The men and the boys

273 Pages·2000·15.21 MB·English

by  Connell, Robert William

THE MEN AND THE BOYS

THE MEN AND
THE BOYS
R.W. Connell
Polity
Copyright © R.W. Connell 2000
Chapter 7 © R.W. Connell, M.D. Davis and G.W. Dowsett 2000
The right of R.W. Connell to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
First published in 2000 by Polity Press
in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd
Editorial office:
Polity Press
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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Marketing and production:
Blackwell Publishers Ltd
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Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
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purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or
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Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the
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imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN 0-7456-2632-7
ISBN 0-7456-2633-5 (pbk)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in 11/13 pt Bembo by DOCUPRO, Sydney
Printed in Great Britain by T.J. International, Padstow, Cornwall
To Kylie

Contents
PART 1 EXAMINING MASCULINITIES 1
1 Debates about men, new research on
masculinities 3
Issues about men and boys 3
The new social research on masculinity 6
Key conclusions of recent research 9
2 New directions in theory and research 15
Current debate: Concepts of gender and
approaches to masculinity 16
The gender relations approach 23
Conceptualizing masculinities 29
Agenda for research 32
PART 2 GLOBALIZATION 37
3 Masculinities and globalization 39
The world gender order 40
The repositioning of men and the remaking
of masculinities 43
Globalizing masculinities 46
Masculinity politics on a world scale 52
• vii
viii • THE MEN AND THE BOYS
4 Globalization and men’s bodies 57
Understanding men’s bodies 57
Imperialism and men’s bodies 60
Contemporary globalization and men’s bodies 62
Implications for gender reform 65
PART 3 BODIES AND DESIRES 67
5 An iron man 69
Being a champion 70
Soft path, hard goal 74
The body and the self 76
Wanting to win: The ideology of competitive sport 80
Reflections 83
6 ’I threw it like a girl’: Some difficulties with
male bodies 86
Looking at jelly: Adam Singer 87
Burning up the body: Tip Southern 94
Reflections 99
7 Man to man: Homosexual desire and practice
among working-class men (written with
M.D. Davis and G.W. Dowsett) 102
The working-class setting 104
The social framework of male-to-male sex 108
Sexual practice 114
Desire and identity 118
The HIV/AIDS epidemic 122
Reflections 126
PART 4 PRACTICALITIES 129
8 Cool guys, swots and wimps 131
Getting into trouble 133
Knowing where you stand 136
Over the hump 139
Dry sciences 141
Reading feminism 143
Reflections 145