Inclusive Masculinity: The Changing Nature of Masculinities

by Eric Anderson

Overview

Drawing on qualitative studies of teamsport athletes and fraternity members, this book describes the rapidly changing world of masculinities among men in both the United States and Great Britain. As cultural homophobia decreases, university-aged men are influenced to construct a softer version of masculinity – one that is not predicated in homophobia. Inclusive Masculinity shows that today's youth express decreased sexism, racism and masculine bullying. As Eric Anderson demonstrates, men who value inclusive masculinities are also shown to be more likely to bond in emotional relationships with other men and to embrace a variety of behaviors once coded as feminine, including certain same-sex sexual behaviors. Now available in paperback, this groundbreaking analysis of masculinity and young men will be of interest to students and faculty members within Sociology, Gender Studies, and Sport Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415893909
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/13/2011
Series:	Routledge Research in Gender and Society
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Professor Eric Anderson is an American sociologist at the University of Winchester, UK. He is well known for his research on sport, masculinities, sexualities and homophobia. He has authored several books including Sport, Theory and Social Problems (2010) and the award-winning In the Game: Gay Athletes and the Cult of Masculinity (2005).

Table of Contents

Introduction Part 1: Orthodox Masculinity 1. Orthodox Masculinity and Hegemonic Oppression 2. Costs Associated with Orthodox Masculinity 3. Reproducing Orthodoxy 4. Masculine Conformity. Summary of Part One Part 2: Inclusive Masculinity Theory 5. From Homophobia to Homohysteria 6. Inclusive Masculinity Theory Part 3: Inclusive Masculinities 7. Embracing Gay Men 8. Rethinking Misogyny and Anti-Femininity 9. Reconstructing Heterosexuality 10. Conclusions. Appendices

Editorial Reviews

"With this book, Eric Anderson is now poised to move us to the next generation of masculinity scholarship. Respectfully building upon the groundbreaking works of Connell, Messner, Kimmel and Sabo, Anderson demonstrates how the lessening of "homohysteria" frees up the expression of masculinities to include previously stigmatized forms. Anderson's unorthodox but impressively expansive research has taken him into more and diverse a range of settings than most ethnographers get to in a life time. This is a very important work because it argues through a lens of combined and uneven gender development. As a result, this is simultaneously a bold and nuanced work... It will, in short order, become a benchmark for studies of masculinity."

—Professor Alan Klein, author of Little Big Men: Body Building Subculture and Gender Construction

"Gender stereotypes tend to portray male athletes and fraternity members as among the most homophobic of men, perhaps as over-compensation for the amount of intensely physical contact they have with each other. Eric Anderson's deft ethnographies enable him to see something else stirring in those locker rooms, something genuinely inclusive. And this becomes the basis for a new theoretical understanding of masculinities—at once compelling and provocative. This is an astonishing book—one rich with insights and suffused with hope."

—Professor Michael S. Kimmel, author of Guyland: The Perilous World Where Guys Become Men.

'While there is growing evidence that homophobia is declining in social life, few people expected to find evidence of this in, of all places, fraternities and men's sports. Set against well-known critiques of these homosocial realms as sites for the reproduction of male hierarchies, Eric Anderson's research gives us some cause for (dare I say it?) optimism.'

—Professor Michael A. Messner, author of It's all for the kids: Gender, Families and Youth Sports.

"Eric Anderson's latest book is a touchstone for readers to rethink their assumptions about men and masculinities in sport and the contemporary culture. He taps qualitative data to speculate about emerging changes in young men's relationships, emotions, and identities."

—Don Sabo, Ph.D., Professor of Health Policy, D'Youville College

"In this intriguing work, Anderson (policy and social sciences, Univ. of Bath, UK) delivers an ethnographic study of the changing contours of British and US manhood....Recommended."

— Choice, February 2010

From the Publisher