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Developing masculinity in a post-feminist world: Preliminary thoughts on male self-transformation and recovery

Gendering in Research: Talk by Greg Downey, Macquarie University

Info about event

Time

Thursday 26 September 2019,  at 11:00 - 13:00

Location

IMC Meeting Room, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, Building 1483-312

Organizer

Lea

Abstract

 

This presentation reports on the very early stages of research on positive masculinity in a post-feminist world, that is, on how men themselves talk about their own gender transformations in contemporary contexts. Many current accounts of gender relations in Western contexts struggle to define a constructive or aspirational version of “masculinity” to which men might aspire given the apparent need for widespread cultural change and specific personal transformation. The research project targets men who have, to some degree or another, “successfully” recovered from traditional, patriarchal, or gender-conforming ideas of what men should be, often after significant life crises that undermined their confidence in who they were (primarily substance abuse recovery, contentious divorce, disabling injury, domestic violence prevention, or the end of strongly masculine careers, such as in the military or professional sports). Rather than prescribe what positive masculinity might entail, or the means to reach it, the project is a genuinely exploratory, long-form interview-based enquiry into the means and paths that men have travelled to achieve a new “post-patriarchal” understanding of masculinity. The presentation asks if there is or can be a genuinely post-patriarchal masculine gender identity or if the best we can hope for is a revised masculine gender, cured of its worst excesses.  

 

About the speaker

Greg Downey, Professor
Macquarie University

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The Gendering in Research Network provides a platform for gender researchers and students at Aarhus University to discuss, collaborate, and exchange ideas. For further information about the Gendering in Research Network, please contact: Lea Skewes, IMC Theresa Ammann, IMC

The Gendering in Research Network provides a platform for gender researchers and students at Aarhus University to discuss, collaborate, and exchange ideas. For further information about the Gendering in Research Network, please contact: