dominant form of masculinity in contemporary western culture.
...
Rather than thinking of masculinity and femininity as character traits or essential identities, Knuttila understands gender to be a way of engaging in social relations.Consequently, there is no such thing as one type of masculinity because not all people who "act" masculine behave the same way.Like femininity, there are varying degrees of masculinity that differ among, and even within, such identifiers as sex, class, race, age, sexual orientation and so on.
Knuttila argues that gender is socially constructed and that there is no clear link between biological sex and behaviour.Pointing to anthropological studies, Knuttila maintains that the social construction of gender is evident in the fact that women in some societies are systematically aggressive and competitive while men in those same societies are more nurturing and passive.
...
KNUTTILA, WHO IS ALSO A RESEARCHER for the Saskatchewan Population Health Evaluation Research Unit, argues that social practices associated with hegemonic masculinity are very unhealthy for boys and men.
"Men who practice hegemonic masculinity exhibit their masculinity through fighting and violence.And some of that fighting and violence is visited upon their loved ones-but a lot of it is visited upon each other," he says.
While physical violence is probably one of the more obvious by-products of hegemonic masculinity, the emotional damage takes its toll as well.Having conducted interviews with male corporate executives in and around the Regina area last summer, Knuttila and his colleagues noted that several men began to cry as they talked about their masculinity and what they had missed out on in life, including playing a more active role in their children's lives.
"To miss those moments is to miss one of the essential meanings of life," says Knuttila."I think that men's psychological, spiritual and physical health suffers from that need to control, that need to dominate, that need to hang on to power."
"The social pressures on men and women to adopt these behaviours are embedded in nearly every institution of society."
This is not to say, of course, that men are not responsible for their actions or that they don't benefit from patriarchy.Knuttila, who identifies as pro-feminist, recognizes that most men do benefit from living in a patriarchal society.Whether it be that men, on average, make more money than women, or that their opinions are more often respected and their work more valued, Knuttila believes that men, to varying degrees depending on such factors as race, class and sexual orientation, have easier access to social status and social prestige-an advantage that he and others refer to as the patriarchal dividend.
"The patriarchal dividend represents the benefits that accrue to men generally by virtue of being men in a patriarchal society," he says.
But these benefits don't come without a price.
"The interesting thing about the patriarchal dividend is that we pay for it too," says Knuttila, pointing to the fact that men in Saskatchewan die ten years younger than women.While there is still much research to be done in this area, Knuttila says the life-expectancy discrepancy could be because men who practice hegemonic masculinity tend to take dangerous risks at work and at play; they tend not to relax because they are constantly trying to dominate and be in control; and they may lack the social support networks that a healthy emotional life requires.
50 online sources [ view sources ]
Profile is not claimed [ this is me ]
