Constructions of masculinity in young men's narratives of violence in the homeplace
- Authors: Stride, Lorenzo
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Family violence , Masculinity , Men -- Identity , Men -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (C Psy)
- Identifier: vital:11847 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/185 , Family violence , Masculinity , Men -- Identity , Men -- Psychology
- Description: This research was undertaken with a view to advancing scholarship on the production and reproduction of notions of masculinity through everyday experiences of violence in the domestic sphere. In particular, the researcher sought to explicate constructions of masculinity in men’s narratives of their experiences of violence in the homeplace. The participants in this study constituted a fairly homogenous sample in terms of age, education, geographic location, and socio-economic status. A homogenous sample was purposefully selected because it aided an analysis of the phenomenon under study without diversions from extraneous variables. Data was collected from semi-structured, personal, in-depth, face-to-face interviews with eight young men. In these interviews participants were asked to recall and to talk about one particular experience of domestic violence that they witnessed or that had happened to them in the past. Photo elicitation was used as a reflective technique aimed at facilitating recall and discussion during the interviews. Data was analysed by means of a discourse analysis. The main findings of this research were that the participants grew up in communities where a more traditional hegemonic masculinity was commonplace and where violence as a means of exerting control was associated with being a ‘real man’. The participants did however question this notion of masculinity as a result of their experiences, particularly when they perceived the violence that they had been exposed to as excessive or unwarranted.
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- Date Issued: 2008
The construction of masculinities: male university students' talk about women and heterosexual relationships
- Authors: Minnaar, Benita
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Masculinity , Men -- Identity , Men -- South Africa , Men -- Conduct of life , Discourse analysis , Heterosexuality -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3020 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002529 , Masculinity , Men -- Identity , Men -- South Africa , Men -- Conduct of life , Discourse analysis , Heterosexuality -- South Africa
- Description: This article examines the talk of male Psychology students about women and heterosexual relationships in all-male discussion groups. Four vignettes depicting difficult situations in heterosexual relationships were used to initiate discussion. Eight men attending a historically black university participated in the group discussions, which were facilitated by a male postgraduate Psychology student. The study explored masculine identity construction by identifying interpretive repertoires deployed by respondents to construct and account for themselves and their social worlds, within the context of discussions about relationships with women. Three interpretive repertoires of masculinity: the male-as- breadwinner/provider, male-as-protector and the "New Man" repertoire were identified. The complex and contradictory nature of masculine identity construction is highlighted. Drawing on the work of Hollway (1984), two discourses of heterosexuality were also identified: the have/hold discourse and the permissive discourse. The invocation of the "New Man" repertoire and pro-feminist discourses of heterosexuality in the men's talk may signify a move towards more enlightened and less oppressive constructions of masculinity, heterosexuality and gender.
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- Date Issued: 2003